Hello!
Decided to try and be a little bit more organized about things for July, especially as  I am finally back at work on the 6th (which I am more excited for than I ever thought possible). I’m still working away on the IFA Summer challenge – and there will be more mini reviews up tomorrow – but as I am reading on a whim with regards to that one, which is fun, because I never really know what I am getting in to. So, this tbr is going to be from the tower (aka. bookshelves) of books that I have been meaning to get to for ages now.

At the moment I am currently reading:

• The Burning God (The Poppy War #3) – R.F.Kuang (netgalley e-arc)
• The Story of Silence – Alex Meyers (netgalley e-arc)
• Warbreaker – Brandon Sanderson (audiobook)
• The Mermaid and Mrs Hancock – Imogen Hermes Gowar (audiobook)
• Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee – Dee Brown (audiobook)
• Northern Wrath – Thilde Kold Holdt (netgalley e-arc)
• The Bone Shard Daughter – Andrea Stewart (netgalley e-arc)
• To Sleep in a Sea of Stars – Christopher Paolini (netgalley e-arc)
• The House of Styx – Derek Künsken (netgalley e-arc)
• Ashes of the Sun – Django Wexler (netgalley e-arc)

July TBR

 

The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth #1) – N.K. Jemisin

Book Summary:

This is the way the world ends. Again.

Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze — the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years — collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.

*****

The Eye of the World (Wheel of Time #1) – Robert Jordan

Book Summary:

The Wheel of Time turns and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns again.

But one truth remains, and what mortal men forget, the Aes Sedai do not…

What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the shadow.

*****

The Golem and the Djinni – Helene Wecker

Book Summary:

In The Golem and the Jinni, a chance meeting between mythical beings takes readers on a dazzling journey through cultures in turn-of-the-century New York.

Chava is a golem, a creature made of clay, brought to life by a disgraced rabbi who dabbles in dark Kabbalistic magic and dies at sea on the voyage from Poland. Chava is unmoored and adrift as the ship arrives in New York harbor in 1899.

Ahmad is a jinni, a being of fire born in the ancient Syrian desert, trapped in an old copper flask, and released in New York City, though still not entirely free.

Ahmad and Chava become unlikely friends and soul mates with a mystical connection. Marvelous and compulsively readable, Helene Wecker’s debut novel The Golem and the Jinni weaves strands of Yiddish and Middle Eastern literature, historical fiction and magical fable, into a wondrously inventive and unforgettable tale.

*****

The Rabbit Back Literature Society – Pasi Ilmari Jääskeläinen

Book Summary:

A highly contagious book virus, a literary society and a Snow Queen-like disappearing author ‘She came to realise that under one reality there’s always another. And another one under that.’ Only very special people are chosen by children’s author Laura White to join ‘The Society’, an elite group of writers in the small town of Rabbit Back.

Now a tenth member has been selected: Ella, literature teacher and possessor of beautifully curving lips. But soon Ella discovers that the Society is not what it seems. What is its mysterious ritual, ‘The Game’? What explains the strange disappearance that occurs at Laura’s winter party, in a whirlwind of snow? Why are the words inside books starting to rearrange themselves? Was there once another tenth member, before her? Slowly, disturbing secrets that had been buried come to light…

In this chilling, darkly funny novel, the uncanny brushes up against the everyday in the most beguiling and unexpected of ways.

*****

Noughts & Crosses – Malorie Blackman

Book Summary:

Two young people are forced to make a stand in this thought-provoking look at racism and prejudice in an alternate society.

Sephy is a Cross — a member of the dark-skinned ruling class. Callum is a Nought — a “colourless” member of the underclass who were once slaves to the Crosses. The two have been friends since early childhood, but that’s as far as it can go. In their world, Noughts and Crosses simply don’t mix. Against a background of prejudice and distrust, intensely highlighted by violent terrorist activity, a romance builds between Sephy and Callum — a romance that is to lead both of them into terrible danger. Can they possibly find a way to be together?

*****

The Calculating Stars – Mary Robinette Kowal

Book Summary:

One woman.

One mission.

One chance to save the world.

It’s 1952, and the world as we know it is gone. A meteorite has destroyed Washington DC, triggering extinction-level global warming.

To save humanity, the world unites to form the International Aerospace Coalition. Its mission: to colonise first the Moon, then Mars.

Elma York, World War Two pilot and mathematician, dreams of becoming an astronaut – but prejudice has kept her grounded.

Now nothing – and no man – will stop her from reaching for the stars.

*****

The Orphanage of Gods – Helena Coggan

Book Summary:

Twenty years ago, the humans came for their gods.

In the bloody revolution, gods were all but wiped out. Ever since, the children they left behind have been imprisoned in an orphanage, watched day and night by the ruthless Guard. Any who show signs of divine power vanish from their beds in the night, all knowledge of their existence denied.

No one has ever escaped the orphanage.

Until now.

Seventeen-year-old Hero is finally free – but at a terrible price. Her sister has been captured by the Guard and is being held in a prison in the northern sea. Hero desperately wants to get her back, and to escape the murderous Guardsmen hunting her down. But not all the gods are dead, and the ones waiting for Hero in the north have their own plans for her – ones that will change the world forever . . .

As she advances further and further into the unknown, Hero will need to decide: how far is she willing to go to do what needs to be done?

*****

Wakenhyrst – Michelle Paver

Book Summary:

In Edwardian Suffolk, a manor house stands alone in a lost corner of the Fens: a glinting wilderness of water whose whispering reeds guard ancient secrets. Maud is a lonely child growing up without a mother, ruled by her repressive father.

When he finds a painted medieval devil in a graveyard, unhallowed forces are awakened.

Maud’s battle has begun. She must survive a world haunted by witchcraft, the age-old legends of her beloved fen – and the even more nightmarish demons of her father’s past.

Spanning five centuries, Wakenhyrst is a darkly gothic thriller about murderous obsession and one girl’s longing to fly free.

*****

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orïsha #1)  – Tomi Adeyemi

Book Summary:

They killed my mother.
They took our magic.
They tried to bury us.

Now we rise.

Zélie Adebola remembers when the soil of Orïsha hummed with magic. Burners ignited flames, Tiders beckoned waves, and Zélie’s Reaper mother summoned forth souls.

But everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, maji were killed, leaving Zélie without a mother and her people without hope.

Now Zélie has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. With the help of a rogue princess, Zélie must outwit and outrun the crown prince, who is hell-bent on eradicating magic for good.

Danger lurks in Orïsha, where snow leoponaires prowl and vengeful spirits wait in the waters. Yet the greatest danger may be Zélie herself as she struggles to control her powers and her growing feelings for an enemy.

*****

The Emperor’s Blades (Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne #1) – Brian Staveley

Book Summary:

The circle is closing. The stakes are high. And old truths will live again . . .

The Emperor has been murdered, leaving the Annurian Empire in turmoil. Now his progeny must prepare to unmask a conspiracy. His son Valyn, training for the empire’s deadliest fighting force, hears the news an ocean away. And after several ‘accidents’ and a dying soldier’s warning, he realizes his life is also in danger. Yet before Valyn can act, he must survive the mercenaries’ brutal final initiation.

The Emperor’s daughter, Minister Adare, hunts her father’s murderer in the capital. Court politics can be fatal, but she needs justice. Lastly Kaden, heir to the empire, studies in a remote monastery. Here, the Blank God’s disciples teach their harsh ways, which Kaden must master to unlock ancient powers. But when an imperial delegation arrives, has he learnt enough to keep him alive, as long-hidden powers make their move?

**

So, here we are the 10 books I ‘definitely’ plan to read for July. I will also be reading ‘The Black Song’ (Raven’s Blade #2) by Anthony Ryan when it is released at the end of the month, but since it’s not already on my shelf (although it is preordered) it isn’t on this list, and no doubts I will pick up others in between. Let me know if you’ve read any of these, if you plan to read them and any recommendations (because if I put a dent in the tbr, I have to fill it again – that’s the rule).

Rowena