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.
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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.
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Well another month has come and gone!
Things are looking up here at Off The TBR. The really crazy hectic period at work came and went, and we hired another person in our department to help pick up some of the load which means I should be working less on the weekends which means MORE TIME FOR BLOGGING! This has already played out this month just in terms of reviews. I went from no reviews at all in June to posting two in July, and if it weren’t for a weekend long power outage across practically the whole city I might have posted a third.
So here’s what happened this month… Continue reading
Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly meme originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine and continued now by Tressa at Wishful Endings under the heading “Can’t Wait Wednesday” where readers and bloggers share and discuss books they are excited about reading and which have generally not yet been released. I’m sticking with “Waiting On Wednesday” just because I like the way it rolls off the tongue.
One of my favorite book surprises last year was Noumenon, by Marina J. Lostetter. I read it back before I started the blog so I never wrote a full-on review, but I did include it in my Best Books Of 2017 post at the end of the year. Here’s what I said about it at the time:
“Noumenon is a story of humanity’s exploration of the stars. Or one star in particular. An anomalous star has been discovered that seems to defy the laws of physics. Astrophysicist Reggie Straifer proposes a plan to send a deep-space mission to investigate it and return home with its findings. The big catch however is the journey will take centuries. Generations of crew will live and die before the mission ever returns home. How will they do it while also ensuring a talented make-up for the thousands of crew spread across nine ships required for this undertaking? The answer…clones.
This book was nowhere on my radar until just about the time it was released. I read a few early reviews and picked it up. It was a lot more than I expected. I’d say it’s more social science fiction than hard science fiction. It explores what might happen on a scientific journey through space lasting centuries while retaining the same genetic make-up through the use of clones. What kind of society forms out of that pot? How does it evolve? What conflicts arise? What has to be shed from their previous earthly cultures? What remains? How do they return home? Will Earth even be home anymore?
There were times reading Noumenon that I felt joy and times I felt gutted. Lostetter did a fantastic job with her debut and I look forward to more.”
Well, more is coming! Noumenon Infinity drops on August 14th from Harper Voyager and I can’t wait to get a copy. The blurb is below, but if you haven’t read Noumenon maybe don’t look any further down the page than the cover as it does give away a couple of minor plot points. If you haven’t read Noumenon I recommend you pick it up, then join me for Noumenon Infinity.
Off The TBR 