3 Books You Should Read In October!

October is here, and with it comes a slew of books I’ve been eagerly anticipating getting my hands on. If you’re looking for a new read to dive into, you could do worse than picking up one of these. Let’s not go beating any dead bushes (that’s your lovely mixed metaphor for the day), and jump straight in.

EMPIRE ASCENDENT – Kameron Hurley

If you haven’t read Mirror Empire yet, you really owe it to yourself to go grab a copy. The robust worldbuilding alone makes it worth the price of admission. Sentient plants, blood magic, alternate realities, reimagined gender roles. From a story perspective I had a couple issues with Mirror Empire, but I’ll gladly look past those and dive right back into this world like a Hungry, Hungry Hippo in the McDonald’s Playground Ball Pit.

ANCILLARY MERCY – ANNE LECKIE

The first book in this series, Ancillary Justice, won the Hugo for Best Novel. The sequel, Ancillary Sword, came within spitting distance of winning the Hugo for Best Novel. This third book, Ancillary Mercy, has big shoes to fill. Somehow, I think it’ll manage. A stunning galaxy spanning space opera with some of the most interesting character types you’ll ever encounter. Highly recommend this one.

SHADOW OF SELF – BRANDON SANDERSON

No surprises here; I have a mancrush on Brandon Sanderson. He’s the rarest breed of storyteller where everything he pens is simply gold. This is the sequel to The Alloy of Law, which is an off-shoot of his mega-successful series, Mistborn (which, if you haven’t read, you should, because it is amazing!). If you’ve never read Sanderson, this might be a good introduction to his works, seeing as how it’s not 5,000 pages long and won’t crush you beneath it’s bulk should it fall off the bookshelf.

Bonus Story:

WAKE OF VULTURES- LILA BOWEN

Delilah Dawson, writing under the pseudonym Lila Bowen, brings Wake of Vultures due out at the end of October. After having read Dawson’s HIT, I’ll definitely be grabbing a copy of Wake of Vultures when it drops. She’s got the sort of writing chops that make me want to cut some onions so I have an excuse for all these damned tears.