Hello out there, listeners! There’s nothing like a good series -- characters and plots you love to come back to, and an easy choice of what book to read next once you finish the one you’re on. If you’ve been looking for a new series, here are a few great series openers to get you started.
Nnedi Okorafor’s Africanfuturistic sci-fi novella series starts with Binti, and Binti also happens to be the main character. She is the first of her people to be accepted to the most prestigious university in the entire galaxy. But on the voyage to her new school, a horrific situation unfolds on her spaceship - her intellect and will to survive are tested. Okorafor has a keen sense for science fiction themes, but uniquely fuses them with elements of African culture and a sense of peacebuilding. While Binti’s culture and rituals lead to her feel like an outsider, they are what ultimately save her, setting the stage for the rest of the trilogy. This series is so unique: I’ve never read anything like Bintibefore!
So I’m not usually a murder mystery series kind of gal, but a recent book club pick has me really interested! A Killing in the Hills by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Julia Keller is the first in an Appalachian crime series featuring prosecuting attorney for West Virginia’s Raythune County, Bell Elkins. Three elderly men are murdered one morning in a local diner, and while half the town was there enjoying Saturday morning coffee, it happened so fast no one got a good look. Bell is not only determined to figure out if these deaths were random or somehow connected to the all-powerful drug cartels that are crippling her state, but she also has to contend with her already difficult relationship with her daughter, Carla, who was a witness to the crime. Powerful and intricately plotted, this is a great start to a timely and gripping series.
Libba Bray's The Diviners is a jazz age paranormal fantasy centered on an unlikely group of strangers. A black sheep party girl shipped off to stay with relatives, a chorus girl on the run from an abusive past, a young musician struggling to get out of the criminal underworld -- the only thing they all have in common is that they can all do things they shouldn't be able to. Like healing, or reading someone's past with a touch. They're Diviners, and they're about to find themselves thrown into a supernatural conflict that's much, much bigger than they realize. The story spans four books, coming to an epic conclusion in 2020's The King of Crows.
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