San Diego Comic-Con @ Home panels were held this past weekend, and we wanted to share this one panel on Team Underlined list of biggest and best books on their YA list.
During the panel, not only did they give a description of the books they were promoting, but they even had several authors do a guest appearance and asked them a few questions.
2:35 – Trung Le Nguyen was the first author to appear to promote his graphic novel, The Magic Fish. Trung’s five words to describe the book are “intergenerational,” “feelings,” “connection,” “empathy,” and “trying.”
Trung’s current read is The Mabinogian, which is apparently “very dry, and I’m working really hard to get through it.” One of the books that’s next for him is The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, as well as Angel Mage by Garth Nix.
A fun fact about Trung is he is raising three chickens named Beatrice, Letty, and Eady.
In a game of Would You Rather, between never learning the ending or having a great ending spoiled, he’d rather have the great ending spoiled. “I’m actually not a stickler for spoilers. I like the journey, I like how things get there.”
Between reading only standalone books or one series that never ends, he’s more into the standalone books. “I want to be able to hop between universes.”
And between lending a book and never getting it back versus lending a book and getting it back damaged, he felt it depended on how badly damaged it was.
7:53 – Author Elizabeth Lim appeared to promote Unravel the Dusk, the sequel to Spin the Dawn. Her five words to describe the book were ‘fire,’ ‘winter,’ ‘enchantment,’ ‘unraveling,’ and ‘redemption.’
Elizabeth’s current read is The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna, to which she stated, “I’m only half-way through, but I’m loving it so far.” Her next book on her TBR is The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Henning and said that “we are launch day buddies, so I’m really excited for that one as well.”
One fun fact about Elizabeth is that she used to be a music composer.
And in a game of Would You Rather, between lending a book to a friend and never getting it back or getting it back and it being destroyed, she said, “Oh no! Oh no! I’d rather never get it back.”
On either getting a happy ending or a cliffhanger, she definitely preferred a happy ending.
And between a pet dragon or a pet unicorn, it was the dragon she chose. “Dragon, especially if I can ride it.”
13:30 – Co-authors for The Illuminae Files trilogy and The Aurora Cycle trilogy Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff make an online appearance from their home country of Australia to promote Aurora Burning, the sequel to Aurora Rising, which was released in May.
Amie’s five words to describe Aurora Burning are “Breakfast Club does Starfleet Academy,” while Jay’s is “Teenage misfits save the galaxy.”
Jay’s current read is a re-reading of The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, while his next book will be a critique read for author C.S. Pacat on her first YA novel titled Dark Rise.
Amie is currently reading Victories Greater than Death by Charlie Jane Anders, which is scheduled for a 2021 release, and her next read is The Court of Miracles by Kester Grant, which she describes as “Les Mis meets The Jungle Book.”
One fun fact about Amie is that she took her first steps while on a boat, and for Jay, the first story he ever told was around a D&D gaming table with friends he still plays D&D with.
In a game of Would You Rather, both would prefer to have only read their five favorite books instead of never having read their five favorites (but we assume all the other books in the world,) as they wouldn’t be the writers they are today without them.
Both of them also would rather read the first book in a series instead of the last book.
But when it came to choosing between sci-fi only books or fantasy only books, Amie chose sci-fi. “I get more books if I say sci-fi, I think.” And Jay chose fantasy. “I think I’m going to say fantasy. Yeah. The books that I love the most are probably fantasy books, and that was the first space where I felt like I had found books that were written just for me.”
24:00 – The highly anticipated The Gilded Ones by guest author Namina Forna has already been touted as very sought after, and some of the authors have mentioned it as what they’re reading or will be reading. Namina describes the book with the five words “fun,” “fierce,” “brutal,” “magic,” and “golden.”
As for what Namina herself is reading now, it’s Given by Nandi Taylor, and her next book will be Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko.
One really fun fact about Namina is that she was “bitten by my neighbor’s chimp when I think I was like five. And I still have the scar like right about here.”
In a game of Deserted Island, Namina had to choose only one book to have with her, and after voicing how mean the question was, she said that “whatever is the biggest book of fairy tales there is, that’s the book that I want.” As her one snack she could bring, she had no problem answering plantain chips. And her one article of clothing was a swimsuit, of course. As for her one tool, a…cutlass?
32:30 – A Universe of Wishes, which is an anthology of short stories, gets a mention as editor Dhonielle Clayton makes an appearance. Her five words to describe the book are “fantastical,” “dark,” “twisty,” “super-fun,” and “unexpected.”
She’s currently reading Grown by Tiffany B. Jackson and her next book to read will be The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna.
An fun fact about Dhonielle is that she doesn’t like frosting on cupcakes, so she eats her cupcakes upside down..
In Would You Rather, Dhonielle would rather have the ending spoiled for her over never learning the ending.
Dhonielle would also rather ONLY have read her five favorite books over never having read them for all the other books.
And she would rather choose one genre to read instead of only one author to read.
40:19 – In the Mystery/Thriller-themed books, Rory Power appears to promote Burn Our Bodies Down, which she describes with the five words “eerie,” “creeping,” “intense,” “summer,” and “corn.”
Rory is currently reading A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow.
Her fun fact is that she had recently adopted a kitten named Scallion.
46:45 – The final guest appearance is Kim Johnson, author of This Is My America, which she describes as “raw,” “gripping,” “fast-paced,” unflinching,” and “timely.”
Kim’s TBR list includes You’re Next by Kylie Schachte, Burn Our Bodies Down by Rory Power, Cemetery Boys by Aiden Thomas, and The Boy in the Red Dress by Kristin Lambert.
One fun fact about Kim is that she loved mysteries so much she wanted to be an FBI investigator or a lawyer for a time.
In a game of Would You Rather, Kim would rather read the book first instead of watching the movie first.
She also would rather secretly hate a book everybody loves instead of secretly love a book that everybody hates as she does that already.
And lastly, she would rather see her book turn into a movie over a TV show. “I want the big screen. I want to be able to go into the theater, even during COVID-19. I’d wear my mask, I’d take it down, eat my popcorn. I want surround sound.”
Other books mentioned were Witchlight by Jessi Zabarsky, House of Dragon by Jessica Cluess, Black Canary: Breaking Silence by Alexandra Monir, The Cousins by Karen McManus, and Influence by Sara Shepard and Lilia Buckingham
You can watch the hour-long panel above to get the descriptions of each of these books.