October Hype Post!
And it is time for a monthly hype post again! Notable mentions should go to Sistersong by Lucy Holland, which still stands at my favourite book of the year and which is finally being released in the US this month (it has been out in the UK since April). See my review for it over at Grimdark Magazine here. The other book that I reviewed a while ago and am still very excited about it finally being available to you all is The Heartbreak Bakery by A.R. Capetta. See my review for this delightful YA novel here. I’m also delighted that Anna has decided to join me this month by shouting about a book that I’m also very excited about.
Anna: There’s a post doing the rounds on social media about revising fairytales: how, effectively, arguing that Goldilocks would have just been eaten by the three bears misses the point of the genre altogether; how, instead, we can celebrate the ingenuity and magic of familiar characters adapted to modern society. And that’s something I’m really hoping to see in A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow, out on October 5th.
It’s a reimagining of the Sleeping Beauty story, focusing on Zinnia, whose mysterious health condition dictates she won’t live past twenty one. But, when she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel on her birthday in imitation of the familiar fairytale, she finds herself plunged into strange worlds and meeting unexpected allies. This will be my first encounter with Harrow’s work (I know, I know, I’m woefully behind!), but I am really glad it is this one and can’t wait to get a hold of it.
Fab: Rick Riordan is probably the most influential Middle Grade author writing today – and he is brilliant. I loved his Percy Jackson Universe and I can’t wait to see what he does with Daughter of the Deep, released on both sides of the Atlantic on the 5th of October. This is a standalone take on Jules Verne’s 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, starring Ana, a high school freshman at a school that specialises in all things aquatic. As per usual with Uncle Rick’s work, she gets tangled up in a grand adventure, as she finds out more about her family and circumstances. I love both MG and his writing, so this is very high up on my list for books I desperately need and I know it’ll be brilliant. Order a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).
Fab: It is no secret that I am a huge V.E. Schwab fangirl. So I’m very excited to finally get to read Extraordinary. This is a graphic novel based on the world created in the Villains series of novels, but featuring new characters and standing on its own. The story revolves around Charlotte Tills, who following a fatal bus crash, seemingly dies only to wake up to discover she has become an EO — a person with ExtraOrdinary abilities. In Charlotte’s case, it’s the ability to see people’s deaths, but when she looks into her own future, sees her own murder at the hands of the self-proclaimed hero and notorious EO killer Eli Ever, who is currently in prison for the murder of Victor Vale. Refusing to accept her fate, Charlotte sets off to find – and change – her futurebefore it comes for her. Victor and Eli are fantastic characters and this story set between Schwab’s Vicious nad Vengeful sounds amazing, and I look foward to diving back into the world. Pre-order a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link) – they even have signed copies!
Fab: The Grimrose Girls by Laura Pohl is out on the 26th from Sourcebooks Fire. Fitting well into my current dark academia obsession – the story is set in a boarding school – as well as incorporating reimagined fairy-tale heroines, this is a can’t-miss book for me. Ella, Yuki and Rory are the talk of school gossip at Grimrose Académie after the death of their friend. While it has been ruled a suicide, they are convinced that there is more to the story – and discover that they are cursed to repeat the doomed endings of their stories until they find a way to break the cycle. This sounds like such a fun, escapist story right up my alley, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. It’s also supposed to be queer, which makes it all the more delicious. Pre-order a copy from Blackwell’s here.
Fab: Midnight in Everwood is M. A. Kuzniar’s adult debut. I’ve loved her Middle Grade The Ship of Shadows, so I was always going to be intrigued by her adult writing. Make it a reworking of the fairy-tale of the Nutcracker and basically a magic ballet novel and give it a cover this pretty and you have me hooked. Set in winter in Edwardian society, the heroine of this story is Marietta, a girl who loves ballet, but is at a point where she will have to give it up to take her place in life. But a magical stage setting transports her into an enchanted forest full of danger, treachery and glamour and she has to keep all her wits together if she is to escape. It sounds like a perfect wintery read as we are going into the colder seasons – I’ve got it on pre-order and can’t wait to curl up with the book and a hot chocolate. Out on the 28th, you can pre-order a copy from Bookshop here (affiliate link).