Teaser Tuesday & Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books Which Feature Characters Who _____

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of A Daily Rhythm. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Tiara’s Teaser

Page 66: "Desidora realized she was holding Ghylspwr in something that was just a little too close to a fighting position. She lowered Ghylspwr and gave warm smiles to the priests and visitors in the temple's large central hall."
Patrick Weekes, The Prophecy Con

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. They created the meme because they love lists. Who doesn’t love lists? They wanted to share these list with fellow booklovers and ask that we share in return to connect with our fellow book lovers. To learn more about participating in the challenge, stop by their page dedicated to it and dive in!

This week’s topic: Top Ten Books Which Feature Characters Who _____

My list this week contains speculative books whose protagonist(s) are people of color.

Static Shock Vol. 1: Rebirth of the Cool by Dwayne McDuffie

Socially awkward teen Virgil Hawkins starts living the double life of a hero after after a mutagenic gas gives him electricity based powers. And he thought high school was hard before… Some people may remember Static Shock mainly from the television series, which I loved (and still love).

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

A beautiful book whose summary I’ll use, lest I go off on tangents that will end in ugly sobbing while trying to discuss this:

Yeine Darr is an outcast from the barbarian north. But when her mother dies under mysterious circumstances, she is summoned to the majestic city of Sky. There, to her shock, Yeine is named an heiress to the king. But the throne of the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is not easily won, and Yeine is thrust into a vicious power struggle.

Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

Mercy Thompson is a walker who can turn into a coyote. She works as a mechanic in Tri-Cities, Washington. While outwardly her world looks much like our own, it’s inhabited by gremlins, werewolves, and other strange creatures. And of course, living in such a world doesn’t come without its difficulties.

Tales from an Israeli Storyteller by Uri Kurlianchik 

This book is a journey through the land of Israel accompanied by beautiful illustrations. It features iconic locations while weaving in stories about mythology, magic, and folklore. In these short stories, you meet sarcastic golems and talking animals seeking justice against evils that have wronged them.

Araña: The Heart of the Spider

This book follows Anya Corazon whose spider-powers don’t come from a radioactive bite but from a ritual performed  by The Spider Society. She has super strength, enhanced reflexes and speed, and she can make a carapace to help protect her from damage. Grappling hooks are her tools of choice to help her swing about. While I’m not a huge Spider-Man fan, I am a big fan of many of the Spider-Ladies, and Araña  is one of my favorites.

Tankborn by Karen Sandler

Kayla is a Genetically Engineered Non-human (GEN), tankborn humans created to serve trueborn humans as slaves. Animal DNA is spliced into their DNA to make them more “useful” for the jobs. This book is set in a society that features a very strict caste system. However, the tides of change are starting to move in, and Kayla becomes part of something that is bigger than herself.

Amok: An Anthology of Asia-Pacific Speculative Fiction by Dominica Malcolm (editor)

This book was a gift to my friend, Monica, whose background is Filipino, Chinese, and African. She’s been on the hunt for a while trying to find more speculative fiction by Asian authors, and this is one of the gems I happened across and purchased for her. This book features stories spanning from India to Australia to Hawaii and covers a range of topics from mythological characters like the Moon Rabbit to dark dystopias.

Realm of the Goddess by Sabina Khan

17-year-old Callie is the avatar of the Hindu goddess, Kali, and she’s been tasked with beating the King of Demons, Mahisha. First, she must travel India with Shiv, one of the Rakshakari who are sworn to protect the goddess, to find the Sword of Knowledge. I don’t typically read much young adult now days, but I couldn’t resist reading about one of my favorite figures in mythology, Kali.

Titan by John Varley

I read Titan after I challenged myself to read more classic science fiction books. Admittedly, I was disappointed by the book I’d read prior to this by Larry Niven for some of its gross attitudes. Then, I read this one, and where I found Niven disappointing (such as how he writes women), I found John Varley to be a treat. Titan plays around with science fiction and mythic fantasy in a very intriguing way:

It begins with humankind’s exploration of a massive satellite orbiting Saturn. It culminates in a shocking discovery: the satellite is a giant alien being. Her name is Gaea. Her awesome interior is mind-boggling—because it is a mind. A mind that calls out to explorers, transforming all who enter.

Redwood and Wildfire by Andrea Hairston

I think the summary for this book sums this up much better than I ever could.

At the turn of the 20th century, minstrel shows transform into vaudeville which slides into moving pictures. Hunkering together in dark theatres, diverse audiences marvel at flickering images. This “dreaming in public” becomes common culture and part of what transforms immigrants and “native” born into Americans. Redwood, an African American woman, and Aidan, a Seminole Irish man, journey from Georgia to Chicago, from haunted swampland to a “city of the future.” They are gifted performers and hoodoo conjurors, struggling to call up the wondrous world they imagine, not just on stage and screen, but on city streets, in front parlors, in wounded hearts. The power of hoodoo is the power of the community that believes in its capacities to heal and determine the course of today and tomorrow. Living in a system stacked against them, Redwood and Aidan’s power and talent are torment and joy. Their search for a place to be who they want to be is an exhilarating, painful, magical adventure. Blues singers, filmmakers, haints, healers, and actors work their mojo for adventure, romance, and magic from Georgia to Chicago!

Cheat Pick: 

Princeless: The Pirate Princess by Jeremy Whitley

Princess Adrienne is back! This time Adrienne and Bedelia have found another young princess locked away in a tower and decided to rescue her. But Princess Raven is more than meets the eye and Adrienne may have finally met her match.

Honorable mentions: Minion by L.A. Banks, Snake Agent by Liz Williams, Saga by Brian K. Vaughan, The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere by John Chu (short story),  Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson, Acacia: The War with the Mein by David Anthony Durham, Rat Queens by Kurtis J. Wiebe, The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

See you next week!