Happy Friday, shipmates, from snowy Colorado! It’s Alex, with a couple of new releases, and two historical fantasy recommendations about powerful women. What a week it’s been — we had a big snowstorm, one bad enough that I got a snow day! It’s not just for kids any more. It gave me a chance to do some reading and cuddle with my cat, so I think I did a snow day right. I wish you all a safe and warm weekend. See you on Tuesday, space pirates!
Are you looking for the perfect Valentine’s gift for your bookish boo? Gift Tailored Book Recommendations. Your boo will tell our professional booknerds about what they love and what they don’t, what they’re reading goals are, and what they need more of in their bookish life. Then, they sit back while our Bibliologists go to work selecting books just for them. TBR has plans for every budget. Surprise your bookish boo with Tailored Book Recommendations this Valentine’s and visit mytbr.co/gift.
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.
Bookish Goods
She Who Became the Sun-inspired Art Print by TheRainbowCourt
This art features a quote from She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. There’s also a bookmark-sized version. $5
New Releases
Queen Among the Dead by Lesley Livingston
Neve is the youngest daughter of the kingdom of Eire, where banshee and water-wights are but a few of the threats its people face. Any magic the people might use to defend themselves has been outlawed by her father, and what remains is the purview of his Druid priests. Neve grew up hating these Druids; a Druid’s apprentice-turned-thief named Ronan is thus an unlikely ally for her, but they’ve been brought together by the mark of dark magics. When a power struggle threatens the kingdom, Neve must rely on Ronan and a group of dangerous outcasts to take the throne of Eire and save the kingdom — and her people.
Ghost Music by An Yu
Song Yan is a former concert pianist who gave up her career because she wishes to have a child, something her husband has refused to consider for the last three years — and continues to do so after Song Yan’s mother arrives to campaign for a grandchild. Also haunted by dreams of being trapped in a room with no doors occupied by a strange orange mushroom, her life becomes even stranger when packages of mushrooms begin to arrive at her house. When she finally receives a letter from the sender of the mushrooms, it summons her to a seemingly ageless house incongruously occupying the center of a busy city, where she finds a fellow pianist who disappeared ten years ago.
For a more comprehensive list, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
In the vein of Queen Among the Dead, here are a couple of books that have that historical fantasy flair, about women coming into power.
The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton
Three queens vie for control of the kingdom of Innis Lear, whose crown is held by an ailing king who well might have married the queen who came before him. Gela is a ruthless commander who will avenge her mother and take the crown by force. Regan is a master of manipulation, who wishes to wield Innis Lear’s magic and secure her power by producing an heir. And Elia, the priest, will protect her father from her sisters — even if she must marry a stranger to secure his safety.
She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan
14th century China suffers under Mongol rule, and its peasants starve. Zhu Chongba is the eighth born son of the family and receives a fate of greatness, mystifying everyone, while his older sister, the second daughter, is given a fate of nothingness. But a bandit attack ultimately leaves Zhu Chongba dead. Despairing at being an orphan, his sister takes his identity to enter a monastery. And it is the sister, now named Zhu herself, who has the determination to do whatever it takes to escape her fate and claim the greatness that was once to be her brother’s.
See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.