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.
Why, hello July! On the one hand I am thrilled to be soaring into summer, but on the other I am also a little bit nervous, because this is probably the busiest time of the year for book releases. Some good news, though: I’m pretty much finished with the initial round of vetting for the 30 books in our batch for SPFBO (yep, I know I haven’t been updating on my SPFBO progress lately, but that is most definitely still going on) so I’ve been able to pick up speed on my regular reviewing again. There will be a huge SPFBO update coming up very soon, so be sure to keep an eye out for that, and stay tuned for all kinds of other good stuff in the coming weeks, including author features, giveaways and more. It’s going to be a big, eventful month for us here at The BiblioSanctum, and I’m really excited.
Received for Review
My TBR this month is gigantic. Like, scary gigantic. I do have a more focused list of my must-read books but I’ve also never been very good at keeping to a set plan, and I keep going “off script” picking up anything that catches my eye especially among some of my unsolicited arrivals. So July be a pretty eclectic month for sure! Lots of incredible books have found their way into my mailbox this past fortnight, some requested and some surprises, but I’m sure you’ll be seeing reviews of all of these at some point. 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!
The Dinosaur Knights by Victor Milán and Time Siege by Wesley Chu – This was definitely a week for finished copies, and Tor is kicking it off with these sequels to The Dinosaur Lords and Time Salvager, respectively. I enjoyed both those books immensely last year, and I’m looking forward to their follow-ups. My thanks to the publisher!
Also huge thanks to the kind folks at Penguin (Ace, Roc, DAW and NAL) for sending along the following finished copies this week: The Waking Fire by Anthony Ryan is the first book of a new series called The Draconis Memoria and I can’t wait to read it. I have a review planned for later this month, along with a US giveaway so watch for that! Next up is Red Queen by Christina Henry, book two in The Chronicles of Alice. I’ll also be hosting a giveaway of the first book Alice with my review in a couple weeks, so if you haven’t started this series yet, that’s something else to look out for. I’m also crazy excited about diving into these next two books, and by the time this post goes live I should actually be deep into Heroine Complex by Sarah Kuhn which I’m hoping will be as fun as it sounds, and Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine of course is the highly anticipated sequel to Ink and Bone, one of my favorite reads of last year.
The Gates of Hell by Michael Livingston – My thanks to Tor books for this amazing surprise! This sequel to Livingston’s incredible historical fantasy debut The Shards of Heaven was already firmly on my must-read list for this fall, but I hadn’t expected ARCs to be ready for another month or two. I want more Ancient Rome! More Cleopatra Selene! It’s going to be tough keeping my hands off of this one until closer to release date, that’s for sure.
The Shattered Lens and The Dark Talent by Brandon Sanderson – I also want to thank Tor (who are really spoiling me this week) for these two gorgeous gems: a finished copy of book 4 and an ARC of the long-awaited book 5 in Brandon Sanderson’s middle grade series Alcatraz. I was literally speechless with gratitude (that is, right after I got all the squeeing out of my system). The Dark Talent is actually the concluding volume, and while I’m sad this series is coming to a close, it’s also great knowing I’ll be able to jump right in after finishing The Shattered Lens to find out how it all ends. This is such an amazing series, you guys.
A Little Knowledge by Emma Newman – For the past couple months I’ve been participating in a read along of The Split Worlds series with the SFF Read-Along group, and you’ve probably noticed from the posts that I’ve gotten really addicted to these books. In July, we’ll be plunging into book 3, so the timing of this new arrival couldn’t have been more perfect! In August, Diversion Books will be pubbing the fourth book A Little Knowledge along with re-issues of the first three, complete with gorgeous new covers. My thanks to their awesome publicity team!
The Dark Side by Anthony O’Neill and Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan – Finished copies from Simon & Schuster and Del Rey, respectively. These are wonderful books, and last week I posted reviews to both. In case you missed them, see the links in my review roundup section below!
The Prisoner of Hell Gate by Dana I. Wolff – I actually missed featuring this book a couple weeks ago, so here it is now! A horror novel steeped in history, centered around the story of Typhoid Mary. If you’re a germophobe, I hear this one will go very badly for you… My thanks to Macmillan/Picador via NetGalley!
The Edge of Worlds by Martha Wells – Audiobook, with thanks to Audible Studios. Wendy wrote a wonderful review for this book earlier this year, so when I saw a review copy of the audiobook edition on offer, I thought it would be neat to review this format too. I already listened to this and loved it, so my thoughts will be up soon.
Tracer by Rob Boffard and Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters – Audiobooks, with thanks to Hachette Audio. Both these titles have been on my radar for a while. This week I did a lot of work around the house, which also translated into a ton of audiobook listening, so I’ve actually completed both of these books s well. Reviews to come in the next couple weeks!
The Wall of Storms by Ken Liu – Have I mentioned lately how much I adored The Grace of Kings? When I saw this sequel pop up on NetGalley, I didn’t think; my hand just automatically clicked the request button. My thanks to Saga Press!
A Taste of Honey by Kai Ashante Wilson, Everything Belongs to the Future by Laurie Penny, and The Burning Light by Bradley P. Beaulieu and Rob Ziegler – My thanks to Tor.com for also sending over three more e-galleys this week. I am intrigued by the first two (which were new to me) and positively thrilled about the third because in the past I’ve really enjoyed the work of Bradley P. Beaulieu.
Reviews
Writing doesn’t always come naturally for me, but lately I’ve been having a better time with my reviews. I don’t know, maybe I’m reading the kind of books that are easy to gush (or rant) about. Here is a roundup of my reviews since the last update, gathered together and listed here for your convenience and viewing pleasure. Check out the highlights!
Stiletto by Daniel O’Malley (4.5 of 5 stars)
Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan (4.5 of 5 stars)
And I Darken by Kiersten White (4 of 5 stars)
The Big Sheep by Robert Kroese (4 of 5 stars)
The Dark Side by Anthony O’Neill (4 of 5 stars)
The Suicide Motor Club by Christopher Buehlman (3.5 of 5 stars)
Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman (3.5 of 5 stars)
Mechanical Failure by Joe Zieja (3 of 5 stars)
My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix (3 of 5 stars)
Warrior Witch by Danielle L. Jensen (2 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
Author Spotlights
My thanks to Jon Skovron who stopped by The BiblioSanctum with a guest post last week!
Guest Post: “What Lies Beyond Grimdark” by Jon Skovron
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
A lot of audiobook listening this week. We’ll have family visiting later this month so I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to get the place presentable, which means cleaning the house from top to bottom and tidying our back and front yards so it doesn’t look like we live in the middle of an overgrown jungle. All the while, I had a book in my ear of course. Hold on to your butts, because here’s some of what I’ll be reviewing at the BiblioSanctum in the next few weeks, minus the reviews that are already up.
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 
Yeahie giveaway!! They spoiled you well with all those books.
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They spoil me rotten for real, I always have something interesting to read 🙂
Glad you’re excited for those giveaways, we have several coming up so keep an eye out!
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I just finished Ink and Bone a few days ago, so I’m ready for the sequel. Lots of goodies this week! I will be posting my review for The Dragon Round next week also. Happy reading!
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I just finished The Dragon Round myself and should be working on the review today…wasn’t what I expected!
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Me either. I gave it 3 stars.
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Same here! I really enjoyed the first half of it, and then the second half kind of…took off on another direction? The pacing was just odd. And it almost felt like two books in one, in a way.
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Oooh nice new reads! Some new to me ones and at least one or two familiar ones! I just read Red Queen last week and really enjoyed it! Hope you enjoy it and all your other new reads too!
My STS will be up tomorrow, so be sure to stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
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I’ll be jumping into Red Queen next, right after I finish Heroine Complex! Yay, glad to hear it was good!
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Yes, July is busting at the seams with new books. It’s just crazy! Luckily my August is lighter so some of my July books will spill over into next month, most likely. Can’t wait to get started on Paper and Fire!
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Me neither! And yeah, there will definitely be some spillover into August…heh, maybe even in September. I’m going to have to spread out those July 5 releases, seriously, publishers always seem to front load every month 🙂
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Wow *___* I don’t know which book is the most interesting because, half of them already are on my wishlist haha!
I can’t wait to read Gates of Hell, I hope that it will be available on NG 🙂
As usual, those Tor.com novellas are gorgeous and I am so excited to read A Taste for Honey, I already pre-ordered it but I really, really want to read it 😀
Same for Wall of Storms by Ken Liu, I want to read it so bad, it’s actually ridiculous!
Anyway, great haul! You definitely won’t be bored this summer!
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Great to see some love for Gates of Hell – the more I think about the Shards of Heaven the more I love the book. Can’t wait for more of that awesome blend of history and fantasy 🙂 And speaking of historical fantasy, I guess same goes for The Wall of Storms too!
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I want the Gates of Hell in my life – and what a strange thing to say is that! But I really do!
Lynn 😀
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LOL, put that way, it does sound funny! But I agree, really looking forward to this sequel.
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I’m excited to hear about how SPFBO has been going this year! A Taste of Honey just made it onto my radar a couple weeks ago, but it looks fantastic. Tor.com novellas are my new addiction! Good luck with your crazy-busy month! 🙂
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Thanks! And I’m very excited to be unveiling our SPFBO news soon, I want to talk about all the books! 🙂
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So I’m not the only one whose reading plans are thrown off course by the appearance of more distracting “pretties”… 😀
It’s sort of comforting….
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Oh, I am absolute junk at keeping to reading plans! These days I’ve settled on working within “guidelines” but really I think I should just give up on set lists all together lol 😀
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I need Age of Myth 😀 But I can wait…for xmas
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I don’t know how you can wait that long! But I hope you enjoy 😀
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The Dinosaur Knights? I’m so jealous – just started re-reading it in paperback to prepare myself. I requested Wall of Storms as well, but no acceptance yet . . .
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Pretty excited to start Dinosaur Knights. Good call on re-reading though, I remember the general gist of the first book, but I don’t recall the specifics of how it ended. Hopefully I’ll pick it up as I start reading.
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That is a really good haul! And ack, so many I need to get round to reading, as always. I don’t know how you keep up.
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Haha, I think you got me beat when it comes to blasting down that to-read list! You read so many books this week, I bow before the master!
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I’m excited to me in July as well. Means summer is halfway over, I enjoy the hot weather for about a day. Then I’m ready to go back to cooler temps. 😛 Your TBR for the month looks great! I’m actually lucky this summer and most of the new release books I’m interested in for the rest of the year aren’t coming out until the fall.
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Haha, fall is when my anticipated book releases will slow down, but at this rate, I may still be reading my summer books in September and October 🙂
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I am going to be extremely interested in reading reviews for The Dinosaurs Knights. Wasn’t a big fan at all of Lords, probably won’t read Knights, but still curious to see if any things have improved.
And I really really like the cover for The Burning Light 🙂
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Should be interesting! It’s one that I plan on reading and reviewing, so hopefully I’ll have my full report soon 🙂
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I’m jealous that you have The Dark Talent, I didn’t love #4 so I’ve been really looking forward to #5 in hopes it would wrap everything up well.
I Make a Big (for me) Decision | Sunday Summary #9
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Just started The Shattered Lens – could just be me, but it feels like he ramped up the silliness in this one, not sure how I feel about that yet!
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The whole style just bothered me. I felt like there was a good story there but it was lost in the consciousness of the style.
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ALCATRAZ!! I’ve only read the first 2 books so far but I am hooked 😀 I’m hoping books 4-5 will make their way to me soon! Seeing Paper and Fire here reminded me that I need to crack open Ink and Bone! Oh and Time Salvager is one on my tbr shelf as well!
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Alcatraz is such a fun series, isn’t it? The humor is definitely on the younger side, but it’s still oh so clever. I’m excited to finish the series, though a little sad that after book five it will be over.
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Eeeep! I loved Paper and Fire. It was such a great sequel, probably even better than book one. 😀 I hope you enjoy all of your new books! =)
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
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Thanks, I’m really looking forward to dive into Paper and Fire! Ink and Bone was soooo good!
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Definitely looking forward to your thoughts on Paper & Fire. I had pre-ordered the book, which comes out today (I think?), so it should be coming in the mail soon!
Have you gotten hold of a copy of Elizabeth May’s The Vanishing Throne yet, btw? I can’t remember if you had featured it on a recent roundup or not…
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I do have a copy of The Vanishing Throne! If I did feature it, it must have been ages ago because I bought the UK version from Book Depository to go with my UK edition of the first book which I won from a giveaway…and I think the book was released last year over there. I’m hoping that there will be an audio edition too though, since I heard great things about the audiobook of The Falconer 🙂
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Well, I just finished reading The Vanishing Throne last night… and thought it blew The Falconer out of the water. So I hope you get to read it soon, too! 😀
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Oh yay! I saw your rating earlier today on goodreads – 5 stars, wow! Now I really hope they’ll get to making that audiobook!
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