In Case You Missed It: Backlist Book Love (December 2024)
It’s time once again for ICYMI: Backlist Book Love, the feature where I share books that came out more than a year ago but which still deserve your love and attention!
It may be down to the wire for holiday purchases, but books always make great gifts. Maybe some of these will strike a fancy for someone you know? And everything in this edition of ICYMI is a series starter, which I hope will get you hooked and make you pick up the other books as well!
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, Marie Brennan
Published February 2013
The Lady Trent series is one that imagines dragonology as a natural science. Each one follows our intrepid heroine on an expedition to seek out and learn more about a particular type of dragon — encountering many perils and cultural collisions along the way. In Natural History, she heads to the mountains of Vystrana in search of discovery. There’s a wonderful energy to these books, adventurous and explorative.
The Thorn of Dentonhill, Marshall Ryan Maresca
Published February 2015
Speaking of adventurous…
Marshall Ryan Maresca’s Maradaine saga is a fabulous fantasy series that too many people have slept on. If you want my full effusive pitch, I did a pot-banging thread on Bluesky recently. This is the book that kicks it off, and the premise is essentially: What if Batman, but magic, and a college kid who is not a billionaire? The story snaps with intrigue and excitement, and Veranix is such a great loveable rogue. Just as important, though, is the introduction to the city of Maradaine, one of the most well-rendered fantasy settings you’re ever going to find.
Daughters of Rome, Kate Quinn
Published April 2011
And now for some historical fiction! Daughters of Rome is actually the second book in Kate Quinn’s Empress of Rome series, but it takes place the first chronologically, and since that’s how I like to read historical sagas, that’s the one I’m picking! The series charts several particularly tumultuous decades in the Roman Empire, beginning here with the Year of Four Emperors as seen through the eyes of four women of the Cornelii family. It’s an era rife with political and personal intrigues, and these characters are wonderfully dynamic, each really evolving over the course of the story.
As always, the links in this post are Bookshop affiliate links, from which I will earn a small commission should you use them to purchase these or other books on the site! I turn that money right back around into buying more books, so it’s for a good cause. 😉
Now go forth and read!
