Showing posts with label in the lives of puppets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label in the lives of puppets. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Can't-Wait Wednesday: The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart, The Wager by David Grann, & In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

  


 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlights are: 


The Bone Shard War (The Drowning Empire #3) by Andrea Stewart
Publication: April 18th, 2023
Orbit
Hardcover. 624 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"The Bone Shard Daughter was hailed as "one of the best debut fantasy novels of the year" (BuzzFeed News). Now, Andrea Stewart brings us the final book in this unmissable, action-packed, magic-laced epic fantasy trilogy, The Bone Shard War.

Lin Sukai has won her first victory as Emperor, but the future of the Phoenix Empire hangs in the balance – and Lin is dangerously short of allies.

As her own governors plot treason, the Shardless Few renew hostilities. Worse still, Lin discovers her old nemesis Nisong has joined forces with the rogue Alanga, Ragan. Both seek her death.

Yet hopes lies in history. Legend tells of seven mythic swords, forged in centuries past. If Lin can find them before her enemies, she may yet be able to turn the tide.

If she fails, the Sukai dynasty – and the entire empire – will fall.
"

I've had an ARC of this final book in the trilogy sitting staring at me for quite a while and I'm hoping to get to it in March (fingers crossed!)!

The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann
Publication: April 18th, 2023
Doubleday Books
Hardcover. 352 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org


From Goodreads:
"
On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty's Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as "the prize of all the oceans," it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then ... six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death--for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann's recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O'Brian, his portrayal of the castaways' desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann's work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound."

I had no idea that David Grann, author of The Lost City of Z and Killers of the Flower Moon (both of which I loved!), had another book coming out so soon and I'm so excited about it–especially given how much I love nonfiction tales of shipwreck, survival, and more. 


In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
Publication: April 25th, 2023
Tor Books
Hardcover. 432 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots--fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?
"

I've enjoyed a number of TJ Klune's books so I'm really curious to see how this one pans out. It sounds like an exceptionally creative premise. 

Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Piñata by Leopoldo Gout, Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati, & In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune

  


 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlights are: 

Piñata by Leopoldo Gout
Publication: March 14th, 2023
Tor Nightfire
Hardcover. 304 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"A Head Full of Ghosts meets Hereditary in Piñata, a terrifying possession tale by author and artist Leopoldo Gout.

Carmen Sanchez is back in her home country of Mexico, overseeing the renovation of an ancient cathedral into a boutique hotel. Her teen daughters, Izel and Luna, are with her for the summer, and left to fill their afternoons unsupervised in a foreign city.

The locals treat the Sanchez women like outsiders, while Carmen's contractors openly defy and sabotage her work. After a disastrous accident at the construction site nearly injures Luna, Carmen's had enough. They're leaving.

Back in New York, Luna begins acting strange, and only Izel notices the chilling changes happening to her younger sister. But it might be too late for the Sanchez family to escape what's been awakened...


Piñata is a bone-chilling story about how the sinister repercussions of our past can return to haunt us."

This is one of the coolest/weirdest covers I've seen in a while and it absolutely matches how weird and incredible this premise is. I really can't wait to see what Piñata is all about!

Clytemnestra by Constanza Casati
Publication: March 2nd, 2023
Sourcebooks Landmark
Hardcover. 448 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org


From Goodreads:
"
For fans of Madeline Miller's Circe, a stunning debut following Clytemnestra, the most notorious villainess of the ancient world and the events that forged her into the legendary queen.

As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best...

You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offence against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.

But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice.

Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods' hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.

If power isn't given to you, you have to take it for yourself."

Am I getting a little tired of all the Greek mythology retellings lately? Honestly, it's a little overkill, so yes. Am I still going to get excited about them and read them all? Also yes. There have been so many about Clytemnestra lately it seems, but... I don't mind?

In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune
Publication: March 28th, 2023
Tor Books
Hardcover. 432 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"In a strange little home built into the branches of a grove of trees, live three robots--fatherly inventor android Giovanni Lawson, a pleasantly sadistic nurse machine, and a small vacuum desperate for love and attention. Victor Lawson, a human, lives there too. They're a family, hidden and safe.

The day Vic salvages and repairs an unfamiliar android labelled "HAP," he learns of a shared dark past between Hap and Gio-a past spent hunting humans.

When Hap unwittingly alerts robots from Gio's former life to their whereabouts, the family is no longer hidden and safe. Gio is captured and taken back to his old laboratory in the City of Electric Dreams. So together, the rest of Vic's assembled family must journey across an unforgiving and otherworldly country to rescue Gio from decommission, or worse, reprogramming.

Along the way to save Gio, amid conflicted feelings of betrayal and affection for Hap, Vic must decide for himself: Can he accept love with strings attached?
"

I'm very excited about this latest release from TJ Klune! His previous books I've read have been very heartwarming and easy to read, and sometimes that sounds like exactly what I need. I really love how odd this one sounds and think it'll be a lot of fun. 


What do you think of these upcoming releases?