Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: New Books, Top Reads, What I’ve Been Reading…
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every two weeks where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, what I plan to read soon, and what I’ve finished reading since the last update. Sometimes I throw in stuff like reading challenge updates, book lists, and other random bookish things.
RECEIVED FOR REVIEW
Much love for this week’s review copies from authors and publishers:
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho: eARC, with thanks to Ace Books. I’ve been hearing so much about this one, really looking forward to it.
One Good Dragon Deserves Another by Rachel Aaron: eARC, with thanks to the author. I was so happy to receive an email from Rachel last week asking if I would be interested in a review copy of her upcoming sequel to Nice Dragons Finished Last (which I loved). So of course I said yes!
The Hidden Masters of Marandur by Jack Campbell: eARC, with thanks to JABberwocky Lit for sending me a NetGalley invite to read this one. They’re publishing the ebook versions of this previously-exclusive audiobook series and were kind enough to send me the first book earlier this year, so I’m curious about this second book.
When We Were Animals by Joshua Gaylord: Audiobook, with thanks to Hachette Audio. So many blogs I follow have raved about this book, so I’m thrilled to be given the chance to review the audio!
Crashing Heaven by Al Robertson: Audiobook, with thanks to Audible Studios. I’ve been very interested in this title ever since I learned about it, especially after hearing good things. But as of now I haven’t heard any news about a US publisher for the print book. The audio version however is available, and I’m excited to check it out.
Dragon Coast by Greg Van Eekhout: Print ARC, with thanks to Tor Books. This one made me squee when it arrived! It’s book three of the Daniel Blackland series which I’ve been catching up on, so be ready to check out a review of this closer to release in September.
Gold Throne in Shadow by M.C. Planck and Rising Ride by Rajan Khanna: Print ARCs, with thanks to Pyr Books who surprised me last week with these two beauties in the mail, both of which are sequels to books I read last year (Sword of the Bright Lady and Falling Sky, respectively). The covers are just freakin’ gorgeous.
Bat out of Hell by Alan Gold: Print ARC, with thanks to Yucca Publishing. I had to research this one when it arrived, since it’s new to me. Billed as an “eco-thriller” about a plague spread by bats, it sounds absolutely frightening. In other words, right up my alley.
The Dangerous Type by Loren Rhoads, Shower of Stones by Zachary Jernigan and Solomon’s Arrow by J. Dalton Jennings: Finished copies, with thanks to Night Shade and Talos. A couple weeks ago I came home to see three packages in my mailbox (just haphazardly jammed in there, sometimes I hate our mail service) containing these books. The Dangerous Type is one I’ve wanted to check out for a while; I hear it’s pure pulp and fun. I was also excited to see Shower of Stones since book one No Return is on my to-read list (maybe for a future Backlist Burndown!) and finally Solomon’s Arrow sounds fascinating, despite being completely new to me. I’m always interested in stories about generation ships/interstellar arks. As always, Skyhorse Publishing spoils me silly! Thank you!
BOOKS WON
I don’t often get lucky with giveaways, but when fortune does smile upon me, she is kind. I won a print ARC of Nightwise by R.S. Belcher which is one of my most anticipated books in Tor’s summer line-up.
PURCHASED/BACK TO THE BACKLIST
More audiobooks added to my library this week. I picked up mostly backlist stuff, and took advantage of a couple Whispersync deals:
Glass Houses by Rachel Caine: Rachel Caine, what have you done to me? I loved Ink and Bone so much that I just had to check out her other books, and I’ve heard good things about her Morganville Vampires series, so…yeah. Get in my cart.
Pacific Fire by Greg Van Eekhout: I did say I was catching up with this series. The first two books are now in audio format. About time!
The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord: If you recall, I didn’t fare too well with The Galaxy Game earlier this month, but I also didn’t know when I started that it’s a sequel. The first book’s gotten a lot of praise so I wanted to give Lord another try with this one.
TOP 10(ish) BOOKS READ IN 2015 SO FAR…
Half the year is over now, and everyone’s been putting together their top reads of 2015 thus far. I wanted to take the opportunity to jump in with a quick list featuring my Top 10 picks (plus a bonus of 2 more that were published pre-2015) 🙂
2015 Releases:
Touch by Claire North (
– REVIEW)
Day Four by Sarah Lotz (
– REVIEW)
Nemesis Games by James S.A. Corey ( – REVIEW)
Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine ( – REVIEW)
The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu ( – REVIEW)
The Mechanical by Ian Tregellis ( – REVIEW)
The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence ( – REVIEW)
Uprooted by Naomi Novik (
– REVIEW)
Firefight by Brandon Sanderson ( – REVIEW)
The Rebirths of Tao by Wesley Chu ( – REVIEW)
Pre-2015 Releases:
Dark Eden by Chris Beckett ( – REVIEW)
Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron ( – REVIEW)
WHAT I’VE READ SINCE THE LAST UPDATE
I’ve been very productive these last two weeks! Output is still not quite matching input, but it’s close. Keep an eye out for my reviews of these books in the coming weeks, and of course there are also a bunch that are up already, which you can read now:
Rebel Mechanics by Shanna Swendson (2.5 of 5 stars)
First Light by Linda Nagata (4 of 5 stars)
The Great Bazaar & Brayan’s Gold by Peter V. Brett (4 of 5 stars)
Dark Orbit by Carolyn Ives Gilman (4 of 5 stars)
Highlighted Reads:
Dark Lords of the Sith by Paul S. Kemp: I listened to the audiobook, which I can’t recommend enough. If this book is on your to-read list, seriously consider picking it up in this format. It’s AWESOME.
The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin: Such a great book. My first N.K. Jemisin book and I am beyond impressed!
* * *
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured in this week? Let me know! I like helping people discover new books, so I hope you found something interesting to read. See you next Roundup! 🙂
The BiblioSanctum 
Oh, great line up!
I am very curios about Cho’s Sorcerer to the Crown.
Eeep! I can’t wait for second book in Dragons series by Aaron.
Hmm, I just realized we read same books. .Actually, I picked Uprooted only because of your review- I really wouldn’t otherwise despite all the frenzy and liked it. So, thank you for that. 🙂
I also finished Queen of Fire. I had mixed feelings about ending, so I’ll be on a lookout for your review .
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You’re welcome! I’m glad my review of Uprooted got you to pick it up, it’s such a fantastic book 🙂 I was also feeling mixed about QoF, had a really hard time deciding what to write for my review, which should be up soon.
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I have added so many books to my TBR thanks to this write up. I am most excited to check out The Grace of Kings and finally reading a Mark Lawrence book (Prince of Thorns was too much for me, I hope I have better luck with his new series).
I am beyond envious that you have read The Fifth King! I adore N K Jemisin, can’t wait to read your full review on it!
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The Fifth Season** Sorry, flu meds addled brain.
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Mark Lawrence’s new series is a much easier read, imo. I like Jalan a lot better than Jorg. Cowards make the best heroes 😉
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I’m really looking forward to reading Sorcerer to the Crown! I have very high hopes for it!
I’m going to be reading The Fifth Season pretty soon. Probably today, actually, after I finish up the last little bit of The Affinities. Seems like this weekend will be a good one for my reading productivity. (Of course, now that I’ve said that, watch 3 disasters come out of nowhere so that I don’t get any reading done whatsoever. Just because I said that!)
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Hope you get to The Fifth Season, it was awesome. I saw on Goodreads that you also started book four of Generation V, also a good choice! I can’t wait to get to that one 🙂
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Haha, yeah, I figured Dark Ascension was the shorter book of the 2 and I could finish it faster. (Things that didn’t matter so much before I started reviewing and caring about regular blog content. :p)
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Nice!! These are pretty much new to me reads! But I have read Rachel Caine in the past. Just not this series for some reason! Hope you enjoy all your new reads!
My STS will be up tomorrow, so be sure to stop by then!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
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I loved Ink and Bone though Morganville Vampires seems very different. Still quite curious about it though!
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Hey – that batch of books looks familiar! Solomon’s Arrow is one I’ll definitely be reading, and Bat out of Hell sounds great. I’ll admit to being curious about Sorcerer to the Crown too.
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Looking forward to what you think of Solomon’s Arrow, you’ll probably get to that one before me. I really need to find time to fit in Bat Out of Hell, it looks great.
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Oooh, this post is literally a feast for the eyes! I also received a bunch of books from Skyhorse, they certainly are generous:-) I’m salivating over Nightwise! How exciting! I just love Belcher’s other books. I’m excited to see you got an ebook of Rachel Aaron’s latest. If I remember correctly, her first book was only available in audio for a long time. That’s a series I NEED to get on, I’ve heard so many good things.
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Yeah I really enjoyed Belcher’s Six Gun Tarot. Been meaning forever to get to The Shotgun Arcana! Now he has Nightwise coming out as well as another novel soon after that, I’m going to have to work to keep up 🙂
And yeah, because Rachel Aaron self pubbed NDFL it was only available in ebook format for a while, but audio came a few months later and so glad there are paperbacks available now too!
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Hey I just noticed you have a blurb on the back of Rising Tide:-)
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Happy reading! 😀
Good year so far too
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2015 thus far has been a most excellent year when it comes to books.
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Oh, curious to see what you think of Crashing Heaven. It’s always nice when we get an audiobook option for those UK books 🙂 I also can’t wait to see what you think of When We Were Animals. Hope I didn’t steer you wrong on that one 🙂
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I know, I couldn’t resist. It’s always nice when there is another option other than Book Depository – as well as another choice in format 🙂 And my review of WWWA will be up soon, I loved it!
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yay so many great books for you! I hope you’ll enjoy them all and I can’t wait to see your reviews. happy reading!
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Thanks! Enjoy your new books also 🙂
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The Bat Out Of Hell caught my eye. First time I’m hearing about it, but I’d like to learn more.
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That’s what I thought when I first saw it too! It’s completely new to me, but the description sounds really interesting.
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Nice haul! I actually had Rachel Aaron’s first book in that series for review and… mislaid the file somewhere. Gah. I need to get round to that…!
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It’s delightful! I hope you do get a chance to read it 🙂
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Can’t wait to read your review of The Fifth Season! And seeing it just reminded me I’ll be in Jemisin’s world-building class at Writer’s Digest Conference 2 weeks from today. 😀 😀 So you just made that much more excited. *lol*
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Cool! I am seriously envious to hear about your class, it sounds like it would be an excellent workshop considering the impressive world building I saw in The Fifth Season, and I hope you get lots of helpful information from her 🙂
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I’ve got ‘Sorcerer to the Crown’ this week too. I am really looking forward reading it.
I’ve read only Uprooted from your top books. It was cute and sweet and light. I could not put it down. I will definitely check out the rest from your list. 🙂
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Uprooted was so awesome! I had such a book crush on the Dragon 😛
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Uprooted and Ink and Bone are two I really want to get to and the Jemisin – there really isn’t enough time to keep up with all these books! You’re doing most excellently though!
Lynn 😀
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