Can't-Wait Wednesday: Lightfall by Ed Crocker, We Do Not Part by Han Kang, & Voice Like a Hyacinth by Mallory Pearson

      

Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

Lightfall by Ed Crocker
Publication: January 14th, 2025
St. Martin's Press
Hardcover. 384 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever."

I have an ARC that I've just started getting into and it's been super promising, I can't wait to keep reading!

Voice Like a Hyacinth by Mallory Pearson
Publication: February 1st, 2025
47North
Paperback. 367 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"Five young women eager for success rely on the unspeakable to make their dreams come true in a chilling novel about martyrdom, ritual, and obsession by the author of We Ate the Dark.

Art student Jo Kozak and her fellow classmates and best friends, Caroline, Finch, Amrita, and Saz, are one another’s muses—so close they have their own language and so devoted to the craft that they’ll do anything to keep their inspiration alive. Even if it means naively resorting to the occult to unlock their creativity and to curse their esteemed, if notoriously creepy, professor. They soon learn the horrible price to be paid for such a transgressive ritual.

In its violent aftermath, things are changing. Jo is feeling unnervingly haunted by something inexplicable. Their paintings, once prodigious and full of life, are growing dark and unhealthy. And their journey together—as women, students, and artists—is starting to crumble.

To right the wrong they’ve done, these five desperate friends will take their obsession a step too far. When that happens, there may be no turning back."

I'm really intrigued by this premise–I'm always up for something involving a group of friends/people that sounds a little bit messy and complicated. 

We Do Not Part by Han Kang
Publication: January 21st, 2025
Hogarth
Hardcover. 272 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"Han Kang’s most revelatory book since The Vegetarian, We Do Not Part tells the story of a friendship between two women while powerfully reckoning with a hidden chapter of Korean history.

One winter morning, Kyungha receives an urgent message from her friend Inseon to visit her at a hospital in Seoul. Inseon has injured herself in an accident, and she begs Kyungha to return to Jeju Island, where she lives, to save her beloved pet—a white bird called Ama.

A snowstorm hits the island when Kyungha arrives. She must reach Inseon’s house at all costs, but the icy wind and squalls slow her down as night begins to fall. She wonders if she will arrive in time to save the animal—or even survive the terrible cold that envelops her with every step. Lost in a world of snow, she doesn't yet suspect the vertiginous plunge into the darkness that awaits her at her friend's house.

Blurring the boundaries between dream and reality, We Do Not Part powerfully illuminates a forgotten chapter in Korean history, buried for decades—bringing to light the lost voices of the past to save them from oblivion. Both a hymn to an enduring friendship and an argument for remembering,it is the story of profound love in the face of unspeakable violence—and a celebration of life, however fragile it might be."

I've actually already read an ARC of this and thought it was a very thoughtful and occasionally heavy read that I think any Han Kang fan would enjoy. 

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Ascension by Nicholas Binge, Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina, & Greek Lessons by Han Kang

 Can't-Wait is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings that spotlights exciting upcoming releases that we can't wait to be released! This meme is based off of Jill @ Breaking the Spine's Waiting on Wednesday meme.

This week's upcoming book spotlights are: 

Ascension by Nicholas Binge
Publication: April 25th, 2023
Riverhead Books
Hardcover. 352 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"An enormous snow-covered mountain has appeared in the Pacific Ocean. No one knows when exactly it showed up, precisely how big it might be, or how to explain its existence. When Harold Tunmore, a scientist of mysterious phenomena, is contacted by a shadowy organization to help investigate, he has no idea what he is getting into as he and his team set out for the mountain.

The higher Harold’s team ascends, the less things make sense. Time moves differently, turning minutes into hours, and hours into days. Amid the whipping cold of higher elevation, the climbers’ limbs numb and memories of their lives before the mountain begin to fade. Paranoia quickly turns to violence among the crew, and slithering, ancient creatures pursue them in the snow. Still, as the dangers increase, the mystery of the mountain compels them to its peak, where they are certain they will find their answers. Have they stumbled upon the greatest scientific discovery known to man or the seeds of their own demise?

Framed by the discovery of Harold Tunmore’s unsent letters to his family and the chilling and provocative story they tell, Ascension considers the limitations of science and faith and examines both the beautiful and the unsettling sides of human nature."

I love this type of premise and am so eager to see what Nicholas Binge will do with it! This has a lot of potential to be something really unique and interesting, so I'm feeling excited for it. (Also, I've chosen to feature the UK cover simply because I really like it, but this is also a US release!)

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina
Publication: April 18th, 2023
Berkley Books
Hardcover. 352 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"Anna Horn is always looking over her shoulder. For the bullies who torment her, for the entitled visitors at the reservation's casino...and for the nameless, disembodied entity that stalks her every step--an ancient tribal myth come-to-life, one that's intent on devouring her whole.

With strange and sinister happenings occurring around the casino, Anna starts to suspect that not all the horrors on the reservation are old. As girls begin to go missing and the tribe scrambles to find answers, Anna struggles with her place on the rez, desperately searching for the key she's sure lies in the legends of her tribe's past.

When Anna's own little sister also disappears, she'll do anything to bring Grace home. But the demons plaguing the reservation--both ancient and new--are strong, and sometimes, it's the stories that never get told that are the most important.

Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror, author Nick Medina spins an incisive and timely novel of life as an outcast, the cost of forgetting tradition, and the courage it takes to become who you were always meant to be."

"Part gripping thriller and part mythological horror" has got me extremely hooked on the sound of this book.  I can't wait to have a chance to check it out. 

Greek Lessons by Han Kang
Publication: April 18th, 2023
Hogarth Press
Hardcover. 192 pages.
Pre-order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

From Goodreads:
"'Now and then, language would thrust its way into her sleep like a skewer through meat, startling her awake several times a night...'

In a classroom in Seoul, a young woman watches her Greek language teacher at the blackboard. She tries to speak but has lost her voice. Her teacher finds himself drawn to the silent woman, for day by day he is losing his sight.

Soon they discover a deeper pain binds them together. For her, in the space of just a few months, she has lost both her mother and the custody battle for her nine-year-old son. For him, it's the pain of growing up between Korea and Germany, being torn between two cultures and languages, and the fear of losing his independence.

Greek Lessons tells the story of two ordinary people brought together at a moment of private anguish—the fading light of a man losing his vision meeting the silence of a woman who has lost her language. Yet these are the very things that draw them to one another. Slowly the two discover a profound sense of unity—their voices intersecting with startling beauty, as they move from darkness to light, from silence to breath and expression.

Greek Lessons is the story of the unlikely bond between this pair and a tender love letter to human intimacy and connection—a novel to awaken the senses, one that vividly conjures the essence of what it means to be alive."

I really enjoyed Kang's The Vegetarian and have been meaning to read more of her work, so this seems like the perfect opportunity. I also stories that examine language and communication, and this seems like it will be doing that and more–hopefully I'll have a chance to check it out!

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

The Vegetarian by Han Kang. Hogarth, 2016. Hardcover. 192 pages.

The Vegetarian is one of those books in which the entire time you're reading it, you have no idea what you're reading, and when you finally finish and close the book, all you can think is "what did I just read?" I'm still trying to figure out this book, and I'm still coming up with own interpretation of what Kang's message is meant to be. This is a striking novel that will make you feel intrigued, repulsed, impressed, and uncomfortable all at once.  Kang's writing is deeply compelling and almost eerie at times, making this book impossible to put down. At just under 200 pages, it is one that can easily be read in one or two sittings.

The initial cause that gets the entire plot of this book rolling is so simple, yet so riveting: Yeong-hye, the main character, begins having dreams that cause her to no longer have any desire to eat meat. Her opinions on the morality of eating meat and meat products seem to take a sudden turn and she suddenly stops, which shocks her husband and the rest of her family. It is their response to her sudden vegetarianism that eventually sparks the rest of the events of this book to unfold. 

I can't quite convey what it is about this book that makes it so compelling - perhaps it is the fact that it does not follow the traditional mold of most fiction books. The Vegetarian is broken into three parts: the first is narrated by Yeong-hye's husband, the second by her brother-in-law, and the final section narrated by her sister. Each of these characters brings a unique perspective to the current situation and also plays a large role in Yeong-hye's story, whether is is easily understandable or not.  The first part of the book immediately introduces us to the fact that he is a despicable man who doesn't seem to care much for his wife, describing her as "completely unremarkable in every way." Each section is equally enthralling and provides many new issues to deal with along with the main conflict.

There is so much to think about from this book, from the actions of her abusive husband, the inability of society to understand and respect other people's choices of lifestyle, gender roles, familial issues, and even sexual motives and manifestations. The idea of isolation as a result of one's unwillingness to conform to society is also one of the largest themes found within this book, and it is one that drives the bleak, unnerving atmosphere of each page.

The ending is entirely ambiguous is up to the reader to interpret what the conclusion is - if there even is a conclusion that can be determined. I personally enjoy endings like this, despite the fact that I do sometimes feel frustrated by the lack of a firm ending, but I enjoy how it leaves so many possibilities available to dwell on. 

The Vegetarian is not an easy book to read, but I do think it is an important one. I'm curious to read more about other people's views on this book to see what they take away from this book, because I can see it meaning different things to different people, despite the constant underlying themes. 

Overall, I have decided on four stars for The Vegetarian, and I would recommend to anyone looking for something different or 'weird.' Just make sure you have plenty of time blocked out when you sit down to read - this one might prevent you from getting other things done! This book would also be great for those looking to diversify their reading choices, as Kang is a superb female South Korean author!

Get more reviews and bookish fun in your inbox and subscribe to Forever Lost in Literature!

You might also like:
Dear Mr. M by Herman Koch
Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Through the Woods by Emily Carroll
Slade House by David Mitchell
Girl in Pieces by Kathleen Glasgow