It’s been almost a month since my last “What I’m Reading” post. That’s due in part to the fact my reading slowed down significantly recently. It’s something I’m not happy about but what ya gonna do? I also had a couple reviews I really needed to take care of as I was getting behind. I’m still behind (but so are many of you so we’re all in the same boat).
Anyway, that’s not really the point of all this. The point is to introduce my current read…The Shadow of The Gods by John Gwynne.
The Helm of Midnight is a dark, suspenseful, fantasy thriller. Ambitious world building, a multi-faceted magic system, and an exploration of the connected themes of morality, trauma, and family do the heavy lifting in this jack the ripper style mystery investigation.
Why? Why did I wait so long to read The Ikessar Falcon? Like, seriously why? I mean yeah I’ve got a lot of books on my TBR and this was just one among many. But I could have bumped it up the stack a bit. I should have bumped it up the stack a bit. I loved The Wolf of Oren-Yaroso why didn’t I read the follow-up right away? Why?
Look, here’s the takeaway you need from this review…you don’t even need to read the rest of it if you don’t want to…the one thing I want to get across if nothing else is this…
If you’re not already reading The Chronicles of The Bitch Queen, you should be because this series is just damn fantastic.
There. That’s it. That’s the whole point of anything else I might have to say about this book and this series. If you want a little more keep reading.
It has been AGES since I did a book haul post. Ages like as in last October…for books I’d hauled last August. I’d promised a post about my September hauls and never got around to it. Or any others since then for that matter.
One of my blogging goals for 2020 was to be to be more intentional about Book Haul posts and I’d like to continue that this year. I realize we are a quarter of the way through the year and this is the first one but better late than never. I’m also still aware that it’s possible nobody cares about the books I’ve bought or received, but I kinda like when bloggers post these because it not only puts new books in front of my eyeballs that I might not be aware of, but they also give me an idea of the blogger’s tastes. For my purposes a Book Haul post can include any book I’ve come to possess, not just those I buy, so arcs requested or just sent from publishers will be listed as well.
I don’t plan to recap all the books I’ve hauled so far this year, I’m just gonna start with March. So here we go…
My next read is one I was approved for on NetGalley. I’ve actually got three more NetGalley reads to finish between now and mid-May. I’m slowly inching my way toward getting that badge for reviewing ten books on the platform. This will be book number seven I think.
Anyway you don’t care about that, you care about what it is that I’m reading. Well…it’s The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter.
Sometimes a book will just put you off kilter. Either in a good way or a bad way you end up unsure of what’s up or down. I kinda felt that way while reading The Unbroken by C.L. Clark. By the end I felt off and I’m still getting my bearings locked on to how I really feel about it.
The Unbroken is a story about colonialism, identity, rebellion, faith, love and betrayal. Clark weaves these themes into the narrative and what emerges is a tapestry that will move you, even if a few threads seem a little out of place.
My current read is a YA novel. That isn’t necessarily anything spectacular in and of itself, it’s just that I don’t typically read YA. It isn’t because I hate YA or anything (I don’t), I just don’t normally read it. And now I feel like I’m trying to justify reading this book which isn’t the point of this at all, and not what I’m trying to do. But yeah I’m giving YA a shot. Why you ask? Well I’ll explain below.
So what is it that I’m reading? Well…It’s Shadow And Bone by Leigh Bardugo.
Do you ever read a book, series, or author because you intentionally want to be wrecked? That seems weird right? Like it’s one thing for a book to wreck you and to enjoy how good it was, and it’s another to seek it out because you want it. I feel like that with Sarah Chorn’s books. I know what to expect now and eagerly look forward to what they will do to me. I think that’s because Chorn writes about pain and emotion so well. She has a way of getting into the soul of her characters and into yours. And all the while she protects the reader so they feel safe on the journey. It’s a marvelous skill I’m not even sure she’s aware she possesses. Sarah Chorn has quickly become one of my favorite authors and is on my auto-buy list. If you haven’t started reading her books you should rectify that situation.
Today I give you my review of Oh That Shotgun Sky, book 1.5 in the Songs of Sefate. An exploration of fate through pain, emotion, and trauma…with a glimmer of hope and healing.
I have a special surprise for you today! Recently Luke Tarzian, author of the Shadow Twins series asked me and a handful of other bloggers if we’d be interested in helping him with a special post. I readily agreed, and today I bring a special cover reveal for a new hardcover edition of Luke’s dark fantasy debut novel…
Whenever I read a second book in a series I’m always a little concerned it will suffer from that dreaded sophomore slump. This doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a BAD book, just that it isn’t as good as the first. Often this is because it spends a lot of time serving as a bridge between books 1 and 2 and is really just developing character and narrative arcs for the big payoff in the final installment. This is nothing new to us who love to read fantasy and sci-fi series. I’d say we kind of expect it. So, when I sat down to read The Fires of Vengeance I expected a book I’d like, a book that would be entertaining, but a book that would ultimately get me from book 1 to 3 without wowing me. That isn’t what I got.
In The Fires of Vengeance, Evan Winter delivers a book that is even better than his first.
