Stacking the Shelves – September 1, 2018

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly feature all about sharing your good luck in book acquisitions! So here’s what came my way since my last post!

It’s been another couple of great weeks for book additions!

Received for Review

 

 

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I really enjoyed the first in this series, looking forward to finding out what’s next for the lady astronauts! Thanks to Tor for the review copy!

The Fated Sky (Lady Astronaut, #2) by Mary Robinette Kowal
Also by this author: Ghost Talkers, Shades of Milk and Honey
Published by Tor Books on August 21, 2018
Pages: 320

   

Continuing the grand sweep of alternate history laid out in The Calculating Stars, The Fated Sky looks forward to 1961, when mankind is well-established on the moon and looking forward to its next step: journeying to, and eventually colonizing, Mars.

Of course the noted Lady Astronaut Elma York would like to go, but could the International Aerospace Coalition ever stand the thought of putting a woman on such a potentially dangerous mission? Could Elma knowingly take the place of other astronauts who have been overlooked because of their race? And could she really leave behind her husband and the chance to start a family? This gripping look at the real conflicts behind a fantastical space race will put a new spin on our visions of what might have been.

 

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I feel like its been a little while since I’ve read a good horror book. This one sounds like it could be a good return. My thanks again to Tor!

The Chrysalis by Brendan Deneen
Published by Tor Books on September 4, 2018
Pages: 304

   

"Creepy, powerful, wonderfully twisted."--New York Times bestselling author Jonathan MaberrySpawned by Brendan Deneen’s own experiences relocating to a New Jersey suburb with his young family, The Chrysalis combines chills, thrills, and a literal monster in the basement with commentary on love, marriage, and impending parenthood.

Welcome to the dark side of suburbia.

Barely employed millennials Tom and Jenny Decker have to grow up fast when they lose their cheap Manhattan apartment. Leaving “the city” is hard, but the blow is softened when they stumble upon a surprisingly affordable house in the suburbs.

For Tom, the bills, the mortgage, and Jenny's unexpected pregnancy add up to terror. He's not ready for this kind of responsibility.

Then he finds the thing in the basement. It makes him feel like a winner even as it scrambles his senses. A new job soon has him raking in the big bucks—enough that Jenny can start making her entrepreneurial dreams come true.

The Deckers' dream home conceals more than one deadly secret. As Tom's obsession with the basement grows, Jenny realizes that to save her family, she must expose everything. Before it destroys them all.

No one ever really wants to grow up…but sometimes behaving like an adult is the only way to survive.

 

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This was a surprise arrival that sounds like it could be a fun change of pace. Many thanks to Skyhorse and Wunderkind for sending this my way.

The Rule of One (The Rule of One #1) by Ashley Saunders, Leslie Saunders
Published by Skyscape on October 1, 2018
Pages: 268

   

In their world, telling the truth has become the most dangerous crime of all.

In the near-future United States, a one-child policy is ruthlessly enforced. Everyone follows the Rule of One. But Ava Goodwin, daughter of the head of the Texas Family Planning Division, has a secret—one her mother died to keep and her father has helped to hide for her entire life.

She has an identical twin sister, Mira.

For eighteen years Ava and Mira have lived as one, trading places day after day, maintaining an interchangeable existence down to the most telling detail. But when their charade is exposed, their worst nightmare begins. Now they must leave behind the father they love and fight for their lives.

Branded as traitors, hunted as fugitives, and pushed to discover just how far they’ll go in order to stay alive, Ava and Mira rush headlong into a terrifying unknown.

 

 

 

 

 

Harper Voyager has been very good to me! I am very grateful for to them for the following three books!

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This sounds like a really interesting, and potentially thought provoking read.

A Study in Honor by Claire O'Dell, Beth Bernobich
Published by Harper Voyager on July 31, 2018
Pages: 304

   

Dr. Janet Watson knows firsthand the horrifying cost of a divided nation. While treating broken soldiers on the battlefields of the New Civil War, a sniper’s bullet shattered her arm and ended her career. Honorably discharged and struggling with the semi-functional mechanical arm that replaced the limb she lost, she returns to the nation’s capital, a bleak, edgy city in the throes of a fraught presidential election. Homeless and jobless, Watson is uncertain of the future when she meets another black and queer woman, Sara Holmes, a mysterious yet playfully challenging covert agent who offers the doctor a place to stay.

Watson’s readjustment to civilian life is complicated by the infuriating antics of her strange new roommate. But the tensions between them dissolve when Watson discovers that soldiers from the New Civil War have begun dying one by one—and that the deaths may be the tip of something far more dangerous, involving the pharmaceutical industry and even the looming election. Joining forces, Watson and Holmes embark on a thrilling investigation to solve the mystery—and secure justice for these fallen soldiers.

 

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OK, I need to start by mentioning that pictures don’t capture how amazing this cover is! (It has some slight metallic undertones that really pick up the light, but don’t photograph well). This is the first in a new series by Salvatore (set in his existing world), and I’m hoping to give it a shot!

Timeless by R.A. Salvatore
Published by Harper Voyager on September 4, 2018
Pages: 400

   

At long last, New York Times bestselling author R. A. Salvatore returns with one of fantasy's most beloved and enduring icons, the dark elf Drizzt Do'Urden, in an all-new trilogy full of swordplay, danger, and imaginative thrills,

Centuries ago, in the city of Menzoberranzan, the City of Spiders, the City of Drow, nestled deep in the unmerciful Underdark of Toril, a young weapon master earned a reputation far above his station or that of his poor house.

The greater nobles watched him, and one matron, in particular, decided to take him as her own. She connived with rival great houses to secure her prize, but that prize was caught for her by another, who came to quite enjoy the weapon master.

This was the beginning of the friendship between Zaknafein and Jarlaxle, and the coupling of Matron Malice and the weapon master who would sire Drizzt Do’Urden.

R. A. Salvatore reveals the Underdark anew through the eyes of Zaknafein and Jarlaxle—an introduction to the darkness that offers a fresh view of the opportunities to be found in the shadows and an intriguing prelude to the intriguing escapes that lie ahead in the modern-day Forgotten Realms. Here, a father and his son are reunited and embark on adventures that parallel the trials of centuries long past as the friends of old are joined by Drizzt, Hero of the North, trained by Grandmaster Kane in the ways of the monk.

But the scourge of the dangerous Lolth’s ambitions remain, and demons have been foisted on the unwitting of the surface. The resulting chaos and war will prove to be the greatest challenge for all three.

 

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This is another really cool cover! It’s the third in a series that I haven’t started, but it is a series I would like to read, so maybe this will be motivation.

Roar of Sky by Beth Cato
Published by Harper Voyager on October 23, 2018
Pages: 448

   

In this stunning conclusion to the acclaimed Blood of Earth trilogy—a thrilling alternate history laced with earth magic, fantastic creatures, and steampunk elements—the young geomancer Ingrid must find a way to use her extraordinary abilities to save her world from the woman hell-bent on engineering a war that would rip it to pieces.

Thanks to her geomantic magic, Ingrid has successfully eluded Ambassador Blum, the evil genius behind the plan to achieve world domination for the United Pacific. But using her powers has taken its toll: Ingrid’s body has been left severely weakened, and once again she is on the run with her friends Cy and Fenris.

Hoping to learn more about her magical roots and the strength her bloodline carries, Ingrid makes her way across the Pacific to Hawaii, home to the ancient earth goddess Madame Pele. What she discovers in this paradise is not at all what she expects—but perhaps exactly what she needs to find the strength to face Blum.

But Ambassador Blum comes from the same world of old magic. She is a kitsune with near-mythic power. And if Ingrid cannot defeat her once and for all, she knows Blum will use that power to take the lives of everyone she holds dear before igniting a war that will bring the entire world to its knees.

 

 
I was sent a pitch for this, and despite being a bit backlogged with other books, decided I was in the perfect mood for a romance fantasy (even though I don’t read them very often). Read it in a couple of days and will run a review closer to publication. (I did enjoy it and am glad I decided to accept). Many thanks to Ace for the review copy!

Phoenix Unbound (Fallen Empire, #1) by Grace Draven
Also by this author: Phoenix Unbound
Published by Ace Books on September 25, 2018

   

A woman with power over fire and illusion and an enslaved son of a chieftain battle a corrupt empire in this powerful and deeply emotional romantic fantasy from the USA Today bestselling author of Radiance.

Every year, each village is required to send a young woman to the Empire's capital--her fate to be burned alive for the entertainment of the masses. For the last five years, one small village's tithe has been the same woman. Gilene's sacrifice protects all the other young women of her village, and her secret to staying alive lies with the magic only she possesses.

But this year is different.

Azarion, the Empire's most famous gladiator, has somehow seen through her illusion--and is set on blackmailing Gilene into using her abilities to help him escape his life of slavery. And unknown to Gilene, he also wants to reclaim the birthright of his clan.

To protect her family and village, she will risk everything to return to the Empire--and burn once more.

 

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