As the leaves start falling and jackets start being worn, autumn pushes us all inside, whether we like it or not. This season is perfect for curling up in bed or on a couch and reading a book. Spanning from fantasy to historical fiction, here are some novels worth buying.
“Age of Myth”
The high fantasy genre is one of the most action-packed, thrilling book genres to exist. “Age of Myth” by Michael J. Sullivan upholds those expectations for any fantasy novel. The book has four characters which the readers will follow, all their stories starting out different but inevitably ending together on one line. For those who enjoy reading about interactions between divine beings and humans and what would happen if a god was killed by an ordinary man, “Age of Myth” is for you.
“The Secret History”
Blending academia and murder mystery, Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History” is the epitome of a dark academic novel. Much like now, the book follows an unreliable main character, Richard Papen, as he gets involved with a mysterious group of students studying ancient Greek. As the leaves turn from green to yellow to red, the group begins to turn on one another until somebody ends up dead.
“Circe”
A story retold and reimagined, “Circe” is based on the Greek mythology goddess, daughter of the sun god Helios. In the myths, Circe has been seen as an evil witch, turning everyone into pigs or animals of another sort. Author Madeline Miller takes the character of Circe and redefines her as a woman who’s had her life stolen from her by men of higher status. While trying to survive on the island she’s been banished to, Circe begins a mission of self-identity and begins to love the humans that her immortal peers hate.
“The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer”
A girl wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of how she got there. She soon learns her best friends are dead, and she may have been the cause. The story of Mara Dyer is a novel of complex, thriller elements that take hold of the reader’s mind and makes them question if everything they’re seeing is real or not. Because Mara hallucinates and is constantly trying to remember what happened the night her friends died, author Michelle Hodkin conveys how extraordinary and scary the human mind can act.
“Chain of Gold”
The time period is the early 20th century, and demons begin to rampage the city of London, causing the city’s shadowhunters to figure out where these demons are coming from and how they have gained impossible abilities. Shadowhunters are half-human, half-angel warriors who live in secret from the mundane world, quietly protecting humans from monsters and impending darkness that starts to spread. Author Cassandra Clare creates an empowering main character who, with the help of her friends, finds her own destiny in a world that wants to ruin her.
