Top Ten Tuesday #385

Hi all! Hope you’ve all had a good week since I last did one of these. It was my birthday yesterday, and I had a lovely day, my mum and I went to a spa in Richmond, which was really nice, we had a really nice lunch and then spent the rest of the day using the spa facilities before having our treatments, I enjoyed a very relaxing back pamper!

Anyway, it’s Tuesday, so that means another Top Ten Tuesday courtesy of Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. This week’s topic was supposed to be Book Titles With Geographical Terms In Them but honestly, I’ve not really read many, so instead I thought I’d do a different title themed topic, and share Books With The Something of Something and Something title theme. I thought that being a big a fantasy reader, I would have read way more of these than it actually turns out I have, I had to include a few that are on my TBR because I didn’t have enough that I’d actually read (that weren’t part of the same series!). Anyway here we go:

1. Children of Blood and Bone-Tomi Adeyemi

This title is definitely one of the most fantasy titles to ever fantasy, with the incredibly common title theme and using both “Blood” and “Bone” which are two of the most commonly used words in fantasy titles. I did really enjoy the book though, it was a really fun read, I loved the characters and the world. Sadly the sequel ended up being a bit of a disappointment, but I have high hopes for the final book in the trilogy (whenever that comes out!).

2. Girls Made of Snow and Glass-Melissa Bashardoust

For once a title including the word “Girl” or in this case “Girls” that isn’t a mystery title as they seem to really love their “Girl” titles! I really wish I’d like this one more than I did, because it was an interesting idea to explore the stepmother/stepdaughter relationship in a Snow White retelling, but the plot didn’t live up to the promise of the premise.

3. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin-Roseanne A. Brown

It’s a pretty title, though I have to admit, it’s been a while since I read the book, so I can’t quite remember what the relevance of the title was to the story! I really loved the characters from this book, particularly Malik, his struggles with anxiety were so well handled, and it’s one of few fantasy books I’ve read that actually deals with mental health (strange for a genre where so many characters go through such trauma) Sadly, much like with Children of Blood and Bone, the sequel didn’t quite live up to the first book for me.

4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes-Suzanne Collins

When I first saw the title, I did think it was a bit of an odd choice, considering that the Hunger Games trilogy titles were all so short. However, now having read the book, it’s definitely very fitting for the characters. Honestly, whilst I didn’t dislike this book as much as some people seem to have, I wasn’t clamouring for a Hunger Games prequel, and wouldn’t have been disappointed if Suzanne Collins hadn’t done one. Having said that, it wasn’t a bad book and there were parts I enjoyed about it, even if it’s probably my least favourite book from The Hunger Games world.

5. A Court of Thorns and Roses-Sarah J Maas

This was the first title to come to mind when I thought of the topic as Sarah J Maas has become so synonymous with this title scheme over recent years (though it probably goes back to A Song of Ice and Fire, and maybe even further back than that, I don’t know), although it seems like the next few books in the series won’t follow the exact same pattern if A Court of Silver Flames is anything to go by. I’m more of a Throne of Glass fan than an ACOTAR fan to be honest, I did really enjoy A Court of Mist and Fury, but I’ve still yet to finish the initial Feyre trilogy.

6. Daughter of Smoke and Bone-Laini Taylor

Another very classic fantasy title, as all the words in this title (Daughter, Smoke, Bone) are really popular ones in fantasy titles. I really enjoyed the first book of the trilogy, I loved the whimsical feel of it, and I really enjoyed the Prague setting. Sadly, Days of Blood and Starlight had me so annoyed that I still have yet to finish the trilogy!

7. A Curse So Dark and Lonely-Brigid Kemmerer

Another very fantasy feeling title, given the prevalence of dark curses in fantasy books! This one sadly didn’t work as well for me as I know it did for many others, but I did appreciate that Brigid Kemmerer did something different with a Beauty and the Beast retelling as so many of them can often feel so same-y. I also really enjoyed Harper as a main character and it was wonderful to see a disabled character taking centre stage in a fantasy novel, as we don’t see it often enough.

8. The Game of Love and Death-Martha Brockenbrough

I’ve not read this one yet, but I do love a book title that does exactly what it says on the tin. Apparently this book imagines “Love” and “Death” as real figures, who have been engaged in a millennia long war using humans as their pawns and that just sounds like such a fun idea. I’m looking forward to seeing if this book is as fun as it sounds like it will be.

9. Queen of Coin and Whispers-Helen Corcoran

This is another one that’s still on my TBR. From the title, I’m imagining a queen that presides over a very gossipy kind of court, though I’m not sure where the coin bit comes in! I’ve heard good things about this one, so hopefully it ends up being one I enjoy.

10. A Shiver of Snow and Sky-Lisa Lueddecke

Honestly, this is one of those fantasy titles that does seem like it’s come out of a fantasy title name generator! Other than the book having a snowy setting, I don’t get much more from the title. Still I was very drawn to the beautiful cover and I’m looking forward to reading the book and discovering more of what the book’s about.

So there we go, those are just some of the many, many books with the Something of Something and Something title scheme! Have you read any of these? What did you think of them? Let me know in the comments!

I will have another TTT for you all next week, it’s another annual one as we’ll be sharing our Autumn TBRs, so you’ll all get to hear about how terribly I did with my Summer TBR and I’ll get to share another overly optimistic list of books I’m going to read!