It would be an understatement to say my ‘to-read’ pile is pretty big. After three years of reading four novels a week academically , I am down to my final two novels of my BA English degree. There’s the slight panic of: What do I do now that there’s no lecturer choosing books for me? Well, I finally get to read for fun.
Some of the books on my courses over these three years have been amazing, and some have been so boring I’ve wanted to rip the letters from my laptop keyboard and gouge my eyes out with them. To put it mildly. But now I can go back to reading my favourite genres like sci-fi and horror, and even delve back into the world of YA. So here is a short list of books I’m looking forward to reading once this term is over.
The Fire Sermon by Francesca Haig
Plot:
BORN AS TWINS
RAISED AS ENEMIES
BOUND BY DEATH
Cass is born a few minutes after her brother, Zach. Both infants are perfect, but only one is a blessing; only one is an Alpha.
The other child must be cast out. But with no discernible difference, other than their genders, their parents cannot tell which baby is tainted.
Perfect twins. So rare, they are almost a myth. But sooner or later the Omega will slip up. It will eventually show its true self. The polluted cannot help themselves.
Then its face can be branded. Then it can be sent away.
Why I want to read it: I’m a huge fan of dystopia and this book caught my eye on display in Waterstones. The blurb is really gripping, creating a lot of questions that I want answered. Twins in novels usually go down pretty well as a plot device and I’ve heard some great things about it.
Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan
Plot: In the wake of the complete destruction of the luxury yacht Persephone, three people are left alive who know the truth about what happened and two of them are lying. Only Frances Mace, rescued from the ocean after seven days adrift with her friend Libby (who died of thirst just before rescue), knows that the Persephone wasn’t sunk by a rogue wave as survivors Senator Wells and his son Greyson are claiming. It was attacked. In order to insure her safety from the obviously dangerous and very powerful Wells family, Libby’s father helps Frances assume Libby’s identity. Frances has spent years in hiding, transforming herself into Libby, and she can no longer allow the people who murdered her entire family and Libby to get away with it even if she had been in love with Greyson Wells. After years of careful plotting, she’s ready to set her revenge plans into motion. The game has just begun, and Frances is not only playing dirty, she’s playing to win.
Why I want to read it: I was a huge huge HUGE fan of Carrie Ryan’s zombie The Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy. The writing was atmospheric and lyrical, the world-building entirely unique and immersive, so when I heard Ryan was bringing out another novel I was pretty excited. Whilst there doesn’t seem to be any zombies in this one, I’m hoping Ryan’s plot and writing will keep me hooked.
The Long Way to a Small Angry Planet by Becky Chambers
Plot: When Rosemary Harper joins the crew of the Wayfarer, she isn’t expecting much. The Wayfarer, a patched-up ship that’s seen better days, offers her everything she could possibly want: a small, quiet spot to call home for a while, adventure in far-off corners of the galaxy, and distance from her troubled past.
But Rosemary gets more than she bargained for with the Wayfarer. The crew is a mishmash of species and personalities, from Sissix, the friendly reptillian pilot, to Kizzy and Jenks, the constantly sparring engineers who keep the ship running. Life on board is chaotic, but more or less peaceful – exactly what Rosemary wants.
Until the crew are offered the job of a lifetime: the chance to build a hyperspace tunnel to a distant planet. They’ll earn enough money to live comfortably for years… if they survive the long trip through war-torn interstellar space without endangering any of the fragile alliances that keep the galaxy peaceful.
But Rosemary isn’t the only person on board with secrets to hide, and the crew will soon discover that space may be vast, but spaceships are very small indeed.
Why I want to read it: I picked up this little gem at London Waterloo when waiting for a train. Having just re-watched the Star Trek reboot films, I was in the mood for something spacey and sci-fi. This sounded right up my street and it’s also now been nominated for The Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction!
Dark Tides by Chris Ewan
Plot: When Claire Cooper was eight, her mother disappeared during Hop-tu-naa, the Manx Halloween.
When Claire was eighteen, she and her friends took part in a Hop-tu-naa dare that went terribly wrong.
Now in her early twenties and a police officer, what happened that Hop-tu-naa night has come back to haunt them all, and Claire must confront her deepest fears in order to stop a killer from striking again.
Why I want to read it: I do try and push my boundaries out of the sci-fi/apocalypse/dystopia world and this was one of my attempts to do so. Everybody likes a good thriller and this just happened to catch my eye in Waterstones. It’s had good reviews so I’m hoping to be dying from suspense when I get round to reading it.
Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Plot (some spoilers if you haven’t read the first book):
If there’s one thing Mare Barrow knows, it’s that she’s different.
Mare’s blood is Red – the colour of common folk – but her Silver ability, the power to control lightning, has turned her into a weapon that the royal court tries to control.
The crown calls her an impossibility, a fake, but as she makes her escape from the prince and friend who betrayed her, Mare uncovers something startling: she is not the only one of her kind.
Pursued by the Silver king, Mare sets out to find and recruit other Red-and-Silver fighters to join in the struggle against her oppressors.
Why I want to read it: I did enjoy the first book, the plot certainly had me gripped, but I wasn’t totally enamored with the writing style and the characters. I’m hoping for some improvements this time around.
And that’s it for this month! Hopefully I should get around to reviewing these books once university begins to calm down, so bear with me. Thanks for reading!
wordsandotherbeasts.wordpress.com 