Category: TBR Posts

Posted in TBR Posts

2021 Reading Goals

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“It was the largest gathering of the Spirit clans Raisa had ever seen.”

First line in The Crimson Crown by Cinda Williams Chima

Hello, you lovely people. Hope you all enjoyed the holidays how ever the current situation forced you to spend them. I’m here to let you know about some of the books I plan to read in 2021. I’m mainly making this to hold myself accountable because these books will never be read otherwise. I’ve divided my picks into sections, so it’s not just one long list. I’ve also decided that when talking about series, I’m only sharing the series I plan to start. The sequels in series I plan to read are mainly new releases in 2021, so that’s a different post. We’re starting with the adult fantasy series.

Adult Fantasy Series

  • The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

This series is my top priority in 2021! I really want to read all three because I just know I’m going to love it. I’ve heard that these books get quite dark and depressing, and those are exactly my kind of buzzwords.

  • The Winnowing Flame Trilogy by Jen Williams

These books get so much praise everywhere, and I really want to know what all the fuss is about.

These are the two adult fantasy series I’m going to prioritize, but that doesn’t mean they’re the only adult fantasy books I’m going to be reading. I will probably start other series but these are the ones I want to also have finished by the end of the year.

YA Fantasy Series

  • Shattered Realms by Cinda Williams Chima

This is the companion series to The Seven Realms series which I read in 2020, so it only seems fitting to continue on with Shattered Realms in 2021.

  • The Age of Darkness by Katy Rose Pool

The synopsis of the first book just screams “the chosen one”-trope, so it’s of course a trilogy I need to read. The third book isn’t out yet but is supposed to be released in September.

  • Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman

This is an old series that everyone seems to have read already. Now I’m going to give it a try. There are five books in the series if I’m not mistaken, but I don’t foresee myself reading more than three in 2021.

Standalones

I need some breaks from all these series I’m going to be reading, and I actually have a lot of standalones on my TBR. Here are a few I really want to read in 2021:

  • The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
  • The Book of Hidden Things by Francesco Dimitri
  • The Betrayals by Bridget Collins
  • Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
  • The Absolutist by John Boyne

I know Warbreaker is getting a sequel some time in the future, but right now I’m considering it a standalone.

Beat the Backlist 2021

I’ve also decided to take part in the Beat the Backlist 2021 reading challenge. It’s all about reading the books released before 2021, and it is hosted by Novelknight. It seemed a very relaxed reading challenge with some fun prompts, and since I almost only read backlist anyway, this shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for me. Just a little fun to help me decide what to read throughout the year. Here are the prompts:

This is the one with 24 prompts, but you can also get one with 52 if you’re feeling ambitious. But as you can tell from these prompts, I can’t pick everything beforehand. Then there’s also ones like ‘has a map’ *laughs in fantasy* and ‘standalone’ where I have too many options to choose from. I’m still going to share some of my picks with you, so here we go:

📚 Genre you never/rarely read: Quite: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain (non-fiction)

📚 Picked by a friend/trusted reviewer: Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (friend recommendation)

📚 Person on the cover: A Sky Beyond the Storm by Sabaa Tahir (two people even)

📚 Banned book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde (Apparently, that one was a little too sexual back in the day)

📚 A book with illustrations: The Wicker King by K. Ancrum (I think this counts)

I probably won’t hit all prompts because I have no intention of adding books to my TBR just to fulfill a prompt. I still might come across something throughout the year, so maybe it’ll happen.

That was some of the books I plan to read in 2021. I am so very excited by so many of them and can’t wait to get started. Do you have any reading plans for the year? Have you read any of these? Please let me know in the comments!

Posted in TBR Posts

Books I’ve Recently Added to My TBR #4

Posted on by Line

If I had to do it all over again, I would not have chosen this life.

First line in The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen

Apparently, I haven’t done one of these posts since the beginning of June, but since no one knows what time is anymore anyway, I feel like I’m excused. I haven’t added all that many books to my TBR in that time anyway. Most of these are actually new releases for Fall, so not books I’m going to be reading immediately. But here we go!

Covers link to Goodreads

Northern Wrath by Thilde Kold Holdt

A dead man, walking between the worlds, foresees the end of the gods.

A survivor searching for a weapon releases a demon from fiery Muspelheim.

A village is slaughtered by Christians, and revenge must be taken.

The bonds between the gods and Midgard are weakening. It is up to Hilda, Ragnar, their tribesmen Einer and Finn, the chief’s wife Siv and Tyra, her adopted daughter, to fight to save the old ways from dying out, and to save their gods in the process.

Why it sounds awesome:

💥 A Danish author writing in English is a must-read for me.
💥 That cover, honestly.

The Captive Kingdom by Jennifer A. Nielsen (The Ascendance Series #4)

In a peaceful Carthya, Jaron leads as the Ascendant King with Imogen beside him — but the peace he fought so long for is not destined to last.

On a routine sea voyage, Jaron’s ship is brutally attacked, and he is taken hostage. The mysterious captors and their leader, Jane Strick, accuse Jaron of unthinkable acts. They are also in possession of some shocking items — including the crown and sword that belonged to Jaron’s older brother, Darius. The items unearth a past Jaron thought he had put behind him.

Though it seems impossible, Jaron must consider: Could Darius be alive? And what does Strick want from Jaron? Against his will, Jaron will be pulled back into a fight for the throne — and a battle to save his kingdom.

Why it sounds awesome:

💥 I simply love this series and didn’t know a fourth book was coming out.

The House of Shattered Wings by Aliette de Bodard

A superb murder mystery, on an epic scale, set against the fall out – literally – of a war in Heaven.

Paris has survived the Great Houses War – just. Its streets are lined with haunted ruins, Notre-Dame is a burnt-out shell, and the Seine runs black with ashes and rubble. Yet life continues among the wreckage. The citizens continue to live, love, fight and survive in their war-torn city, and The Great Houses still vie for dominion over the once grand capital.

House Silverspires, previously the leader of those power games, lies in disarray. Its magic is ailing; its founder, Morningstar, has been missing for decades; and now something from the shadows stalks its people inside their very own walls.

Within the House, three very different people must come together: a naive but powerful Fallen, a alchemist with a self-destructive addiction, and a resentful young man wielding spells from the Far East. They may be Silverspires’ salvation. They may be the architects of its last, irreversible fall…

Why it sounds awesome:

💥 A hyped author I need to try
💥 House War in PARIS! I usually avoid anything with a murder mystery but I need to know what this is!

The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

If everything in your life was based on a lie
Would you risk it all to tell the truth?

At Montverre, an exclusive academy tucked away in the mountains, the best and brightest are trained for excellence in the grand jeu: an arcane and mysterious contest. Léo Martin was once a student there, but lost his passion for the grand jeu following a violent tragedy. Now he returns in disgrace, exiled to his old place of learning with his political career in tatters.

Montverre has changed since he studied there, even allowing a woman, Claire Dryden, to serve in the grand jeu’s highest office of Magister Ludi. When Léo first sees Claire he senses an odd connection with her, though he’s sure they have never met before.

Both Léo and Claire have built their lives on lies. And as the legendary Midsummer Game, the climax of the year, draws closer, secrets are whispering in the walls…

Why it sounds awesome:

💥 It’s Bridget Collins.
💥 That cover is so pretty I wanna cry
💥 That synopsis is reminding me of The Night Circus

Swamp Thing: Twin Branches by Maggie Stiefvater and Morgan Beem

Twins Alec and Walker Holland have a reputation around town. One is quiet and the other is the life of any party, but they are inseparable. For their last summer before college, the two leave the city to live with their rural cousins, where they find that the swamp holds far darker depths than they could have imagined.

While Walker carves their names into the new social scene, Alec recedes into a summer school laboratory, because he brought something from home on their trip—it’s an experiment that will soon consume him. This season, both brothers must confront truths, ancient and familial, and as their lives diverge, tensions increase and dormant memories claw to the surface.

Why it sounds awesome:

💥 A graphic novel from one of my favorite authors is perfect because I’ve been meaning to read more graphic novels.
💥 A story about brothers.
💥 Don’t know anything about the comic this is based on, but excited to learn more.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

No one’s ever told Eleanor that life should be better than fine

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: she struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she’s thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy.

But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen, the three rescue one another from the lives of isolation that they had been living. Ultimately, it is Raymond’s big heart that will help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. If she does, she’ll learn that she, too, is capable of finding friendship—and even love—after all.

Smart, warm, uplifting, Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is the story of an out-of-the-ordinary heroine whose deadpan weirdness and unconscious wit make for an irresistible journey as she realizes. . .

the only way to survive is to open your heart.

Why it sounds awesome:

💥 I have one friend in real life who reads. Not a lot, so when she loves something, it always goes on my TBR. This is the latest one.
💥 Those words: “…her carefully timetabled life of avoiding unnecessary human contact…”. I’m counting on this book to give me some tips.

Those were the books that had managed to sneak their way onto my TBR these past few months. Happy reading!