Waiting On Wednesday: Scythe by Neal Shusterman

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

So, this week I’m waiting on the first book in a new YA dystopian series called Scythe by Neal Shusterman:

UK Release Date: 29th November 2016

I think that cover is really striking but, at the same time, what is it supposed to be? I think it’s a woman in a dress with a scythe blocking her or acting as her head. Or maybe it’s someone in a hooded cape, standing side on? It’s like one of those optical illusions. Either way, it’s nice to look at, especially because there’s something a bit early-20th Century about it.

Anyway, I know what you’re thinking, not another YA dystopian series! However, I am a sucker for all things dystopian so this doesn’t bother me. Besides, this one sounds pretty unique. I haven’t read Shusterman’s Unwind series, or any of his other books for that matter, but I know Unwind was popular so hopefully this series will be good too.

Synopsis for Scythe:

In a world where disease has been eliminated, the only way to die is to be randomly killed (gleaned) by professional reapers (scythes).

Citra and Rowan are teenagers who have been selected to be scythe’s apprentices, and despite wanting nothing to do with the vocation they must learn the art of killing and come to understand the necessity of what they do.

Only one of them will be chosen as a scythe’s apprentice. And when it becomes clear that the winning apprentice s first task will be to glean the loser, Citra and Rowan are pitted against one another in a fight for their lives.

Are you looking forward to Scythe? Have you read Shusterman’s Unwind series? Did you enjoy it? Let me know in the comments below!

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Waiting On Wednesday: Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2) by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

I haven’t done a Waiting on Wednesday in a while so I thought I’d try and get back into it!

This week I’m waiting on Gemina (The Illuminae Files #2) by Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff, and I am so excited for its release:

UK Release Date: 20th October 2016

I absolutely adored Illuminae. I was hesitant about it at first because of its unique format, but I found that it only enhanced the novel and my enjoyment. The book made me laugh and cry in equal measure, and it was a mashup of so many different genres; your typical Sci-Fi set in space, Horror, Action, Thriller, Drama. It had everything you could possibly want in a book and more. I’m still in awe of it.

I could not be more excited for the release of Gemina as a result. I’m looking forward to finding out what happens next and meeting new characters. Hopefully it’s just as good as its predecessor and, if you haven’t read Illuminae yet, do it now! I can’t recommend it enough.

Synopsis for Gemina:

Moving to a space station at the edge of the galaxy was always going to be the death of Hanna’s social life. Nobody said it might actually get her killed.

The sci-fi saga that began with the breakout bestseller Illuminae continues on board the Jump Station Heimdall, where two new characters will confront the next wave of the BeiTech assault.

Hanna is the station captain’s pampered daughter; Nik the reluctant member of a notorious crime family. But while the pair are struggling with the realities of life aboard the galaxy’s most boring space station, little do they know that Kady Grant and the Hypatia are headed right toward Heimdall, carrying news of the Kerenza invasion.

When an elite BeiTech strike team invades the station, Hanna and Nik are thrown together to defend their home. But alien predators are picking off the station residents one by one, and a malfunction in the station’s wormhole means the space-time continuum might be ripped in two before dinner. Soon Hanna and Nik aren’t just fighting for their own survival; the fate of everyone on the Hypatia—and possibly the known universe—is in their hands.

But relax. They’ve totally got this. They hope.

Once again told through a compelling dossier of emails, IMs, classified files, transcripts, and schematics, Gemina raises the stakes of the Illuminae Files, hurling readers into an enthralling new story that will leave them breathless.

Have you read Illuminae? Did you enjoy it? Are you excited for Gemina? Let me know in the comments below!

 

Waiting On Wednesday: The Burning World (Warm Bodies #3) by Isaac Marion

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

This week (or rather, for about the past ten billion years) I’m waiting on The Burning World, the sequel to Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion, one of my favourite books of all time!

UK Release Date: 7th February 2017

Now, like I said, it feels like I’ve been waiting on this sequel for the vast majority of my 21 years. In fact, I still haven’t read the prequel novel, The New Hunger, because I’m too worried that it will get me so engrossed in the Warm Bodies world again and then I won’t have anything to read after it for quite a few months. However, now that the release date of The Burning World finally seems within reach, I’m going to give The New Hunger a go sometime soon. It’s only been sitting on my bookshelf for about a year!

Anyway, Warm Bodies is one of my favourite novels. It’s witty, hopeful, heartbreaking and philosophical. The characters are amazing and, in fact, the whole concept is just brilliant. I read it not long after its release back in 2010, 6 years ago now! I then had the film adaptation to sate my hunger for a while and I was pleasantly surprised by how well they adapted it. It took the more lighthearted elements from the novel, and missed out Perry’s monologues with R, which were one of my favourite aspects of the book, but I can’t deny I still really enjoyed the film.

So, obviously Isaac Marion has been working on The Burning World for quite some time, and I’ve witnessed him practically tearing his hair out over it on Twitter, but apparently it’s going to be quite a long book, so there’ll be a lot to appease the fans with after the wait. Fingers crossed it’s just as good as the first book!

Synopsis for The Burning World: 

Being alive is hard. Being human is harder. But since his recent recovery from death, R is making progress. He’s learning how to read, how to speak, maybe even how to love, and the city’s undead population is showing signs of life. R can almost imagine a future with Julie, this girl who restarted his heart—building a new world from the ashes of the old one.

And then helicopters appear on the horizon. Someone is coming to restore order. To silence all this noise. To return things to the way they were, the good old days of stability and control and the strong eating the weak. The plague is ancient and ambitious, and the Dead were never its only weapon.

How do you fight an enemy that’s in everyone? Can the world ever really change? With their home overrun by madmen, R, Julie, and their ragged group of refugees plunge into the otherworldly wastelands of America in search of answers. But there are some answers R doesn’t want to find. A past life, an old shadow, crawling up from the basement.

Have you read Warm Bodies? Did you enjoy it? Are you excited for the sequel? Anyone else think that synopsis just couldn’t get any better?! Let me know in the comments!

Waiting On Wednesday: A Closed and Common Orbit (Wayfarers 2) by Becky Chambers

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

This week I’m waiting on the second instalment of the Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers, A Closed and Common Orbit.

UK Release Date: 20th October 2016

I reviewed the first Wayfarers novel a little while ago, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, which you can find here. I loved the cover to that novel and I think the cover for A Closed and Common Orbit might be even prettier. But, covers aside, the first novel was a fun read, the characters likeable, although the book read like a series of short stories or episodes rather than having one main plot.

I’m hoping the second book will feel a little more cohesive, but not skimp out on the humour and world-building that made the first book so enjoyable.

A word of warning, the synopsis I’m about to post does contain spoilers, so don’t read on if you haven’t read the first novel. If you want to know what the first book was like, check out the link to my spoiler-free review above!

However, this blurb does sound a bit like we might not be seeing much of the original cast, which is a real shame! I became somewhat attached to those characters, so I’ll be annoyed if they aren’t the protagonists anymore. It’s described on Amazon as a ‘stand-alone sequel’ which really does sound like it’s moved away from the original characters. Fingers crossed it actually includes them, but I’m a little doubtful.

Synopsis for A Closed and Common Orbit: 

Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has to start over in a synthetic body, in a world where her kind are illegal. She’s never felt so alone.

But she’s not alone, not really. Pepper, one of the engineers who risked life and limb to reinstall Lovelace, is determined to help her adjust to her new world. Because Pepper knows a thing or two about starting over.

Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that, huge as the galaxy may be, it’s anything but empty.

Did you read The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet? Did you enjoy it? What do you think of the synopsis for the sequel? Happy or sad that it sounds like it won’t be including all of the cast from the first novel? Let me know in the comments below!

 

 

 

Waiting On Wednesday: Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

This week, I’m waiting on another YA Fantasy: Bright Smoke, Cold Fire by Rosamund Hodge.

UK Release date: 9th February 2017

As I said last week, I’m really liking the resurgence of the Fantasy genre in YA and how it’s no longer seen as ‘nerdy’. I love the cover of this novel and, on Amazon, the book is described as being similar to Sabriel. The Abhorsen series is my all-time favourite series and I can definitely see similarities to the Clair in this cover with the white-clad women staring into what looks like a pool, or space. (For anyone who doesn’t know, the Clair are a group of clairvoyant women in the Abhorsen series).

The similarities to the Abhorsen series continue with the theme of necromancy in this book, which I’ve always found really interesting, so I’m looking forward to seeing another take on it.

However, it is a Romeo and Juliet re-telling. I like re-telling’s, but Romeo and Juliet has been done so much. The synopsis to this book does make it sound like Rosamund Hodge has really put her own spin on it though, but we’ll have to see. Either way, I’m excited. It sounds creepy and fantastical and I really hope I love it.

Synopsis for Bright Smoke, Cold Fire:

When the mysterious fog of the Ruining crept over the world, the living died and the dead rose. Only the walled city of Viyara was left untouched.

The heirs of the city’s most powerful—and warring—families, Mahyanai Romeo and Juliet Catresou, share a love deeper than duty, honor, even life itself. But the magic laid on the Juliet at birth compels her to punish the enemies of her clan—and Romeo has just killed her cousin Tybalt. Which means he must die.

Paris Catresou has always wanted to serve his family by guarding the Juliet. But when his ward tries to escape her fate, magic goes terribly wrong—killing her and leaving Paris bound to Romeo. If he wants to discover the truth of what happened, Paris must delve deep into the city, ally with his worst enemy . . . and perhaps turn against his own clan.

Mahyanai Runajo only wants to protect her city—but she’s the only one who believes it’s in peril. In her desperate hunt for information, she accidentally pulls Juliet from the mouth of death—and finds herself bound to the bitter, angry girl. Runajo quickly discovers Juliet might be the one person who can help her recover the secret to saving Viyara.

Both pairs will find friendship where they least expect it. Both will find that Viyara holds more secrets and dangers than anyone ever expected. And outside the walls, death is waiting. . .

I haven’t read any of Rosamund Hodge’s other work, is it good? Should I try her other stuff? Are you excited for Bright Smoke, Cold Fire? What do you think of re-telling’s? Let me know in the comments below!

Waiting On Wednesday: A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

This week I’m waiting on new YA Fantasy A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess.

The cover is really pretty which is what caught my eye at first. This is Cluess’ first novel and the YA Fantasy genre is definitely having a resurgence in the past year or two, toppling Dystopian off the top spot. Whilst I love dystopian/apocalyptic novels (as you know), I’m really enjoying the popularity of fantasy at the moment. In previous years, fantasy has received a bit of a bad rep as being too geeky or too masculine, so it’s great to see so many new fantasy novels written by women, especially in YA where it can cull that stigma and get the next generation interested in fantasy.

A Shadow Bright and Burning isn’t High Fantasy in that it’s set in a mythical land, but is instead set in an alternate Victorian London. This is another popular theme at the moment that I’m loving: the idea of creating an alternate London. I don’t always feel quite as in touch with novels that are set in the USA so it’s great to see London being such a popular setting. It’s a city with so much history and this creates scope for all these alternate realities.

Anyway, here’s the synopsis for A Shadow Bright and Burning:

Henrietta Howel can burst into flames.

Forced to reveal her power to save a friend, she’s shocked when instead of being executed, she’s invited to train as one of Her Majesty’s royal sorcerers.

Thrust into the glamour of Victorian London, Henrietta is declared the chosen one, the girl who will defeat the Ancients, bloodthirsty demons terrorizing humanity. She also meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, handsome young men eager to test her power and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her.

But Henrietta Howel is “not” the chosen one.

As she plays a dangerous game of deception, she discovers that the sorcerers have their own secrets to protect. With battle looming, what does it mean to not be the one? And how much will she risk to save the city and the one she loves?

What do you think? Is this a novel you’re interested in reading? Are you enjoying the resurgence of the Fantasy genre in YA? Let me know in the comments below!

Waiting On Wednesday: Goldenhand by Garth Nix

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

Words cannot describe how excited I am for this week’s featured Waiting on Wednesday novel.

It’s the long-awaited fourth (or rather fifth) installment of Garth Nix’s Old Kingdom series. This is my all-time favourite series of books. I’ve re-read all three novels, Sabriel, Lirael and Abhorsen, and the novella The Creature in the Case (hence me referring to this upcoming novel as the fifth installment), so many times. I hate books to be creased or dog-eared but my copy of Sabriel is just that and I don’t mind, because it shows how much I’ve loved the book since I bought it a decade ago.

UK Release Date: 4th October 2016

As you can see, the cover is only a draft, but I’m glad it’s in the style of the previous novels.

I read Clariel, a kind of prequel that depicted the life of Chlorr of the Mask as a young girl, a year or so ago. I really did enjoy it, but it wasn’t as good as the original novels. Hopefully Goldenhand lives up to its predecessors. I’m so excited to delve back into this world again and see what’s next in store for characters like Lirael, Nicholas and Sam (who, along with Mogget, just pipped everyone else to the post as my favourite character in the novels), as well as maybe Sabriel and Touchstone. The blurb doesn’t mention the latter two, but seeing as Lirael is still the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, Sabriel at least must still be alive.

Synopsis for Goldenhand: 

Lirael is no longer a shy Second Assistant Librarian. She is the Abhorsen-in-Waiting, with dead creatures to battle and Free Magic entities to bind. She’s also a Remembrancer, and wielder of the Dark Mirror. When Lirael finds Nicholas Sayre lying unconscious after being attacked by a hideous Free Magic creature, she uses her powers to save him. But Nicholas is deeply tainted with Free magic and Lirael must seek help for him at her childhood home, the Clayr’s Glacier. But even as she returns to the Clayr, a messenger is trying to reach Lirael with a dire warning from her long-dead mother, Arielle, about the Witch with No Face. But who is the Witch, and what is she planning? Once more a great danger threatens the Old Kingdom, and it must be forestalled not only in the living world, but also in the cold, remorseless river of Death.

Are you excited for the fifth installment in the Old Kingdom series? And if not, why aren’t you?! Let me know in the comments below!

Waiting On Wednesday: Heartland by Lucy Hounsom

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

I’ve been a little behind with Waiting on Wednesday so, after a couple of hectic weeks, its nice to get back to it again.

This week, I’m waiting on the second novel in The Worldmaker Trilogy by Lucy Hounsom, Heartland. My first ever book review on this blog was for Starborn, the first novel in the trilogy (which I gave 3.5/5), and I was lucky enough to meet Hounsom and get a signed copy of the novel at an event at my university, where Hounsom also studied. Whilst the first book didn’t blow me away, I found that there was a lot Hounsom could easily improve on, and I still enjoyed it, so I’m excited to see if she’s made the necessary improvements in Heartland. Check out the review for Starborn here.

UK Release Date: 30th June 2016 (tomorrow!)

Synopsis:

**SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST NOVEL**

Kyndra has saved and damned the people of Mariar. Her star-born powers healed a land in turmoil, but destroyed an ancient magic – which once concealed them from invaders. Now Kyndra must head into enemy territory to secure peace.

She finds the Sartyan Empire, unstable but as warlike as ever. It’s plagued by dissident factions, yet its emperor still has the strength to crush her homeland. The Khronostians, assassins who dance through time, could help Kyndra; or they might be her undoing. And deep within the desert, Char Lesko struggles to control his own emerging powers. He’s been raised by a mercenary whose secrets could change everything – including the future and the past.

But when Kyndra and Char meet, will their goals align? Kyndra must harness the full glory of the stars and Char has to channel his rage, or two continents will be lost.

**SPOILERS OVER**

When Lucy Hounsom attended the event at my uni, she actually read an exclusive extract from Heartland and, from what I can remember, the writing style sounded as though it had improved since Starborn. I liked the introduction of this new character called Char and I’m excited to see what he brings to the story.

I also think the covers for The Worldmaker Trilogy are really well put together and they’re not cheesy, like some fantasy book covers can be. I’m not the most avid fantasy fan – I have to be in the mood for fantasy and I’m not really a fan of proper high fantasy – but I think Hounsom’s trilogy has the ability to appeal to a wider audience, like with A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones), due to it not neglecting the human aspect for over-complicated magic systems and hundreds of mythical races.

So, if you haven’t read Starborn, I do recommend it as a slightly different fantasy novel although, like I said, there are things that need to be improved. Hopefully the second novel will have done just that and won’t fall prey to the curse that the middle book in a trilogy usually suffers from.

Have you read Starborn? What did you think? Are you looking forward to Heartland? Let me know in the comments!

Waiting On Wednesday: The Fireman by Joe Hill

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

This week I’m looking forward to Joe Hill’s apocalyptic (no surprise there) novel The Fireman.

UK Release date: 7th June 2016

Synopsis: Nobody knew where the virus came from.
FOX News said it had been set loose by ISIS, using spores that had been invented by the Russians in the 1980s.
MSNBC said sources indicated it might’ve been created by engineers at Halliburton and stolen by culty Christian types fixated on the Book of Revelation.
CNN reported both sides.
While every TV station debated the cause, the world burnt.

Pregnant school nurse, HARPER GRAYSON, had seen lots of people burn on TV, but the first person she saw burn for real was in the playground behind the school.
With the epic scope of THE PASSAGE and the emotional impact of THE ROAD, this is one woman’s story of survival at the end of the world.

I stumbled across this book whilst clicking link upon link in the ‘Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought’ section on Amazon. Obviously, the apocalyptic aspect initially caught my eye, but what intrigued me more was the protagonist being pregnant. I’ve always wondered what it must be like for a pregnant woman, or a woman with a newborn, in the apocalypse. If you’re pregnant, you can’t run far or fast and you could pop at any moment. If you have a newborn child, what if silence is imperative for survival? How do you keep a baby quiet? Of course, a man could also find themselves in the latter situation, but the former is a strictly female predicament.

To have a pregnant woman not as a secondary character, but as the protagonist, is unique to me and I’m really excited to see how Hill handles this. I’m also very much excited to learn about this viral outbreak that causes spontaneous combustion. I’ve always been interested in spontaneous combustion ever since I watched the BBC’s adaptation of Dickens’ Bleak House and that drunk man bursts into flames for no apparent reason. Cue me googling ‘spontaneous combustion’ multiple times over the years. However, scientists still have no clue what causes it. How on earth does someone just miraculously catch fire? I’m intrigued to see what Hill does with this notion.

Have you read The Fireman? I know it’s already out in America. What did you think? What books are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!

Waiting On Wednesday : True Born by L.E. Sterling

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Breaking the Spine where you showcase which books you’re looking forward to being released.

This week I’m excited for L.E. Sterling’s first novel in a new YA trilogy called True Born.

UK Release date: June 13th 2016

Synopsis: Plague has taken half the population, and the remaining Lasters wait without hope for their genes to self-destruct. Only the elite Upper Circle can afford potentially life-prolonging Splicer treatments. For seventeen-year old identical twins Lucy and Margot Fox, though, the tests never end – yet no one seems to be ready to reveal what they are. When Margot disappears, a desperate Lucy has no choice but to put her faith in the Plague-resistant True Borns, led by the charismatic Nolan Storm and the beautiful but deadly Jared Price. As Lucy and the True Borns set out to rescue her sister, they stumble upon a vast conspiracy stretching from Dominion’s street preachers to shady Russian tycoons. But why target the Fox sisters? As they say in Dominion, it’s in the blood.

Clearly a dystopian/post-apocalyptic novel, I’m hoping that this debut steers clear of the dystopian tropes that a lot of YA novels have fallen into recently after the success of series like The Hunger Games and Divergent. Because of the mad scramble to get something published in this genre, I’ve been turning to Adult dystopian novels to get my fix because they have the maturity and originality that I think a lot of their YA counterparts have been lacking.

However, True Born has a promising premise and a really gorgeous cover. I’m hoping this novel lives up to my expectations and doesn’t fall into the typical trope of: teenage girl joins a rebellion to overthrow corrupt government.

What books are you waiting on to be released? Are there any YA dystopian novels that you think successfully avoid the tropes and cliches? Let me know in the comments!