The Obsessive Bookseller

Title: The Tainted Cup Author: Robert Jackson Bennett Series: Shadow of the Leviathan #1 Genre: Fantasy The Overview: In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both…

Title: The Last Contract of Isako Author: Fonda Lee Series: N/A Genre: Science Fiction The Overview: Get ready to be blown away by this searing standalone space opera where corporate samurai fight beneath merciless stars, and death is always a mere breath away. Isako is a legendary swordswoman, but every legend has to come to an end. When her long-time client unexpectedly retires, she plans…

Title: Disquiet Gods Author: Christopher Ruocchio Series: Sun Eater #6 Genre: Science Fiction Rating: 3.5/5 stars The Overview: The end is nigh. It has been nearly two hundred years since Hadrian Marlowe assaulted the person of the Emperor and walked away from war. From his Empire. His duty. From the will and service of the eldritch being known only as the Quiet. The galaxy lies in the grip…

Title: Isles of the Emberdark Author: Brandon Sanderson Series: Secret Projects #5 Genre: Fantasy Rating: 3/5 stars The Overview: All his life, Sixth of the Dusk has been a traditional trapper of Aviar—the supernatural birds his people bond with—on the deadly island of Patji. Then one fateful night he propels his people into a race to modernize before they can be conquered by the Ones Above,…

Title: Beast Business Author: Ilona Andrews Series: Hidden Legacy #6.5 Genre: Urban Fantasy Rating: 4/5 stars The Overview: Augustine Montgomery is an Illusion Prime who owns a premier PI corporation and alters his appearance with magic. The people who have seen Augustine’s real face can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The people who witnessed the full extent of his power are dead.…

Title: The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook to Surviving Medieval England Author: Brandon Sanderson Series: Secret Projects #2 Genre: Fantasy Rating: 3.5/5 stars The Overview: A man awakes in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his…

Title: The Courage to be Disliked Author: Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga Series: N/A Genre: Nonfiction Rating: 2/5 stars The Overview: A single book can change your life. Already an enormous bestseller in Asia, with more than 3 million copies sold, The Courage to be Disliked demonstrates how to unlock the power within yourself to be the person you truly want to be. Using the theories of…

Title: The Strength of the Few Author: James Islington Series: Hierarchy #1 Genre: Fantasy Rating: 4.5/5 stars The Overview: The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am. But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore. I am no longer one. I won the Iudicium, and lost…

Title: The Enchanted Greenhouse Author: Sarah Beth Durst Series: Spellshop #2 Genre: Fantasy Rating: 4/5 stars The Overview: Terlu Perna broke the law because she was lonely. She cast a spell and created a magically sentient spider plant. As punishment, she was turned into a wooden statue and tucked away into an alcove in the North Reading Room of the Great Library of Alyssium. This should…

Title: The Air War Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky Series: Shadows of the Apt #8 Genre: Fantasy Rating: 3.5/5 stars The Overview: An empress demands her birthright . . . All is in turmoil as the world moves towards war. In Solarno, the spies watch each other and ready their knives, while Myna sees the troops muster at its border and emotions run high as it vows never to be enslaved again. In…

Title: The Spellshop Author: Sarah Beth Durst Series: Spellshop #1 Genre: Cozy Fantasy Rating: 4/5 stars The Overview: Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their…

Title: The Inheritance Games Author: Jennifer Lynn Barnes Series: Inheritance Games #1 Genre: YA Fiction Rating: 4/5 stars The Overview: Avery Grambs has a plan for a better future: survive high school, win a scholarship, and get out. But her fortunes change in an instant when billionaire Tobias Hawthorne dies and leaves Avery virtually his entire fortune. The catch? Avery has no idea why —…

Title: The Devils Author: Joe Abercrombie Series: The Devils #1 Genre: Fantasy Rating: 4/5 stars The Overview: Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds. Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters. The…

Title: Sunrise on the Reaping Author: Suzanne Collins Series: Hunger Games #.5 Genre: YA Dystopia Rating: 3/5 stars The Overview: When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for? As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their…

Title: Great Big Beautiful Life Author: Emily Henry Series: N/A Genre: Fantasy Rating: 4/5 stars The Overview: Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: To write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years–or at least to…

Title: Alien Clay Author: Adrian Tchaikovsky Series: N/A (…yet) Genre: Science Fiction Rating: 3.5/5 stars The Overview: They travelled into the unknown and left themselves behind . . . On the distant world of Kiln lie the ruins of an alien civilization. It’s the greatest discovery in humanity’s spacefaring history – yet who were its builders and where did they go? Professor Arton Daghdev…

Title: Shadow of the Giant Author: Orson Scott Card Series: Shadow #4 Genre: Science Fiction Rating: 4/5 stars The Overview: Bean, Ender Wiggins’ former right-hand man, has shed his reputation as the smallest student at Battle School. He has completed his military service for the Hegemon, acting as strategist and general in the terrible wars that followed Ender’s defeat of the alien empire…