My wishlist is growing exponentially by the week! What I love most is that I'm not just adding new books, I'm constantly finding older books that somehow escaped my attention. I've decided to start posting the books that make it onto my wishlist each week.
Half a King (Shattered Sea #1) by Joe Abercrombie
“I swore an oath to avenge the death of my father. I may be half a man, but I swore a whole oath.”
Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains, and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea. And he must do it all with only one good hand.
The deceived will become the deceiver.
Born a weakling in the eyes of his father, Yarvi is alone in a world where a strong arm and a cold heart rule. He cannot grip a shield or swing an axe, so he must sharpen his mind to a deadly edge.
The betrayed will become the betrayer.
Gathering a strange fellowship of the outcast and the lost, he finds they can do more to help him become the man he needs to be than any court of nobles could.
Will the usurped become the usurper?
But even with loyal friends at his side, Yarvi finds his path may end as it began—in twists, and traps, and tragedy.
I'm a complete Abercrombie newb. As a lover of dark fiction, I admit to being curious about the whole "grimdark" thing, but I've never taken the plunge. I've always been a little afraid that I'd find the wrong kind of "dark".
So why am I interested in reading Half a King? Because it's YA. Because according to Szever of
The Dork Portal, it's "more toned down" than Abercrombie's First Law series. And
he recommends it. So there you go.
It Waits Below by Eric Red
"It waits no more!"
In the 1800s, an asteroid carrying an extraterrestrial life form crashed to earth and sunk a Spanish treasure ship. Now, a trio of salvage experts dives a three-man sub to the deepest part of the ocean to recover the sunken gold. There, they confront a nightmarish alien organism beyond comprehension, which has waited for over a century to get to the surface. It finally has its chance.
As their support ship on the surface is ambushed by deadly modern-day pirates, the crew of the stranded sub battles for their very lives against a monster no one on Earth has seen before.
I won't lie, the cover alone was enough for me. I have NOT read enough undersea horror books for my taste. The scene in Michael Crichton's Sphere with the jellyfish? Perfection.
Please I would love for you to recommend underwater horror books to me.
Aside from the cover, though, it actually sounds like a great, scary read.
The Deep by Nick Cutter
From the acclaimed author of The Troop—which Stephen King raved “scared the hell out of me and I couldn’t put it down.…old-school horror at its best”—comes this utterly terrifying novel where The Abyss meets The Shining.
A strange plague called the ’Gets is decimating humanity on a global scale. It causes people to forget—small things at first, like where they left their keys…then the not-so-small things like how to drive, or the letters of the alphabet. Then their bodies forget how to function involuntarily…and there is no cure. But now, far below the surface of the Pacific Ocean, deep in the Marianas Trench, an heretofore unknown substance hailed as “ambrosia” has been discovered—a universal healer, from initial reports. It may just be the key to a universal cure. In order to study this phenomenon, a special research lab, the Trieste, has been built eight miles under the sea’s surface. But now the station is incommunicado, and it’s up to a brave few to descend through the lightless fathoms in hopes of unraveling the mysteries lurking at those crushing depths…and perhaps to encounter an evil blacker than anything one could possibly imagine.
OK, after reading
The Troop, I would have read any follow up from Nick Cutter. Of this, I am sure. But The Abyss meets The Shining? Did I not JUST say I need more underwater horror in my life? TAKE MY MONEY. This is officially the book I am waiting for.
The Big Tree by Rick Hautala
In this beautiful and chilling tale, Rick Hautala moves us with a coming of age story like no other. It's 1960. A young boy and his friends spend most of their time in the treehouse they built in The Big Tree in front of Old Lady Wayrenen’s front yard.
But when Hurricane Donna comes, it leaves more than just a trail of property damage. A chain of events pushes the natural and supernatural worlds at odds with one another and a young girl's life hangs in the balance. But is she even real?
Combined with the words and artwork of some of Mr. Hautala's dearest friends: Christopher Golden (Foreword), Thomas F. Monteleone (Afterword), and Glenn Chadbourne (cover art); The Big Tree is one of Rick's most autobiographical and personal stories from the heart.
The Big Tree is the last story Rick Hautala wrote before his passing, and it sounds just about perfect.
✓ Coming of age in the 60s
✓ Young boy and his friends
✓ Treehouse
✓ Hurricane
✓ Young ghostly girl
Yes, please. This is not due out until October.
A New Darkness (The Starblade Chronicles #1) by Joseph Delaney
A chilling new trilogy from the author of the internationally bestselling The Last Apprentice series! Tom Ward is an apprentice no longer—now he is a fully fledged spook battling boggarts, witches, and other creatures of the dark. This three-book arc will introduce brand-new readers to Joseph Delaney’s haunting world, and delight longtime fans.
Tom Ward is the spook, the one person who can defend the county from ghosts, ghasts, boggarts, witches, and other bloodthirsty creatures of the dark. But he’s only seventeen, and his apprenticeship was cut short when his master died in battle. No one trusts Tom’s skill, not till he’s proven himself. And a fifteen-year-old girl named Jenny knows more about the three mysterious deaths in the county than Tom does. She is a seventh daughter of a seventh daughter and she wants to be Tom’s first apprentice—even though a female spook is unheard of. Together, Tom and Jenny will uncover the grave danger heading straight toward the county, and they’ll team up with a witch assassin to confront it.
A New Darkness begins a three-book series that will introduce new readers to Joseph Delaney’s deliciously scary imagination and delight his longtime fans. A New Darkness is perfect for every reader who loves thrills, chills, action, and adventure-no prior knowledge of the Last Apprentice series necessary!
The Last Apprentice series, the first internationally bestselling series about Tom Ward, is soon to be a major motion picture, Seventh Son, starring Jeff Bridges, Ben Barnes, Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Olivia Williams, Antje Traue, Djimon Hounsou, and Julianne Moore as Mother Malkin.
I'm not very familiar with Joseph Delaney or his The Last Apprentice series, but this series in particular sounds really good to me.
Sabotage by Matt Cook
A cruise ship loses power in the North Atlantic. A satellite launches in the South Pacific. Professor Malcolm Clare—celebrated aviator, entrepreneur, and aerospace engineer—disappears from Stanford University and wakes up aboard an unknown jet, minutes before the aircraft plunges into the high seas.
An extortionist code-named “Viking” has seized control of a private warfare technology, pitting a U.S. defense corporation against terrorist conspirators in a bidding war. His leverage: a threat to destroy the luxury liner and its 3,000 passengers.
Stanford doctoral student Austin Hardy, probing the disappearance of his professor, seeks out Malcolm Clare’s daughter Victoria, an icy brunette with a secret that sweeps them to Saint Petersburg. Helped by a team of graduates on campus, they must devise Trojan horses, outfox an assassin, escape murder in Bruges, and sidestep treachery in order to unravel Viking’s scheme. Failure would ensure economic armageddon in the United States.
Both on U.S. soil and thousands of miles away, the story roars into action at supersonic speed. Filled with an enigmatic cast of characters, Sabotage, Matt Cook’s debut novel, is a sure thrill ride for those who love the puzzles of technology, cryptology, and people.
Believe it or not, the open sea is not what drew me to wishlist Sabotage. The amount of action and the promise of technological and cryptological puzzles is what has me on this one! I hoping my library will have an audiobook edition.
Are you pining for any of these books (or have you read them already)? I'd love to hear your thoughts and/or recommendations. Which book would you be most likely to read?
