Pub Day Picks // September 29, 2020

Happy last Tuesday of September! I probably say this every month, but I can’t believe it’s the end of another one. While my reading life wasn’t that great (more on that in my wrap up), I’m excited for the new books coming out today. September is ending with some incredible new books and I’m excited about three! Here’s what I’ll be reading in the coming months:

A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

My dark academia heart has been overflowing this year with the number of books taking place at some school. A Deadly Education is no exception and I’m so excited this one is out in the universe. I’m saving it for my Halloween weekend, but the book is out today and I’m so happy it’s in the world. I did get a gifted early copy of this book from the publisher and the cover alone is worth buying.

A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) — until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets. There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere. El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.

Skyhunter by Marie Lu

I’m a sucker for anything Marie Lu writes. She’s one of the first Asian American authors I read writing science fiction and fantasy. And her stories are epic! I don’t expect anything less from Marie Lu and I’m so excited her next book, Skyhunter, is now out in the world. It already has so many positive reviews and a few of my bookstagram friends have already read the book and loved it. They don’t even read science fiction that often! Oh, and this is another book that’s got serious cover envy.

Talin is a Striker, a member of an elite fighting force that stands as the last defense for the only free nation in the world: Mara.

A refugee, Talin knows firsthand the horrors of the Federation, a world-dominating war machine responsible for destroying nation after nation with its terrifying army of mutant beasts known only as Ghosts.

But when a mysterious prisoner is brought from the front to Mara’s capital, Talin senses there’s more to him than meets the eye. Is he a spy from the Federation? What secrets is he hiding?

Only one thing is clear: Talin is ready to fight to the death alongside her fellow Strikers for the only homeland she has left . . . with or without the boy who might just be the weapon to save—or destroy—them all.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

I haven’t read anything Matt Haig has put out, but when I read the description of this book I was super intrigued. I knew he’s a person who likes to play with concepts of time and space, which is one of my favorites, but for some reason I haven’t read his books. Give me science fiction mixed with fantasy and a touch of philosophy any day. Even the description of this book is super enticing. I’m such a fan of books that discuss philosophical views on life and death and everything in between.

‘Between life and death there is a library, and within that library, the shelves go on forever. Every book provides a chance to try another life you could have lived. To see how things would be if you had made other choices… Would you have done anything different, if you had the chance to undo your regrets?’

A dazzling novel about all the choices that go into a life well lived, from the internationally bestselling author of Reasons to Stay Alive and How To Stop Time.

Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

In The Midnight Library, Matt Haig’s enchanting new novel, Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Midnight Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.