Recommended Reading
Need something to read? We always do!
For us here at Shire Post Mint, National Library Week is the perfect opportunity to reflect on the stories that have inspired us to create, build community, and see the world through someone else’s eyes. We'd love to share those stories with you! Read on for our staff picks, and be sure to check out your local library for availability!
Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce
♞ Teen & Young Adult Fantasy
♞ If you like: Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey / Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Engdahl
♞ Vibes in a nutshell: Hero's Journey | Inspiring | Classic
Tamora Pierce looked out across the garden of 1980s young adult fantasy spotlighting powerful, teenaged heroines and saw a veritable desert. Inspired by her love of history and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Pierce decided to water it with The Song of the Lioness quartet. These stories follow the adventures of Alanna, a girl who dreams of becoming a knight. Trapped in a world that makes this impossible for a young lady, Alanna decides to defy her society’s rigid gender roles by swapping places with her twin brother so she can begin the quest to knighthood her way.
Pierce doesn’t shy away from tackling social justice themes involving gender, sexuality, and race in her fiction, and puts careful thought into creating diverse worlds for her readers to see themselves in. Start with Alanna: The First Adventure, and keep an eye out for the graphic novel adaptation this spring!
This classic series is an important thread in feminist fantasy history, and a perfect introduction to any reader who wants to try fantasy but doesn’t know where to begin.
Man Made Monsters by Andrea L. Rogers
☾ Teen & Young Adult Supernatural / Horror
☾ If you like: Harvest House by Cynthia Leitich Smith / Night of the Living Queers: 13 Tales of Terror & Delight edited by Shelly Page and Alex Brown
☾ Vibes in a nutshell: Speculative | Haunting | Impactful
In her debut anthology, Andrea L. Rogers weaves together 18 horror stories using the branches of a long-suffering family tree. Beginning in 1839 and carrying us through all the way to 2039, each chapter explores a different family member’s struggles, joys, traumas, and inevitable supernatural encounter. Rogers pulls from a diverse range of classic horror tropes and themes, and breathes fresh life into them by examining them all through the lens of Native history and Cherokee culture.
Though vampires, spirits, werewolves, and even extraterrestrials populate these stories, the true horrors are rooted in the dark underbelly of America’ systemic oppression of Native Americans. Stunning illustrations by Jeff Edwards precede each chapter, inking out a unique visual marker when the reader is introduced to a new family member. Rogers incorporates Cherokee vocabulary throughout the narrative, creating opportunities for the reader to learn this beautiful language as they get to know the characters.
This anthology is perfect if you’re interested in horror that is dark, rich, and meaningful.
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Anyone looking to add a sprinkling of soft, colorful, found-family warmth to their fantasy reading-pie should absolutely check out The House in the Cerulean Sea. Best-selling author TJ Klune is becoming well-known for transporting his readers to whimsical, magic-filled worlds while exploring themes of love, identity, and human nature through his memorable characters and their relationships to the people and society around them.
Linus Baker has been toiling away in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth for years, overseeing government-sanctioned orphanages for magical children and trying not to draw attention to his secret longing for adventure beyond the horizon. His lonely life is suddenly turned upside down when Extremely Upper Management chooses him to oversee a highly classified case: so classified, in fact, that he isn’t allowed to open the files until he manages to coax his ornery cat into a carrier and transport them both to Marsyas Island Orphanage. The reports warn of the extremely dangerous children he is to review, and Linus must overcome his fear of the unknown to help them.
This LGBTQ+ love story bundles you up in a hug and reminds you that there are still things worth standing up for in this broken, bleeding, and beautiful world.
The Farseer Trilogy: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
♛ Adult Fantasy
♛ If you like: A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin / His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman
♛ Vibes in a nutshell: High Fantasy | Political Intrigue | Adventure
Robin Hobb is a prolific writer whose complex characters, beautiful prose, and engrossing story tend to sparkle out at those who feel intimidated by epic fantasy. In 1995, Hobb kicked off her much-loved 16-part epic with Assassin’s Apprentice. In this series debut, we meet FitzChivalry Farseer. Born to a prince who won’t claim him and a mother who is forced to give him up, our hero is dealt a difficult hand from the start. Navigating the complicated politics of his grandfather’s court is difficult enough for a non-magical, legitimate heir, but, unfortunately, Fritz is neither.
Hobb offers many doorways through which you can enter! Pick up Assassin’s Apprentice if you want to start from the very beginning, but Hobb’s sprawling tale is divided up into distinct trilogies the reader can choose from, publication order be damned!
If you’re looking for a well-written, absorbing, accessible epic fantasy series to kick off your next reading binge, this book is the perfect choice.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
𓅪 Adult Historical Fantasy
𓅪 If you like: The Book of Living Secrets by Madeleine Roux / Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro and Cornelia Funk
𓅪 Vibes in a nutshell: Deal with the Devil | Romantic | Lyrical
Adeline LaRue has flitted across the edge of humanity’s memory for centuries. In 1714, Addie is a desperate girl dreaming of agency, adventure, and escape from her suffocating life in a small village. By 2014, Addie has crossed continents, witnessed technological innovation, and even survived revolutions. Yet, thanks to the faustian deal she made with an ancient and unpredictable god to leave her life behind, nobody who encounters her remembers her at all. Her name catches in her own throat, her words vanish from the page, her photograph is nothing more than a blur.
For a woman longing to dance with everything the world has to offer, this is nothing short of torture, but she will not give up. V.E. Schwab’s inspiring narrative follows Addie's journey as she determines to love life anyway, and make her mark on the world no matter what it takes.
This story explores how art and relationships intersect with legacy and remembrance, and asks what it means to search for identity in an ever-shifting world. Readers who enjoy historical fiction, romance and lyrical prose will find precious meaning in Addie's quest through the ages.
Under the Dome by Stephen King
✈ Adult Thriller & Suspense
✈ If you like: Sphere by Michael Crichton / Annihilation by Jeff Vandermeer
✈ Vibes in a nutshell: Suspense | Small Town-Terror | Allegorical
An inexplicable, unexplainable, unimaginable event kicks off this gripping novel by “King of Horror” Stephen King. A small town in Maine is rocked to the very core when a gigantic, invisible dome appears out of nowhere and cuts the people inside off from the rest of the world.
Their nightmare grows darker as food and electricity are threatened, and a new social order begins to creep in through the cracks left by a terror-stricken community. A strong cast of characters led by drifter and war veteran Dale “Barbie” Barbara team up to oppose the manipulative and power-hungry car salesman who now controls the city, a dynamic through which King hungrily explores themes of political corruption, mob mentality and societal collapse.
A fast-paced and timely thriller for readers craving dynamic characters, post-apocalyptic action, and cutting social commentary.
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
↟ Adult Mystery & Suspense
↟ If you like: The Other Americans by Laila Lalami / Penitence by Kristin Koval
↟ Vibes in a nutshell: Page-Turner | Don’t Go in the Woods | Affecting
For those in need of an emotionally thrilling, gothic mystery, look no further than Liz Moore’s crime drama, The God of the Woods. Moore takes the reader deep into the Adirondack Mountains to unravel the tragedy behind Barbara and Bear Van Laar’s sudden disappearance from the isolated summer camp their affluential family run. The novel spans multiple time periods, chronicling Bear’s disappearance in the 60s and his sister’s nearly ten years later.
Moore deftly threads together the alternating perspectives of those impacted by the vanishings, namely Tracy, Barbara’s good friend from camp, and the siblings’ mother, Alice, whose grief has debilitated her. As the plot unfolds, Moore layers together complex topics such as damaging family dynamics, substance abuse, and women’s agency in a patriarchal world to tell a deeper, more resonant story than your typical psychological thriller.
This multi-faceted mystery is honest, rich in quiet suspense, and expertly juggles enough secrets to keep the reader turning the page.
Into the Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos by Kelsey Johnson
⭑ Nonfiction & Astrophysics
⭑ If you like: Our Mathematical Universe: My Quest for the Ultimate Nature of Reality by Max Tegmark / Waves in an Impossible Sea by Matt Strassler
⭑ Vibes in a nutshell: Electrifying | Exploratory | Philosophy of Knowledge
From the time she was a little girl looking up at the night sky, Professor of Astronomy Kelsey Johnson has been driven to bring the cosmos a little closer to Earth. Through her promotion of scientific literacy both and in and outside of the classroom, she stresses our responsibility as products and stewards of this world to strive for understanding. To ask larger questions about the world and our place in it connects us to something greater than ourselves, and kindles the spark of curiosity that makes us human.
In her book, Into the Unknown, Johnson explores what we know so far, what we want to know, and what it might mean if we never find the answers. Are we alone in space? Is our dimension the only one out there? Can we ever truly understand the nature of time? Johnson’s search for a deeper understanding of how our universe is woven together will resonate with anyone looking for answers, too.
An illuminating and passionate deep dive into the cosmos that will keep your mind wide open.
Happy reading, support your libraries! <3
