Lootz: Mogsy’s Book Haul
Welcome to this biweekly feature where I showcase all the books I bought/won/received for review in the past fortnight. First, the physical pile:
The Secrets of Life and Death – I had added this one to my wishlist because it looked like a great historical fantasy-mystery. When I saw it offered as a giveaway at LibraryThing’s Early Readers program, I promptly entered and ending up winning the ARC!
The Providence of Fire – what a surprise this was when it arrived earlier this week from Tor, as I had not expected ARCs for a while yet. I enjoyed the first book The Emperor’s Blades and this second book promises to be even bigger and better. From the size of the package it came in, I know I’m at least half right 🙂
The Bloodline Feud – another lovely surprise from Tor, The Bloodline Feud is actually appears to be an omnibus of sorts, combining books 1-2 in Stross’ The Merchant Princes series. I’ve been meaning to read something by this author for ages, so I’m going to make a really good effort to fit this one in some time this fall.
Dreamer’s Pool – I am beyond excited to read this book, which sounds simply incredible. Juliet Marillier is another author I’ve been wanting to read for a long time. I have several books by her on my to-read list, but they’re all going to have to make room for Dreamer’s Pool first! My thanks to Penguin for this ARC.
Premonitions – Last week I received a very nice message from author Jamie Schultz who offered me an opportunity to read and review Premonitions. As this is a book that’s been on my radar for a while, I enthusiastically accepted! Plus, I love heist stories.
The Lady – this was another unexpected arrival, courtesy of Pyr Books. The Lady is the second half of the Marakand duology. Regular followers of my blog might recall that my feelings were sort of mixed on its predecessor The Leopard, and while I’m still not sure yet if I’ll read this follow-up, I think everyone can agree: that’s definitely one gorgeously enticing cover.
Now for the digital pile:
I added a few new NetGalley titles this week. Apparently, once I request something after not doing so for a long time, it just opens up the floodgates for more. Also, every time my ratio hits 85-90% or so, my mind goes “what the hell, I can afford to request a few more!” So I should probably just accept the truth now, that I will never come close to achieving full completion rate on NG.
Shutter – I blame* Tammy of Books, Bones & Buffy again for this one! (She’s on a roll! 😛 ) I didn’t even know about this book until I saw it on one of her Waiting on Wednesdays. Anyway, I don’t usually request much YA from NetGalley, but when I saw this I was immediately intrigued. And getting the eARC is probably a blessing, I don’t know if I can look at a physical book with that cover and not get freaked out.
Willful Child – this one I blame* on Bob from Beauty in Ruins. Again, I had no idea this book existed until I saw it featured on one of his past Waiting on Wedesndays. I requested it as soon as I saw it up on NG. I mean, Steven Erikson’s own take on the Star Trek parody/homage? Yes, please! As much as I love John Scalzi, his Redshirts didn’t quite live up to my expectations when it comes to getting that right, so I’m hoping this will be closer.
Daring – This one I blame on…well, actually I have no one to blame this one on but myself. I made the decision after reading Charming that I probably wasn’t going to continue with the series (not because I didn’t enjoy it, but because there’s just not enough time this fall — GAH, have you seen my review pile?!) but then came the NG invite from Orbit and…cave like an abandoned coal mine, I did. I can always use more urban fantasy in my life, right?
Heir of Fire – I originally put a hold on this book at the library, but then I finished an audiobook earlier this week and needed something new to listen to. I ended up not waiting and just purchasing this from Audible with one of my free credits. I figured it’s been a while since I read some YA, and I’ve been anticipating this one for a long time. Plus, I also listened to the first two books, I love the narrator and think she’s great, so might as well make it a tradition.
*I say “blame”, but you know I love you guys for introducing me to some great books 😉
The BiblioSanctum 
Need to look up The Bloodline Feud, never heard of the book though I know the author. Staveley’s book is on my radar but I wasn’t the most complimentary person around of the first outing.
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Bloodline Feud apparently collects the first two books of the Merchant Princes, that might be why 🙂
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I am trying to get the library to buy Staveley
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I have Premonition but I’m anxious because the reviews are quite different.I didn’t really know the others but need to try the Maas one and I was disappointed by the first Charming.Happy reading!
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I’m quite looking forward to Premonitions, I have a thing for books about heists (they’re fun!) so I’ve got that going for me 🙂 I wasn’t blown away by the first Charming book either, but I enjoyed it and am willing to give book two a go.
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Very nice and all new to me! Happy Reading!
My STS will be up tomorrow, so be sure to stop by then!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
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Nice haul! I nabbed the new Brian Staveley as well – it was a happy day when that landed on the doorstep. I was offered a copy of Dreamer’s Pool, and was sorely tempted, but just didn’t see myself having time for it.
Glad to hear you nabbed Willful Child – sounds like a fun read.
Here’s how I Stacked the shelves this week.
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Yep, I was surprised when the new Staveley showed up, and also that there are ARCs so early. I’m excited for Willful Child, thank you so much for cluing me in to the book!
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Oh! I’ve also wanted to read Stross, and have the Bloodline Feud on my TBR list! Looking forward to seeing what you think of it! Also, Shutter does look amazing. I have thought about breaking down and requesting it as well
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I was happy I got approved for Shutter. I’m always kind of nervous requesting YA books on NG because I know they’re usually more strict on blogger requirements and I know my site’s not YA centric.
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and I’d thought Bloodline Feud was a new Stross novel?? I tried Merchant Princes way back when they came out, and they didn’t do much for me. But, it’s Stross, so I aughta try that series again.
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I knew nothing about the book when it showed up so I checked it up on Goodreads and yes it says it collects the first two books of Merchant Princes – I’d thought it might have been a new novel too 🙂
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Shutter looks so good!!! Can’t wait to hear what you have to say about that one, Mogsy. And I’m beginning to believe that people who have a fully complete review pile from NG or Edelweiss have probably requested less than ten books total. Or they have an iron will. In either case, not me!
I remember you saying that you weren’t a big fan of the romance in Crown of Midnight, so here’s hoping you enjoy Heir of Fire more. I’ve heard a TON of great things about it so far!
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So far I’m loving Heir of Fire! Shaping up to be my favorite book of the series so far, and it also happens that the romance is so much more dialed down in it too. Coincidence? Somehow I don’t really think so 😉
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I started Heir of Fire the other day and it’s really good so far. I hope you enjoy it. 🙂
To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever reach full completion on NG either – requesting more books is far too easy!
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I hope you’re enjoying HoF. I’m really liking it so far, more than I expected considering I wasn’t crazy about the last book. But I’m really digging this one.
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I’m always nervous when I “get” other bloggers to pick up a certain review book, and then what if it’s horrible?? Oh well, here’s to both of us enjoying Shutter. (and Premonitions!) I’d love to read Dreamer’s Pool. Awesome haul this week!
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Don’t feel nervous, I love it when other book bloggers introduce me to new books! I see books I’ve never heard of all over the place this way, and the ones that really catch my eye and make me go, “ooh, I want to read THAT!” are very special. And if I don’t like it? Oh well! I certainly won’t hold it against anyone 😉
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Woot! Dreamer’s Pool looks sooooo good 😀 I snagged the eARC so that I can read it when working out hehe
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I am SOOOOO jealous of your haul! All those books. You finally caved for Heir Of Fire. Hahahahha. How is it so far?
I am not familiar with some of your other books though. But I agree, The Lady’s cover is really gorgeous. I hope it will be better than its predecessor and live up to that beautiful cover.
As for Willful Child, that one I requested from Netgalley after reading the synopsis. The synopsis itself wasn’t the actual reason that made me request the book but it was the MC who was described as a cocky captain. For some reason, it reminded me of Guardians of the Galaxy. LOL. I got rejected of course and learned later that Steven Erikson is actually big on the Sci-Fi community.
Argh. The Netgalley review ratio again. I’m already at 87% and it can potentially go down since I still have 2 pending ARC requests. I should have stopped when I hit 90 but…but..but…
Lovely haul, Mogsy. I hope you have fun reading all your pretties. 😀 Thanks again!
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I did cave! And I’m really glad I did, like I said I’m really enjoying it. Probably my favorite book of the series so far. I was worried at first when I saw that it was so much longer than the first two books, and I thought, uh oh, bloat incoming! But so far, it’s very good. Surpassing my expectations, at least.
And yep, Erikson is probably best known for his Malazan epic fantasy series, which unfortunately I couldn’t get into. But I’m excited to try out his sci-fi especially since this book Willful Child grew out of his love for Star Trek. That pretty much had me sold 🙂
And haha, I’m back at 87% for my NG ratio too. That’s actually really good, go us 🙂
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A great looking stack. Some on there that I don’t think I would be able to get to. Curious to know what you’ll think of Shutter. I was thinking of nabbing that but Kat already scooped it up. I definitely think her and I have very different tastes so I’ll have to see what you think since we’re more similar.
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