Top 5 Wednesday is GoodReads group where people discuss different bookish topic each week.

School is about to be back in session for many, and with it, new beginnings! Whether it’s the start of a new grade or a new adventure in a fantasy world, let’s share about stories with the theme of new beginnings! (This could even be a second chance at new beginnings too!)

Quite a few series starts with a new beginning for the main character(s), so it was difficult to choose just five but here goes:

1, Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold

Penric is a young man who is going to get married because his family wants him to. Instead, he meets a dying woman on the road and his life chances.

2, The City of Brass by S. A. Chakraborty

Nahri is a thief and a conwoman. When she performs a mock-summoning, something very strange happens: she summons a powerful spirit. That act also brings strange and strong enemies who can even summon the dead.

3, Of Mages and Murders by Nikki Haverstock

When Ella’s father died, she inherits his building in Rambler, Nevada and moves there. She also finds out that she’s a witch. And get a big black cat as a familiar.

4, Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

Amelia Peabody’s father died and left her a small fortune. She’s always been interested in Egypt but has never had the money to travel. Now, she can travel and so she heads to Egypt. Little does she know that she’ll meet a certain fiery tempered Egyptologist who will change her whole life.

 5, A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

John Carter sees Mars in the black sky and the planet beckons to him. The next moment, he stands naked on the red plains of Barsoom.