WWW Wednesday – 27 November 2019

On November 27, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn WWW Wednesday4 Comments

WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words, where bloggers share the books that they’ve recently finished, what they are currently reading and what books they are planning to read next. Essentially you have to answer three questions (the Three Ws):

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading?

Traitors of Rome by Simon Scarrow (Trade Paperback)

The latest book from one of my favourite authors, Simon Scarrow. I knew well in advance that I was going to love Traitors of Rome, and it has been pretty awesome so far. I only have around 100 pages left, and should hopefully knock it off in the next day or so.

Star Wars: Force Collector by Kevin Shinick (Audiobook)

The last Star Wars novel released in 2019, Force Collector is an interesting read that ties into the upcoming The Rise of Skywalker movie. I’m a little way into this one at the moment, but I don’t think it is going to take me too long to finish it off.

What did you recently finish reading?

Warrior of the Altaii by Robert Jordan (Trade Paperback)

This was a fun and action packed read, and it was pretty cool to see Jordan’s early writing.

The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker (Audiobook)

Easily one of my favourite fantasy books of 2019 so far, this was an absolutely amazing book, and I will hopefully get a review up for it ASAP.

What do you think you’ll read next?

The Light at the Bottom of the World by London Shan (Hardcover)

That’s it for this week, check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.

WWW Wednesday – 20 November 2019

On November 20, 2019November 27, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn WWW Wednesday9 Comments

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

So, let’s get to it.

What are you currently reading?

Warrior of the Altaii by Robert Jordan (Trade Paperback)

The previously unpublished first book from the late great fantasy author Robert Jordan. I am about halfway through this novel at the moment and it is a very interesting read.

The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker (Audiobook)

I have been reading to listen to The Bone Ships for a while, and it is among the top books I want to read before the end of 2019. I am nearly halfway through this audiobook, and it is proving to be an exception book.

What did you recently finish reading?

Starsight by Brandon Sanderson (Trade Paperback)

Highly recommended.

Star Wars: Tarkin by James Luceno (Audiobook)

I am hoping to get a review of this up tomorrow night, but it was a pretty good book.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Traitors of Rome by Simon Scarrow (Trade Paperback)

That’s it for this week, check back in next Wednesday to see what progress I’ve made on my reading and what books I’ll be looking at next.

Top Ten Tuesday – Top Ten Books I Would Like to Read by the End of 2019

On November 12, 2019November 12, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn List10 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, participants are supposed to list their Top Ten Favourite Bookmarks. However, I am once again going to go a little off-book (if you will excuse the pun) and instead I am going to list the Top Ten Books I Would Like to Read by the End of 2019.

It may alarm some of you that there are only 50 days left in the year (it certainly alarmed me), which means that the pressure is on to read and review everything you want to before the end of 2019. I personally have quite a few books that I would love to finish before the year is out, including a few essential books that I really need to read as soon as possible. I do have to admit is that this is not an original topic that I came up with myself; I actually saw that one of the blogs I follow, Kristin Kraves Books, shared something similar earlier today. Their post inspired me to think about what books I would like to read by the end of 2019.

As a result, I was able to come up with a list of the top books that I would like to read by the end of the year. This list got a little out of hand, but I was eventually able to cull it down to 10, along with a rather generous Honourable Mentions section. Sadly, some books I would probably have an amazing time reading, such as Anyone by Charles Soule, The Andromeda Evolution by Daniel H. Wilson and The Bear Pit by S. G. MacLean did not make the cut. I also did not include Starsight by Brandon Sanderson, despite it being one of my most anticipated reads for 2019, mainly because I received a copy of it yesterday and I have already started reading it. I think this is a pretty good and varied list, although I did feature quite a few of these books previously on my Top Ten Most Anticipated July-December 2019 Releases list. Check out my entries below:

Honourable Mention:

Star Wars: Allegiance by Ethan Sacks

Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward

Warrior of the Altaii by Robert Jordan

This is probably the book I am going to read next, as I am planning to feature it in a Canberra Weekly review in a few weeks.

Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons

Probably the only book in this article that I have not done a Waiting on Wednesday article for, Ruin of Kings is an interesting-sounding fantasy book that came out earlier this year. I have been meaning to read this book for months, especially after I recently received a copy of the sequel, The Name of All Things. Hopefully I will get a chance to listen to it soon, but it is a massive book that might struggle to fit into my reading schedule.

Top Ten List (in no particular order):

Rage by Jonathan Maberry

Now, while this list is mostly in no particular order, Rage is probably the 2019 release that I am most looking forward to reading. I have become a little obsessed with Jonathan Maberry’s Joe Ledger series in the last year, and I am very keen to check out this latest book as soon as possible, especially after enjoying some outstanding Joe Ledger books such as Assassin’s Code and Code Zero earlier this year.

The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker

Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie

Duplicity by Richard Evans

False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

Traitors of Rome by Simon Scarrow

Firefly: Generations by Tim Lebbon

Sword of Kings by Bernard Cornwell

Star Wars: Force Collector by Kevin Shinick

I have made no great secret of my intense love of Star Wars extended universe fiction, so I had to include at least one upcoming Star Wars book on this list. As I have already read and reviewed Darth Vader: Dark Visions, Resistance Reborn and Black Spire, the intriguing-sounding young adult book Force Collector is the only choice left for this list.

Hopefully I will get around to finishing all of these in the next few weeks, but we’ll have to see how it goes. What books would you like to read by the end of 2019? Let us know in the comments below.

Top Ten Tuesday – Most Anticipated July-December 2019 Releases

On June 18, 2019June 18, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn List18 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme that currently resides at The Artsy Reader Girl and features bloggers sharing lists on various book topics. For this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, bloggers get to talk about the which ten books they are looking forward to the most in the second half of 2019.

2019 has so far been an amazing year for books. Not only have I had the chance to read and review some outstanding novels in the first half of this year but I also have a huge pile of books to read sitting on my table at home (OK, several huge piles on several different surfaces). However, there are still some incredible-sounding books coming out in the next six months, and I already have my eye on a number of them. It took me a little while, but I was able to come up with the top ten books that I am looking forward to, as well as a couple of honourable mentions.

People familiar with my blog will no doubt notice that I have already featured several of these books before in my weekly Waiting on Wednesday feature (I’ll link in these Waiting on Wednesday posts), which hopefully highlights how much I want them. I have also included a couple of other books that I have yet to do a Waiting on Wednesday for, although I will likely do so in the future. I have also excluded a couple of books from this list because I already have copies for them; that’s why you won’t see Angel Mage by Garth Nix or Cold Storage by David Koepp on this list.

Honourable Mentions:

A Little Hatred by Joe Abercrombie – 19 September 2019

I loved this latest cover of A Little Hatred so much I had to include it, looks pretty awesome.

The Bone Ships by R. J. Barker – 24 September 2019

Star Wars: Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse – 12 November 2019

This is going to be one of the tie-in novels to the upcoming Star Wars movie, The Rise of Skywalker, and should be pretty awesome.

Top Ten List (in order of release date):

1. Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio – 4 July 2019

2. The Bear Pit by S. G. MacLean – 11 July 2019

3. Star Wars: Thrawn: Treason by Timothy Zahn – 23 July 2019

4. Spaceside by Michael Mammay – 27 August 2019

5. Loki: Where Mischief Lies by Mackenzi Lee – 3 September 2019

6. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir – 10 September 2019

7. Firefly: Generations by Tim Lebbon – 15 October 2019

I have been really enjoying this new series of Firefly novels, including Big Damn Hero and The Magnificent Nine, and this third book sounds pretty epic.

8. Salvation Lost by Peter F. Hamilton – 29 October 2019

9. Starsight by Brandon Sanderson – 26 November 2019

The first book in this series, Skyward, was just incredible, and even made My Top Ten Reads for 2018 List, so I have high hopes for the sequel.

10. Hollow Empire by Sam Hawke – 10 December 2019

I really loved the first book in the Poison War series, City of Lies, which made two of my previous Top Ten Tuesday Lists, and I cannot wait to see where Hawke takes the series next.

I hope you enjoy this list. Make sure to keep an eye on my blog for future reviews of all these books and let me know what you are looking forward to in the second half of 2019.

Waiting on Wednesday – The Bone Ships by RJ Barker

On April 24, 2019April 24, 2019 By The Unseen LibraryIn Fantasy, Waiting on Wednesday5 Comments

Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.

The Bone Ships Cover.jpg
For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out the new upcoming book from one of the fastest rising stars in fantasy fiction, RJ Barker. Barker shot to prominence in 2017 with his debut novel, Age of Assassins, which was quite an impressive piece of fantasy fiction. Age of Assassins was the first book in The Wounded Kingdom trilogy, and the rest of the trilogy, made up of Blood of Assassins and King of Assassins, were released to high critical acclaim in quite a remarkably short time period. With The Wounded Kingdom trilogy finished, Barker has moved on to a brand new series with The Bone Ships, the first book in his planned The Tide Child series, which is set to be released in September 2019.

I really enjoyed Barker’s The Wounded Kingdom trilogy, with Age of Assassins and Blood of Assassins being among the top fantasy books I read in 2017 and 2018 respectfully. I still have to read King of Assassins, even after featuring it on my Books I Wish I Read in 2018 Top Ten list. Despite not getting around to reading it yet, King of Assassins is still quite high up on my must-read list, especially as I have heard that it is the strongest book in this inventive and exciting trilogy. I hope that I will get a chance to read it in the next few months, and I would like to read it before I look at Barker’s upcoming book.

A number of details about The Bone Ships have already been released. The book’s amazing cover has been out for some time, and plot details about the book are available on Goodreads.

Goodreads Synopsis:

A crew of condemned criminals embark on a suicide mission to hunt the first sea dragon seen in centuries in the first book of this adventure fantasy trilogy.

Violent raids plague the divided isles of the Scattered Archipelago. Fleets constantly battle for dominance and glory, and no commander stands higher among them than “Lucky” Meas Gilbryn.

But betrayed and condemned to command a ship of criminals, Meas is forced on suicide mission to hunt the first living sea-dragon in generations. Everyone wants it, but Meas Gilbryn has her own ideas about the great beast. In the Scattered Archipelago, a dragon’s life, like all lives, is bound in blood, death and treachery.

The above summary sounds like The Bone Ships is going to be a lot of fun, as Barker goes from a trilogy about assassins to a book that focuses on a suicide squad of pirates as they attempt to kill a dragon. I mean, that is just plain awesome: pirates fighting dragons! Even if I weren’t already familiar with Barker’s ability as a fantasy author, I would already be trying to get a copy of this book. With Baker at the helm of this epic-sounding story, I have no doubts that this book will an absolute joy to read, and I am really looking forward to it.

The Bone Ships has real potential to be one of the best fantasy books of 2019, and no doubt it will be one of the most sought-after releases this September. I am quite excited for this latest novel from Barker, and I am sure it will prove to be an interesting book to review.