Down the TBR Hole #16
Hi friends! I am back from my brief trip away and I am officially back in the blogging game! Isn’t it weird that you can miss it after only a few days? I decided it is time for another Down the TBR hole post – it is always good to review the TBR and personally, it makes for an easy post to get back into the swing of things!
To recap, the meme was created by Lia @ Lost in a Story. The idea is to review the books on your TBR to decide if you still want to read them. The rules are as follows: –
- Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
- Order on ascending date added.
- Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books.
- Read the synopses of the books
- Decide: keep it or should it go?
So, without further adieu, let’s review the next ten books on my list!
The Birth of Death – Joseph Macolino
Goodreads – The Birth of Death
Artimus, the head investigator for the elvish kingdom of Erathal, is disturbed when he discovers that the culprit behind a recent string of kidnappings presents the greatest threat the world of Evorath has ever seen. As he develops feelings for Savannah, a beautiful elvish druid hiding a great secret, he struggles to separate his personal feelings from his responsibilities to the crown. Meanwhile, Irontail, a young centaur warrior, endeavors to find his way in a tribe where independent thought is discouraged.
When their paths cross, the entire forest must unite, performing an ancient ritual to combat this new evil. While the world of Evorath deals with this great threat, Artimus and his companions must put their internal conflicts to rest as they work together to combat this harbinger of death. As they work towards this common goal, they find that they each have their own, unique gifts to offer. But, will they be strong enough to survive?
The first of many stories taking place in the world of Evorath, this series gives readers the thrill of an epic fantasy while introducing characters who are struggling to balance the demands of society with their own personal desires. One thing is for sure: at the end of it all, nothing will be the same.
If memory serves, I think I stumbled upon this particular book through Twitter. I added it to the TBR as the world of Evorath is a high-fantasy setting. As I hadn’t heard of it before, I thought to give it a try.
A year on, I admit I am less enthusiastic. I have read so many excellent books in this genre – I’m not sure that it will live up to expectations. That isn’t the nicest thing to say I know, but I am only being honest. It’s also not quite the style of fantasy I like; last year I was willing to give it a chance despite that, but I’ve changed my mind.
Verdict: Bin
Thirteen – Steve Cavanagh
THE SERIAL KILLER ISN’T ON TRIAL.
HE’S ON THE JURY…
They were Hollywood’s hottest power couple. They had the world at their feet. Now one of them is dead and Hollywood star Robert Solomon is charged with the brutal murder of his beautiful wife.
This is the celebrity murder trial of the century and the defence want one man on their team: con artist turned lawyer Eddie Flynn.
All the evidence points to Robert’s guilt, but as the trial begins a series of sinister incidents in the court room start to raise doubts in Eddie’s mind.
What if there’s more than one actor in the courtroom?
What if the killer isn’t on trial? What if the killer is on the jury?
Anyone who follows by blog or social media accounts will know that I actually bought my copy of this recently. It’s a definite keeper. I don’t think I have come across a book with a premise like it. It is scary and unnerving… and that’s BEFORE I’ve read it!
Verdict: Keep
The Traveler –Fredric Shernoff
When your alter-ego comes out of time to hunt you.
Dan Wells is a normal guy with a dysfunctional marriage and a job he hates. Like many others, he spends much time thinking about the past and what he could have done differently. When he discovers his ability to time travel, Dan wins a chance to revisit his past and alter his life’s development. But a fatal mistake triggers a murderous chain reaction that threatens to ruin his life forever.
A fun, scary and sophisticated game of reflections and doppelgangers
Now, Daniel will have to dive deeper into time and try to make things right. But when he meets the beautiful Suzy will he turn his back on the present?
Action, romance and destiny merge in an intense and readable time-travel novel like you have never read before
Fredric Shernoff, author of Atlantic Island, has created a new and brilliant spin on the time- travel genre and sends his readers into a nuanced drama in a gripping sci-fi universe. Enjoy this thought-provoking time-travel romance that grabs you, excites you and asks the question: If you found in your past what you missed in your present, would you abandon your real life forever?
I am pretty sure I added this book as I have been trying to read more in the way of science-fiction… on the subject of time travel particularly. Having re-read the synopsis, I find myself say on the fence. I like the topic of time-travel, but it can be confusing at times. Knowing there are going to be multiple versions of characters makes me wary… I’ll admit. I like the idea, but as I have so many books on the TBR, I’m making the call that anything not jumping out at me is getting taken off the list. So many books and too little time. All that jazz.
Verdict: Bin
The Good Samaritan – John Marrs
Goodreads – The Good Samaritan
She’s a friendly voice on the phone. But can you trust her?
The people who call End of the Line need hope. They need reassurance that life is worth living. But some are unlucky enough to get through to Laura. Laura doesn’t want them to hope. She wants them to die.
Laura hasn’t had it easy: she’s survived sickness and a difficult marriage only to find herself heading for forty, unsettled and angry. She doesn’t love talking to people worse off than she is. She craves it.
But now someone’s on to her—Ryan, whose world falls apart when his pregnant wife ends her life, hand in hand with a stranger. Who was this man, and why did they choose to die together?
The sinister truth is within Ryan’s grasp, but he has no idea of the desperate lengths Laura will go to…
Because the best thing about being a Good Samaritan is that you can get away with murder.
As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, I was hooked! As with Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh, there is just something creepy about sinister characters in roles that are perceived as being in positions of trust. It’s unnerving and equally intriguing. So much so, this is definitely staying on the TBR.
Verdict: Keep
Sleepyhead – Mark Billingham
Detective Inspector Tom Thorne now knows that three murdered young women were a killer’s mistakes — and that Alison was his triumph. And unless Thorne can enter the mind of a brilliant madman — a frighteningly elusive fiend who enjoys toying with the police as much as he savors his sick obsession — Alison Willetts will not be the last victim consigned forever to a hideous waking hell.
Already an international bestseller, Mark Billingham’s “Sleepyhead” is a chilling masterwork of crime fiction — a boldly original experiment in terror that will beget dark dreams and sleepless nights.
There are quite a few crime-related books on my list, I’ve noticed. I really enjoy reading psychological thrillers and the like; trying to figure out the identity or motive of the killer. It’s rare that I come to the right conclusion, but that is half the excitement! I definitely still want to read this one – I want to see what happens to Alison.
Verdict: Keep
A Suitable Lie – Michael J. Malone
Some secrets should never be kept. . . .
Andy Boyd thinks he is the luckiest man alive. Widowed with a young child, after his wife dies in childbirth, he is certain that he will never again experience true love. Then he meets Anna. Feisty, fun and beautiful, she’s his perfect match . . . and she loves his son like he is her own. When Andy ends up in the hospital on his wedding night, he receives his first clue that Anna is not all that she seems. Desperate for that happy-ever-after, he ignores it. A dangerous mistake that could cost him everything. A brave, deeply moving, page-turning psychological thriller, A Suitable Lie marks a stunning departure for one of Scotland’s finest crime writers, exploring the lengths people will go to hide their deepest secrets, even if it kills them.
Mind games again… definitely a common theme here. I added these books to the list within a reasonably short timeframe… so I was obviously particularly inspired at that time.
Again, this is definitely another book staying on the list!
Verdict: Keep
Words of Radiance – Brandon Sanderson
Expected by his enemies to die the miserable death of a military slave, Kaladin survived to be given command of the royal bodyguards, a controversial first for a low-status “darkeyes.” Now he must protect the king and Dalinar from every common peril as well as the distinctly uncommon threat of the Assassin, all while secretly struggling to master remarkable new powers that are somehow linked to his honorspren, Syl.
The Assassin, Szeth, is active again, murdering rulers all over the world of Roshar, using his baffling powers to thwart every bodyguard and elude all pursuers. Among his prime targets is Highprince Dalinar, widely considered the power behind the Alethi throne. His leading role in the war would seem reason enough, but the Assassin’s master has much deeper motives.
Brilliant but troubled Shallan strives along a parallel path. Despite being broken in ways she refuses to acknowledge, she bears a terrible burden: to somehow prevent the return of the legendary Voidbringers and the civilization-ending Desolation that will follow. The secrets she needs can be found at the Shattered Plains, but just arriving there proves more difficult than she could have imagined.
Meanwhile, at the heart of the Shattered Plains, the Parshendi are making an epochal decision. Hard pressed by years of Alethi attacks, their numbers ever shrinking, they are convinced by their war leader, Eshonai, to risk everything on a desperate gamble with the very supernatural forces they once fled. The possible consequences for Parshendi and humans alike, indeed, for Roshar itself, are as dangerous as they are incalculable.
There is absolutely no doubt on this one – I didn’t have to read the synopsis to determine that.
I added Words of Radiance to the list after reading (and reviewing) The Way of Kings last year. They are epic books to be sure, but thoroughly absorbing. I’d go so far as to say the book easily qualifies in my top 5 of last year. Were Brandon Sanderson further into publishing this series I would have already read Words of Radiance… but I am trying to pace myself. I’ll only land myself with a long wait for the rest of the series otherwise. Patience, Rebecca.
Verdict: Keep
Too Like the Lightning – Ada Palmer
Goodreads – Too Like The Lightning
Mycroft Canner is a convict. For his crimes he is required, as is the custom of the 25th century, to wander the world being as useful as he can to all he meets. Carlyle Foster is a sensayer – a spiritual counselor in a world that has outlawed the public practice of religion, but which also knows that the inner lives of humans cannot be wished away.
The world into which Mycroft and Carlyle have been born is as strange to our 21st-century eyes as ours would be to a native of the 1500s. It is a hard-won utopia built on technologically-generated abundance, and also on complex and mandatory systems of labelling all public writing and speech. What seem to us normal gender distinctions are now distinctly taboo in most social situations. And most of the world’s population is affiliated with globe-girdling clans of the like-minded, whose endless economic and cultural competition is carefully managed by central planners of inestimable subtlety. To us it seems like a mad combination of heaven and hell. To them, it seems like normal life.
And in this world, Mycroft and Carlyle have stumbled on the wild card that may destablize the system: the boy Bridger, who can effortlessly make his wishes come true. Who can, it would seem, bring inanimate objects to life…
I requested an ARC copy of this book on Netgalley last year, however, my request wasn’t approved. It was disappointing, but I decided I would still add the book to my TBR for a future date.
Now, I’m going to take it off again. Its dystopian nature appealed to me originally, but now I am not so confident that the element of magic is going to work well within the genre.
Verdict: Bin
Kings of the Wyld – Nicholas Eames
Clay Cooper and his band were once the best of the best — the meanest, dirtiest, most feared crew of mercenaries this side of the Heartwyld.
Their glory days long past, the mercs have grown apart and grown old, fat, drunk – or a combination of the three. Then an ex-bandmate turns up at Clay’s door with a plea for help. His daughter Rose is trapped in a city besieged by an enemy one hundred thousand strong and hungry for blood. Rescuing Rose is the kind of mission that only the very brave or the very stupid would sign up for.
It’s time to get the band back together for one last tour across the Wyld.
Part of me thinks and hopes this book has the potential to be very comical, and reviews reinforce that. I’m still sat on the fence with this one though. As with my verdict earlier, if it doesn’t grab me, it goes.
Verdict: Bin
The Iron King – Maurice Druon
From the publishers that brought you A Game of Thrones comes the series that inspired George R.R. Martin’s epic work.
France became a great nation under Philip the Fair – but it was a greatness achieved at the expense of her people, for his was a reign characterized by violence, the scandalous adulteries of his daughters-in-law, and the triumph of royal authority.
Even ignoring the claims that this series inspired A Game of Thrones, I know I’ll enjoy this book for being historical fiction anyway. That it also has ties to the Game of Thrones story is just an added bonus. I already have an e-copy of this book ready. That, I feel, says it all.
Verdict: Keep
So, that is four books being taken off of the list. That’s probably a record for me. Have you read any of the books on my list? Do you agree with my choices? Let me know in the comments!
At the end of September, I attended an event as part of the local Manx Litfest – a storytelling of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. I adored the show so much that I picked up the book as soon as I got home. I’m not even kidding. I had read the book just shy of ten years ago at school, but I wanted to read it again and form a second opinion. To that end, I am going to be sharing my thoughts with you about my re-reading of this book.
My second review of the week is going to be for a book I devoured in a matter of days. Muse of Nightmares – what a fabulous read this was! I could read both Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares all over again.
I’ll be dropping my next post on Tuesday, in which I’ll be reviewing The Toymakers by Robert Dinsdale. I actually finished this book at the end of May. But, due to other commitments, I haven’t gotten around to reviewing it yet! Oops…
Friday the 13th may be unlucky for some, but certainly not for me – or you! Empire of Silence is the fantastic debut novel by Christopher Ruocchio; it officially hit bookshelves on Thursday this week! I was privileged to receive an advance copy from Gollancz. If you want to check out the review I have written for the book, you’ll be able to find it 
I may not be posting on Sunday next week, but I will have ANOTHER Blog Tour post lined up for you on Saturday. In this post, I will be reviewing Death in Dulwich and The Girl in the Gallery by Alice Castle. If you like a cozy murder mystery, then the adventures of Beth Haldane, coined “Dulwich’s answer to Miss Marple”, may be of interest to you.
Jumping now to Wednesday, I will be reviewing the TBR pile again to further cull any impulse additions or books I no longer wish to read due to changing tastes. I am determined to get to the end of the list, so then I’ll have a realistic idea of how many books I truly want to read. Well, as much as is possible to gauge from an ever-expanding list, anyway.
Then, after two weeks, I’ll post the much anticipated Sunday Summary. I hope to have plenty to tell you about! If nothing else, these summaries help me get the house in order. It will be as much anticipated by me as anyone else!
