Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got something a little different for you this week (and next week). We’ve hit the very end of the year when there’s not much in the way of new releases. So, instead, I’m going to tell you about what series have finished this year so you can just grab the whole thing in one go! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!
Are you looking for the perfect gift for that bookish special someone in your life this holiday season? Tailored Book Recommendations is here to help! Here at TBR, we pair our customers with a professional book nerd (aka bibliologist) who just gets them. They fill out a survey and then sit back and relax as we pick books just for them. We’ve got three levels — recs-only, paperback, and hardcover — and you can gift a full year or one time, so there are options for every budget! Get all the details at mybtro.com/gift.
Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here are two places to start: Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund, which provides medical and humanitarian relief to children in the Middle East regardless of nationality, religion, or political affiliation; and Ernesto’s Sanctuary, a cat sanctuary and animal rescue in Syria that is near and dear to my heart.
Bookish Goods
3D Printed Candy Cane Dragon by MeantToBeTech
I’m still on a holiday dragon kick, so here’s a 3D printed candy cane dragon! Looks like a very cool thing to put on a Christmas tree. $29
(Not) New Releases
Dang good duologies that finished this year!
The Blood Trials by N. E. Davenport
Second book: The Blood Gift
Ikenna is the granddaughter of a murdered former Legatus, and she knows only someone from the Tribunal could have ordered his death. So, she throws herself into the Praetorian Trials in the hopes of attaining her revenge. But revenge is a lot more complicated than it sounds…
Foul Lady Fortune by Chloe Gong
Second book: Foul Heart Huntsman
In 1930s Shanghai, Rosalind Lang had her life saved by an experimental procedure that made her functionally immortal. Now an assassin, she finds herself investigating a series of murders she definitely did not cause as the Japanese Imperial Army threatens to invade. She’s not the only spy on the case, though. Orion Hong, who has an agenda of his own and a deeply annoying attitude, is nonetheless the cover she needs. Of course, they pose as husband and wife.
For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.
Riot Recommendations
Tremendously fun trilogies!
The Bone Shard Daughter by Andrea Stewart
Second book: The Bone Shard Emperor
Third book: The Bone Shard War
The empire has long been ruled using bone shard magic to make loyal constructs that slowly drain the life of those whose shards power them. But when the emperor dies, and his daughter Lin comes out on top of the power struggle, she tries to build a different sort of empire with the aid of a wanderer who normally doesn’t spend his time on the right side of the law. But it won’t be easy — beyond the normal problems of trying to restructure an entire social order, there are enemies on all sides trying to tear the empire to pieces. And maybe it deserves to be destroyed.
The Jewel and Her Lapidary by Fran Wilde
Second book: The Fire Opal Mechanism
Third Book: The Book of Gems
The kingdom has been protected, and its peace preserved by jewels and their lapidaries, who are bound to singing gemstones that give them the power to reshape the very landscape around them. But that peace ends with the invasion of raiders from the hills, and Jewel Lin and Lapidary Sima must try to save their own lives and those of their people.
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.