Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves & 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.
Received for Review
Some really exciting new arrivals this week, my thanks to all the publishers for the review copies received! For more details and full descriptions of the books, be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages!
Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan – This wonderful surprise came earlier in the week, courtesy of the kind folks at Del Rey. I had already requested an e-galley, but receiving this beautiful bound book was no less exciting. I can’t wait to visit Michael J. Sullivan’s world again, even though this story will take place thousands of years before his Riyria novels.
Welcome to Deadland by Zachary Tyler Linville – My thanks to Inkshares for sending me an ARC of this book, the winner of Nerdist’s first publishing contest last summer. A coming-of-age, coming out story set in post-zombocalypse Florida, look out because this is not going to be your average zombie story!
The Big Sheep by Robert Kroese – My thanks to the author and Thomas Dunne Books for sending me an ARC of this sci-fi novel described as perfect for fans of perfect of Philip Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, Terry Pratchett’s Guards! Guards! and Scalzi’s Old Man’s War. Sounds right up my alley!
The Order of the Eternal Sun by Jessica Leake – Surprise arrival from Night Shade Books, but this historical fantasy debut set in the opulence of Edwardian London society actually caught my eye earlier in the year, so I’m definitely going to try and give this one a read later this summer. With thanks to the publisher.
Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal – Speaking of catching my eye, this next book, described as a historical fantasy set in World War I about military intelligence and spiritual mediums, has been blipping all over my radar recently. I was psyched when a copy showed up one day on my doorstep. My thanks to Tor Books.
Nebula Awards Showcase 2016 edited by Mercedes Lackey – My thanks to Pyr Books for this finished copy! I know I’m terrible when it comes to anthologies, but one day soon I’d love to check out these fantastic Nebula Awards Showcase collections.
The Sight by Chloe Neill – Book two of the Devil’s Isle series and sequel to The Veil. I’ll have to make some room for this one in August, since I had fun with the first book last year. My thanks to NAL!
Ornamental Mandalas by Jennifer Lankenau – A slim package arrived from Diversion Books last week, making me puzzle for a bit about what it could contain. It turned out to be this coloring book filled with gorgeous mandala designs! I’m actually really excited, since at the moment I don’t own any mandala themed coloring books and I’ve been poking around the net lately trying to find a good one. Flipping through this, I could tell it was exactly what I was looking for. I’m sure it’ll take me a while to color up some of these gorgeous mandalas, but once I get a few pages done I’ll be sure to review it for my Color Magic adult coloring book feature. Huge thanks to the publisher!
Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn and The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan – I spoiled myself a bit on NetGalley this week, since I’ve been doing pretty well keeping up with the feedback. Both these books are on my highly anticipated list for this summer. My thanks to Ace/Roc/DAW!
The Mountain of Kept Memory by Rachel Neumeier – I also one-clicked this beauty because I could not resist the following blurb in its description: “gorgeous fantasy in the spirit of Guy Gavriel Kay and Robin McKinley.” I’ve wanted to read this author for a long time. Thank you, Saga Press!
The Apartment by S.L. Grey – I’m a huge fan of Sarah Lotz, who writes with Louis Greenberg under the pseudonym of S.L. Grey. As soon as I saw this, I put in a request. Sounds like one creeptastic psychological horror/thriller! My thanks to Anchor Books via Edelweiss.
The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North and The Tower of Swallows by Andrzej Sapkowski – This is a fantastic month for audio listening, and I would like to thank Hachette Audio for sending me these two audiobooks for review. After the mind-blowing ride that was Claire North’s Touch, I am hoping her latest novel will be another winner. And The Tower of Swallows is of course the next installment of the hit Witcher series. Feels like I’ve waited forever for this to come out.
Reviews
Here are all my reviews since the last update, gathered together and listed here for your convenience and viewing pleasure. These last couple of weeks were simply stellar, with everything coming in north of three stars.
Star Wars: Bloodline by Claudia Gray (4.5 of 5 stars)
The Voodoo Killings by Kristi Charish (4.5 of 5 stars)
Admiral by Sean Danker (4 of 5 stars)
Roses and Rot by Kat Howard (4 of 5 stars)
Warcraft: Durotan by Christie Golden (4 of 5 stars)
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (4 of 5 stars)
Lovecraft Country by Matt Ruff (4 of 5 stars)
The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood (4 of 5 stars)
The Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay (3.5 of 5 stars)
Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer (3.5 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
Here’s what I’ve been reading lately. It’s been another somewhat light roundup, since I’m still in the middle of reading the first five or so chapters of all our SPFBO entries. Right now I’m about a third of the way through our batch of 30 books, so I’m feeling comfortably on track (and I’m chuckling to myself here, since I often find myself using my workout time on the treadmill to review SPFBO books – yes, I can read and run!) However, I’ve managed to chisel down my review pile some more with the following completed books. Those that haven’t been reviewed already will be coming up soon, so stay tuned.
(Also, I swear that I did not color coordinate; all my books this week coincidentally just happened to fall into one of two color schemes. Though fine, I did fudge it a little by using the old cover of Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge, because you know, the green kinda ruins the effect.)
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!
The BiblioSanctum 
I can’t wait for Age of Myth! It’s one of my most anticipated reads of the year. I hope you’ll like it!
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It seems to be on a lot of people’s must-read lists this summer! 🙂
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I’ve been looking forward to it ever since it was announced. Especially after reading The Death of Dulgath. I feel like I need more of his writing, immediately!
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“Ghost Talkers” sounds fascinating: after enjoying very much Ms. Kowal’s Glamourist series (now ended… *sigh*) I know I can look forward to a net story from this author, which makes me very happy!! 🙂
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Ah, I didn’t know the Glamourist series was over! I’ve only read book 2, but I plan on reading the others soon. Guess that’s good, I won’t fall even more behind! 😀
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I love your Stacking the Shelves posts! I’ve been meaning to start doing them, but I just haven’t managed to squeeze in the time!
I also got Age of Myth (eBook!) And was super excited. Lokong forward to the new Claire North book as well.
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I just started the Claire North book today, it’s pretty wild! 🙂
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Nice! I have an e-ARC of Age of Myth, but nice to see a physical copy. I have a copy of The Waking Fire waiting for a read as well.
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I’m excited for both books. The Age of Myth ARC was definitely a nice surprise, I love the cover.
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Ha ha, I also subconsciously group books that go together, color-wise! It just makes me happy:-) I need to jump over to Edelweiss right now and look for The Apartment. Not sure how that slipped by my! Awesome haul as usual!
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I had missed it going up as well, it just so happened I was checking up that book one day and saw that it was offered! I think it’s because there was no official cover at the time, my eye just went right by it 🙂
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lol I enjoy that your covers for what you read match. 😛
Welcome to Deadland looks really interesting. I’m excited to see what you think of that one.
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I thought Welcome to Deadland looked interesting as well. I’m usually really wary about zombie books, but this one sounded awesome 🙂
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AGE OF MYTH and THE WAKING FIRE are two of my must reads in the coming months. Can’t wait to see what you think of them.
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Those two are high priority for me too, can’t wait 🙂
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Age of Myth, so lucky! I can’t believe you got a coloring book to review – that so cool! XD And I do vaguely remember hearing about Heroine Complex before… maybe it was on one of your WoWs?
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I’ve been getting surprise books from Del Rey lately, I must have gotten on a reviewer list over there 🙂 And yes, the coloring book was a nice arrival too, I guess they glimpsed my Color Magic feature, lol! Regarding Heroine Complex, I did feature it for WoW one time 🙂
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I’m looking forward to Age of Myth too. I love the synopsis. Can’t wait for it to be pubbed.
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That one seems to be a hot book this summer!
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Age of myth!
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Indeed!
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Oh yeah, I’m gonna need to get my hands on The Order of the Sun…historical fantasy, be still my heart! The Sight and The Mountain of Kept Memory are both on the docket for me too, I’ve got a good feeling about both. 🙂
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Yeah, I wasn’t so keen on the cover for Order of the Eternal Sun, but the description sounds delectable. I’m really curious about The Sight, I love the New Orleans setting 🙂
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Love the coloring book! 🙂 I’m really curious about Sudden Appearance of Hope, so look forward to hearing what you think of it.
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I’m about halfway through the SAoH audiobook now and so far I’m really digging it!
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Some great books on here. I’ve read the Sudden Appearance of Hope and look forward to seeing what you make of that one. Currently reading and really enjoying Company Town. I definitely fancy The Apartment – sounds so creepy and a great setting.
Lynn 😀
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Company Town was pretty great! I blew through that one. Currently listening to Sudden Appearance of Hope right now in audio and I’m loving it 🙂
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Ahh, The Ghost Talkers! I’ve been wanting that one since I saw the cover…
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It sounds like an interesting one. I love the cover too 🙂
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Ooooh, I’d love to know what you think of the mandala coloring book! I’d like to get another one when I finish my current one.
As for my latest books… I bought (and already read) The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh, and I won Stephanie Burgis’s Masks and Shadows in a giveaway. 🙂
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I thought of you when I saw the coloring book, since I remember you mentioning a book of mandalas once when we were discussing the subject of adult coloring books 🙂 I haven’t started coloring it of course, but I’ve flipped through it and I can already tell you I love it! I had no idea there could be so much variety in mandalas, and here I thought a whole book of them would be boring, ha. The designs are beautiful and very well designed, I can’t wait to jump in.
Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on The Rose and the Dagger! 😀
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Ghost Talkers does look really good and if anybody could do it well I would bet on Mary Robinette Kowal. I see it’s not out until August but I suppose I can wait. You have had a really stellar spell of reading lately – I love when that happens:)!
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