Top 5 Tuesday: Favorite New-To-Me Authors

 

This week I decided to switch back over and participate in Top 5 Tuesday, hosted by BionicBookworm!

This week's topic is: Favorite New-To-Me Authors

This week I decided to hop back over to Top 5 Tuesday since I just realized that it is back up and running! This week's topic is some new authors I've read in 2020 that I have really loved. These are not debut authors, but rather authors that I just haven't read before. I'll probably be putting together a favorite debut authors post closer to the end of the year--and maybe an additional one of more new-to-me authors! :)

(Note: please excuse if the formatting is messed up! I've still been having some issues with the new Blogger update and formatting.)

Author: Matt Wallace
Book: Savage Legion

Savage Legion completely blew me away and I cannot wait to not only read the next books in this series, but to check out more of Wallace's books as well. 

Summary: "They call them Savages. Brutal. Efficient. Expendable. 

The empire relies on them. The Savages are the greatest weapon they ever developed. Culled from the streets of their cities, they take the ones no one will miss and throw them, by the thousands, at the empire’s enemies. If they live, they fight again. If they die, there are always more to take their place. 

Evie is not a Savage. She’s a warrior with a mission: to find the man she once loved, the man who holds the key to exposing the secret of the Savage Legion and ending the mass conscription of the empire’s poor and wretched. 

But to find him, she must become one of them, to be marked in her blood, to fight in their wars, and to find her purpose. Evie will die a Savage if she has to, but not before showing the world who she really is and what the Savage Legion can really do." 

Author: TJ Klune
Book: The House in the Cerulean Sea

I think it's easy to see how I fell in love with this book, much like most people who read it seem to have fallen in love with it! It absolutely makes me want to read more of Klune's work--though I must say that I'm exceptionally excited for his upcoming companion-type release!

Summary: "A magical island. A dangerous task. A burning secret. 

Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages. 

When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management he's given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist. Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. 

But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps. Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe. As Arthur and Linus grow closer, long-held secrets are exposed, and Linus must make a choice: destroy a home or watch the world burn."

Author: Stephen Graham Jones
Book: The Only Good Indians

This was such a hauntingly beautiful story and now I can't believe I've never read anything by Stephen Graham Jones before! It's definitely time to rectify that. 

Summary: "Seamlessly blending classic horror and a dramatic narrative with sharp social commentary, The Only Good Indians follows four American Indian men after a disturbing event from their youth puts them in a desperate struggle for their lives. Tracked by an entity bent on revenge, these childhood friends are helpless as the culture and traditions they left behind catch up to them in a violent, vengeful way."

Author: Cherie Dimaline
Book: Empire of Wild

This was another books that I found rather haunting and also makes me wonder why I've never heard of Cherie Dimaline before this year! 

Summary: "Joan has been searching for her missing husband, Victor, for nearly a year—ever since that terrible night they’d had their first serious argument hours before he mysteriously vanished. Her Métis family has lived in their tightly knit rural community for generations, but no one keeps the old ways . . . until they have to. That moment has arrived for Joan. 

One morning, grieving and severely hungover, Joan hears a shocking sound coming from inside a revival tent in a gritty Walmart parking lot. It is the unmistakable voice of Victor. Drawn inside, she sees him. He has the same face, the same eyes, the same hands, though his hair is much shorter and he's wearing a suit. But he doesn't seem to recognize Joan at all. He insists his name is Eugene Wolff, and that he is a reverend whose mission is to spread the word of Jesus and grow His flock. Yet Joan suspects there is something dark and terrifying within this charismatic preacher who professes to be a man of God . . . something old and very dangerous. 

Joan turns to Ajean, an elderly foul-mouthed card shark who is one of the few among her community steeped in the traditions of her people and knowledgeable about their ancient enemies. With the help of the old Métis and her peculiar Johnny-Cash-loving, twelve-year-old nephew Zeus, Joan must find a way to uncover the truth and remind Reverend Wolff who he really is . . . if he really is. Her life, and those of everyone she loves, depends upon it."

Author: T. Kingfisher
Book: The Hollow Places

I'd been meaning to read some of T. Kingfisher's books for a couple years now, so I'm glad I finally got around to it because I love her work. I can't wait to dive into her backlist now!

Summary: "Pray they are hungry. 

Kara finds these words in the mysterious bunker that she’s discovered behind a hole in the wall of her uncle’s house. Freshly divorced and living back at home, Kara now becomes obsessed with these cryptic words and starts exploring the peculiar bunker—only to discover that it holds portals to countless alternate realities. But these places are haunted by creatures that seem to hear thoughts…and the more you fear them, the stronger they become."

Have you read any of these books/authors?