Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly blog meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together. These are all things I can wholeheartedly get behind. This week’s topic is “Most Anticipated Books Releasing in the First Half of 2024.”
There are so many books coming out in 2024 that I can’t wait to get my hands on – figuratively, of course, since I mostly read Kindle books. But the books below are the ones I’ve been pining over. You can pretty much guarantee I will be reading these over the next six months.
- The Tainted Cup – Robert Jackson Bennett – 2/6/2024
I know I’ve talked about this book about a million times already (and I haven’t even posted my review yet!). I enjoy Jackson Bennett’s writing and I’m so excited for a Sci-Fantasy Mystery from him.
- Weird Black Girls: Stories by Elwin Cotman – 4/16/2024
Weird Black Girls is a short story collection from Philip K. Dick finalist Elwin Cotman. The summary of this collection immediately sold me. It’s described as an “irresistibly unnerving collection of stories that explore the anxieties of living while Black – a high-wire act of literary-fantastical hybrid fiction.” This is one I will absolutely be reviewing.
- The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton – 5/21/2024
Turton is the author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, which took the book community by storm. This new book of his sounds incredible.
The world has been destroyed by a deadly fog. Only one tiny island with 122 villagers and 3 scientists survives. One day, a scientist is found stabbed to death. To add to the issues, “the murder has triggered a lowering of the security system around the island, the only thing that was keeping the fog at bay. If the murder isn’t solved within 92 hours, the fog will smother the island – and everyone on it.” I NEED this.
- Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead – 4/2/2024
I haven’t heard as much about Calypso as I have about some of these other books, but I think it sounds fascinating.
“Rochelle wakes from cryostasis to take up her role on the colony ark, Calypso. But she wakes to find the ship deserted, and the interior taken over by a forest. As she explores and finds the last remaining members of the crew, she discovers a legacy of war conducted whilst she slept.
The engineers and the botanists have different visions for how to build the world. The engineers would build a new utopia of technology; the botanists would have the planet bloom, untouched by mankind. Both will destroy the other to ensure their vision of paradise prevails.
And Rochelle, the last to wake on the Calypso, holds the balance of power in her hands.”
- The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djéli Clark – 4/23/2024
I’m purposely going into this book a bit blind. I know there are undead assassins and kill contracts. That’s about it. I adored Ring Shout by P. Djéli Clark, so this book will definitely be getting a review on the blog.
- Otherworldly by F.T. Lukens – 4/2/2024
Otherworldly will be my first book by F.T. Lukens, but I am stoked for it! I heard about their 2023 release, Spell Bound, on another blog and knew I needed to try their writing. Otherworldly is a romantic adventure where “a skeptic and a supernatural being make a crossroads deal to achieve their own ends only to get more than they bargained for[…].” So incredibly excited for this one.
- Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa – 5/21/2024
Speculative novellas are my jam. This one sounds exactly like my cup of tea, so I am beyond thrilled for it.
“Off the coast of West Africa, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region’s survivors live inside five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally created as a playground for the wealthy. Now the towers’ most affluent rule from their lofty perch at the top while the rest are crammed into the dark, fetid floors below sea level.
There are also those who were left for dead in the Atlantic, only to be reawakened by an ancient power, and who seek vengeance on those who offered them up to the waves.
Three lives within the towers are pulled to the fore of this Yekini, an earnest, mid-level rookie analyst; Tuoyo, an undersea mechanic mourning a tremendous loss; and Ngozi, an egotistical bureaucrat from the highest levels of governance. They will need to work together if there is to be any hope of a future that is worth living―for everyone.”
- Catchpenny by Charlie Huston – 4/9/2024
“A thief who can travel through mirrors, a video game that threatens to spill out of the virtual world, a doomsday cult on a collision course with destiny, and a missing teenager at the center of it all. With the world on the brink of every kind of apocalypse, humanity needs a hero. What it gets is Sid Catchpenny.”
That’s all I need to know. I’m definitely going to be reading this one.
- Nature of the Crime (Bow Street Duchess Mystery #6) by Cara Devlin – 1/20/2024
I read Murder at the Seven Dials on Kindle Unlimited back in September, and it quickly became one of my favorite indie-published series. It’s a mystery series set in the Regency era, and the main character, Duchess Audrey Sinclair, has preternatural abilities. When Audrey touches an item she can see glimpses or moments in that item’s history. This ability leads to a perfect ability to get involved with and solve crimes. There’s danger, romance, intrigue, angst, and lots of intrigue.
- The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed – 2/27/2024
I previously read and reviewed And What Can We Offer You Tonight by Premee Mohamed and loved it. The first lines of the summary for The Butcher of the Forest read, “A world-weary woman races against the clock to rescue the children of a wrathful tyrant from a dangerous, otherworldly forest.” It sounds incredible. Also, it’s a Tordotcom novella, so I will absolutely be reading this guy this year.
Have you heard of any of these? Do they sound like books you would pick up?
I’ve been doing a lot more mood reading lately and have been looking for more romantasy and cozy fantasy reads. If you have any recommendations, please let me know!!
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