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

Happy March, everyone! I’m still kind of in catch-up mode, sop here are the rest of the books that made its way into my mailbox in the last couple weeks of February. My thanks 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.

The awesome folks at Tor are kicking us off today with a couple new arrivals: Dayfall by Michael David Ares takes place in a dystopian future where the darkness of a nuclear winter has fallen over much of the eastern United States. Reviews seem to be a little mixed, but I still find myself curious to check out this sci-fi crime thriller. If Tomorrow Comes by Nancy Kress is the sequel to Tomorrow’s Kin, a cool story of alien first contact that I read last year. I enjoyed it a lot, so I’m looking forward to continuing the series. Next up are two Tor Teen arrvials: Pacifica by Kristin Simmons is a young adult fantasy about pirates, so I’m definitely all over it. I’m also very excited about this ARC of The Unfortunates by Kim Liggett. I loved her book The Last Harvest last year, and while this one is quite a bit different in terms of genre, I still can’t wait to read more of her work.

Courtesy of Ace Books I also received a finished copy of Lake Silence by Anne Bishop, the start to her spin-off series taking place in the same world as The Others. I had a great time with this one; my review should be up early next week along with a giveaway opportunity, so be sure to keep your eyes out for that!

With thanks to Saga Press and Wunderkind PR, I also received an ARC of The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell. I finally caught up to this one and finished it earlier this week, and as you can see from my review it wasn’t exactly what I expected, but I still had a good time.

Thanks also to Orbit for the following ARCs! I was pumped when this copy of One Way by S. J. Morden showed up unexpectedly last month; for a long time I’ve had my eye on this sci-fi thriller featuring a murder mystery involving a small crew of ex-cons working on Mars. And yay for Arm of the Sphinx by Josiah Bancroft! I’m looking forward to reading this second installment of The Books of Babel series.

Next up is this amazing looking book called Holmes Entangled by Gordon McAlpine. Described as a Sherlock Holmes-inspired quantum meta-mystery, it sounds fun and quirky and utterly fascinating. I just hope the quantum mechanics won’t be too much for me to handle! My thanks to Seventh Street Books! And from their sister imprint Pyr Books, I also received this ARC of a new-to-me book called Blood Orbit by K.R. Richardson. I see that it’s a sci-fi police procedural though, so consider me intrigued. My thanks to the publishers!

A couple weeks ago I was also thrilled to receive a surprise package from the wonderful team at Tachyon Publications, containing The Oddling Prince by Nancy Springer, a historical fantasy set in the ancient moors of Scotland. Its premise has a charming fairy tale-like quality to it, and already I’ve seen this one likened to the works of Juliet Marillier. I just hope those comparisons are true because this one sounds incredible.

And finally, rounding out today’s batch of new arrivals is The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell, described as a Gothic ghost story that creeps its way through the consciousness in ways you least expect. OOOoooOOOooohhh, creepy…and I love the sound of it! This one’s flying to the top of my TBR, with thanks to Penguin Books.

Thankfully my eARC and audiobook haul is not quite so big this week, because I really need to work on paring down my digital TBR. But of course I couldn’t resist requesting an audiobook review copy of Obsidio by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff because this series is absolutely amazeballs in audio! Needless to say, I listened to it right away and loved it, and my review should be up tomorrow. I also decided to check out Aru Shah and the End of Time by Roshani Chokshi because I really enjoyed her Star-Touched Queen duology. This time she’s trying her hand a middle grade fantasy, and I think this one could be good. My thanks to Listening Library to these.

From NetGalley, I also finally caved and decided to grab The Testament of Loki by Joanne M. Harris. Might as well stop fighting it and just admit I really need to read this sequel to The Gospel of Loki. Throwing caution to the wind, I also requested Mirage by Somaiya Daud after learning more about it from several blogs recently. And in one final indulgence, after browsing Edelweiss one day, I requested Pack by Mike Bockoven. A supernatural thriller about werewolves set in a rural Nebraskan town, this novel has been likened to the works of Anne Rice mixed with pulpy, bloody horror. My thanks to Saga Press, Flatiron Books, and Talos for these.

And finally, with thanks to Serial Box I received ReMade Season 2 by Matthew Cody, Gwenda Bond, Andrea Phillips, E.C. Myers, and Amy Rose Capetta, now that the entire season is complete. So far, this is probably one of my favorite serials from them and I look forward to continuing the next chapter.

Reviews

A quick summary of the reviews I’ve posted since the last update:

The Hunger by Alma Katsu (4 of 5 stars)
A Time of Dread by John Gwynne (4 of 5 stars)
Winter Sisters by Robin Oliveira (4 of 5 stars)
Honor Among Thieves by Rachel Caine and Ann Aguirre (4 of 5 stars)
Daughters of the Storm by Kim Wilkins (3.5 of 5 stars)
The Tangled Lands by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias S. Buckell (3.5 of 5 stars)
Zero Day by Ezekiel Boone (3 of 5 stars)

Interviews & Guest Posts

A huge thanks to the authors who stopped by The BiblioSanctum this week!

“Working Out the Rules of Interstellar Travel” by Gareth L. Powell

“The Self-Publishing Catch-22” by M.D. Presley

What I’ve Read Since the Last Update

Here’s what I’ve “unstacked” from the TBR since my last roundup post. I’m making up for lost time! Most of these have already been reviewed, and the rest will be 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!