Wednesday, December 7, 2016

T5W Books I Want to FINALLY Read in 2017

Top 5 Wednesday is a group on goodreads that you can find here. Every week - or less for some of us ;) - the members get together and post five books that pertain to a specific topic.

This week we get to talk about books that have been lurking and loitering for years - something I have quite a few of - and books I finally hope to actually get to next year.

Hollow World by Michael J. Sullivan
The future is coming...for some, sooner than others.

Ellis Rogers is an ordinary man who is about to embark on an extraordinary journey. All his life he has played it safe and done the right thing, but when faced with a terminal illness, he’s willing to take an insane gamble. He’s built a time machine in his garage, and if it works, he’ll face a world that challenges his understanding of what it means to be human, what it takes to love, and the cost of paradise. He could find more than a cure for his illness; he might find what everyone has been searching for since time began…but only if he can survive Hollow World. 


Welcome to the future and a new sci-fantasy thriller from the bestselling author of The Riyria Revelations.

Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson
Diribani has come to the village well to get water for her family's scant meal of curry and rice. She never expected to meet a goddess there. Yet she is granted a remarkable gift: Flowers and precious jewels drop from her lips whenever she speaks.

It seems only right to Tana that the goddess judged her kind, lovely stepsister worthy of such riches. And when she encounters the goddess, she is not surprised to find herself speaking snakes and toads as a reward.


Blessings and curses are never so clear as they might seem, however. Diribani's newfound wealth brings her a prince—and an attempt on her life. Tana is chased out of the village because the province's governor fears snakes, yet thousands are dying of a plague spread by rats. As the sisters' fates hang in the balance, each struggles to understand her gift. Will it bring her wisdom, good fortune, love . . . or death?

Eon: Dragoneye Reborn by Alison Goodman
Swordplay, dragon magic--and a hero with a desperate secret

Twelve-year-old Eon has been in training for years. His intensive study of Dragon Magic, based on East Asian astrology, involves two kinds of skills: sword-work and magical aptitude. He and his master hope that he will be chosen as a Dragoneye--an apprentice to one of the twelve energy dragons of good fortune. 

But Eon has a dangerous secret. He is actually Eona, a sixteen-year-old girl who has been masquerading as a boy for the chance to become a Dragoneye. Females are forbidden to use Dragon Magic; if anyone discovers she has been hiding in plain sight, her death is assured.


When Eon's secret threatens to come to light, she and her allies are plunged into grave danger and a deadly struggle for the Imperial throne. Eon must find the strength and inner power to battle those who want to take her magic...and her life.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
Seconds before the Earth is demolished to make way for a galactic freeway, Arthur Dent is plucked off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher for the revised edition of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy who, for the last fifteen years, has been posing as an out-of-work actor.


Together this dynamic pair begin a journey through space aided by quotes from The Hitchhiker's Guide ("A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have") and a galaxy-full of fellow travelers: Zaphod Beeblebrox--the two-headed, three-armed ex-hippie and totally out-to-lunch president of the galaxy; Trillian, Zaphod's girlfriend (formally Tricia McMillan), whom Arthur tried to pick up at a cocktail party once upon a time zone; Marvin, a paranoid, brilliant, and chronically depressed robot; Veet Voojagig, a former graduate student who is obsessed with the disappearance of all the ballpoint pens he bought over the years.

The Magician's Guild by Trudi Canavan
"We should expect this young woman to be more powerful than our average novice, possibly even more powerful than the average magician."

This year, like every other, the magicians of Imardin gather to purge the city of undesirables. Cloaked in the protection of their sorcery, they move with no fear of the vagrants and miscreants who despise them and their work-—until one enraged girl, barely more than a child, hurls a stone at the hated invaders...and effortlessly penetrates their magical shield.


What the Magicians' Guild has long dreaded has finally come to pass. There is someone outside their ranks who possesses a raw power beyond imagining, an untrained mage who must be found and schooled before she destroys herself and her city with a force she cannot yet control.


So... Which one do I absolutely have to read, right now? Are you interested in any of these?

Comments (6)

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I've never even come across these books before *hides in shame* but they sound amazing! I'm really intrigued by Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson! It both looks, and sounds, FABULOUS!!! I'd love to hear your thoughts when you do get around to it, Amy! Good luck with all these!
1 reply · active 431 weeks ago
So...Does that mean I inadvertently helped expand your TBR? If so, very cool. Yeah, I LOVE the concept for Toads and Diamonds - and I'm definitely looking to try some different retellings. (And this is one I've been looking at for absolute YEARS, but shh...) Thanks!
Interesting books to want to read. I will be interested to hear your thoughts on Eon and Eona if you do manage to read them. I absolutely adored The Magician's Guild was such a good series for me. I loved it so much I still can't bring myself to read the next series which is linked to that one. I'm scared i won't like it as much or I'll be disappointed. For some reason I still haven't read past the first book in the Hitchhiker's series and I wish I knew why. It is exactly my kind of humour yet book 2 still alludes my reading pile.
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1 reply · active 431 weeks ago
I have heard wonderful things about Eon so - even though the whole boy is really a girl thing worked for me only on Mulan - I've been wanting to read it for quite a while. The Magicians Guild is a book I've been looking at for ages, I think I had it on my TBR list at least three times, so I definitely hope to get to it this year. (And I'm super glad to hear you liked it that much!) And The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy is a book I've wanted to read since BEFORE I ever saw the movie - but I never remembered to put it on my list. So, now that it's finally there, hopefully I'll remember it!
I read The Magicians Guild a while back and really liked it! Actually, I have the second book in the series and I haven't read it yet, but I have to read 5 fantasy books before 2016 ends to complete one of my reading challenges, so I may read it before the year is over. I think The Magicians Guild is the one you have to read right now.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy seems really funny, I have heard a lot about this book and I think it's finally time to add it to my tbr. Also, Toads and Dimonds sounds interesting, I hadn't heard about it until now, but I would love to read it.

Great post!

Sofia @ Bookish Wanderess
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1 reply · active 429 weeks ago
Thanks! I keep hearing wonderful stuff about The Magicians Guild, which is part of the reason I'm so interested in it - so it's great to hear that you liked it so much. (Lots of luck to you on completing your challenge, too!)

I've seen one of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movies and it was hilarious. And I've heard that the book is even better. It does sound like my kind of humor, I gotta say. Toads and Diamonds isn't a very well known retelling, but it has been on my radar for ages and I'm hoping that next years is the year I finally read it.

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