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.
Whew, Christmas celebrations are over and I’ve been enjoying a welcome break for the past week, spending time with my family with a nice staycation. It’s hard to believe that 2016 will be ending at the end of the day and soon we’ll be ushering in 2017. I hope everyone also had a wonderful time over the holidays, and I wish you all a happy new year!
Received for Review
It has been another light week of activity due to the holiday break, but there were still a handful new arrivals in the mail. Thank you to the publishers and authors for the following review copies received. For more details and full descriptions of the books, be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages!
Hag-seed by Margaret Atwood – Shakespeare retellings seem to be all the rage these days. My thanks to LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program and Crown Publishing for the opportunity to read Margaret Atwood’s modern day re-imagining of The Tempest.
The Liberation by Ian Tregillis – The third book of the Alchemy Wars trilogy. I approach this finale with both sorrow and excitement, since the series has been such an amazing journey so far. With thanks to Orbit.
Gauntlet by Holly Jennings – I can’t wait to check out this sequel to last year’s Arena, a futuristic action-adventure sci-fi novel about the gritty world of competitive virtual gaming. My thanks to Ace Books.
The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman – Hooray for another highly anticipated sequel, this time the third novel in the Invisible Library series. I’m ready to jump back into the world of librarian spies! With thanks to Roc Books.
Dead Man’s Steel by Luke Scull – It feels like I’ve been waiting on this one forever! Finally, the third and final book in the Grim Company series is here, and perfect timing too; I’ve been hankering for some dark fantasy. Thanks again to Roc Books.
The Last Harvest by Kim Liggett – I’m so excited for this one! So grateful to Tor Teen for sending me this Young Adult horror novel which features football, wheat fields, cattle and Satanic panic.
Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel – While the first book was not without its flaws, it did succeed in leaving me curious about where the story will go next. The sequel was “Read Now” to me on NetGalley, so there went my self-control! With thanks to Del Rey.
City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett – Speaking of not being able to control myself, I also went ahead and requested this third book of The Divine Cities series. But you can hardly blame me, right? Thank you, Broadway Books and NetGalley.
Buffalo Soldier by Maurice Broaddus and Chalk by Paul Cornell – More awesome novellas courtesy of Tor.com! They’re coming out with some great looking titles in the spring of 2017 and these are just two I’m very interested in checking out.
Reviews
A quick roundup of the reviews I posted since the last update:
A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (4 of 5 stars)
Steeplejack by A.J. Hartley (4 of 5 stars)
The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington (3.5 of 5 stars)
Ocean of Storms by Christopher Mari & Jeremy K. Brown (3.5 of 5 stars)
The Burning Isle by Will Panzo (3.5 of 5 stars)
Outpost by F.T. McKinstry (3 of 5 stars)
Snowed by Maria Alexander (3 of 5 stars)
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
This past fortnight did a real number on my reading schedule. The week leading up to Christmas weekend I finished almost no books at all because I was so neck deep in holiday preparations, though I made up for it in the following week when it was more relaxing. There were a few last minute 2016 titles I managed to sneak in before the year was over, and I was even able to get a jump on some January 2017 releases. Reviews of those coming soon!
Have you heard of or read any of the books featured this week? What caught your eye? Any new discoveries? I hope you found something interesting for a future read! Let me know what you plan on checking out. Until next time, see you next Roundup!
The BiblioSanctum 
OK I’m intrigued by the Holly Jennings books and I got a right shock that Amazon want £11 for the Kindle version!!!!! I’ll be waiting for that to come down in price for sure! I’ve just snagged a copy of Steeplejack as well as I was just intrigued at it being so different from what I usually read. I look forward to adding to my tbr next year with books on your blog! Happy New Year!
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Happy new year! And I’m pretty shocked that ebook prices have remained so high even after all these years, but I guess the publishers set the prices. I don’t usually buy Kindle books unless I see a deal either 🙂
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I like the cover of Gauntlet, but if my memory serves, I didn’t care for what reviews said of Arena.
I guess I’ll wait to see what you write about Gauntlet and proceed from there.
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Arena had some issues, and in particular I think a lot of the complaints was that it felt too YA even though it was supposed to be more of a crossover title. I got those vibes too, though thankfully I don’t mind YA 🙂
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Ahhh, ok. That pretty much rules it out then. I have almost zero tolerance for ya these days…
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I nabbed City of Miracles this week as well, along with a copy of Michael Crichton’s lost dino novel. Pretty excited about that!
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Thanks for the heads up about Crichton’s book! I had been waiting on news of that. Pretty curious 🙂
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OOoh nice! I’m excited for The Last Harvest! Hope you enjoy all the awesome new reads!
My STS will be up tomorrow, so stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
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I’m very excited to read The Last Harvest too! Hope to start it soon.
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I’m excited about The Last Harvest, too. I’m looking forward to your thoughts on that one.
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A couple more books to read and I’m probably not going to wait anymore and dive right in 🙂
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I’m in the middle of the Last Harvest and I’m liking it much more than her last book. Ooh I can’t wait to read Chalk, it sounds very dark:-) Happy New Year!
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This will be my first time reading the author so I’ll have nothing to compare it to, but knowing you have enjoyed her work and think The Last Harvest is even better, I’m really excited to start!
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The enthusiastic reviews I’ve read about the Invisible Library series convinced me to try it out, so the first volume is sitting in my reading queue: I’m happy to see that you’re keen to know more about this series, it means I can look forward to an intriguing story 🙂
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The Burning Page is definitely on tap for next month! It’s already out in the UK and all the reviews I’ve seen so far have been fabulous. I’m excited 🙂
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City of miracles, eeeeeek
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I know, I can’t wait to dive in!
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I won’t have to read it, but I wonder how Gauntlet will be? If it will be more focused on gaming or romance – or a mix of both again?
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My guess is it will be a mix of both again. But, seeing as the “YA-ness” of the romance in the first book didn’t really go over well with a lot of readers, maybe she’ll shift to a more action-oriented story. Should be interesting to see 🙂
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City of Miracles! So jealous! I did not get a copy when I requested, alas. Looks like a good haul!
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I think that copy on Netgalley right now is from the US publisher but as I recall, the UK publisher also uses NG, so hopefully it’s only a matter of time til they do and you’ll get your opportunity 🙂
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Buffalo Soldier looks SO COOL! Diverse historical fantasy is where it’s at. I hope you like Hag-Seed too Mogsy, since I’ve heard lots of good things about it! Canada loves Margaret Atwood. 😉
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It sure does! She even wrote a book that featured the town I spent a bulk of my childhood, a suburb of Toronto. That book ALWAYS had a waiting list a mile long at the library 🙂
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Definitely looking forward to your review of The Bear & The Nightingale. As for my new books, here’s what I got for Christmas. 😀
A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab (already finished it and LOVED it!)
The Giver by Lois Lowry (I’ve never read it, not even in in school)
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys
Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
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Oh TBatN was gorgeous, I think you’ll really like it!
And nice Christmas haul, I’m glad you enjoyed ADSoM! I’ll admit the first book didn’t sweep me off my feet, but I liked the sequel MUCH better so you have some great times ahead 🙂
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