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: 384
The Fated Sky continued the grand sweep of alternate history begun in The Calculating Stars. It is 1961, and the International Aerospace Coalition has established a colony on the moon. Elma York, the noted Lady Astronaut, is working on rotation, flying shuttles on the moon and returning regularly to Earth.But humanity must get a foothold on Mars. The first exploratory mission is being planned, and none of the women astronauts is on the crew list. The international Aerospace Coalition has grave reservations about sending their "Lady Astronauts: on such a dangerous mission. The problem with that is the need for midjourney navigation calculations. The new electronic computation machines are not reliable and not easily programmed. It might be okay for a backup, but there will have to be a human computer on board. And all the computers are women.
The Ember Blade (The Darkwater Legacy #1) by Chris Wooding Published by Gollancz on May 2, 2019
Pages: 832
A land under occupation. A legendary sword. A young man’s journey to find his destiny.
Aren has lived by the rules all his life. He’s never questioned it; that’s just the way things are. But then his father is executed for treason, and he and his best friend Cade are thrown into a prison mine, doomed to work until they drop. Unless they can somehow break free . . .
But what lies beyond the prison walls is more terrifying still. Rescued by a man who hates him yet is oath-bound to protect him, pursued by inhuman forces, Aren slowly accepts that everything he knew about his world was a lie. The rules are not there to protect him, or his people, but to enslave them. A revolution is brewing, and Aren is being drawn into it, whether he likes it or not.
The key to the revolution is the Ember Blade. The sword of kings, the Excalibur of his people. Only with the Ember Blade in hand can their people be inspired to rise up . . . but it’s locked in an impenetrable vault in the most heavily guarded fortress in the land. All they have to do now is steal it. . .
Designed to return to classic fantasy adventures and values, from a modern perspective, this is a fast-moving coming-of-age trilogy featuring a strong cast of diverse characters, brilliant set-pieces and a powerful character and plot driven story.
The Winter Road by Adrian Selby Also by this author: Snakewood
Published by Orbit on November 13, 2018
Pages: 496
A gritty and epic adventure to appeal to fans of Mark Lawrence, Andrzej Sapkowski and Joe Abercrombie – The Winter Road is a fantasy novel which remembers that battles leave all kinds of scars.
The greatest empire of them all began with a road.
The Circle – a thousand miles of perilous forests and warring clans. No one has ever tamed such treacherous territory before, but ex-soldier Teyr Amondsen, veteran of a hundred battles, is determined to try.
With a merchant caravan protected by a crew of skilled mercenaries, Amondsen embarks on a dangerous mission to forge a road across the untamed wilderness that was once her home. But a warlord rises in the wilds of the Circle, uniting its clans and terrorising its people. Teyr’s battles may not be over yet . . .
All roads lead back to war.
Someone Like Me by M.R. Carey Also by this author: The Girl With All the Gifts, Fellside
Published by Orbit on November 8, 2018
Pages: 500
SHE LOOKS LIKE ME. SHE SOUNDS LIKE ME. NOW SHE'S TRYING TO TAKE MY PLACE.
Liz Kendall wouldn't hurt a fly. She's a gentle woman devoted to bringing up her kids in the right way, no matter how hard times get.
But there's another side to Liz---one which is dark and malicious. A version of her who will do anything to get her way, no matter how extreme or violent.
And when this other side of her takes control, the consequences are devastating.
The only way Liz can save herself and her family is if she can find out where this new alter-ego has come from, and how she can stop it.
Record of a Spaceborn Few (Wayfarers, #3) by Becky Chambers Also by this author: The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, A Closed and Common Orbit
Published by Harper Voyager on July 24, 2018
Pages: 368
Return to the sprawling universe of the Galactic Commons, as humans, artificial intelligence, aliens, and some beings yet undiscovered explore what it means to be a community in this exciting third adventure in the acclaimed and multi-award-nominated science fiction Wayfarers series, brimming with heartwarming characters and dazzling space adventure.
Hundreds of years ago, the last humans on Earth boarded the Exodus Fleet in search of a new home among the stars. After centuries spent wandering empty space, their descendants were eventually accepted by the well-established species that govern the Milky Way.
But that was long ago. Today, the Exodus Fleet is a living relic, the birthplace of many, yet a place few outsiders have ever visited. While the Exodans take great pride in their original community and traditions, their culture has been influenced by others beyond their bulkheads. As many Exodans leave for alien cities or terrestrial colonies, those who remain are left to ponder their own lives and futures: What is the purpose of a ship that has reached its destination? Why remain in space when there are habitable worlds available to live? What is the price of sustaining their carefully balanced way of life—and is it worth saving at all?
A young apprentice, a lifelong spacer with young children, a planet-raised traveler, an alien academic, a caretaker for the dead, and an Archivist whose mission is to ensure no one’s story is forgotten, wrestle with these profound universal questions. The answers may seem small on the galactic scale, but to these individuals, it could mean everything.
Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko, Julia Meitov Hersey Published by Harper Voyager on November 13, 2018
Pages: 416
The definitive English language translation of the internationally bestselling Russian novel—a brilliant dark fantasy with "the potential to be a modern classic" (Lev Grossman), combining psychological suspense, enchantment, and terror that makes us consider human existence in a fresh and provocative way.
Our life is brief . . .
While vacationing at the beach with her mother, Sasha Samokhina meets the mysterious Farit Kozhennikov under the most peculiar circumstances. The teenage girl is powerless to refuse when this strange and unusual man with an air of the sinister directs her to perform a task with potentially scandalous consequences. He rewards her effort with a strange golden coin.
As the days progress, Sasha carries out other acts for which she receives more coins from Kozhennikov. As summer ends, her domineering mentor directs her to move to a remote village and use her gold to enter the Institute of Special Technologies. Though she does not want to go to this unknown town or school, she also feels it’s the only place she should be. Against her mother’s wishes, Sasha leaves behind all that is familiar and begins her education.
As she quickly discovers, the institute’s "special technologies" are unlike anything she has ever encountered. The books are impossible to read, the lessons obscure to the point of maddening, and the work refuses memorization. Using terror and coercion to keep the students in line, the school does not punish them for their transgressions and failures; instead, their families pay a terrible price. Yet despite her fear, Sasha undergoes changes that defy the dictates of matter and time; experiences which are nothing she has ever dreamed of . . . and suddenly all she could ever want.
A complex blend of adventure, magic, science, and philosophy that probes the mysteries of existence, filtered through a distinct Russian sensibility, this astonishing work of speculative fiction—brilliantly translated by Julia Meitov Hersey—is reminiscent of modern classics such as Lev Grossman’s The Magicians, Max Barry’s Lexicon, and Katherine Arden’s The Bear and the Nightingale, but will transport them to a place far beyond those fantastical worlds.
Skyward (Skyward, #1) by Brandon Sanderson Also by this author: Steelheart, Words of Radiance
Published by Delacorte Press on November 6, 2018
Pages: 510
Spensa's world has been under attack for decades. Now pilots are the heroes of what's left of the human race, and becoming one has always been Spensa's dream. Since she was a little girl, she has imagined soaring skyward and proving her bravery. But her fate is intertwined with that of her father's—a pilot himself who was killed years ago when he abruptly deserted his team, leaving Spensa the daughter of a coward, her chances of attending Flight School slim to none.
No one will let Spensa forget what her father did, yet fate works in mysterious ways. Flight school might be a long shot, but she is determined to fly. And an accidental discovery in a long-forgotten cavern might just provide her with a way to claim the stars.
Age of Assassins (The Wounded Kingdom, #1) by R.J. Barker Published by Orbit on August 1, 2017
Pages: 408
To catch an assassin, use an assassin...
Girton Club-foot, apprentice to the land's best assassin, still has much to learn about the art of taking lives. But his latest mission tasks him and his master with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone, or many someones, is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton and his master to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince's murder.
In a kingdom on the brink of civil war and a castle thick with lies Girton finds friends he never expected, responsibilities he never wanted, and a conspiracy that could destroy an entire kingdom.
Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive, #3) by Brandon Sanderson Also by this author: Steelheart, Words of Radiance
Published by Tor Books on November 14, 2017
Pages: 1248
In Oathbringer, the third volume of the New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive, humanity faces a new Desolation with the return of the Voidbringers, a foe with numbers as great as their thirst for vengeance.
Dalinar Kholin's Alethi armies won a fleeting victory at a terrible cost: The enemy Parshendi summoned the violent Everstorm, which now sweeps the world with destruction, and in its passing awakens the once peaceful and subservient parshmen to the horror of their millennia-long enslavement by humans. While on a desperate flight to warn his family of the threat, Kaladin Stormblessed must come to grips with the fact that the newly kindled anger of the parshmen may be wholly justified.
Nestled in the mountains high above the storms, in the tower city of Urithiru, Shallan Davar investigates the wonders of the ancient stronghold of the Knights Radiant and unearths dark secrets lurking in its depths. And Dalinar realizes that his holy mission to unite his homeland of Alethkar was too narrow in scope. Unless all the nations of Roshar can put aside Dalinar's blood-soaked past and stand together--and unless Dalinar himself can confront that past--even the restoration of the Knights Radiant will not prevent the end of civilization.
The City of Brass (The Daevabad Trilogy, #1) by S.A. Chakraborty Published by Harper Voyager on November 14, 2017
Pages: 533
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...
I’m the same with Skyward… ?
Hope you get to read them soon. Someone Like Me also look quite promising!
One of these days! I need a secret time pausing machine that I can enter to get more reading done
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
I’d start with City of Brass (full disclosure: I’m rereading it right now, and it’s even better second time around). Spaceborn Few is good, but even quieter / less urgent than the first two books; an intriguing world-building exercise, but I found it harder to care about what was going on.
I shall be reading Someone Like Me shortly (with misgivings; I hated Fellside, but I love his Hungry Plague books) and I’ll give Age of Assassins another go (it was a DNF for me last year).
The others… I’ll wait and let you tell me if I should read them 😉 I’ve heard good things about Vita Nostra, but I’m burned out on magical school stories after Lev Grossman.
imyril recently posted…A Little Bit More Subjective Chaos: 2019
Oh, glad to hear that City of Brass is so good
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
Wayfayers #3 is out? Oh dear, and I haven’t read #2 yet!
Thanks for sharing your list.
Yup! And I’ve had a copy since before it was released (SHAME!). I loved the first two, so no real ideas on why I haven’t read it yet
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
A great list! Record of a Spaceborn Few is also on my list as well as Someone Like Me – and I also want to get hold of the Lady Astronaut series…
The first book in the Lady Astronaut series was really good!
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
If only we all had unlimited time to read, eh?
This is my Top Ten Tuesday post.
Exactly!!
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
City of Brass was on my list this week too!
Jo recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday #195
Hopefully one of these days I’ll get to it! I’ve heard such good things
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
These books sound amazing! Hope you get to read them all in 2019.
Marti recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Books I meant to Read in 2018 But Didn’t Get to
Me too! 😀
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
Spaceborn few was great, like all of Becky Chambers books, The Ember Blade looks really good, I have been looking for a new fantasy series to get stuck into.
I loved her first two books, no idea why I haven’t read Spaceborn yet.
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
I still have The Fated Sky to get to as well! Whhhhyyyyyy?? Idk, because I loved the first one so much you’d have thought I’d jump into the sequel but nope! Maybe because I’m used to waiting a year between books it just feels natural to pause? Lol
Lisa @ waytoofantasy recently posted…Book Review: Smoke and Summons by Charlie N. Holmberg
I know! I’m the same with Fated Sky, no idea why I havent read it yet. I’ll go with the “feels natural to pause” excuse too 🙂
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
I only read the last two of yours and really enjoyed them!
Those are two I’ve heard mainly great things about. One of these days I plan to find out for myself!!
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
I have The Ember Blade in my reading queue and hope to start it soon, since it came well-recommended… We’ll see!
And I totally LOVE your choice of animated GIF!!!! 😀
Maddalena@spaceandsorcery recently posted…PLANETARY AWARDS: Nominations for the best of 2018
Hope you enjoy! I’ve heard really good things about it and hope to eventually find the time for it
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
Ha love that Shame gif lol. The Winter Road looks awesome. And I loved Record of a Spaceborn Few. I get so excited when I see it on lists haha.
Greg recently posted…Top Ten Books I Meant To Read in 2018 But Didn’t
Ha! I couldn’t resist the gif, it’s pretty much what I felt like this list was about 😉
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
The Fated Sky is on my list this week too. I loved the first book so much, and just haven’t made #2 a priority… so SHAME on me. I liked Someone Like Me, but wouldn’t necessarily say it needs to be a top priority. I really do need to read the Wayfarers books — I have the first two, and still haven’t started them. Looks like you have some great reading ahead!
Lisa @ Bookshelf Fantasies recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Meant to Read In 2018 but Didn’t Get To
I have heard mixed things about Someone Like Me, which is probably why that one is on this list instead of on my Read list. But I’m the same with Fated Sky. No idea why I didnt read that one since I enjoyed the first so much
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
Yeah – shame on me too. I have so many unread books – a few on this list even. (hangs head in shame).
Lynn 😀
Ha ha ,,, I have so, so, so many unread books. This is just a small glimpse of the giant iceburg that is my shame list.
Lisa (@TenaciousReader) recently posted…Top Ten Tuesday – 2018 Shame List (or Books I mean to read last year but didn’t)
Vita Nostra I missed too, to my regret. A lot of these are worth reading though – Skyward, Age of Assassins, Spaceborn Few, The Winter Road.
‘Record of a Spaceborn Few’ is wonderful! I hope you get to read it soon! I ended up going back to reread the first two books in the series once I finished it because it really added a lot to the history and backstory of the universe.
The City of Brass is most definitely on the top of my to-read list! Oh man, so many good books here…
I also meant to get to A Record of a Spaceborn Few and City of Brass.
I hope you enjoy Skyward when you get around to it 🙂
Nadine recently posted…City of Blades (The Divine Cities #2) – Robert Jackson Bennett
Vita Nostra sounds awesome – I hope you like it! 🙂
Check out my TTT and my ARC review of Enchantée by Gita Trelease
I definitely want to read skyward and age of assassins too!
I would definitely go for one of the Brandon Sanderson ones, first! But, I’ve never actually read anything by him. I am mostly picking that first because I’m about to read my first book by him soon! Haha. Really though, I hope you love these books when you get to them!