Welcome to another Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by Jana of That Artsy Reading Girl! This is a weekly fun discussion where we’re given a topic to discuss ten of whatever (usually) bookish things fits that list for that week.
This week’s topic focuses on books we want to read by authors we’ve never read from before. Well, that should be quite an easy topic considering I have shelves and shelves full of books by new to me authors. Here’s a list of at least some of them:
Click on a cover to go to its Goodreads page!
From World Fantasy Award-winning author Tasha Suri comes The Isle in the Silver Sea, a heart-shattering romantasy of sapphic longing, medieval folklore and a love that spans the centuries.
In a Britain fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same tale retold over hundreds of lifetimes.
Simran is a witch of the woods. Vina is a knight of the Queen’s court. When the two women begin to fall for each other, how can they surrender to their desires, when to give in is to destroy each other?
As they seek a way to break the cycle, a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs. To survive, the two will need to write a story stronger than the one that fate has given to them.
But what tale is stronger than The Knight and the Witch?
I had been eyeing this book for a while whenever I would see it in store, so I finally grabbed myself a copy, but the synopsis itself sounds very intriguing. Who doesn’t love star-crossed lovers or fate doomed lovers? It sounds heartbreaking and like there’s a plenty of yearning to be had, so I’m excited to give this one a go when I get to it.
From the USA Today bestselling author of The Book Eaters comes The Girl with a Thousand Faces, a Gothic tale set in a historical Hong Kong that meshes ancient myths and local legends into a haunting story of ghosts, grief, and women who will not forgive.
When Mercy Chan washes up on the shores of Hong Kong with no family, no money, and no memories, the only refuge she finds is the infamous, ghost-infested slum of Kowloon Walled City. Since then, she has rebuilt her life, working for the local triad as a ghost talker and dealing with the angry and bitter spirits who haunt the district. The filthy gutters and cramped alleyways of Kowloon have become her home.
But the past Mercy can’t remember isn’t done with her. An unusually powerful ghost has infested Kowloon’s waterways, drowning innocents and threatening the district. It claims to know Mercy—and secrets from her past that are best left forgotten.
As Mercy is drawn into a deadly cat-and-mouse game with this malignant spirit, she begins to realize that the monster she fights within these walls may well be one of her own making.
This book sounds haunting, mystical, and honestly fun. I’ve watched people play games based in Kowloon City and they’re also so spooky and incredibly well done, so I’m intrigued to see how it translates into book form and how Dean spins her own take on a ghostly tale.
Jack Tamerlaine hasn’t set foot on Cadence in ten long years, content to study music at the mainland university. But when young girls start disappearing from the isle, Jack is summoned home to help find them. Enchantments run deep on Cadence: gossip is carried by the wind; plaid shawls can be as strong as armor, and the smallest cut of a knife can instil fathomless fear. The capricious spirits that rule the isle by fire, water, earth, and wind find mirth in the lives of the humans who call the land home. Adaira, heiress of the east and Jack’s childhood enemy, knows the spirits only answer to a bard’s music, and she hopes Jack can draw them forth by song, enticing them to return the missing girls.
As Jack and Adaira reluctantly work together, they find they make better allies than rivals as their partnership turns into something more. But with each passing song, it becomes apparent the trouble with the spirits is far more sinister than they first expected, and an older, darker secret about Cadence lurks beneath the surface, threatening to undo them all.
I’ve heard such amazing things about Ross’s writing style for such a long time, and this particular duology is also one that I’ve heard some amazing things about. I think that her writing style (without having read it) will work for me, and I’m excited to check this book out for myself and see how I like it.
The first book in the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and woven into a tale of celestial prophecies, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.
A god will return
When the earth and sky converge
Under the black sun
In the holy city of Tova, the winter solstice is usually a time for celebration and renewal, but this year it coincides with a solar eclipse, a rare celestial event proscribed by the Sun Priest as an unbalancing of the world.
Meanwhile, a ship launches from a distant city bound for Tova and set to arrive on the solstice. The captain of the ship, Xiala, is a disgraced Teek whose song can calm the waters around her as easily as it can warp a man’s mind. Her ship carries one passenger. Described as harmless, the passenger, Serapio, is a young man, blind, scarred, and cloaked in destiny. As Xiala well knows, when a man is described as harmless, he usually ends up being a villain.
This book has been on at least one TBR, maybe two, this year alone. I really want to get to it, I just haven’t found the time to do so. I hope I haven’t hyped it up too much in my head or anything, but I believe that I’ll really enjoy this trilogy a lot.
Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she’s had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad—Emrys Myrddin’s epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him—is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin’s family announces a contest to redesign the late author’s estate, Effy feels certain it’s her destiny.
But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Héloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin’s legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them—and the truth may bring them both to ruin.
I’ve owned this book for a little while, but also I seem to keep getting her new releases and I haven’t read a single one of Reid’s books yet… I don’t even know if I like her writing style, yet I keep getting her books because they all sound like something I would like! I hope I do end up liking this story, it sounds mysterious and dark.
A Black father. A white father. Two murdered sons. A quest for vengeance.
Ike Randolph has been out of jail for fifteen years, with not so much as a speeding ticket in all that time. But a Black man with cops at the door knows to be afraid.
The last thing he expects to hear is that his son Isiah has been murdered, along with Isiah’s white husband, Derek. Ike had never fully accepted his son but is devastated by his loss.
Derek’s father Buddy Lee was almost as ashamed of Derek for being gay as Derek was ashamed his father was a criminal. Buddy Lee still has contacts in the underworld, though, and he wants to know who killed his boy.
Ike and Buddy Lee, two ex-cons with little else in common other than a criminal past and a love for their dead sons, band together in their desperate desire for revenge. In their quest to do better for their sons in death than they did in life, hardened men Ike and Buddy Lee will confront their own prejudices about their sons and each other, as they rain down vengeance upon those who hurt their boys.
But Rayna, this is a thriller book! You don’t read thrillers! Listen, I know, and I’ve said before in a previous Top Ten Tuesday that I’m generally not interested in reading them, however I’ve heard such amazing things about Cosby’s work so I picked this one up one day to give a try. It sounds like something that will be impactful in several ways, so I really want to give it a try. It doesn’t mean I’m turning into a thriller reader, but I’m willing to give it a chance.
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations. Yet he toils willingly, trusting that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon he discovers that humanity reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and lush wilds spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Inspired by a longing for justice, and driven by the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power. He will be forced to compete for his life and the very future of civilization against the best and most brutal of Society’s ruling class. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies . . . even if it means he has to become one of them to do so.
I haven’t read this yet, but my wife did earlier this year and enjoyed the first trilogy. I’m surprised I haven’t been more spoiled for this series considering how big the fanbase is, but I’m glad I haven’t, because I want to go in and enjoy as much as I can without all of the spoilers and all of that! I have read part of this long ago on audiobook, and I remember bits of it, but I never finished, so I’m not counting this as an author I’ve previously read. I just… never finished the book, but I’m still interested in it lol
A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north to study faerie folklore and discovers dark fae magic, friendship, and love in the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series.
Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people.
So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her.
But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart.
She was a faerie~ But really, as much as I struggle with cozy fantasy because of the lack of stakes, I do own this trilogy and want to give it a try. I feel like it would bring a really great vibe and one I might enjoy. Won’t know until I try, right?
A black sun is rising …
Young Corban watches enviously as boys become warriors under King Brenin’s rule, learning the art of war. He yearns to wield his sword and spear to protect his king’s realm. But that day will come all too soon. Only when he loses those he loves will he learn the true price of courage.
The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed shields in battle, the earth running dark with their heartsblood. Although the giant-clans were broken in ages past, their ruined fortresses still scar the land. But now giants stir anew, the very stones weep blood and there are sightings of giant wyrms. Those who can still read the signs see a threat far greater than the ancient wars. Sorrow will darken the world, as angels and demons make it their battlefield. Then there will be a war to end all wars.
High King Aquilus summons his fellow kings to council, seeking an alliance in this time of need. Some are skeptical, fighting their own border skirmishes against pirates and giants. But prophesy indicates darkness and light will demand two champions, the Black Sun and the Bright Star. They would be wise to seek out both, for if the Black Sun gains ascendancy, mankind’s hopes and dreams will fall to dust.
There’s several books by Gwynne that I want to read, but I’m not sure if there’s a series that I want to read more over the other or not. I hear great things about how he writes battle scenes in particular, and his draw and inspiration from Norse mythology, so a lot of that intrigues me. I’ll get to them someday!
After her mother’s mysterious death, a young woman is summoned to the floating city of Sky in order to claim a royal inheritance she never knew existed in the first book in this award-winning fantasy trilogy from the NYT bestselling author of The Fifth Season.
Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle with cousins she never knew she had. As she fights for her life, she draws ever closer to the secrets of her mother’s death and her family’s bloody history.
With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Yeine will learn how perilous it can be when love and hate – and gods and mortals – are bound inseparably together.
I’ve heard such interesting things about so many of Jemisin’s works that I really want to dive into them. Obviously her Broken Earth trilogy is probably her most well known as some of it (all of it?) is written in second-person perspective, a perspective that isn’t often utilized, but I also want to check out her Inheritance trilogy as well since I’ve heard people who have read both seem to enjoy this one more. Though it’s all a matter of perspective, so we’ll see when I get there myself.
And there we have it! A list of ten new to me authors and some of their books that I would like to read. Some books I’ve read partially before, but I’m still counting because I’ve never actually finished the work before nor picked up anything else by that author. I’m still interested in reading those books I’ve picked up previously, it just wasn’t the right time for me to continue on with those books.
Who are some authors on your lists? Feel free to share in the comments below!
Reader Rayna 
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