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
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.
Kicking us off this week is a big batch from the amazing team at Tor Books: The Night Dahlia by R.S. Belcher is the second Nightwise novel and I’m excited to continue the series. Also thanks to the author for dropping by earlier in the week with a guest post for our part in the book’s blog tour! I also received a finished copy of The Queens of Innis Lear by Tessa Gratton, described as being inspired by both Game of Thrones and Shakespeare’s King Lear. Mere words cannot describer how badly I’ve been craving this novel. Next up is another book I’m super excited about, Head On by John Scalzi which is the stand-alone follow up to Lock In. I’m sure I’ll be reading this one soon. I also received a gorgeous finished copy of Fire Dance by Ilana C. Myer, a stand-alone set in the same world as the author’s previous novel, Last Song Before Night. I didn’t get a chance to read that one, so I’m thrilled at another opportunity to check out her work.
With thanks to Titan Books, I also received The Folded Land by Tim Lebbon from participating in the book’s blog tour last month, and the publisher also threw in the first book Relics, which that was awesome of them! I hadn’t read it yet, and I always prefer to start at the beginning of a series if I can, so this was perfect.
Huge thanks to Pyr books for an ARC of The Last Sun by K.D. Edwards, which has recently landed on my radar (and I’ve been seeing it pop up in a lot of other anticipated lists as well). It’s the start of a new fantasy mystery series and it also looks to be one of the publisher’s big upcoming titles, so I’m curious to see what it’s all about.
From the kind folks at Ace/Roc/DAW, I also received the following new arrivals: From Unseen Fire by Cass Morris was a book I actually featured once for Waiting on Wednesday, so I was overjoyed when a finished copy showed up. I’m also jumping up and down about Before Mars by Emma Newman, the third installment in her Planetfall sequence. It appears to be a standalone like the previous novels, so it’ll be interesting to see what new stories and characters the author has in store for us. I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this one.
Next up, a couple of cool surprises from Orbit! This mysterious looking ARC is Season of Storms by Andrzej Sapkowski, the highly anticipated English translation of The Witcher prequel which was originally published in Polish in 2013. I love this series! Traditionally, I’ve always done these books in audio though, so maybe when the time comes I’ll both read and listen to this one. Another unsolicited but very welcome arrival is One of Us by Craig DiLouie, a fantasy set in an alternate 80’s which appears to have a strong horror element and some heavy social themes. It certainly sounds interesting, so I might give it a try.
Last but not least, my thanks to Simon & Schuster for rounding out this week’s physical book batch with a finished copy of School for Psychics by K.C. Archer. I still can’t believe the release date is here already, meaning I’m super behind, but I still have hopes to fit this one into my reading schedule for April.
On to the digital book haul, my thanks to Tor.com Publishing for once again filling up my inbox with pure awesomeness. The Descent of Monsters by J.Y. Yang is the third installment of the Tensorate series which I’m sad to say I haven’t started yet, but every time I see these gorgeous covers I’m reminded that I should really a jump on these books. And it’s finally here, it’s finally here! Er, well, the eARC of Artificial Condition by Martha Wells is, at least. It definitely won’t be long until I dive into this second installment of the Murderbot Diaries, it feels like I’ve been waiting forever to read it. Deep Roots by Ruthanna Emrys is also a sequel, book two in The Innsmouth Legacy, a Lovecraftian horror series. And finally, The Million by Karl Schroeder is a sci-fi novella I’ve only recently found out about, and hopefully it’ll live up to its fascinating premise.
And I’ve been pretty good lately, only one NetGalley acquisition this week, but it’s one that I could hardly not request. Yep, it’s Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. Thanks, Del Rey!
Earlier this week I was also contacted by the Apex Book Company with a pitch for Aetherchrist by Kirk Jones. It was the first time I’d ever heard about it, but wow, after reading the description I’m definitely intrigued.
And in the audiobook pile, my thanks to Audible for Last Dragon Standing by Rachel Aaron. I can’t wait to listen to this finale of the Heartstrikers series, I have a feeling it’s going to be great. Thanks also to Hachette Audio for a review copy of Defy the Worlds by Claudia Gray, I’m sure I’ll be listening to this sequel to Defy the Stars very soon. And finally, with thanks to Harper Audio publicity, I received Dread Nation by Justina Ireland. Civil War and zombies? Sign me up.
Reviews
A summary of reviews I’ve posted since the last update:
The Silent Companions by Laura Purcell (4.5 of 5 stars)
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (3.5 of 5 stars)
ReMade: Season 2 created by Matthew Cody (3.5 of 5 stars)
Lady Henterman’s Wardrobe by Marshall Ryan Maresca (3.5 of 5 stars)
Dayfall by Michael David Ares (3 of 5 stars)
The Feed by Nick Clark Windo (3 of 5 stars)
Wonderblood by Julia Whicker (2 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
Interviews & Guest Posts
A huge thanks to the authors who stopped by The BiblioSanctum this week!
Guest Post: “The Bastard in the Mirror” by R.S. Belcher
An Interview with RJ Barker, Author of The Wounded Kingdom Trilogy
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
Lately I’ve been juggling reading with my other great passion, which is gaming. If you’re into multiplayer or online games, you’ve probably heard of a big release last month called Sea of Thieves, an action-adventure shared world game in which players can take on the role of pirates, sailing in crews of up to four. For the last two weeks, my husband and I and a couple of people in our gaming circle have been sailing around in a galleon chasing chickens, killing skeletons, hunting for treasure, and taking on other player crews in insane ship-to-ship battles. While the current content is a bit lacking and the quests become repetitive after a while, there’s no denying it’s a lot of fun especially if you’ve got a group of friends to play with (and let’s face it, who can say no to being a pirate?)
Admittedly, the game has been eating into my reading time, but I still managed to finish a good number of books since my last update. Audiobooks have been a convenient option for me too, for the times when I’m playing solo and I find myself in a lull while traveling between islands with no sails sighted on the horizon. Those calmer moments are the perfect opportunity to get some listening time in. Here’s what I ended up “unstacking” from my shelves, and you should see reviews posted soon if they aren’t up already.
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 
WAAAAAH, you have ‘Spinning Silver’!! I am very jealous 😀 Hope it’s amazing, have fun with it 🙂 I will wait patiently! (or less so… 😉 )
The cover of ‘The Last Sun’ got my attention and I just checked it out. Yup, I want to read it as well, sounds cool!
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Yeah, I’m usually good at restraining myself, especially when it comes to my auto approval publishers. But when I saw Spinning Silver I just couldn’t help it! There goes that “Read It” button!
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Oooh nice! Those are a lot of new to me ones! Some are looking familiar though too! Hope you enjoy all your 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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Thanks, happy reading!
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I was checking out Wells site and apparently all the Murderbot novellas will be released by the end of year. I’m probably going to hold off until then and then scoop them all up at once.
And cheers to gaming!
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Good idea! You won’t have to go through the agony of waiting, which is what I went through for Artificial Condition. I’m diving into it soon!
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And I’m hoping that all 4 or 5 of them get released as an omnibus edition…
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Tons of great books😊 I also discovered Aetherchrist this week and was happy to get a copy. I didn’t realize that Fire Dance is a standalone, I’ve been eyeing it but it never really made my list because I haven’t read the first book. Good to know!
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Aetherchrist looks so interesting! And yes, the publicist confirmed to me that Fire Dance is a stand alone, which is a relief because I haven’t read her first book either!
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What an embarrassment of riches! 😀 😀
I love how all basic genres and several cross-over ones are represented, and how lively the spec-fic scene looks from these offerings. I’m in the middle of Head On right now and (unsurprisingly, since I’m a Scalzi fan) I’m having great fun with it.
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Ooh, I’m hoping to start Head On very soon too, huge Scalzi fan here as well!
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I just got Dread Nation but haven’t had a chance to read it yet. School for Psychics definitely looks interesting!
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I just started Dread Nation – absolutely loving it so far!
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Spinning silver! 😀
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Yup yup, very excited about that one! 😀
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Before Mars is one I’m looking forward to a lot, and School for Psychics I’ve been curious about. Love the premise of that one. Kinda curious about Relics too.
Yay for Artificial Condition! I can’t WAIT to see what Murderbot gets up to next! And The Million is new to me.
Sea of Thieves looks like a lot of fun.
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ALL HAIL MURDERBOT! It’s ridiculous how much I love the character 😀
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Aah, I still need to read Last Song Before Night, and there’s another book? Guy Gavriel Kay recced it at one point, I’ve goooot to get round to it. And aaaaaah, Before Mars, I want it, I want it!
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Good news though, Fire Dance is a stand alone! Or so I’m told by the publisher 😀 And I didn’t know GGK recced it, wow that’s high praise indeed!
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I keep forgetting that Naomi Novik has a new book coming out this year! The Queens of Innis Lear has been on my radar, too. And ooooh look at Fire Dance’s cover! What a cool collection of books this week. 🙂
Btw I glanced over your review of Children of Blood and Bone the other night. I’m glad you liked it for the most part, but the 3.5 out of 5 rating convinced me that maybe I should rent it from the library rather than buy it.
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Regarding Children of Blood and Bone, I definitely think it’s worth the read especially if you love YA fiction. It’s just that after I finished, I felt…unsure how long it would stay with me. It was a good read, but nothing too memorable. I just expect more from my YA these days, but if you enjoy the genre I think you will like it! Getting it from the library is a good way to go, you can always buy if it turns out you love it 🙂
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My thoughts exactly on that last sentence. 😉
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Hmm…the Last Sun really appeals to me. I’ll have to go look that one up.
I’d be interested in seeing what you think of School for Psychics. I tried reading it but didn’t like it and ended up DNF’ing it.
Dread Nation is great so far. I’m about 200 pages in and am enjoying it.
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Yeah, I’m kind of waffling on School for Psychics too, yours wasn’t the only negative/dnf review I’ve seen, but I’ve also seen some really positive stuff, so I just don’t know…
And I just started Dread Nation too, I’m loving it!
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Ikr! Really didn’t expect to like Dread Nation so much. But then again I always find zombie stuff really entertaining.
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Nice new reads ! Hope you enjoy them !
Have a great day !
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Thank you, you too!
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wow a lot of ones for you! I was curious about the Tessa Gratton one. Happy reading!
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Me too, I’m very curious about Queens of Innis Lear and crossing my fingers it’ll be great!
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Oooo, I’ve seen a lot of excitement for The Queens of Innis Lear! It’s a big book. 😀 I have From Unseen Fire as well, looking forward to reading it. Really want Spinning Silver. 😮 I hope you enjoy all of your new books, Mogsy!
Have a fantastic week. =)
Alyssa @ The Eater of Books!
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Yeah, I didn’t know Innis Lear would be such a huge book! Very excited though 😀 And I hope we’ll both enjoy From Unseen Fire! Happy reading!
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I’m seeing Dread Nation everywhere at the moment and it is certainly on my list to look at.
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Your ‘stacking the shelves’ posts always overwhelm me a little bit so goodness how knows how you feel – don’t get me wrong, I love books but I just don’t know how you cope because there’s so many. I don;t know whether to feel envious or not! 😀 😀 Still having too many books seems like a good type of problem and i always end up wanting to request more after I’ve seen these posts 😀 – these posts should be called toppling the tbr.
Happy reading
Lynn 😀
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Some great books this week. I’m really curious about “One of Us” and can’t wait to start seeing some reviews. I’m kind of hopping around the blogs late this week because I was sick all weekend. I haven’t slept this much since I had mono a while ago. I have my copy of Dread Nation ready to go!
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Thats a lot of books! I really like the cover of Fire Dance! Its really cool! And I am so jealous of you getting Spinning Silver!!!! I can’t wait for it to come out! I am soooo excited for it 😀
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