I have been loving doing my recommendation posts over the last few months so I thought I would jump in and do another one today. This time around I am going to be recommending to you my must read Science Fiction books. Although science fiction is not a genre that I read overly much, and its certainly not one that I count as a favourite, but these books are all amazing examples of the genre, and some even come close to being some of my favourite books.

The first book that I want to talk about, I have to recommend the entire series. The Sleeping Giant series by Sylvian Neuvel is a really quirky, futurist science fiction series, involving the discovery of giant robots and the journey of finding out where they have come from. This series is a really exciting page turner, telling the story from several different points of view and within multiple types of medium. You can read my review for one of the books here.

Another series like the Sleeping Giant series, told through various different types of media is the Illuminae files by Jay Kristoff and Aimee Kaufman. Although I am yet to read the final book in this series, the first two have certainly set the series up to be truly fantastic. These books are all set in outer space, across many different ships and colonies. One thing that both the first two books, and from what I hear, also the third, have in common, are they all have strong independent female lead characters. This is a young adult series, but one that I feel everyone could enjoy.

Also within the young adult category is possibly one of my favourite duologies that I have ever read. I saw that, I at least believe that it is only a duology- but I wont complain at more books. S.J Kincaid’s the Diabolic is an action packed political series. This follows a weapon, a modified girl, who is tasked with protecting her girl, and the events that follow after her girl is summoned by the Emperor. As things unveil they discover just how much the one thing she shouldn’t have, could be the thing to save them all, humanity. Any science fiction, or even fantasy fans will love this, I highly recommend it. My review for the Diabolic can be found here.

On a slightly different note, my next recommendation is a twist on Christian fiction, Left Behind by Tim LaHaye. This book follows what happens after the disappearance of many people suddenly on a plane flight. It follows what those that are left behind have to deal with, and the strange events that follow. I don’t want to say too much about this, as its one of those books that I think is best to go into blind, and just enjoy what happens; I really need to get to the rest of the series really. The film with Nicholas Cage staring is also really worth a watch if you have the time, I do believe it is on Netflix.

The final book I want to recommend to you is one that I have the pleasure of reviewing before it came out, and that is Hold Back the Stars by Katie Khan. This is a young adult, science fiction romance. It looks at just what would you do and say, when you only have 90 minutes of air left, what would you regret, what would you wish you had said? Katie is absolutely lovely, and this was a book that for once had me in love with the romantic story. This is not like me as Im not the biggest fan of romance, but this one had full hold of my heart. You can read my review for it here. Katie now has new book out that I really do need to pick up, The Light Between Us.

So those are all the Science fiction books that I have to recommend to you, if you are a fan of the genre, then I think you will really love these. What science fiction books do you recommend? I could really use some new ones.

I am ashamed to say that I had the honour of receiving this book back in 2018, but despite trying to read it several times, my reading slump of last year kept making me put it back down. But January 2019, was the right time for me to read this book, and I have to admit it was the perfect book to read in the British Winter that we were experiencing.

Naomi Novik is the author of another retelling, Uprooted, and that is certainly a book I would recommend that you go and pick up; but this post is about her latest, Spinning Silver. A fairy tale retelling that is dark, emotional and oh so magical. It felt so real, and yet set in such a magical word; I would honestly feel the cold in myself (and not just because of the weather), because each word was so believable. That is absolutely the best kind of fantasy novels, when you can forget what the real world is.

‘Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders… but her father isn’t a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife’s dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty–until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers’ pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed–and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold.

But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it’s worth–especially when her fate becomes tangled with the cold creatures that haunt the wood, and whose king has learned of her reputation and wants to exploit it for reasons Miryem cannot understand’

High fantasy worlds can be super confusing and tough to follow. Learning the political world and the magic system, you can easily get yourself mixed up and not understand why things are happening, or what the effects events will have. Naomi Novik creates these amazingly magical and beautiful worlds, and yet you feel as if you have lived in them your whole life. You catch on to everything that makes the world work so quickly and so easily, that its as if the world isn’t new to you after all.

One of my favourite aspects of this novel was just how little romance there was involved. Alright, there is a few marriages, but they are definitely more on the political scale rather than romantic. The relationships that take precedence in this book are the relationships between family. Between child and parents to be specific, in three different family situations. Its so refreshing to read a Young Adult book that has the centre on relationships within families, one that almost everybody can relate to. That being said, there is a very gentle slow growing romance that develops- more at the end of the book- but I personally don’t feel like it takes over the book.

This book is an easy five star read for me, its truly amazing and magical, and beautiful to dive into during these cold months. If you have not already then you really should get yourself a copy and let the story whisk you away. Despite its size, you can finish it in just a few days. Until her next release I am going to have to jump to a reread of Uprooted.

So January may not of been my best month for reading ever, however with the reading slump I have currently been in, it was certainly a pretty decent month. You can read here what I had been hoping to read, and although I didn’t manage it all, I’m still happy with what I did read.

I completed two books, both of which I loved, a four star and a five star read, so I really cant complain.

The first book was The Lost Man by Jane Harper, her third novel, however this one is a stand alone. It is another masterpiece of thriller mystery writing. Harper is quickly becoming a favourite of mine, and I truly can not wait for her fourth novel.

The other book I read in January was Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. A magical fairy tale retelling this book is an amazing piece of fantasy; its left me in the mood to dive into more fantasy novels, including a reread of Naomi Novik’s previous novel. This was an easy five star read for me.

Now I have very high hopes for my reading in February. I think I am going to set my target at three books plus my twitter poll book, but ultimately we will see how the month goes.

That being said the first book I will and am currently reading is After the Eclipse by Fran Dorricott. A psychological thriller about two girls who both disappear at the time of an eclipse. I will be reviewing this 27th of February as part of the blog tour, but I will give you a sneak peak now, and say that a third of the way through and I am loving it.

Next book that I want to read so that I can see what all the hype is about is Cruel Prince. I had heard such mixed views of this book when it first came out, but the hype  has been back with the release of the Wicked King, and I feel like it might be something I will like. So I will be picking up this fantasy book hopefully this month.

The final book on my initial TBR this month is The Migration by Helen Marshall. I only know a little about this book, and that is that it is a horror-ish, catastrophe book set in England. This alone is enough for me to want to read it, its the sort of book that is right up my street.

Well that just leaves us with the twitter poll books for the month. As I didn’t manage to get around to the poll winner this month, I am going to include it again in this months poll, and hopefully I’ll actually get to the winner this month- but who really knows. So the options are; Clash of Empires by Ben Kane, City of Brass by S.A Chakraborty and Truthwitch by Susan Dennard. The poll will be up shortly for you to have your say.

What are you reading this month?

The first blog tour of the year is always an exciting one, and its made even better when its a book that you found yourself absolutely adoring. The Lost Man by Jane Harper was exactly like that. I have had the pleasure of being a part of the blog tours for both of Jane Harper’s other books, and I must admit, this one was even better than the ones previous to this.

They are at the stockman’s grave, a landmark so old, no one can remember who is buried there. But today, the scant shadow it casts was the last hope for their middle brother, Cameron. The Bright family’s quiet existence is thrown into grief and anguish. Something had been troubling Cameron. Did he lose hope and walk to his death? Because if he didn’t, the isolation of the outback leaves few suspects…

In many ways this book was a family saga, the coming together of a family in their joint grief. I couldn’t help but make heart felt connections with the majority of these characters, my heart went out to them in their time of grief. I have lost people and I know it can tear a family apart before it can also bring the family together. Jane Harper portrayed this perfectly in this novel through the eyes of oldest brother, Nathan, but in such a way that you felt the pain of each and every one of the family members.

The twist at the end of the novel was one that I never in a million years saw coming, but actually when it was explained and I came away from the finished book it all pieced itself together nicely. Nothing in her novels ever leave me thinking ‘Well that doesn’t work’; yet they also always manage to change things up and surprise me in the final few chapters.

Set in Australia these books have such a vast, out landish setting, that (for a British girl like myself) seems so bizarre and unique. I can not imagine a life where if you leave your house, you have to take days of supplies with you in the car in case you cant get back; where you can go weeks without seeing another human being. The Lost Man leaves you puzzled right till the very end, with so many questions of the past and about the death of Cameron, yet as always Jane Harper works her magic to wrap up the whole thing and leave you satisfied yet longing for her to release more work.

I gave this four out five stars, and you really should get your hands on a copy at the soonest possible moment; and if you hadn’t already then you really should read her previous books, ‘The Dry’ and ‘Force of Nature’.