Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves, NaNoWriMo, Recent Reads

Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every other weekend which fills the role of several blog memes, like Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? where I round up what I’ve read since the last update and what I’m planning to read soon. Mostly it also serves as a recap post, so sometimes I’ll throw in stuff like reading challenge progress reports, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts or announcements.

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RECEIVED FOR REVIEW

Some truly fantastic books found their way into my mailbox this last fortnight, and I’m really excited about them. My thanks to the wonderful publishers for these review copies!

Angel of Storms by Trudi Canavan – Hardcover, with thanks to Orbit. This is the sequel to Thief’s Magic which I enjoyed very much last year, and I am eager to see if the two different storylines in the first book will finally resolve/come together in this one!

Black Wolves by Kate Elliott – Orbit was also so kind to send along this beauty of a book a couple weeks back. Its modest size actually belies its huge page count, almost 800! I’m actually about a third of the way through it right now, and I’m digging the story. So far it’s on its way to becoming my favorite book by Kate Elliott.

Spells of Blood and Kin by Claire Humphrey – Earlier this summer while I was chatting with a publicist at St. Martin’s Press about another book, she also asked if I would be interested in this other fantasy novel, something contemporary set in Toronto featuring Russian folk witches. Toronto happens to my hometown so I said, heck yes, sign me up when an ARC becomes available! Well, earlier this week it showed up. As soon as I saw the cover I recognized it as a book I’d been eyeing for the last few weeks, but until then I just hadn’t made the connection that it and the description of the book I’d been given was one and the same! So that was a real treat, to say the least. My thanks to Thomas Dunne Books!

The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston – Hardcover with thanks to Tor, who are awesome for sending me this finished copy. In case you missed my review for this book, you can see it here. This novel is a must read for fans of historical fantasy, especially if you like the Ancient Rome time period/setting.

Alliance by S.K. Dunstall – ARC with thanks to Ace Books. An unsolicited copy, but I couldn’t have been more pleased when I opened the package and saw it. I have the first book Linesman in audiobook format to review soon, so after I finish that I’ll be getting right to this one.

Infinity Lost by S. Harrison – Paperback with thanks to Skyscape and Wunderkind. See this book on the sidebar to the right, underneath CURRENT GIVEAWAYS? If you’re in the US, click it for more info on how to enter, as well as to read an excerpt that we’ve included as part of a special feature for Sci-Fi Month! You know you want to check out this book! It sounds fascinating, and I hope to read it myself, later this winter.

The Brimstone Deception by Lisa Shearin – ARC with thanks to Ace Books. I’ve been debating whether or not to continue with this series, though with the unexpected arrival of this third book, I guess my decision has been made for me! I’ve actually been enjoying this series a lot, I just wish I had a time-turner to read all the things!

City of Light by Keri Arthur – ARC, with thanks to Signet. I’m super excited to read this one! I’ve never read Keri Arthur before, but I’ve always been curious. Since this is the first book to a new series, I thought it would be a great place to start. Keep an eye out for my review and a giveaway in early January!

Ash and Silver by Carol Berg – Paperback with thanks to Roc. This is the second half of the Sanctuary Duet and I’m looking to find out how it ends! Isn’t it nice when a series is done in two books? I should have a review up sometime in early December, so be sure to watch for that.

Press Start to Play edited by Daniel H. Wilson and John Joseph Adams – Audiobook with thanks to Audible Studios. I’ve wanted to read this for a while, and I’m grateful to be offered the book in audio format since traditionally I’ve always struggled with anthologies. But truly, I think listening to it made it easier. My review will be posted tomorrow, so get your game on.

Lustlocked by Matt Wallace – Digital galley with thanks to Tor.com. I was so excited when this appeared in my inbox! Ever since finishing Envy of Angels I’d been waiting on the next Sin du Jour novella. It’s just so wild and quirky, I love it.

Sword of Destiny by Andrzej Sapowski – Audiobook with thanks to Hachette Audio. Remember my lament earlier this summer about no more Witcher books until more are translated? Thank goodness there’s Sword of Destiny to tide me over this winter, even though it’s not the next novel but a collection of short stories that precedes the main series. I’m not complaining though; I’ll take what I can get, and I’ve also wanted to read this one for a long time for completion’s sake. I’ve been listening to the audiobooks and they’re amazing, so of course I had to continue with this format.

The Rising by Ian Tregillis – And Hachette Audio keeps on being amazing. This week they also sent along a review copy of this audiobook, sequel to The Mechanical, which I absolutely adored! I’ve heard amazing things about the audio of the first book, so I thought I would try listening to The Rising this time.

NANOWRIMO

In other news, I’m still plugging away at NaNoWriMo. They say slow and steady wins the race, and that’s exactly the strategy I’ve adopted. I find it easier to write at least the daily target word count for each day, even if I have to push myself to do it sometimes. It’s less panic-inducing when I know I won’t have to struggle to make up for it the next day. and if I can pull it off, sometimes I even aim for 2000 words. In this way, I’ve been keeping ahead, and that means I can also afford some downtime once Thanksgiving rolls around. We’ll have family coming over to visit again this year, and in my experience doing NaNo in previous years, I’ve learned never to count on getting any writing done during the holidays.

Here’s what my progress looks like so far. We’re entering the final stretch!

REVIEWS

Here are the reviews I’ve written and posted since the last update, gathered together and listed here for your convenience and viewing pleasure. Lots of sci-fi (and Star Wars!) this fortnight, because of Sci-Fi Month.

Luna: New Moon by Ian McDonald (4.5 of 5 stars)
Star Wars: Lost Stars by Claudia Gray (4.5 of 5 stars)
Aurora by Kim Stanley Robinson (4 of 5 stars)
The Shards of Heaven by Michael Livingston (4 of 5 stars)
Star Wars Psychology edited by Travis Langley
Towers Fall by Karina Sumner-Smith (3.5 of 5 stars)
Star Wars: Aftermath by Chuck Wendig (3 of 5 stars)
Star Wars: Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed (3 of 5 stars)
Dreamseeker by C.S. Friedman (3 of 5 stars)
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor (3 of 5 stars)
A Borrowed Man by Gene Wolfe (2.5 of 5 stars)

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHTS

My thanks to the wonderful authors who stopped by these last couple of weeks. Earlier this week we had a very special Sci-Fi Month/Gaming post organized by my co-blogger Wendy featuring all of us here at The BiblioSanctum talking sci-fi games with authors Kristi Charish and Brianna Shrum!

Getting Our Game On With Kristi Charish and Brianna Shrum

WHAT I’VE READ SINCE THE LAST UPDATE

NaNoWriMo has been eating into my reading schedule. Basically, any free time I have has been going towards writing. Not gonna lie, as much fun as I’m having with my NaNo project, it’ll be nice when November is over and I can do more of everything else again!

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Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? Nothing makes me happier than sharing my love for books, so let me know what you plan on checking out.  I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Until next time, see you next Roundup! 🙂

~Mogsy/Steff~