Top 5 Underrated Books I Want to Read

This Top 5 series started back in October 2018 and it has grown really big! This is a series of books that all have a common theme. I post the schedule for the next month the last week of the prior month. You can talk about books you want to read or books you have read and all prompts are open for interpretation! Feel free to get as creative as you want with the prompts.

---

The Upcoming Top 5 Saturday Schedule Is:

7/25/20 — #OwnVoices Books

8/1/20 — Enemies to Lovers

8/8/20 — Underrated Books/Hidden Gems

8/15/20 — Recommended Reads

8/22/20 — Young Adult Books

8/29/20 — Detective Books

---

Rules!

• Share your top 5 books of the current topic– these can be books that you want to read, have read and loved, have read and hated, you can do it any way you want.
• Tag the original post (This one!)
• Tag 5 people

---

Underrated Books/Hidden Gems

I could talk for ages about how hype influences my reading, especially since I’ve become a book blogger. I love finding a lesser known book that is amazing and becoming part of it’s cheerleading team. I love being a part of authors’ street teams and helping books succeed. There are lots of books out there that don’t get the hype they deserve and tons of books that are really underrated. While it feels amazing to discover a hidden gem and I’ve discovered quite a few. Some of my favorite hidden gems are: Beneath the Citadel, An Ember in the Ashes, The Candle and the Flame, Crown of Feathers, Master of Sorrows, Dark Shores, Tiger Queen and The Smoke Thieves. There are lots of books that get high praise, but aren’t popular. Below are the top 5 books that look incredible and have amazing reviews, yet they haven’t received much hype.

Blackbringer by Laini Taylor

When the ancient evil of the Blackbringer rises to unmake the world, only one determined faerie stands in its way. However, Magpie Windwitch, granddaughter of the West Wind, is not like other faeries. While her kind live in seclusion deep in the forests of Dreamdark, she’s devoted her life to tracking down and recapturing devils escaped from their ancient bottles, just as her hero, the legendary Bellatrix, did 25,000 years ago. With her faithful gang of crows, she travels the world fighting where others would choose to flee. But when a devil escapes from a bottle sealed by the ancient Djinn King himself, the creator of the world, she may be in over her head. How can a single faerie, even with the help of her friends, hope to defeat the impenetrable darkness of the Blackbringer?

Laini Taylor is one of my all time favorite authors. If you’ve followed me for a while you’ve probably heard me rave about Strange the Dreamer or Daughter of Smoke and Bone. But I’ve actually never even heard anyone mention her first series, Faeries of Dreamdark. I don’t know of a single person who has actually read this series, but since I’m such a huge fan of Laini Taylor I want to check it out! I just love Laini Taylor’s writing, and I would love to read her book about faeries!

---

A Shadow Bright and Burning by Jessica Cluess

I am Henrietta Howel. The first female sorcerer. The prophesied one. Or am I?

Henrietta Howel can burst into flames. When she is brought to London to train with Her Majesty’s sorcerers, she meets her fellow sorcerer trainees, young men eager to test her powers and her heart. One will challenge her. One will fight for her. One will betray her. As Henrietta discovers the secrets hiding behind the glamour of sorcerer life, she begins to doubt that she’s the true prophesied one. With battle looming, how much will she risk to save the city–and the one she loves?

I recently read this author’s latest novel, House of Dragons, because of a friend’s recommendation and I absolutely loved it. Jessica Cluess can really write and I loved her pacing and character development. This series has been on my wish list for a while now, mainly because I love the cover and it’s a fantasy. (I know, it doesn’t take much to get me excited for a book.) But when looking through my Goodreads today I recognized the author and decided to give this one a deeper look. I love books about witches and prophecies and all of my friends seemed to really enjoy this book. I absolutely loved House of Dragons, so I am excited to check this book out. It probably would have continued to fly under my radar if I didn’t love House of Dragons as much as I did!

---

Storm Siren by Mary Weber

“I raise my chin as the buyers stare. Yes. Look. You don’t want me. Because, eventually, accidentally, I will destroy you.”

In a world at war, a slave girl’s lethal curse could become one kingdom’s weapon of salvation. If the curse—and the girl—can be controlled.

As a slave in the war-weary kingdom of Faelen, seventeen-year-old Nym isn’t merely devoid of rights, her Elemental kind are only born male and always killed at birth — meaning, she shouldn’t even exist.

Standing on the auction block beneath smoke-drenched mountains, Nym faces her fifteenth sell. But when her hood is removed and her storm-summoning killing curse revealed, Nym is snatched up by a court advisor and given a choice: be trained as the weapon Faelen needs to win the war, or be killed.

Choosing the former, Nym is unleashed into a world of politics, bizarre parties, and rumors of an evil more sinister than she’s being prepared to fight . . . not to mention the handsome trainer whose dark secrets lie behind a mysterious ability to calm every lightning strike she summons.

But what if she doesn’t want to be the weapon they’ve all been waiting for?

Set in a beautifully eclectic world of suspicion, super abilities, and monsters, Storm Siren is a story of power. And whoever controls that power will win.

This book looks so incredible. The reviews are great and pretty much everyone who read this book seemed to love it, but for some reason it isn’t very popular. There is elemental magic, politics and slavery. The world building sounds really cool based on the few reviews that I’ve read. I have had a copy of this since it came out and the only reason I haven’t read it is because there just wasn’t a lot of hype for it. I hate that the only reason I haven’t read this is because it wasn’t super popular! It looks amazing, so I plan on reading it by the end of the year!

---

Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller

How do you kill a god?

As her father’s chosen heir, eighteen-year-old Rasmira has trained her whole life to become a warrior and lead her village. But when her coming-of-age trial is sabotaged and she fails the test, her father banishes her to the monster-filled wilderness with an impossible quest: To win back her honor, she must kill the oppressive god who claims tribute from the villages each year—or die trying.

I have become a huge Tricia Levenseller fan recently and this is the only book of hers that I haven’t read yet. It doesn’t seem nearly as popular as her Daughter of the Pirate King duology or The Shadows Between Us, but I have no doubt that I will love it as well. It’s about vikings and since Tricia Levenseller wrote it I’m sure it’s full of banter and paced well. I already bought myself a copy. Tricia Levenseller’s books are incredible and I’m excited for this one!

---

Age of Assassins by R.J. Barker

To catch an assassin, use an assassin…

Girton Club-foot, apprentice to the land’s best assassin, still has much to learn about the art of taking lives. But his latest mission tasks him and his master with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone, or many someones, is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton and his master to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince’s murder.

In a kingdom on the brink of civil war and a castle thick with lies Girton finds friends he never expected, responsibilities he never wanted, and a conspiracy that could destroy an entire kingdom.

The Bone Ships was one of my favorite books that I read last year, so when I saw that R.J. Barker had previously written a series about assassins I was thrilled. R.J. Barker’s writing in The Bone Ships was paced incredibly well, had a great plot and had characters I absolutely loved. This entire series is at the top of my wish list. Check out my review of The Bone Ships.

---

Tagged! Join us this week or next!

Kirstie @ Upside-Down Books

Gabby @ Fantastic Reads

Allie @ Alliee Reads

Brittany @ BritReadsBooks

Lili @ Lili’s Blissful Pages

---

Check out other book blogger’s Top 5!

Jill @ Jill’s Book Blog — Top 5 Saturday — Hidden Gems

Becky @ Becky’s Book Blog — Underrated Books — Top 5 Saturday!

Anjedah @ Bookriot –-Top five saturdays

Dini @ Dinipandareads — Top 5 Saturday: Underrated Books/Hidden Gems

Blair @ Feed the Crime — -|Underrated Books That I Recommend… Top 5 Saturday|-

Louise @ Life in the Book Lane — Top 5 on a Saturday

---

Let’s Chat!

What are some underrated books that you would recommend? Have you read any of the books I mentioned above? Do you think they deserve more attention? Does popularity affect your reading? Make sure to comment below so we can talk about underrated books!