Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Today’s topic is Books with One Word Titles. I went through my shelves and found a bunch of books with one word titles. A bunch of the classics, like Macbeth, Hamlet, Rebecca, Beloved, and Persuasion stood out, but then I went to my fantasy and romance bookshelves and found so many more! Let’s check them out!
1. Fable
Author: Adrienne Young
Series: Fable (Book 1)
Page Length: 368
Publication Date: Sept. 1, 2020
Publisher: Wednesday Books
Synopsis: As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home seventeen-year-old Fable has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.
But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him and Fable soon finds that West isn’t who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they’re going to stay alive.
Welcome to a world made dangerous by the sea and by those who wish to profit from it. Where a young girl must find her place and her family while trying to survive in a world built for men. Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, including Amazon, and I may earn a small commission, at no cost to you, if you purchase through my links.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
2. Esperance
Author: Heather Frost
Series: Esperance Trilogy #1
Publication Date: Nov. 18, 2022
Synopsis: Twelve strangers. Six marriages. One year in Esperance.
Amryn has many reasons to hate the empire. Her latest is her forced marriage to General Carver Vincetti, also known as the Butcher. If he learns even one of her secrets, he will kill her. And Amryn has many secrets. Not only is she an empath with forbidden magic, she’s also a newly recruited rebel intent on destroying the empire—starting at Esperance.
Carver knows the rebels have infiltrated the remote temple of Esperance. His job is to find them before they can wreck the emperor’s new peace. Despite the demons that haunt him, Carver thinks he’s ready for this new mission—but he’s not prepared for Amryn. From her fiery red hair to her surprising wit, his new wife has captured his attention. Now he just has to determine if she’s the enemy.
When the newly married couples become targets in a violent game, Esperance becomes more dangerous than anyone anticipated. Carver and Amryn are about to discover that no one is exactly who they appear to be—especially each other.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
3. Clytemnestra
Author: Costanza Casati
Page Length: 448
Publication Date: March 7, 2023
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Synopsis: As for queens, they are either hated or forgotten. She already knows which option suits her best…You were born to a king, but you marry a tyrant. You stand by helplessly as he sacrifices your child to placate the gods. You watch him wage war on a foreign shore, and you comfort yourself with violent thoughts of your own. Because this was not the first offence against you. This was not the life you ever deserved. And this will not be your undoing. Slowly, you plot.
But when your husband returns in triumph, you become a woman with a choice.
Acceptance or vengeance, infamy follows both. So, you bide your time and force the gods’ hands in the game of retribution. For you understood something long ago that the others never did.
If power isn’t given to you, you have to take it for yourself.
A blazing novel set in the world of Ancient Greece for fans of Jennifer Saint and Natalie Haynes, this is a thrilling tale of power and prophecies, of hatred, love, and of an unforgettable Queen who fiercely dealt out death to those who wronged her.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
4. Mercurial
Author: Naomi Hughes
Page Length: 412
Publication Date: March 16, 2021
Synopsis: Snow, blood, and magic: this story is perfect for fans of the Grishaverse and The Winner’s Kiss series.
—
Everyone in the Alloyed Empire fears the Destroyer. The metal in her blood gives her incendiary powers, and the coldness in her heart makes her the empress’s perfect weapon…until a rebel attack leaves her with no magic and no memories.
Her bodyguard, Tal, has long since regretted his idealistic hope of saving the Destroyer. Now that she’s powerless he can finally end her reign of terror—if he can stop himself from falling for the wicked, funny, utterly unfamiliar girl she’s become.
Nyx was furious when her brother, Tal, abandoned her to protect a tyrant. Now, she hones herself as a rebel assassin until she can kill the Destroyer and rescue Tal. But the closer she gets, the more she realizes the entire empire hinges on the decisions the three of them will make.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
5. Babel
Author: R.F. Kuang
Page Length: 545
Publication Date: Aug. 23, 2022
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Synopsis: Traduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal.1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation — also known as Babel.
Babel is the world’s center of translation and, more importantly, of silver-working: the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation through enchanted silver bars, to magical effect. Silver-working has made the British Empire unparalleled in power, and Babel’s research in foreign languages serves the Empire’s quest to colonize everything it encounters.
Oxford, the city of dreaming spires, is a fairytale for Robin; a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge serves power, and for Robin, a Chinese boy raised in Britain, serving Babel inevitably means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to sabotaging the silver-working that supports imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide: Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence? What is he willing to sacrifice to bring Babel down?
Babel — a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal response to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell — grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of translation as a tool of empire.
6. Crownchasers
Author: Rebecca Coffindaffer
Series: Crownchasers (Book 1)
Page Length: 384
Publication Date: Sept. 29, 2020
Publisher: Harper Teen
Synopsis: A deadly competition for the throne will determine more than just the fate of the empire in this riveting duology opener, perfect for fans of The Hunger Games, Aurora Rising, and Three Dark Crowns.
Alyssa Farshot has spent her whole life trying to outrun her family legacy. Her mother sacrificed everything to bring peace to the quadrant, and her uncle has successfully ruled as emperor for decades. But the last thing Alyssa wants is to follow in their footsteps as the next in line for the throne. Why would she choose to be trapped in a palace when she could be having wild adventures exploring a thousand-and-one planets in her own ship?
But when Alyssa’s uncle becomes gravely ill, his dying wish surprises the entire galaxy. Instead of naming her as his successor, he calls for a crownchase, the first in seven centuries. Representatives from each of the empire’s prime families—including Alyssa—are thrown into a race to find the royal seal, which has been hidden somewhere in the empire. The first to find the seal wins the throne.
Alyssa’s experience as an explorer makes her the favorite to win the crown she never wanted. And though she doesn’t want to be empress, her duty to her uncle compels her to participate in this one last epic adventure. But when the chase turns deadly, it’s clear that more than just the fate of the empire is at stake. Alyssa is on her most important quest yet—and only time will tell if she’ll survive it.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
7. Glow
Author: Raven Kennedy
Series: The Plated Prisoner
Page Length: 705
Publication Date: June 18, 2022
Synopsis: “I was nothing but a road to Midas. A means to get to where he wanted to go, and I paved that path in gold.”
My life has been made up of gilded lies. But death has been shaped from rot.
Like a phoenix caught fire, I will need to rise from the ashes and learn to wield my own power. Because my wings may have been clipped, but I am not in a cage, and I’m finally free to fly from the frozen kingdoms I’ve been kept in. Yet the world doesn’t want to let me.
That’s the thing when you turn against a king—everyone else turns against you. Good thing I have a different king in my corner. But even with the dark threat of Slade Ravinger, the other monarchs are coming for me. So I will fight for him and he will kill for me, and if we need to become the villains, then so be it. Because so long as I live in this world, I won’t be used again.
8. Atalanta
Author: Jennifer Saint
Page Length: 304
Publication Date: May 9, 2023
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Synopsis: From the beloved, bestselling author of Elektra and Ariadne, a reimagining of the myth of Atalanta, a fierce huntress raised by bears and the only woman in the world’s most famous band of heroes, the Argonauts
Princess, Warrior, Lover, Hero
When Princess Atalanta is born, a daughter rather than the son her parents hoped for, she is left on a mountainside to die. But even then, she is a survivor. Raised by a mother bear under the protective eye of the goddess Artemis, Atalanta grows up wild and free, with just one condition: if she marries, Artemis warns, it will be her undoing.
Although she loves her beautiful forest home, Atalanta yearns for adventure. When Artemis offers her the chance to fight in her name alongside the Argonauts, the fiercest band of warriors the world has ever seen, Atalanta seizes it. The Argonauts’ quest for the Golden Fleece is filled with impossible challenges, but Atalanta proves herself equal to the men she fights alongside. As she is swept into a passionate affair, in defiance of Artemis’s warning, she begins to question the goddess’s true intentions. Can Atalanta carve out her own legendary place in a world of men, while staying true to her heart?
Full of joy, passion, and adventure, Atalanta is the story of a woman who refuses to be contained. Jennifer Saint places Atalanta in the pantheon of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology, where she belongs.
9. Icebreaker
Author: Hannah Grace
Series: UCMH #1
Page Length: 435
Publication Date: Aug. 23, 2022
Publisher: Pig & Bear Publishing
Synopsis: Anastasia Allen has worked her entire life for a shot at Team USA.A competitive figure skater since she was five years old, a full college scholarship thanks to her place on the Maple Hills skating team, and a schedule that would make even the most driven person weep, Stassie comes to win.
No exceptions. Nathan Hawkins has never had a problem he couldn’t solve. As captain of the Maple Hills Titans, he knows the responsibility of keeping the hockey team on the ice rests on his shoulders.
When a misunderstanding results in the two teams sharing a rink, and Anastasia’s partner gets hurt in the aftermath, Nate finds himself swapping his stick for tights, and one scary coach for an even scarier one.
The pair find themselves stuck together in more ways than one, but it’s fine, because Anastasia doesn’t even like hockey players…right?
10. Vespertine
Author: Margaret Rogerson
Page Length: 400
Publication Date: Oct. 5, 2021
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Synopsis: The dead of Loraille do not rest.
Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so that their souls can pass on; otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. She would rather deal with the dead than the living, who trade whispers about her scarred hands and troubled past.
When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic. It is a revenant, a malevolent being that threatens to possess her the moment she drops her guard. Wielding its extraordinary power almost consumes her—but death has come to Loraille, and only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of stopping it. With all knowledge of vespertines lost to time, Artemisia turns to the last remaining expert for help: the revenant itself.
As she unravels a sinister mystery of saints, secrets, and dark magic, her bond with the revenant grows. And when a hidden evil begins to surface, she discovers that facing this enemy might require her to betray everything she has been taught to believe—if the revenant doesn’t betray her first.
Can you think of any other books with one word titles? Comment below!
I love your choices. That Fable cover is so gorgeous.
Thanks! It really is. And together with Namesake – so stunning!
Great list, Julie! I had Vespertine on my list today as well. Can’t wait to read it 🙂
Me too. I just read another book by the author and loved it, so I definitely want to pick it up soon.
These covers are so pretty! I’ve got two series I’d add to this list. The first being Slated by Teri Terry (Fated, Slated, Fractured, Shattered) and the second being Legend by Marie Lu (Legend, Prodigy, Champion, Rebel).
I love the Legend series. Can’t believe I forgot that one. And i’ll have to check out Slated. I haven’t read that series.
I always forget books I love when making any posts like these – it’s like we’ve read too many books to ever remember! Slated is really good, I hope you enjoy!
A neat list! Of these, I’ve only read “Babel” — well, I listened to the audiobook. I thought the premise of foreign students at Oxford was quite interesting. One word-titled books that I’d put on my list are “Dune” (Frank Herbert), “It” (Stephen King), “Feed” (M.T. Anderson), “Neuromancer” (William Gibson), and “V.” (Thomas Pynchon).
Great picks, Dave! I’ve read Feed and Dune but not the others.
Babel and Vespertine would definitely make my list too.. I would also have Magician (Raymond Feist), Medalon (Jennifer Fallon) and Legend (David Gemmel) on my list.
Nice! I haven’t read those. I’ll have to check them out!
Great choices! Fable is one I still need to read for sure.
Thanks, Lisa! Fable is fantastic! I hope you get a chance to read it!
Love this list!
Thank you! 🙂
Great choices! Fable is on my TBR, as are Vespertine and Glow!
Thank you! 🙂 Fable is fantastic, though the other two are still on my TBR too.
Great list, Julie. I have read 2 of these and have 2 on my TBR. All great covers as well.
Thanks, Carla. It was a fun topic this week.