The Terror of Knowing

Another Tuesday, another Top Ten Tuesday. For those who don’t know (though where have you been if you don’t?), Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by the book bloggers and list lovers, The Broke and the Bookish, and each week they post a topic for bloggers to respond to. This week’s theme is Top Ten Books I’ve Recently Added To My TBR, and just so this is even vaguely interesting for other people that aren’t me, I’m taking a rather loose definition of the word “recent” and picking the ones I’m most excited to read. Publishers and book reviewers alike have been knocking it out of the park lately with quick, snippy synopses that make me add a book to my wish list in a mere sentence. Or maybe that says more about my susceptibility…

10. The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield (x) | 9. The Rook by Daniel O’Malley (x) | 8. Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan (x)

Coming in at number 10 is The Thirteenth Tale. Described as a Gothic suspense novel, I’ve been meaning to pick up a lot more in that genre after a certain film of last year (*cough*Crimson Peak*cough*) reminded me how much I like the Gothic. This sounds like an entirely different thing to the original Gothic genre I loved studying at university but hopefully Setterfield’s book will live up to that suspenseful tone and excellent synopsis it has been granted. I’m not sure how, when, or why The Rook sneaked onto my TBR list recently (I suspect Booktube probably did something) but anything that includes secret organisations and an opening as intriguing as this “The body you are wearing used to be mine” deserves to be read. Sword and Verse promises to be a young-adult fantasy in which literacy is a capital offense and only the most elite in society are permitted to learn the sacred language of the gods – I’m sold on that alone.

7. A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls  (x) | 6. Passenger by Alexandra Bracken (x) | 5. These Vicious Masks by Tarun Shanker (x)

Take a moment to appreciate the beauty of those three covers above. Now onto the substance behind them… A Tyranny of Petticoats is an edited anthology which, as its subtitle suggests, tells tales of generally badass females. How could you say no? If any more enticement is required, there’s this excerpt from the synopsis: “They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They’re making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.” Moving onto number 6, I’m hesitant about Alexandra Bracken since I’ve heard her writing style is a rather hit-or-miss affair and I have yet to have that pleasure, but this book involves time travel and sea travel so… my fingers are crossed for pirates, to be honest. As for These Vicious Masks, well, when a synopsis on Goodreads opens with this: “Jane Austen meets X-­Men in this gripping and adventure-­filled paranormal romance set in Victorian London”, I’m going to throw my money at it without knowing anything else. Even if the writing proves to be terrible, or the characters unbearable, the way the concept of this is marketed is enough to persuade me it will be a fun romp, if nothing else.

4. Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith (x) | 3. A Gathering of Shadows by V.E. Schwab (x)

I always insisted I don’t like crime books much – but that is certainly something Robert Galbraith aka JK Rowling seems to be demolishing, left right and centre. It’s a testament to how much I admire Rowling’s ability to craft characters, with all their intricacies and interconnectedness, that I am eagerly anticipating reading Career of Evil, the third book in her Cormoran Strike series. Another sequel of very different substance, VE Schwab’s A Darker Shade of Magic was a pleasantly surprising book that turned out to be more than just a fun fantasy adventure, so I have high hopes for its sequel and I cannot wait to get my hands on A Gathering of Shadows when it’s released.

2. The Dark Days Club by Alison Goodman (x) | 1. Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray (x)

Alison Goodman’s soon-to-be-released novel is marketed as “a Regency adventure starring a stylish and intrepid demon-hunter!” (exclamation mark necessary, I’m sure), I mean… I don’t know many more times I can say ‘sign me up’ before it becomes redundant. Basically I’m a sucker for Regency meets ridiculousness, so if this has either of those things, I’m bound to love it. I have high hopes. Likewise, I have high hopes for Claudia Gray’s sequel Ten Thousand Skies Above You, having adored the first book in the Firebird series when I read it earlier this month. Initially added to my TBR purely because of the beautiful covers (yes, I’m that shallow), Gray’s first A Thousand Pieces of You proved to be a young-adult time-travel fantasy/sci-fi novel that I could really get on board with. The time travel device allowed for a variety of settings, tones, and characters (despite the fact they were “the same people” just in different iterations) which, for me, was the strength of the entire premise. Also I loved the Russian storyline – I’m a sucker for the ‘will they won’t they’ of entitled princess and patriotic guardsman, apparently. But I’m curious to see where this one will take the characters, Paris, it seems, judging by the cover, and that can only mean good things.

So there we have it… there was my rather gushing and wordy Top Ten Tuesday for this week. How about you – read any of the books on my list? Would you recommend them? Or are you inspired to add any of the books mentioned above to your own TBRs now? (If so, I can only apologise for making your TBR list even longer!)