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, and be sure to click the links to their Goodreads pages for more details and full descriptions!
Kicking off today’s roundup, with thanks to the kind folks at Ace/Roc/DAW for the following: a finished copy of Storm Cursed by Patricia Briggs, the eleventh book in the Mercy Thompson series. I’ve started this one and I’m already about halfway through and enjoying myself a lot, though it’s been a while since I read the last book so I’ve been having some trouble keeping track of some of the past events being referred to in the story. Next up is a finished copy of Empire of Grass by Tad Williams, the second book of his The Last King of Osten Ard series. I only read Williams for the first time last year with The Witchwood Crown, and even though the fantasy themes in it are a bit convention, I’m looking forward to continuing the series. I also received a couple of surprise ARCs from the publisher: The Wolf’s Call by Anthony Ryan, the first book of his new series Raven’s Blade which will be a new adventure set in the same world as his Raven’s Tower trilogy, and Priest of Lies by Peter McLean, book two of War for the Rose Throne. I wasn’t all that crazy for the first book, so I’m still deciding whether or not I will be continuing this series.
Speaking of surprises, with thanks to Crown Publishing I also received an ARC of a new book I’m only learning about for the first time called The Warehouse by Rob Hart. Described as a darkly satirical near-future thriller, this sci-fi dystopian follows two characters working at an Amazon-like mega-company that has pretty much monopolized the entire country and held it hostage. It sounds really interesting so I might end up giving this a try. And with thanks to Redhook, I also received an ARC of another new-to-me title called The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep by H.G. Parry, a novel described as the “ultimate book-lover’s fantasy” featuring a protagonist who has the power to bring literary characters into the world. Um, yes? That definitely sounds like a book-lover’s fantasy to me! I’ll have to give this one a try for sure.
Also thank you to Subterranean Press for sending me the following ARCs of books by some big name fantasy authors: Houses Under the Sea by Caitlín R. Kiernan is a collection of over two dozen of her best Lovecraftian tales and is a must for any fan of the author; A Pilgrimage of Swords by Anthony Ryan is a novella set in a completely new world about a veteran warrior who makes a pilgrimage to the center of a cursed land in the hopes of seeking redemption; and Fan Service by Gail Carriger is an omnibus described as a collection of stories specifically curated to honor the author’s most devoted fans, set to release this fall to commemorate the ten year anniversary of Carriger’s Soulless.
Courtesy of Orbit books, I also received Queenslayer by Sebastien de Castell, the fifth book in his Spellslinger series. It’s hard to believe we’re coming up on the penultimate book already, I guess time flies when you’re having so much fun. From the publisher I also received a finished copy of A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World which came included with a few themed postcards. I hadn’t started the book at the time so I didn’t understand their significance, but now that I’ve finished I think they’re pretty clever. My review went up earlier this week in case you missed it!
And finally from the amazing team at Tor, I received a finished copy of Knight by Timothy Zahn, the second book in his Sibyl’s War series. I haven’t read the first book yet, but I was also sent it for review last year and I’ve considered checking it out. Reviews I’ve seen have been mixed though, so I’ll probably think on it a little bit longer.
I’ve been pretty restrained when it comes to requests, but this week I accepted a digital galley of Three Laws Lethal by David Walton, releasing from Pyr this summer. I’ve enjoyed the author’s books in the past and didn’t even know he’ll have a new book coming out! Also, I’m always up for some horror so I couldn’t resist grabbing The Toll by Cherie Priest when I saw it pop up on NetGalley earlier this week, especially since this was a book I’ve featured in a past Waiting for Wednesday.
In the audiobook pile, I was excited to receive a listening copy of Star Wars: Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray from Random House Audio. Gray hasn’t disappointed me with any of her Star Wars books yet, so I’m looking forward to this one and hoping to start it soon. Earlier this week, I was also contacted by Audible Studios with an offer of an advanced listening copy of Outland by Dennis E. Taylor. Since I’ve enjoyed the author’s Bobiverse books and am also a big fan of narrator Ray Porter, I happily said yes!
Reviews
Here is a quick summary of my reviews posted since the last update:
Storm of Locusts by Rebecca Roanhorse (4.5 of 5 stars)
My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing (4.5 of 5 stars)
Tiamat’s Wrath by James S.A. Corey (4.5 of 5 stars)
Sky Without Stars by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell (4 of 5 stars)
A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher (4 of 5 stars)
Holy Sister by Mark Lawrence (4 of 5 stars)
Dead Moon by Peter Clines (3.5 of 5 stars)
Miranda in Milan by Katharine Duckett (3 of 5 stars)
The Binding by Bridget Collins (3 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
What I’ve Read Since the Last Update
Here’s what I’ve managed to “unstack” from the TBR since the last update. More reviews 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 
Priest of Lies!, well I am super jealous since I loved it 😀
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I’m hoping maybe the second one will work better for me!
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What a cool idea to add those postcards to the official edition of “A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World”! Given their role in the overall story, it sounds like a wonderful addition 🙂
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Yes, I love it when publishers do extra little things like that with their review copies and presentation! Orbit does it occasionally, and it’s always very clever.
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Oooh, Empire and Grass!! ::falls over in jealous excitement:: 🙂
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I’m pretty excited to see how the story will continue!
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There’s a couple of books that are new to me, I love the sound of The Warehouse, and a new David Walton! I need to get a hold of Pyr and get a copy😁 I didn’t know about that either!
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Yeah, I miss having Pyr helping me stay on top of all their new releases lol!
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I’m a couple of books behind with Mercy Thompson so I need to get caught up this summer. I seem to be in an apocalypse mood at the moment though!
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Oh, Silence Fallen (the last Mercy Thompson book) was amazing, you’ll have a lot of fun catching up!
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I’m really curious about Empire of Grass, because I LOVED Memory, sorrow and Thorn when I read it in the early 2000’s, but when I tried to read Witchwood crown last year I stalled out. Like you say, the themes are very conventional fantasy and maybe I’m burned out on that? I keep thinking of re- trying. 🙂
I haven’t read the Corey stuff but I need The Expanse to come back!!!
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Yeah sometimes a lot of the fantasy greats don’t really age well – I found a similar effect when I read Tad Williams’ new book last year!
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I’m reeeally looking forward to Master & Apprentice..now I just have to find time to slip it into the TBR…..The Spellslinger series is high up on my list of things I need to get to, hopefully soon!
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I recently finished listening to Master & Apprentice – it was amazing! One of Claudia Gray’s best Star Wars! Lost Stars is still my fave, but I can’t decide whether I like Bloodline more or this one!
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Ahhhh that’s exciting to hear!
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Great haul! I hadnt heard about the new novella by Anthony Ryan … curious about the new world
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This was the first I heard of the novella too!
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Great round-up! Not trying to be annoying, but thought you might want to know you’re missing the ‘B’ at the very start of the post 🙂
Lots of variety across all these titles, I love it. The Warehouse, which you described as ‘sci-fi dystopian’ scarily probably isn’t going to be far off the truth with the way things are going with drones & other tech and big companies eating up all the little ones, yikes. I might give that one a read too.
Hope you’re having a lovely weekend & happy reading! 🙂
Caz xx
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No, not annoying 🙂 I did notice it when I glanced at my blog on mobile I was out yesterday, and meant to fix it when I got home, but of course completely forgot. So your comment was actually a helpful reminder! 😀
And yes, the Warehouse is definitely taking shots at Amazon, lol!
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I’m reading The Unlikely Escape of Uriah Heep right now, and it is fantastic! very fun, fast paced, lots of red herrings along the way.
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Wow, really? I was only mildly intrigued before, but now with your praise, I’m very curious! I’ll definitely check it out!
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a novel described as the “ultimate book-lover’s fantasy” featuring a protagonist who has the power to bring literary characters into the world
I’ll take a Top Ten Tuesday idea on the topic of “characters NOT to bring into the real world” for $10, thanks. 😀
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Haha, that’s brilliant! You should totally suggest the idea to the host!
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Looks like lots of great stuff there again! Mercy Thomis one series I keep meaning to catch up on. I really loved that series but stopped reading it for some reason (probably got distracted by other books lol).
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I just love the look of Houses Under the Sea.
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Ooh, I would very much like go get my mitts on the DeCastell and Cherie Priest books on here.
Lynn 😀
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