This Wednesday I am waiting on The Sending and The Red Queen by Isobelle Carmody, the last 2 books in The Obernewtyn Chronicles. These books keep getting pushed back and back and I’m dying to know how this series ends! This is a great series for any lover of epic fantasy. Carmody’s world is breathtakingly unique and the characters are real and true.

The Sending
Release date: October 26, 2010

Summary (from Amazon.com):

Once shunned as a Misfit, Elspeth Gordie has found happiness and love in a world where such things are rare. But in the midst of planning a trip to the mysterious Red Land, Elspeth receives the long-awaited summons to leave all she loves. Now she must cross a range of toxic Blacklands to seek the help of a pack of dangerous human-hating wolves—for only these mutant beasts can lead her across the poisonous landscape, to the black road and the Beforetime city that haunt her dreams. Accepting the mission will cost her dearly. But to refuse—or to fail—is to condemn the world to a second apocalypse.

The Red Queen
Release date: October 26, 2010

Summary (from Amazon.com):

After years spent struggling to balance her desires with her responsibilities, Elspeth Gordie has fully embraced her role as the Seeker. Battle-scarred and lovelorn, haunted by memories of her beloved Rushton, Elspeth is not prepared for what she finds at the end of the black road she travels: the Compound, a lost community with a startling secret. As Elspeth strives against her captors, she learns that Rushton and her friends have fallen into the hands of the deadly slavemasters that rule the Red Land. And worst of all, as Elspeth stumbles, the Destroyer creeps ever closer to his goal: awakening the cataclysmically destructive weaponmachines that Elspeth has been charged with stopping. Has all her sacrifice been in vain?

This Wednesday I am waiting on Inside Out by Maria Snyder. I’m a big fan of her Study series (Poison Study, Magic Study, Fire Study) and have started her Glass series (Storm Glass, Sea Glass). I’m very excited about Inside Out, and was actually lucky enough to have a galley to read on NetGalley, so I’ll be reviewing that title soon in the weeks to come!

Inside Out
Release date: April 2010

Summary (from Maria Snyder’s Website):

Keep Your Head Down. Don’t Get Noticed. Or Else.

I’m Trella. I’m a scrub. One of thousands who work in the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I do my job and try to avoid the Pop Cops. The Trava family who rules our world from their spacious Upper levels wants us to be docile and obedient, like sheep. To insure we behave, they send the Pop Cops to police us.

So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels? Not like it’s all that dangerous–the only neck at risk is my own.

Until a lower level prophet claims a Gateway to Outside exists. And guess who he wants to steal into the Upper levels to get the proof? You’re right. Me. I alone know every single duct, pipe, corridor, shortcut, hole and ladder of Inside. It’s suicide plain and simple. But guess who can’t let a challenge like that go unanswered? Right again. Me.

I should have just said no…

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This Wednesday I am excited to give a shout out to one of my favorite authors, Mary Hoffman. I am eagerly anticipating her next book in the Stravaganza series, City of Ships, which will be released in the US in June (March 1st in the UK). I’ve also read on Hoffman’s website that a 6th book in the series, City of Swords, is in the works! Have you read the Stravaganza books yet? They are an exciting series that take place in an alternate world, where everything is several hundred years in the past, and slightly different (every country is named differently, etc.). The Stravagante are travelers across worlds, from ours to theirs and back again. (Post updated at 1:15pm, thanks to author Mary Hoffman for letting me know Amazon had the wrong synopsis!)

City of Ships
Release date: June 22nd (US – according to Amazon.com), March 1st (UK)

Summary (from Bloomsbury):

The much anticipated fifth title in the bestselling Stravaganza Sequence

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

This Wednesday, I am eagerly anticipating the next book in Melissa Marr’s faery tale novels, Radiant Shadows. Have you checked out Melissa’s web site yet? She has posted tons of cut scenes, short stories, and other miscellaneous items that fans of the series will enjoy. I’ve recommended these books to several friends and we’re all excited about the next book!

Radiant Shadows
Release date: April 20th

Summary (from the cover copy, found on GoodReads):

Hunger for nourishment.
Hunger for touch.
Hunger to belong.

Half-human and half-faery, Ani is driven by her hungers.

Those same appetites also attract powerful enemies and uncertain allies, including Devlin. He was created as an assassin and is brother to the faeries’ coolly logical High Queen and to her chaotic twin, the embodiment of War. Devlin wants to keep Ani safe from his sisters, knowing that if he fails, he will be the instrument of Ani’s death.

Ani isn’t one to be guarded while others fight battles for her, though. She has the courage to protect herself and the ability to alter Devlin’s plans—and his life. The two are drawn together, each with reason to fear the other and to fear for one another. But as they grow closer, a larger threat imperils the whole of Faerie. Will saving the faery realm mean losing each other?

Alluring romance, heart-stopping danger, and sinister intrigue combine in Melissa Marr’s next volume of Melissa Marr’s New York Times bestselling Wicked Lovely series.