Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Loved with <5000 Ratings on Goodreads

Thank you to That Artsy Reader Girl for running Top Ten Tuesday! So the official topic for this week is “Books I Loved with <2000 Ratings on Goodreads” but uhhh I guess I read popular books haha. I couldn’t find 10 with less than 2000 ratings, so I upped the limit to 5000. Which in my book is still underrated.

I’m going to start with books with the lowest number of ratings and go up! So here’s my ten for the week.

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Some of these books are recent reads, and others I read a looong time ago so I don’t remember details of the plot, but I know I loved them! So I’m gonna leave you with just the Goodreads summary for all of these and hopefully you find something you’re interested in!

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1.) For the Killing of Kings by Andrew Howard Jones

A cross between Zelazny’s Chronicles of Amber and The Three Musketeers, For the Killing of Kings is the first in a new fantasy trilogy by Howard Andrew Jones.

Their peace was a fragile thing, but it had endured for seven years, mostly because the people of Darassus and the king of the Naor hordes believed his doom was foretold upon the edge of the great sword hung in the hall of champions. Unruly Naor clans might raid across the border, but the king himself would never lead his people to war so long as the blade remained in the hands of his enemies.

But when squire Elenai’s aging mentor uncovers evidence that the sword in their hall is a forgery, she’s forced to flee Darassus for her life, her only ally the reckless, disillusioned Kyrkenall the archer. Framed for murder and treason, pursued by the greatest heroes of the realm, they race to recover the real sword, only to stumble into a conspiracy that leads all the way back to the Darassan queen and her secretive advisers. They must find a way to clear their names and set things right, all while dodging friends determined to kill them – and the Naor hordes, invading at last with a new and deadly weapon.

(Here is my review!)

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2.) Vattu: The Sword & The Sacrament by Evan Dahm

(This isn’t a very popular graphic novel so the summary for the second book is very short. I’m including the summary for the first book as well.)

The outer world knew it as year 855 of the Blue Age, but the nomads knew it unnumbered, in the midst of an age of river and grass with no beginning:

The year VATTU was born.

The Name & the Mark is the first book in the expansive story of Vattu, a girl from a nomadic tribe who is caught in the middle of a clash of cultures with an imperialistic civilization called Sahta.

The Sword & the Sacrament is the second book in the story of Vattu, in which she must find her way through a new world of zealous conquerors and mysterious chemist-priestesses.

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3.) Gate Crashers by Patrick S. Tomlinson

On humanity’s first extra-solar mission, the exploration vessel Magellan discovers an alien construction. Deciding that finding advanced alien life is too important to ignore, the ship’s captain chooses to return to Earth while reverse engineering technology far beyond anything back home.

Meanwhile, at mission control, the governments struggle to maintain the existence of aliens a secret while also combating bureaucracy, the military industrial complex, and everyone else who wants a piece of the science that could sky-rocket a species into a new technological golden age.

Little does everyone involved know that the bumbling of a few highly-evolved apes in space hasn’t gone unnoticed, and humanity has put itself on a collision course with a far wider, and potentially hostile, galaxy.

Because, in space, no one can see you screw up…

(Here is my review!)

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4.) Sands by Kevin L. Nielsen

For nine months of the year, the sands of the Sharani Desert are safe. The genesauri—giant, flying, serpentine monsters who hunt across the desert in enormous packs—lie dormant. The smallest of their kind is able to take down a single man with ease, and the largest is able to swallow entire clans. The people of the desert have always been able to predict the creatures’ appearance, but this year, the genesauri have stopped following the rules. 

When the genesauri suddenly attack her clan, seventeen-year-old Lhaurel draws a sword in her people’s defense—a forbidden practice for women of any clan—and is sentenced to death by her own people. Chained to a rock and left to be eaten by the next wave of genesauri, Lhaurel is rescued by a mysterious, elusive clan said to curse children at a glance, work unexplainable terrors, and disappear into the sands without a trace. 

With the fate of the clans hanging in the balance, Lhaurel discovers she possesses a rare and uncontrollable power—one that will be tested as the next deadly genesauri attack looms on the horizon and the clash between clans grows more inevitable by the hour.

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5.) The Witch Trade by Michael Molloy

Follow young Abby and Spike on their thrilling adventures through the fantastical world of THE WITCH TRADE. The evil Night Witches have invented a powerful new weapon and are threatening to take over the world — and only Abby and Spike can stop them! Joined by Captain Starlight (aka the Ancient Mariner), Abby and Spike must travel through perlious seas and wild lands to reach the dark lair of the Night Witches. Can their ragtag bunch defeat the evil Night Witch forces before it’s too late?

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6.) Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear

Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. All around lie the fallen armies of his cousin and his brother, who made war to rule the Khaganate. Temur is now the legitimate heir by blood to his grandfather’s throne, but he is not the strongest. Going into exile is the only way to survive his ruthless cousin.

Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son on a new wife. Then she was sent to be the wife of a Prince in Song, but that marriage ended in battle and blood. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards.

These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war through guile and deceit and sorcerous power.

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7.) Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu

Sharakhai, the great city of the desert, center of commerce and culture, has been ruled from time immemorial by twelve kings — cruel, ruthless, powerful, and immortal. With their army of Silver Spears, their elite company of Blade Maidens and their holy defenders, the terrifying asirim, the Kings uphold their positions as undisputed, invincible lords of the desert. There is no hope of freedom for any under their rule.

Or so it seems, until Çeda, a brave young woman from the west end slums, defies the Kings’ laws by going outside on the holy night of Beht Zha’ir. What she learns that night sets her on a path that winds through both the terrible truths of the Kings’ mysterious history and the hidden riddles of her own heritage. Together, these secrets could finally break the iron grip of the Kings’ power…if the nigh-omnipotent Kings don’t find her first. 

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8.) Company Town by Madeline Ashby

Meet Hwa. One of the few in her community to forego bio-engineered enhancements, she’s the last truly organic person left on the rig. But she’s an expert in the arts of self-defence, and she’s been charged with training the Family’s youngest, who has been receiving death threats – seemingly from another timeline. 

Meanwhile, a series of interconnected murders threatens the city’s stability – serial killer? Or something much, much worse…? 

(Here is my review!)

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9.) Girl Against the Universe by Paula Stokes

From the author of The Art of Lainey and Liars, Inc. comes a fresh, contemporary story about a girl coping with PTSD and the boy who wants to help her move on from the past.

Sixteen-year-old Maguire knows the universe is against her. No matter how many charms she buys off the internet or good luck rituals she performs each morning, horrible things happen when she’s around. Like that time the roller coaster jumped off its tracks. Or the time the house next door caught on fire. Or the time her brother, father, and uncle were all killed in a car crash–and Maguire walked away with barely a scratch. 

Despite what her therapist tells her, Maguire thinks it’s best to hide out in her room, far away from anyone she might accidentally hurt. But then she meets Jordy, an aspiring tennis star who wants to help her break her unlucky streak. Maguire knows that the best thing she can do for him is to stay away, but it turns out staying away might be harder than she thought.

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10.) Flight, Vol. 1 by Kazu Kibuishi

Flight Volume One features stories by professionals and non-professionals alike, all playing on the theme of flight in its many incarnations. From the maiden voyage of a home-built plane to the adventures of a young courier and his flying whale to a handful of stories about coming of age and letting things go, this first volume of Flight is full of memorable tales that will both amaze and inspire. (This is a graphic novel!)

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Have you heard of any of these? Hopefully if you hadn’t before, some of them are on your TBR now 🙂