Mogys’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
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!
Glimpse by Jonathan Maberry – From a master of horror comes this forthcoming supernatural thriller about a woman who catches glimpses of her lost son in a pair of cracked reading glasses that she got from an old lady on a train. My thanks to St. Martin’s Press for the ARC!
Frankie by Shivaun Plozza – A surprise arrival courtesy of Flatiron Books, this contemporary YA novel features an angry and troubled teen girl who suddenly needs to pull herself together to find her missing half-brother, who might be the only person who can tell her more about her past. This one’s a little outside my usual genres, but it does look interesting.
Children of the Fleet by Orson Scott Card – Described as a new angle on Card’s Ender’s Shadow, this book is the first of a new series telling the story of the Fleet in space. Admittedly, I’m not too familiar with the Enderverse, so I’m hoping I won’t be too lost jumping into this one. My thanks to Tor for the finished copy.
Different Class by Joanne Harris – Lately I’ve become a lot more interested in reading psychological thrillers, so I immediately jumped on Different Class when the publisher contacted me about it. Plus, I’ll never say no to anything by Joanne Harris! With thanks to Touchstone Books.
Last Chance by Gregg Hurwitz – Thanks again to Tor Books for this sequel to last year’s The Rains, a YA zombie horror with an interesting twist. It’s true I had some issues with the first book, but the story was entertaining enough and I definitely wouldn’t mind continuing the series.
Breach of Containment by Elizabeth Bonesteel – This third installment in the Central Corps series follows the characters as they try to diffuse a shooting war between the galaxy’s major galactic military factions, until the discovery of a strange artifact changes everything. I haven’t read the previous books, so if anyone knows if this can be read as a standalone, let me know! With thanks to Harper Voyager for the surprise copy!
Next up, a trio of ARCs from the awesome folks at Subterranean Press! Penric’s Fox by Lois McMaster Bujold is another Penric and Desdemona novella, and you know how I just adore this series. There’s not much I can find about DJStories: The Best of David J. Schow yet, but it appears to be another anthology collecting the short fiction by the horror author. Likewise, I couldn’t find any info yet for The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard, but I’m definitely interested in this one because while I didn’t really enjoy the author’s Dominion of the Fallen series, I’m still interested in checking out some of her short fiction.
I’d also like to take this chance to shine a special spotlight on Star Wars: Stormtroopers – Beyond the Armor by Ryder Windham & Adam Bray, courtesy of Harper Design and the amazing publicity team at Wunderkind PR. As you know I am a huge Star Wars fan, so when this big and beautiful hardcover showed up, I was pretty psyched. Everything – and I mean everything – you ever needed or wanted to know about the iconic Stormtrooper, the Empire’s ubiquitous enforcer, can be found in this book. I spent every day since it arrived admiring the pages full of art, photos, and articles about topics ranging from concept design to fandom. Who were the Stormtroopers? Where did they come from? Why were they so willing to kill and die for the Empire? If you’re looking forward to the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi movie like I am, this book is a great way to drum up even more excitement and is a must have for any die-hard fan. The back of the book even includes a sleeve with extras like reproductions of action figure backer cards, comic strips, storyboards, and a whole bunch of other cool goodies enclosed. Everything about this thing is incredible and its surprise arrival made my inner geek squee with joy.
On to the digital haul, from Tor.com I received an e-galley for Witchmark by C.L. Polk. The description of it sounds absolutely gorgeous, featuring a mix of magic, romance, and intrigue. I hope I’ll get a chance to check it out closer to the book’s release date next summer.
NetGalley widgets received include The Realms of God by Michael Livingston from Tor Books. This is the third and final volume in the Shards of Heaven series, and having loved the first two books, I can hardly wait to find out how it all end. An invite for Killman Creek by Rachel Caine was also received with thanks to the author’s team and the publisher Thomas & Mercer. I’m so excited for this sequel to the incredible thriller Stillhouse Lake.
Also from NetGalley, I requested This Fallen Prey by Kelley Armstrong, book three in the Casey Duncan sequence. My thanks to Minotaur Books for approving me; I’m really enjoying this mystery series set in the off-the-grid, isolated Yukon community of Rockton, where people running from their pasts go to hide. Next up is another book three in a series, Impostor Syndrome by Mishell Baker, with thanks to Saga Press for the eARC. It continues the story of the Arcadia Project, following protagonist Millie Roper as she struggles to act as an intermediary between our world and the realm of the Fae while dealing with issues involving her own mental health. This is fast becoming one of my favorite Urban Fantasy series, and I’m really looking forward to reading more.
Not too many audiobook requests this week. From Listening Library though, I did request The Speaker by Traci Chee, the highly anticipated sequel to The Reader. From Audible Studios though, I also received A Skinful of Shadows by Frances Hardinge. I read my first book by the author earlier this year and loved it to bits, so I’m hoping this will be another winner!
Reviews
In this section, I do a quick summary of the reviews I’ve posted since the last update. These last two weeks have been pretty rough when it comes to ratings, with a couple of standouts and a lot more disappointments.
Sea of Rust by C. Robert Cargill (4 of 5 stars)
The Genius Plague by David Walton (4 of 5 stars)
Tower of Dawn by Sarah J. Maas (3.5 of 5 stars)
A Secret History of Witches by Louisa Morgan (3 of 5 stars)
Paradox Bound by Peter Clines (3 of 5 stars)
Autonomous by Annalee Newitz (2.5 of 5 stars)
A Plague of Giants by Kevin Hearne (2 of 5 stars)
The Blackbird Season by Kate Moretti (2 of 5 stars)
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
I’m still working my through Brandon Sanderson’s Oathbringer, taking my time savoring it since I won’t be able to post my review until release date anyway, due to the publisher’s review embargo. Two weeks later, I’m only halfway done, but seeing as it’s a 1200+ page book, I feel like I’m making good progress. Once again though, this means fewer books finished this week. I’m going to have to do some serious catching up once I’m done!
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 
I need to look at Stillhouse Lake. Mind you I’m saying that about 800 other books too!
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I’m in the same boat, here on top of mount tbr 😀
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OOoh nice new reads!!! I cannot wait for Kelley’s book! Where did this one suddenly pop up?! I usually see these things! Lol! Hope you enjoy all the 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 saw it go up on NetGalley last week, and I jumped on it! Mind you, it’s the third book in her Casey Duncan series which I love, so I’d been watching for it 🙂
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A review embargo, eh? I’d be like “Screw you, Huge Publishing House! Information wants to BE FREE!” Then they’d send out their hit squads and take me down.
Bookstooge, standing up against the Tyranny of the Publishers. That’s me through and through! 😀
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Yeah, occasionally they tell bloggers to hold reviews until the release date or later…with this one, it’s not going to matter much anyway, it’s taking me foreeeeeever. I’m enjoying it, but it’s just such a tome.
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The Speaker! That’s the one book in this post I’m looking forward to most. A Skinful of Shadows had caught my eye, too. So I’ll definitely read your reviews of those books once they’re out.
I’ve gotten way too many new books over the past couple weeks. Not nearly as many as you, but I’ve gotten the new Rae Carson and Kristen Cashore novels and Leigh Bardugo’s short story collection. And with a couple others coming out very soon (including the Speaker) and still other 2017 books I haven’t read yet, I’m already looking at having to postpone some of them to next year.
And I’ve also decided to be more careful of how many books I buy next year.
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Ah, yes the new Rae Carson! I have the audiobook of that one on hold at the library. Still have Cashore’s book in audio to review too. And I am skipping Bardugo’s short story collection because I’m just not that great with anthologies, and also because I have like a kajillion other books I’m behind on, lol. I still need to review her Wonder Woman novel! Too many books, too little time! 😀
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I need to read A Skinful of Shadows ASAP too. I haven’t read many books by Hardinge yet, I’m sort of saving a handful of them for the “right” moment, but I’ve found her reliably good so far!
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Yes, I was so impressed with A Face Like Glass when I read it earlier this year, she immediately landed on my must-read list!
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I was surprised to see your 5 star rating on The Naturalist! That’s a book I’ve never heard of until you mentioned it, so I’m very curious to hear more😀
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It’s a pretty good thriller, with a scientific twist. Oh man, I can’t wait it with everyone! I should have my review up next week 😀
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Oathbringer! OATHBRINGER!
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It’s really good so far! About 1/3 of the book left to go now and things are really heating up!
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Great set of books you got there! I really need to read the Star Wars books soon!
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The Star Wars canon novels are great, just be sure to pick a good one to start with 🙂
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Always a great selection of books!!! Maybe I’ll finally get a haul post up next Saturday! Also, I hope Oathbringer is awesome 😃
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I’m really enjoying Oathbringer so far! Granted, it’s long and very slow-building…but in the good way. 🙂
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Sanderson’s monster books have to be slow builders! Can’t wait to read that one!
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It’s amazing how he still manages to keep his readers hanging on his every word, isn’t it 😀
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As a long-time fan of Bujold’s Vor series, I was drawn to your mention of the Penric series, and I saw that it’s set in the same background of the Chalion books (that did not work for me) but it promises more of the tone and style I was used to with Miles Vorkosigan’s antics, so I’m adding this series to my “wanted” list – and THANK YOU very much 🙂
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Yes, I’m loving the Penric novellas. Very different from the Chalion books, mainly because they’re so short and Penric and Desdemona’s relationship is so unique 🙂
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I like Jonathan Maberry so Glimpse definitely appeals to me. I definitely want the third Mishell Baker – I’ve loved that series, but I’ll wait for it on audio because I’ve enjoyed the audio books and I have credits!! Happy am I.
I also want Killman Creek. I really enjoyed the first so want to continue with that one.
And, of course, I want Oathbringer – although it’s such a huge ass book that it scares me a little. I loved the first two though and they were also tomes.
So many wants.
Lynn 😀
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Glimpse sounds so creepy from its premise, I really am curious about that one! And Oathbringer is a monster. I would recommend doing audio for that too if you can, long books seem to go so much quicker when I’m listening to them, and the narrators are awesome 🙂
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Yay for Killman Creek. I probably won’t wait on reading it. It’s probably next up on my list since I’m in the mood!
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Yay, I can’t wait to hear what you think!
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Seeing The Realms of the Gods in this post reminded me how much I need to read The Gates of Hell, the first book Shards of Heaven was really good! 🙂
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Agreed, I’m really enjoying the series! Can’t wait to see how it all ends, assuming it’s a trilogy 🙂
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Witchmark looks wonderful – straight on to the wishlist it goes!
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