I am hoping to make this a regular feature with upcoming books that I am truly excited to read. I will tell you about them, why I am excited by them, and we can discuss. See something here that piques your interest? I’ll like to the Goodreads listing for it too.

 

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Expected publication: May 19, 2020 by Scholastic Press

Goodreads link

Synopsis: It is the morning of the reaping that will kick off the 10th annual Hunger Games. In the Capitol, 18-year-old Coriolanus Snow is preparing for his one shot at glory as a mentor in the Games. The once-mighty house of Snow has fallen on hard times, its fate hanging on the slender chance that Coriolanus will be able to out charm, outwit, and outmaneuver his fellow students to mentor the winning tribute.

The odds are against him. He’s been given the humiliating assignment of mentoring the female tribute from District 12, the lowest of the low. Their fates are now completely intertwined – every choice Coriolanus makes could lead to favor or failure, triumph or ruin. Inside the arena, it will be a fight to the death. Outside the arena, Coriolanus starts to feel for his doomed tribute… and must weigh his need to follow the rules against his desire to survive no matter what it takes.

My thoughts: So, you may not know this but I have read the Hunger Games trilogy at least 10 times. Except the last book, it really made me too mad to read at the same rate. But this is the prequel that tells the story of the 10th Hunger Games. This is a year that they talk about a lot of the rest of the books and I have always wondered what happened. I already have this pre-ordered and I am so excited!! If this is a good book, I might even be able to forgive Suzanne Collins for Mockingjay.

 

Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

Expected publication: June 16, 2020 by Del Rey Books

Goodreads link

Synopsis: The #1 bestselling author of World War Z takes on the Bigfoot legend with a tale that blurs the lines between human and beast–and asks what we are capable of in the face of the unimaginable.

As the ash and chaos from Mount Rainier’s eruption swirled and finally settled, the story of the Greenloop massacre has passed unnoticed, unexamined . . . until now.

But the journals of resident Kate Holland, recovered from the town’s bloody wreckage, capture a tale too harrowing–and too earth-shattering in its implications–to be forgotten.

In these pages, Max Brooks brings Kate’s extraordinary account to light for the first time, faithfully reproducing her words alongside his own extensive investigations into the massacre and the legendary beasts behind it.

Kate’s is a tale of unexpected strength and resilience, of humanity’s defiance in the face of a terrible predator’s gaze, and inevitably, of savagery and death.

Yet it is also far more than that.

Because if what Kate Holland saw in those days is real, then we must accept the impossible. We must accept that the creature known as Bigfoot walks among us–and that it is a beast of terrible strength and ferocity.

Part survival narrative, part bloody horror tale, part scientific journey into the boundaries between truth and fiction, this is a Bigfoot story as only Max Brooks could chronicle it–and like none you’ve ever read before.

My thoughts: I loved World War Z! I have read it more than once and consider it the premiere zombie novel, all others just don’t live up. It was one of the only books that actually made me feel scared of zombies. And this one sounds fantastic. Another monster story taking place in the hills at the base of Mount Rainier. I used to live in the area so I know the imposing figure that Mount Rainier makes on the landscape. I cannot wait. And, I have an ARC!!!

 

Providence by Max Barry

Expected publication: March 31, 2020 by GP Putnam’s Sons

Goodreads link

Synopsis: A dazzling, inventive, and thought-provoking new novel from the ingenious author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon.

Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson are astronauts captaining a new and supposedly indestructible ship in humanity’s war against an alien race. Confined to the ship for years, each of them holding their own secrets, they are about to learn there are threats beyond the reach of human ingenuity–and that the true nature of reality might be the universe’s greatest mystery.

In this near future, our world is at war with another, and humanity is haunted by its one catastrophic loss–a nightmarish engagement that left a handful of survivors drifting home through space, wracked with PTSD. Public support for the war plummeted, and the military-industrial complex set its sights on a new goal: zero-casualty warfare, made possible by gleaming new ships called Providences, powered by AI.

But when the latest-launched Providence suffers a surprising attack and contact with home is severed, Gilly, Talia, Anders, and Jackson must confront the truth of the war they’re fighting, the ship that brought them there, and the cosmos beyond.

My thoughts: I read another book by this author a few years ago, Lexicon. I absolutely loved it.  So I saw this one pop up and saw aliens and knew I needed to read it. The way this author writes is beautiful. He likes to play with language and I love it when that is done well.