Fictitious Musings

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we are eagerly anticipating. WOW is a great way to share the titles we’re excited to get our grubby little hands on.

This week we are featuring two titles that we find to be very unique. The covers are great but the summaries are definitely the bread and butter. The Archived appealed to me due to its unique spin on libraries…its a little creepy but very imaginative. I just can’t wait. Rootless was a fantastic find too. I couldn’t imagine a world without trees. I can’t wait to find out what happened to the trees.

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books.

Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Da first brought Mackenzie Bishop here four years ago, when she was twelve years old, frightened but determined to prove herself. Now Da is dead, and Mac has grown into what he once was, a ruthless Keeper, tasked with stopping often-violent Histories from waking up and getting out. Because of her job, she lies to the people she loves, and she knows fear for what it is: a useful tool for staying alive.

Being a Keeper isn’t just dangerous-it’s a constant reminder of those Mac has lost. Da’s death was hard enough, but now her little brother is gone too. Mac starts to wonder about the boundary between living and dying, sleeping and waking. In the Archive, the dead must never be disturbed. And yet, someone is deliberately altering Histories, erasing essential chapters. Unless Mac can piece together what remains, the Archive itself might crumble and fall.

17-year-old Banyan is a tree builder. Using scrap metal and salvaged junk, he creates forests for rich patrons who seek a reprieve from the desolate landscape. Although Banyan’s never seen a real tree—they were destroyed more than a century ago—his father used to tell him stories about the Old World. But that was before his father was taken . . .

Everything changes when Banyan meets a woman with a strange tattoo—a clue to the whereabouts of the last living trees on earth, and he sets off across a wasteland from which few return. Those who make it past the pirates and poachers can’t escape the locusts—the locusts that now feed on human flesh.

But Banyan isn’t the only one looking for the trees, and he’s running out of time. Unsure of whom to trust, he’s forced to make an uneasy alliance with Alpha, an alluring, dangerous pirate with an agenda of her own. As they race towards a promised land that might only be a myth, Banyan makes shocking discoveries about his family, his past, and how far people will go to bring back the trees.

What amazing reads are you eager to get your hands on?

Keepers of the Crypt is just around the corner and we’re getting really excited. It’s our very first event at Fictitious Musings and we’ve managed to get some of our favorite authors to stop by for a visit. I think that some of our favorites are your favorites too. How about I do a little name dropping to get you in the mood for the event….Kendare Blake, Lois Duncan, Gretchen McNeil, Jesse Petersen, and so many more it’s just crazy awesome! You can visit the KOTC event page here.

Tags:Chris Howard, Hyperion, Rootless, Scholastic Inc., The Archived, The Archived Series, Victoria Schwab