And this month so many amazing books were coming out (like Christina Lauren’s The House … perfectly spooky for fall, the Anniversary Edition of Twilight, and the new Illustrated Harry Potter). It’s a dream reading month.
So, we had kind of hard time picking titles for October’s Boozy Book Club, but I think we found a good balance. Both of these books have their origins in other books by their respective authors, but they are not part of a series, or companion novels. Both are by two of my favorite authors. Both books are billed YA, but will appeal to every not-so-young-adult, and both are firmly in my favorite genre … fantasy.
TN’s Boozy Book Club October Book Picks
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Leigh Bardugo returns us to the Grishaverse, the world we were introduced to in Shadow and Bone, but with a broader scope and a whole new cast of characters. You don’t have to have read the Grisha Trilogy to enjoy Six of Crows. In fact, I hear that some readers are saying that SoC is a better introduction to the world.
SoC has received starred reviews from Kirkus, Publisher’s Weekly and Voya. Here’s the official summary.
SIX DANGEROUS OUTCASTS. ONE IMPOSSIBLE HEIST.
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price — and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone…
A convict with a thirst for revenge.
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager.
A runaway with a privileged past.
A spy known as the Wraith.
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums.
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes.
Six dangerous outcasts. One impossible heist. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction — if they don’t kill each other first.
Awesome. Sounds much like one of my all time top 3 fantasy novels…The Lies of Locke Lamora, which is so good I could read books that remind me of it ALL DAY LONG. But Leigh Bardugo is a best-selling author in her own right and for good reason. I think this book is going to be SO FUN AND SO FALL.
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
When we finished Fangirl a million moons ago, we talked a lot about how the Simon and Baz parts of that book seemed ill-placed, not an unenjoyable part of the book, but maybe an unfinished one? Then Rainbow Rowell announced she was writing a canon fiction novel of her fictionalized fantasy turned fanfic, and our minds exploded.
And while we were trying to untwist our brains around what she was doing, we realized WE ARE GETTING REAL SIMON AND BAZ! Canonical wizard slash. BRING IT ON SO HARD.
Rainbow Rowell continues to break boundaries with Carry On, an epic fantasy following the triumphs and heartaches of Simon and Baz from her beloved bestseller Fangirl.
Simon Snow just wants to relax and savor his last year at the Watford School of Magicks, but no one will let him. His girlfriend broke up with him, his best friend is a pest, and his mentor keeps trying to hide him away in the mountains where maybe he’ll be safe. Simon can’t even enjoy the fact that his roommate and longtime nemesis is missing, because he can’t stop worrying about the evil git. Plus there are ghosts. And vampires. And actual evil things trying to shut Simon down. When you’re the most powerful magician the world has ever known, you never get to relax and savor anything.
Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story — but far, far more monsters
So, again, you don’t have to have read Fangirl to read Carry On. In fact, the characters introduced there may bear little resemblance to the ones we read in Carry On. But I cannot wait.
So … join us on Goodreads as we talk all things incredible YA fantasy this month. And talk to us on twitter with the hashtag #TnBookClub. We will see you at the end of the month with a LIVE GOOGLE HANGOUT!
