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!