November 2019 Book Haul

I warned you the last few months of book hauls were the calm before the storm and BOY did that turn out to be true.  Not only did I get a massive box from the lovely people at Orbit Books, I had several must-have books drop into my auto approvals on Edelweiss – oh, and a sequel approval on Netgalley I squealed in delight to receive.  Buckle up kids, we’ve got one heck of a haul coming!

Interested in reading these yourselves?  Covers link to Goodreads!

Bought

  

RESISTANCE REBORN by Rebecca Roanhorse
The moment I heard Roanhorse was writing a Star Wars novel, I could barely contain my excitement.  One of my favorite authors from the last few years and one of my favorite franchises?  Let’s do it!  No matter what, I’m reading this book before THE RISE OF SKYWALKER releases in December, so look forward to my review soon!

STARSIGHT by Brandon Sanderson
I don’t preorder a lot of books, but this one was a no-brainer.  STARSIGHT is the sequel to one of my favorite books of 2018, SKYWARD, and features the return of fighter pilot Spensa.  After some shattering revelations about the nature of the enemy facing her and her people, Spensa has some colossal tasks ahead of her.  It’s only the fate of the human race on her head if she fails.

OATHBRINGER by Brandon Sanderson
Just when I thought I was done for the month, Amazon went and put the ebooks of THE STORMLIGHT ARCHIVES on sale.  Normally I prefer hardcopy, but in the case of a 1200 page book, I’ll suck it up and put it into a more portable format!  I still want to read the novella EDGEDANCER first, but this will be a must-read for 2020!

Physical ARCs/Review Copies

    

EMPIRE OF SAND/REALM OF ASH by Tasha Suri
EMPIRE OF SAND was a book I very much wanted to read last year, but ran out of time. With a standalone sequel releasing this fall, I was fortunate to receive not only EMPIRE from the lovely people of Orbit, but the sequel as well!  This is a fantasy inspired by Mughal India, of a young woman pulled into court politics when the Emperor’s mystics learn of her magical abilities.  I would love to read the first book before 2019 ends, hopefully time allows me!

QUEEN OF THE CONQUERED by Kacen Callendar
A November release, this book is about a young woman who is a survivor of a massacre of nobles in the Hans Lollik islands when colonizers arrived.  Now, the childless king has declared that his successor will be chosen from the noble families remaining. The young woman will use her magical abilities of mind reading and control to manipulate her way through the competition, determined to exact revenge against the people who invaded her homeland.

FORTUNA by Kristyn Merbeth
Just in time for Sci-Fi Month, we have a new space opera!  A woman trying to ensure a smooth transition as she inherits the family smuggling business finds everything thrown into turmoil when a job goes wrong and her brother comes home from war.  I’m always here for a series about a outlaw crew that finds itself way over its head, so I’m excited to check it out!

      

DOWN AMONG THE DEAD by K.B. Wagers
Not gonna lie, THIS might be my favorite thing in the box, the second book in the FARIAN WAR trilogy, itself the second trilogy featuring Hail Bristol, gunrunner-turned-empress.  The first trilogy featured Hail navigating internal politics and fighting assassination attempts and coups.  Now, after trying to negotiate peace between neighboring warring alien nations, Hail has found herself captured by the Shen.  She must escape while also untangling which side to support in this feud, one that will threaten her own people if it isn’t contained.

SPELLSLINGER by Sebastien de Castell
This series has long been on my list to read, so when Orbit offered me the first book, I jumped on the chance!  In SPELLSLINGER, Kellan is a sixteen-year-old about to take his first magic trials to be officially declared a spellcaster.  Only problem is, his magic is currently not working, so it’ll take all his wits to fool others into believing everything is fine. The sixth and final book in the series comes out in the US in December, so I’m looking forward to catching up!

SINS OF EMPIRE by Brian McClellan
Brian McClellan is one of those staple authors of modern fantasy that I haven’t had a chance to read yet, so I happily accepted a review copy of the first book in the GODS OF BLOOD AND POWDER trilogy, which concludes in December.  The setting is described as “a frontier destination for criminals, fortune-hunters, brave settlers, and sorcerers seeking relics of the past,” wherein a spy, a mercenary general, and a convicted war hero are tasked with rooting out an insurrection that threaten to destabilize a restless capital city.   This is a BIG book, so I’m going to wait until 2020 to tackle it, once I catch up on some other ARCs.

eARCs

    

NETWORK EFFECT by Martha Wells
When I saw this available on Edelweiss, I hit Download Now before my brain finished processing what it was seeing. I truly love and adore THE MURDERBOT DIARIES, a quartet of novellas featuring a introverted security construct.  We’re getting our first full length novel featuring Murderbot in 2020, and I am SO EXCITED. I’ve got several ARCs in my backlog, but I’m not gonna lie, this might find its way to the top of my pile sooner rather than later.

HARROW THE NINTH by Tamsyn Muir
GIDEON THE NINTH was a very uneven read for me, though I really enjoyed the second half of the novel.  I was on the fence about continuing, but then the ARC appeared on Edelweiss and next thing I knew it was on my iPad, so I’m giving the sequel a shot!  With this scheduled for release in June 2020 in the US, it will probably be a minute before I read it, but I’m very curious to see what direction this series takes after the events of book one.

THE ORDER OF THE PURE MOON REFLECTED IN WATER by Zen Cho
Look at this GORGEOUS cover art!!  I really enjoyed the regency fantasy I read by Cho a few years ago, SORCERER TO THE CROWN.  This time around, she’s written a wuxia novella.  The first line of the blurb says “A bandit walks into a coffeehouse, and it all goes downhill from there.”  SOLD.  I’d love to get to this in the first few months of 2020, stand by for more updates!

UNRAVEL THE DUSK by Elizabeth Lim
The second part of a duology, this Chinese-inspired YA fantasy picks up where we left off with Maia, seamstress extraordinaire, who recently completed a series of magical tasks to weave impossible dresses for the empress.  In the process, Maia made some startling discoveries about her companion Edan, and made bargains with creatures she never imagined, bargains that are still doling out consequences. Maia has only so much time before she loses herself to the dark magic she welcomed into her life.  SPIN THE DAWN was a welcome discovery this year, very much looking forward to the sequel!  (Also, that cover!!)

AND THAT’S A WRAP.  May the book gods protect me from the damage I have wrought to my TBR.  Have you read any of these or are you looking forward to one in particular?