Can't-Wait Wednesday: Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan, Overgrowth by Mira Grant, & The Sword Triumphant by Gareth Hanrahan

  

 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released!

Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan
Publication: May 13th, 2025
Pantheon
Hardcover. 320 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"An utterly transporting debut novel about the unexpected relationship between an artist and the 130-year-old woman she cares for—two of the last people living in a flooded San Francisco of the future, the home neither is ready to leave.

“An astonishing work of art…This is the kind of book that changes you, that leaves you seeing more vividly, and living more fully, in its wake.” —Rachel Khong, author of Real Americans

Bo knows she should go. Years of rain have drowned the city and almost everyone else has fled. Her mother was carried away in a storm surge and ever since, Bo has been alone. She is stalled: an artist unable to make art, a daughter unable to give up the hope that her mother may still be alive. Half-heartedly, she allows her cousin to plan for her escape—but as the departure day approaches, she finds a note slipped under her door from Mia, an elderly woman who lives in her building and wants to hire Bo to be her caregiver. Suddenly, Bo has a reason to stay.

Mia can be prickly, and yet still she and Bo forge a connection deeper than any Bo has had with a client. Mia shares stories of her life that pull Bo back toward art, toward the practice she thought she’d abandoned. Listening to Mia, allowing her memories to become entangled with Bo’s own, she’s struck by how much history will be lost as the city gives way to water. Then Mia’s health turns, and Bo determines to honor their disappearing world and this woman who’s brought her back to it, a project that teaches her the lessons that matter most: how to care, how to be present, how to commemorate a life and a place, soon to be lost forever."

This sounds incredible and I am so eager to have a chance to check it out! I really love this premise and I'm seeing some really great things about it and the writing. 

Overgrowth by Mira Grant
Publication: May 6th, 2025
Tor Nightfire
Hardcover. 480 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"This is just a story. It can't hurt you anymore.

Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has been willing to listen.

Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.

What happens when you know what’s coming, and just refuse to listen?"

More Mira Grant (aka Seanan McGuire) is always a good thing, and this sounds like a story that she is going to make even better than I'm hoping for. I'm so excited for it!

The Sword Triumphant (The Sword Unbound #3) by Gareth Hanrahan
Publication: May 27th, 2025
Orbit
Paperback. 560 pages.
Pre-order: Bookshop.org | Amazon

From Goodreads:
"Gareth Hanrahan's acclaimed epic fantasy series of dark myth, daring warriors and bloodthirsty vengeance concludes with The Sword Triumphant.

"Tell the Lammergeier that Blaise has need of him for one last service. Tell him to bring his sword."

In his youth, Aelfric slew the Dark Lord and saved the world, only to find out, many years later that his heroic deeds had served only to preserve the corrupt rule of the Erlking. As keeper of the dread sword Spellbreaker, Aelfric was drawn into a desperate rebellion against the immortal elf who had been secretly manipulating humanity since the dawn of time.

When it was done, he left the sword and the title of hero behind and went home. His tale should have been over.

Decades have passed. But when a figure from his past brings a cryptic message from one of the Nine, it seems the Lammergier is needed again. Does the old hero have one last quest left in him? Can his broken sword be reforged - and at what cost?"

I've really enjoyed Gareth Hanrahan and his latest series has been fantastic! Looking forward to this concluding installment and I'm curious to see how everything is all wrapped up.