WYRD AND WONDER: May 2020 (tentative) TBR

Wyrd and Wonder is a month-long fantasy blog celebration hosted by Lisa, Jorie, and Imyril! I’ve followed for the last two years, but I decided to participate this year!

I’m trying to read more of my own books while on lockdown because I have so many unread. I will obviously read others than this, but here are the three books I really want to get to this month, including the readalong!

  • Daughter of the Forest – Juliet Marillier :: Marillier recently put out another book (The Harp of Kings) and this reminded me of Daughter of the Forest that I devoured as a teenager because I wanted to read everything fairy tales and retellings. I’ve seen it pop up on bookstagram over the last few months, and now is the perfect time to read it!
  • The Goblin Emperor – Katherine Addison :: I bought this a year and a half ago because it was getting a new cover and I liked this one better and I wasn’t sure if the bookstore where I worked would stock this mass market size after the (more expensive) trade, but I obviously still haven’t read it. I think Addison is releasing a new one this year or next, and I’ve also seen this one going around bookstagram and various online readalongs (including this one!)!
  • The Queen of Blood – Sarah Beth Durst :: This is another one that I bought the whole series of based off of someone’s recommendation but never got around to it until seeing it read by someone I follow on social media. Now is the best time to binge read a series, so I’m looking forward to getting to this one!

Have you read any of these? Let me know what you’re reading this month!

Waiting on Wednesday, SFF edition!

Oof, the last time I did a post like this was back in October! Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine (though it seems as though it’s been a while since she updated that particular blog, so if you know of the current host, if there is one, please let me know) that highlights upcoming releases that we’re impatiently waiting for. This week I’m highlighting some new/upcoming fantasy books that I can’t wait to read!

GIDEON THE NINTH – TAMSYN MUIR

Tamsyn Muir’s Gideon the Ninth “unveils a solar system of swordplay, cut-throat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as necromantic skeletons. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.” Rebecca Roanhorse calls it the “Gothic space fantasy” she didn’t know she needed. Um. GIVE IT TO ME. September is TOO FAR AWAY. It releases September 10, 2019!

AN ILLUSION OF THIEVES – CATE GLASS

Being a sorcerer is a death sentence. But “when a plot to overthrow the Shadow Lord and incite civil war is uncovered, only Romy knows how to stop it. To do so, she’ll have to rely on newfound allies—a swordmaster, a silversmith, and her own thieving brother. And they’ll need the very thing that could condemn them all: magic.” Magic and politics and an amazing cover? Yesss. I actually preordered this one, and I’m going to read it soon! It released May 21, 2019.

THE GODS OF JADE AND SHADOW – SILVIA MORENO-GARCIA

The “Mayan god of death sends a young woman on a harrowing, life-changing journey in this dark, one-of-a-kind fairy tale inspired by Mexican folklore” and it’s set in the Jazz Age? Give me those fairy tales, and give me them set in the Jazz Age because I think it’s a perfect setting for some “modern” fairy tales. Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s The Gods of Jade and Shadow comes out July 23, 2019.

SEVEN BLADES IN BLACK – SAM SYKES

I’ve followed Sam for a long time on Twitter and I think he’s hilarious, and I still haven’t read any of his books. I bought The City Stained Red forever ago, but something about Seven Blades in Black is calling to me. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for stories told by people after the fact and I like somewhat unreliable narrators. She was “betrayed by those she trusted most, her magic torn from her and awaiting execution, Sal the Cacophony has one last tale to tell before they take her head. All she has left is her name, her story and the weapon she used to carved both.” It came out April 9, 2019!

THE HARP OF KINGS – JULIET MARILLIER

I read Marillier’s Daughter of the Forest ages ago as part of my “must read all the fairy tale retellings” (and now that I’m thinking about it, I’m due for a reread of some of those books), and I remember really falling in love with the world she created. When I saw that she was coming out with a new series about a WARRIOR BARD who needs to find and retrieve a “precious harp, an ancient symbol of kingship, which has gone mysteriously missing” AND “if the instrument is not played at the upcoming coronation, the candidate will not be accepted and the people could revolt. Faced with plotting courtiers and tight-lipped druids, an insightful storyteller, and a boorish Crown Prince, Liobhan soon realizes an Otherworld power may be meddling in the affairs of the kingdom.” As soon as I read that, I WAS LIKE SIGN ME UP.

Are any of these on your radar? What are you looking forward to reading in the upcoming months?