Top 10 Underrated Books

This week’s Top 10 Tuesday has us looking at top 10 books that we recommend often to fellow bloggers and friends. Since May is also the month for Wyrd & Wonder, I’m going to stick to some underrated books from fantasy fiction that I do like to clobber people with.

1 / Goblin Moon by Teresa Edgerton

Full review here. Two alchemists try to raise a dead magician who may know how to make the Seramarias Stone. Two women on the run from a vengeful fairie halfling and her troll minions. A secret glassmakers guild plans to raise a submerged Atlantis-like island. A half-mad, drug-addicted Zorro-like vigilante risks all to expose black magic cartels. And that’s just the beginning.

2 / Brood of Bones by A.E. Marling

Hiresha, an elder enchantress of Morimound City, has been called in urgently. All the women in Morimound, both young and old, are becoming pregnant — simultaneously. Some villain is using dark magic to suction life out of them, and Hiresha is the only one who may be able to stop him. It’s available as a free audiobook on Scribl, and is all kinds of awesome.  

3 / The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells

Wells is better-known for Murderbot, but Death of the Necromancer is no less and can be read as a standalone too. It’s complex but a total roller-coaster — Nicholas Valiarde’s mission for revenge becomes a flight from a rabid monster raised by a necromancer who seems determined to destroy the kingdom of Ile-Rein. I would call this steampunk and demonstrates the enormous writing range that Wells has.

4 / The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip

Changeling Sea is a great gateway to McKillip’s work, as magic meets the mundane. Peri, who has lost her fisherman father to the angry sea, and her mother to ‘seafever’, truly hates the Sea. One day, she hexes the Sea, and unwittingly sets forth a chain of un/fortunate events. For out of the sea comes a terrible dragon, and the dragon is hunted by a mage, and the troubled prince of the land turns out to be a seafolk changeling.  

5/ Chime by Franny Billingsley

Briony, broken and bitter, lives in a village covered with swamps, and for some reason, she hates herself because of something she’s done in the past. That’s how the prologue to Chime begins. Briony’s past hides a secret that is a recipe for disaster for the entire village, as we rush unawares to a Ye Olde Swamp Monster vs. Industrial Revolution type conflict. The audiobook from Susan Duerden is especially wonderful and gives this haunting fantasy story a voice all of its own. 

6 / The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf by Gerald Morris

I’m almost embarrassed how often I’ve recommended Savage Damsel and the Dwarf. This is an Arthurian adventure comedy where imp meets swearsome lady. I was chortling my way through this one. Don’t be fooled by the cover – this is gold humor as the lady and the imp (and their other odd companions) lead a quest against an evil, evil knight.

7 / Tarot Cafe Manga

Probably the first manga I ever read. Tarot Cafe Manga is the story of a tarot-card reader, Pamela, who has literally made a pact with the devil. She wants to end her immortal life, and in return, she must get hold of the scattered beads of a magical necklace. Her clients– all magical and strange creatures– pay her fee in beads, and embroil her in their tales now and then. Dark but fascinating, and beautifully illustrated.

8 / Serpent Garden by Judith Riley

Serpent Garden is about a Flemish painter’s daughter in medieval Europe who somehow ends up painting miniature portraits for the Tudors and spying for Cardinal Wolsey. Hijinks ensue, and art becomes a tool of political intrigue. Slow but with a steady build-up of events. This book gives a fine detailing of painting in those yester years. If you like art or art history, then you need to read this book.

9/  Six Gun Snow-White by Catherynne M. Valente

Six-Gun Snow White is an extra-ordinary retelling. Our “Snow White” is a half-Native American gunslinger in the mythical Wild West. Once she escapes from her stepmother, she discovers what the real world is really like but this time, she makes her own rules. This is a snarky, action-packed novella, amd Valente has a crafty way with words.

10 / Once and Forever: The Tales of Kenji Miyazawa

Once and Forever is a thought-provoking, hair-raising and moving Japanese folklore anthology. This is not just folklore as simple tales with some moral message and practical wisdom. Miyazawa’s collection goes deeper. There’s dry humor and hope here, when he speaks of human frailties and oddities. Miyazawa contrasts the human world with the natural world, and there’s darkness there too. My favorites are Gorsch the Cellist and The Bears of Nametoko.

Have you read any of these underrated books? What are your picks for all of us, for this week’s TTT?