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!
A huge thanks to Orbit for sending me a big box of books earlier this month. First up is Fortuna by Kristyn Merbeth, just in time for Sci-Fi November! In case you missed it, I reviewed it earlier this week – great fun if you enjoy rollicking action-packed space operas. Next is a finished copy of Where Gods Fear to Go by Angus Watson, book three of West of West series. I swear here and now that I will read the second book soon and get caught up! I also received The Pursuit of William Abbey by Claire North, and I’m really curious about this one because all her books tend to be pretty interesting. There’s also Blood of Empire by Brian McClellan, which I’m insanely excited about because it’s the final volume of the Gods of Blood and Powder trilogy and I loved the first two books. Finally, Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender rounds up the batch, and though I’ve heard some mixed things about the story pacing and writing style, I’d like still to check it out.
Also a shout out to the kind folks at Tor Books who sent me a surprise copy of The Monstrous Citadel by Mirah Bolender! This is the sequel to City of Broken Magic, which didn’t really blow me away, so I’m still on the fence about continuing the series but it’s nice to have on hand regardless.
A big thank you also to 47North and Wunderkind PR for this trio of surprise arrivals: Now, Then, and Everywhen by Rysa Walker is a tale about two time traveling historians, Bridge 108 by Anne Charnock is a post-apocalyptic dystopian, and The Killing Fog by Jeff Wheeler is an epic fantasy of magic and myth. These were all new to me, and I’m looking forward to take a closer look at each one.
Courtesy of Ace Books, I also received surprise ARCs to a couple of highly anticipated early 2020 releases: Looking Glass by Christina Henry is a collection of four novellas set in the world of the author’s Alice series, and Cyber Shogun Revolution by Peter Tieryas is the third novel to take place in the author’s United States of Japan sequence. I loved Mecha Samurai Empire, so I’ll be reading this follow-up for sure.
From Simon & Schuster, I also received a new-to-me mystery/thriller called The Siberian Dilemma by Martin Cruz Smith, the ninth(!) book in a series called Arkady Renko, named for its investigator protagonist. In order to not burn out on science fiction this month, I’m actually giving this one a try to mix things up a little, since apparently it can be read as a standalone. Wish me luck!
And now time for some cheer-worthy YA, with thanks to Simon Pulse for the following ARCs: Chosen by Kiersten White is of course the sequel to Slayer, the novel that continues the Buffy universe, and Heart of Flames by Nicki Pau Preto is the sequel to Crown of Feathers, a fantasy adventure that takes place in a world of rich legends and phoenix riders. And a shout out as well to HarperTeen, for sending me a copy of The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco, described as “Frozen meets Mad Max.” This one wasn’t even on my radar, but it just sounds so amazing from that blurb!
I’ve been trying to cut back on my digital requests lately, but there were a few I just couldn’t resist. From Penguin Random House Audio, I snagged a listening copy of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse. Between this and The Mandalorian, I’m getting so hyped for The Rise of Skywalker! With thanks to Hachette Audio, I also snagged a listening copy of Legacy of Ash by Matthew Ward. It looks like the print version won’t come out in the US until next year, but it’s available digitally.
In the eARC haul, I grabbed Daughter From the Dark by Marina Dyachenko and Sergey Dyachenko with thanks to Harper Voyager via Edelweiss. And thanks to Tor.com I also got these beauties: Network Effect by Martha Wells (yay, Murderbot!) and Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir which I knew I was going to cave on, and boy did I cave hard! But hey, if there’s going to be a readalong for this one too, I want to be ready – at least that’s what I tell myself. And finally, I saw Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim on NetGalley earlier this week, and just had to click that Read It! button, with thanks to Random House Children’s Books.
Reviews
A quick summary of my reviews posted since the last update:
Walking to Aldebaran by Adrian Tchaikovsky (4.5 of 5 stars)
Flamebringer by Elle Katharine White (4 of 5 stars)
Fortuna by Kristyn Merbeth (4 of 5 stars)
System Failure by Joe Zieja (4 of 5 stars)
Find Me Their Bones by Sara Wolf (4 of 5 stars)
Interference by Sue Burke (3.5 of 5 stars)
Aurora Blazing by Jessie Mihalik 3.5 of 5 stars)
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K. Eason (3.5 of 5 stars)
The Guinevere Deception by Kiersten White (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 
Ah you’ve already read Queen Of Nothing!! I have to be good and wait to read it as I have more library books to finish first. I can’t wait to pick it up though. I had mixed feelings about Slayer but I’ll be interested in seeing what you think of the sequel. And I do still plan to read it. I can’t believe some of the 2020 releases that you’ve got too.
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Haha, believe me I wanted to listen to Queen of Nothing right away (got the audiobook) but had to wait until closer to release date. I hope you’ll enjoy it when you get to it!
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I’m not sure I could have resisted the temptation if I got an early cope. Thanks (: fingers crossed ❤️
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I’m so jealous of your copy of Heart of flames! Crown of feathers is one of my favourite reads of this year (I think)!
(www.evelynreads.com)
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I really liked the first book too, I can’t wait to read the sequel. I hope we’ll both love it 🙂
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I see you caved and downloaded Harrow! Lol. Hard to resist, right?
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Oh yes, I caved and I caved hard 😛
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OOoh nice! I’m excited for Christina Henry’s book! I enjoyed the Alice duology and wouldn’t mind revisiting that through novellas! Super excited for Slayer too! Hope you enjoy all the great 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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Yeah, I’m pretty psyched for Looking Glass as well, even though I’m not big on novellas I just love that world!
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I’ve heard good things about Fortuna. I feel bad about Queen of the Conquered – I’ve had a paperback ARC for a while now, and was scheduling my reading around the release date on the cover, but now I see it’s been pushed up. I feel like I need to catch up. 🙂
That United States of Japan series looks like fun.
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Yeah, I saw Queen of the Conquered was getting some mixed reviews…kinda nervous about starting that one to be honest, but I’ll be keeping my expectations realistic!
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The new McLellan! 😀
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I’m so excited to start it! But also sad that the trilogy will be coming to a close.
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Beautiful cover for legacy of Ash-I love that design. EEK! MURDERBOT!!! I’m so looking forward to that!
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Yeah, one of my most anticipated books for 2020 for sure!
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Don’t get your hopes set too high for Rise of Skywalker…
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Oh yeah, after the train wreck that was The Last Jedi, I’ve learned my lesson. So I watched Solo with no expectations at all, and I ended up really enjoying that one, go figure.
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Blood of Empire! Yessss!!! 🙂
While I’m just as eager to read it, I’m also aware that once again we will have to say goodbye to that world and characters… Hopefully McClellan will write more about them…
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I’m planning on starting that book soon! I have a feeling it will be a conclusion to remember. And yes, 100% agreed on wanting to see more of the Powder Mage world!
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I love that cover of Blood of Empire- his books seem to get great covers- and Network Effect is probably one of my mist anticipated reads!
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Yeah, he really lucked out with his book covers. I adored the covers for his first trilogy too, that artists always makes really amazing photo-realistic covers.
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What a great box from Orbit!
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They really do spoil me! 😀
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Wow. Lots of great books there. I just love browsing fantasy covers. So many of these are beautiful.
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I love me some fantasy covers too, especially painted ones (hence loving the one for Blood of Empire)!
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Yeah, the original artwork covers are fabulous.
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You have no idea how jealous I am that you got Chosen and the sequel by Elizabeth Lim!!!! LOL I hope you’ll love both (heck that you’ll love them all)
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I was so excited to get Chosen too, especially since I couldn’t get it from NetGalley!
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I absolutely love your insane hauls, Mogsy! I got my hands on a copy of Blood of Empire as well and can’t WAIT to dive into it!!! Also curious about Claire North’s book. I hope you’ll enjoy these when you get around to them! 😀
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I can’t wait to read Blood of Empire either! And I’d love to check out Claire North again. Her stuff can be hit or miss with me, since her books can be so weird!
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Another amazing haul – hope you love them all. I also need to catch up with the second Angus Watson book so I can get to the third one – arrrrgghh.
Lynn 😀
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Haha, there are so many Orbit series where I need to read book 2 still…gah.
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The ones that most stood out to me from this batch were Fortuna (I loved your review of it), The Killing Fog, Blood of Empire (though I’d have to read the previous books first), and Network Effect (I just started Artificial Condition). Can’t wait to read your thoughts on some of them.
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Fortuna was a lot of fun, and yes Network Effect is one of my most anticipated books of 2020. It’s gonna be a great year ahead for sci-fi, I think!
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I maaay be somewhat jealous of this haul. Hope you like the last West of West and Gods of Powder books! And Network Effect. I really want to know if they’re as amazing as I hope they will be!
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I hope I’ll enjoy Blood of Empire too (though something tells me I will) and I REALLY need to get my act together and read book two of West of West, as well as a whole bunch of other Orbit sequels which now have books 3s 😛
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I’m so jealous I totally got denied for Network Effect hahahaha. Oh well, I have plenty of other books to keep me busy until it comes out. 🙂
I also really want to get to that new Claire North book at some point, I’ve loved everything I’ve read by her so far.
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Great haul there. I have Queen of the Conquered too, which I really need to read as well. I just need to get on top of this TBR.
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