Tuesday 11 December 2018

TTT (31) - Authors I Discovered in 2018

Top Ten Tuesdays is hosted over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Read up on the rules here and join in on the Top Ten Tuesday fun.

Follow the link to know more about the meme and join up, it's a great way to find out more about the book blogging community. It's also a great way to make new friends.

This week the theme is a freebie, and this week's post by That Artsy Reader girl can be found here.

Let me talk about some authors that I've discovered this year, and that have quickly left a lasting impression.

I made an attempt to choose all women, because women rock, and I've noticed that I read more men than women...
Vic James is a wonderful British author who also works for the BBC. I've met her four times this year, and after the first three almost felt like adding, "I promise I'm not stalking you. I am just attending this convention, but hi, again, I love your books." She wrote a book called Gilded Cage, and it turned into a trilogy called Dark Gifts. She describes it as "Downton Abbey meets Game of Thrones in a world where Voledmort won." It's YA. It's fantasy. It's filled with politics. And I love it, and I love her. I'm gushing, I know. [I read Gilded Cage in 2017, but only met Vic James in 2018.]
  
Janny Wurts is an author, I've discovered thanks to a Goodreads group that reads fantasy together. I picked up both Daughter of the Empire and The Curse of the Mistwraith thanks to that group. Are you a fan of Feist's Riftwar Cycle? Then definitely pick up the Daughter of the Empire trilogy that she co-wrote with him. And if you like slow burning, epic high fantasy that spans thousands of years then definitely look at The Wars of Light and Shadow which starts with The Curse of the Mistwraith. Wurts writes beautifully; her prose is a treat. She might be too slow for people looking for action mostly, but if you like slow reveals, Wurts is your author.

R.F. Kuang is young, and there's not a lot to say yet, except for she released her debut this year:The Poppy War. An amazing book. Asian inspired fantasy. One to watch, because she can only get better.
 
Sherwood Smith wrote the Inda quartet. Amazing books filled with everything fantasy has to offer. A school setting. Pirates. Backstabbing dicks, but also loyal friendships. Relationships. Coming of Age and triumph. I absolutely adored these books.

Robin Hobb is probably a well known name. I read her Liveship Traders Trilogy this year and I thought they were all amazing. Ships that are alive and have their own personality and speak. Great premise. Her Realm of the Elderings series consists of 16 books. Plenty to read if you end up falling in love with her.

Jacqueline Carey is another discovery which I owe to r/fantasy on Reddit and Goodreads. "The land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassing beauty and grace. It is said that angels found the land and saw it was good... and the ensuing race that rose from the seed of angels and men live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt." The world building is exquisite, as is the romance. As a warning: this one also offers a lot of sex and often of the BDSM variety.

Ada Palmer is my last discovery for this list. Too Like The Lightning was a read I couldn't put down. It's complex and demanding and filled with philosophy and history and only something for the reader who enjoys those things. It plays in a futuristic utopia, maybe dystopia, and is told from the perspective of Mycroft Canner, an unreliable and to a certain extent unlikable narrator. We find ourselves in the 25th century, but Mycroft insists on writing like he time travelled straight from the Age of Enlightenment.


Did you discover any new authors this year? Leave me a comment, and I'll make sure to visit your blog. I've finally emerged from cardboard boxes, have finished moving and am hopefully back for good. I'll post about my move and stressful November next Sunday.

Before you leave: Three Crows Magazine has released its first issue that I worked on as an editor. There's a few short stories and interviews with SF authors up, if that's your genre. 

9 comments:

  1. Almost all of these are new to me, although I have heard of Jacqueline Carey. I picked up Kushiel's Dart years ago but just couldn't get into it. Might have been a case of the right book at the wrong time. Glad you discovered so many new authors this year!

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  2. I really want to get around to The Poppy War and Gilded Cage in 2019.
    my TTT this week

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  3. I'm constantly discovering new authors and it's a wonderful thing. I've always wanted to read Robin Hobb though.

    Here is our Top Ten Tuesday. Thank you!

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  4. I've heard of Vic James & Jacqueline Carey, but the rest of the authors are all new to me!!

    Here's a link to my Top Ten Tuesday post for this week: https://captivatedreader.blogspot.com/2018/12/top-ten-tuesday-top-ten-free-little.html

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  5. Oh glad to hear you're all moved! And nice list. I like Robin Hobb a lot, and I've read a little Janny Wurts but not her Wars of Light and Shadow books. However I have the first one, and just as an aside I LOVE her map of Paravia. For some reason it just makes me want to know more about that land. :)

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  6. I still haven't read Vic James' books yet, though I want to!
    My TTT: https://jjbookblog.wordpress.com/2018/12/11/top-ten-tuesday-189/

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  7. I discovered a TON of new authors this year, as I really just discovered how wonderful a tool Goodreads could be and am not just stuck reading books from the same authors who have had movie deals or were recommended to me because I liked authors who had movie deals.

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  8. I just finished The Mad Ship yesterday and I loved it! Can't wait to read Ship of Destiny. Happy to hear you enjoyed the trilogy as well!

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  9. I recently purchased The Poppy War and I am looking forward to reading it! One of my blogging buddies is a big fan of Vic James so I have that duology in my sites. I have had a lot of bloggers recommend Robin Hobb, so I have a dragon book of hers to read this month for my Dragon Daze theme. 👍✨

    I'd say T. Greenwood was my favorite find last year. I loved her Rust and Stardust novel and I now have an ARC of her next book, Keeping Lucy, to read.😊

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