In Case You Missed It: Backlist Book Love (June 9)
Some recommendations of books you don't yet know you desperately want to read
It’s time for the second installment of ICYMI, where I share my love for books that aren’t recent releases. Maybe they’re a few years old; maybe they’re a lot of years old. Why am I doing this? Check out the first installment for the full explanation! But in brief, it’s because books shouldn’t have to thrive or die based on their first months or weeks of existence.
Links in this post are affiliate links to Bookshop; if you buy a book using them, then I get a little somethin’-somethin’ from Bookshop, which I will then use to… buy more books.
Court of Fives by Kate Elliott
Published July 2016 | YA fantasy
Our heroine is caught between two worlds, that of a colonizing upper class and the commoners they’ve been oppressing. She’s training for The Fives, an athletic competition that’s kind of like if American Ninja Warrior could kill the participants, and in doing so, lands herself in the middle of a huge political mess. Love this whole series, couldn’t put them down.
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Published October 2020 | Adult fantasy
In the late 1800s, three sisters use witchcraft as part of the suffragette movement. I love this book because I have so long been needing a replacement recommendation for Mists of Avalon. And that’s not to say this book is even like MoA, it’s a different time period and the scale isn’t as epic or generation-spanning, but for some reason, it fills the same recommendation-niche in my head. I would recommend it to the people I once would’ve recommended MoA to. It’s powerfully feminist and a great read.
Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig
Published March 2016 | Adult space fantasy
The Aftermath trilogy is just so good. I’ve been re-listening to them lately (my third go-around, for someone who doesn’t often re-read books anymore), and they’re just so good. They start right after the Battle of Endor and continue through the Battle of Jakku about a year later. Read them for Sinjir Rath Velus, ex-Imperial loyalty officer, if for nothing else. He swiftly became one of my all-time favorite Star Wars characters. But also read them for Nora and Snap Wexley, and for and even for Han and Leia and the little bandit. Aftermath is an amazing story of broken people coming together to change the galaxy as a found family.
Go forth and read! Or, tell me about an older book that you love!
