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Mar
05

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish in which we list our top tens of different topics each week!

This week’s topic is “top ten series I’d like to start but haven’t yet.”

• • •

I will include images later today when I’m free.

1. THE MONSTRUMOLOGIST SERIES by Rick Yancey

I have had the first three books in this series for over a year and I think it’s time that I dive into them. I am about to begin reading Rick Yancey’s The 5th Wave so it’s great that I have his previous works that he is well-known for, and I will pick them up immediately if I love this start of a new series of his (although I’ve been meaning to read The Monstrumologist all along anyway).

2. THE WHEEL OF TIME by Robert Jordan (and Brandon Sanderson)

All right. So this series has finally come to end with Brandon Sanderson writing the final three books after Robert Jordan passed away. There’s 14 books in the series and I have planned to get stuck into this popular fantasy series… finally! The first book The Eye of the World was published in 1990, three years before I was born, so of course I couldn’t stat the series back then. Maybe I should have picked the series up years ago, but ever since I started blogging and reviewing mostly Young Adult books I’ve rarely had the opportunity to read the genre of books I love most, which is Adult Fantasy (and Science Fiction). The Wheel of Time series is one of those fantasy series in which I am pushing myself to read over the coming years – beginning this year.

3. THE MALAZAN BOOK OF THE FALLEN by Steven Erikson

Like The Wheel of Time series, Steven Erikson’s Malazan Book of the Fallen series spans numerous books – I believe there’s 10 so far, in addition to a spin-off. This is another series I have wanted to read. I own the first three books, which is a pretty good indication of my wanting to read them. Like most fantasy books Steven Erikson’s books are pretty dense, but nevertheless, despite my young adult reviewing endeavours, beginning this series is also on my to do list.

4. DEPARTMENT NINETEEN SERIES by Will Hill

With only two books and a third coming out in the next few months Will Hill’s Department 19 series has garnered great reviews from readers young and old. It is a paranormal/supernatural series about a secret organization responsible for policing the supernatural. So I guess it’s along the lines of Kiersten White’s Paranormalcy trilogy, but I must say, Will Hill may have done a way better job with this concept since Kiersten White’s is a paranormal romance and Will Hill’s is a not-so-much romance and with more action and adventure.

5. THE BENNY IMURA SERIES by Jonathan Maberry

I have the first book Rot & Ruin after hearing so many amazing things about this young adult zombie series, so, you know, when you hear amazing things about a book you just want to read it yourself and experience that same amazement that others had experienced. I haven’t read many zombie books compared to everything I’ve read, so this may be great (actually, I read Darren Shan’s Zom-B recently but I didn’t enjoy that as much as I had hoped). And let’s hope it is!

6. THE ENEMY SERIES by Charlie Higson

Another zombie series on this list; I guess I feel like I’m missing out on some zombie action. Ever since the first book came out I have had my eye on these books but I just never got the chance to read them despite owning the The Enemy and The Dead. Since I have finished reading the Gone series by Michael Grant, I suppose this would be a series to indulge in as they’re kind of similar with the children of 14 thing.

7. THE CURSE WORKERS by Holly Black

Another series I’ve heard nothing but good things about. I have the first. I want to read the first. I want to read it all! (I also don’t think I’ve ever read Holly Black – *gasp*)

8. THE DEMON CYCLE by Peter V. Brett

I’ve had the first two books The Painted Man and The Desert Spear for close to three years and I think it’s also time to begin them as the third book, The Daylight War, came out last month in February. What also has made me intrigued even more is hearing normal readers (not, say, bloggers and reviewers who constantly read) like my uncle saying to me: ‘Have you read Peter V. Brett’s books yet? They’re fantastic!’ THAT makes me want to read a book, and as I work at a bookstore and getting to be in contact with many many many everyday readers and what they recommend or what book they specifically adore always adds books to my list. This is another fantasy series.

9. THE DUNE CHRONICLES by Frank Herbert 

The classic science fiction Dune Chronicles by Frank Herbert. I have to admit I have not read these yet. I should’ve picked them up in high school as I always saw them in the library but I just didn’t have that urge to back then. But now, NOW, I will definitely attempt to read these six books.

10. THE RIFTWAR SAGA by Raymond E. Feist

Another fantasy series. Yes! Another fantasy series, I know. Along with Robin Hobb’s books, which sadly should be on this list too, Raymond E. Feist’s fantasy books are some that I desperately want to read as well. In time I will. In time.

• • •

Thanks for checking out my top ten this week.

Don’t be afraid to comment and I’ll make sure to visit yours in return.


Feb
26

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish in which we list our top tens of different topics each week!

This week’s topic is “top ten authors that I’d put on my auto-buy list.”

• • •

I would first like to say a big SORRY to those authors I love dearly and would buy anything of too, but I just couldn’t decide who to list. This was a tough top ten. No hard feelings, okay? Okay! Good. Let’s go… (These are not in any particular order, except maybe for number one.)

1. MICHAEL GRANT

Michael Grant is an author who I will read and buy anything of. In his young adult books, especially that of the Gone series which is one of my favourite series ever, he does not shy away from the dark issues that are present in modern day teenagers such as suicide, depression, eating disorders, alcoholism and the slightly lighter issues such as self-discovery, self-acceptance, self-control, power, and whatever else you believe are important in the young adult age group. Michael Grant has an honest mind, an imagination that transcends levels of understanding. His characters are real and raw. And then you have the mind-blowing amounts of creativity in his works. BZRK is another standout for me in the messages that it delivers.

This reminds me… I should probably find Animorphs volumes that Michael Grant wrote since I may have when I was younger but just didn’t know.

2. JULIE KAGAWA

Ever since I first read The Iron Fey series when they came out I was mesmerised by Julie Kagawa’s ability to transport me to another place such as the Nevernever with her vivid descriptions and fantastical creatures. Those books – and Meghan – were what made me be a supporter of Julie Kagawa. Whatever she writes I will buy as I know I will be forced onto an adventure whether I like it or not. I’m currently reading The Eternity Cure and that’s what exactly there is: adventure.

As Julie is a rockstar on my shelf she has her own rockstar name, Jazza Kags. After that seven figure deal for that yet to be written urban fantasy series which has also been picked up by Universal… how can she not be a rockstar? Right?

3. ANDREA CREMER

I’ve stated many times that I will be reading Andrea Cremer’s upcoming erotica novels set in the Nightshade world… any excuse just to return to that world even if it IS NOT a genre that I read or IS a genre that is on my never-to-ever-ever-ever-go-near-even-if-I-do-work-as-a-bookseller list. Maybe Andrea should be number 1 on this list. I guess she should’ve since I’m being tempted to pick up a dirty erotica book. (hehe!)

But since I began the Nightshade and its follow-ups, especially Bloodrose, I have had an obsession with Andrea. I won’t call it an obsession because that sounds creepy, but there’s this must read everything she writes thing I have with Andrea. At this moment I’m anticipating every book of hers coming out in the next year such as her co-authored book Invisibility with David Levithan, The Inventor’s Secret, start of a speculative, historical steampunk series, and that exciting new book that was announced a few weeks ago, Snakeroot, another book to the Nightshade books from Adne’s point of view. Queue squeeeeeeeeeing. I sincerely hope I get to meet Andrea next year at BEA or SDCC or whatever event I go to in the US (I guess that’d be the same with all these authors besides the ones I’ve already met when they’ve come down to Australia for signings and events).

4. MELINA MARCHETTA

Do I need to say anything? Although I’m not the biggest fans of contemporaries at the moment, Melina Marchetta’s contemps are some that I absolutely adore and even better is her fantasy trilogy The Lumatere Chronicles, which are simply divine.

If there’s an MM book out…

you. can.

bet. I’ll.

be. buying. it.

5. JAY KRISTOFF

Alright. Fair enough. Jay has only come out with the first book in The Lotus War trilogy, Stormdancer, but you know that feeling that you read something and there’s this magic that happens and you just get addicted to an author’s writing and imagination and world? That’s what I found in Jay Kristoff’s Stormdancer and hope to find in the sequel, Kinslayer, as well as all his future books. Wait, there’s no hoping; I know I will find that.

But I do wonder what Jay is going to write post-Lotus War. Hmmm…. I bet something with way more blood, which I love to read about. More war. More conflict. More death. More destruction. Yes, please.

6. BETH REVIS

I need more explosions in my life and I know that whatever book Beth Revis comes out with that there’ll be explosions in it. Hence why Beth is on this list. Great achievement.

7. JAMES DASHNER

James Dashner’s Maze Runner trilogy just thrilled me and although I still need to read his middle grade books (I have the first of the 13th Reality series) that doesn’t stop me from not putting him on this list. I really am excited for his upcoming YA Eye of Minds.

8. JESSICA SHIRVINGTON

Jess has provided me with a strong heroine to fall in love with in Violet Eden, especially with what she does in Endless. I also have been excited about her upcoming standalone contemporary thriller Between the Lives which I have an uncorrected proof to read. Whatever else Jess comes out with I will buy and read because I want to support this breakout YA Australian author, even though the most well-known Aussie authors are those that write contemporary.

9. CASSANDRA CLARE

Okay. I’ll admit. I have unabashedly not read City of Lost Souls yet, but that’s because I’m holding out for City of Heavenly Fire. But Cassandra Clare has this knack for bringing a fantasy world and mingling it within our own world just like Jo Rowling did with Harry Potter (she should be on this list too but that’s a bit too obvious). I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to see Cassandra Clare write something unrelated to the Mortal Instruments/Infernal Devices world, and although I said I may ban myself from reading the Dark Artifices series, I might have to take that ban off and read them since I have put CC on this list.

10. BRANDON SANDERSON

If you’re a fantasy fan like I am then Brandon Sanderson may be a no-brainer. His books are full of creativity, imagination and worlds of adventure, intrigue and wonder. I need Stormlight Archive book two… like… now!

• • •

Thanks for checking out my top ten this week.

Don’t be afraid to comment and I’ll make sure to visit yours in return.