Bookshelf Roundup 04/04/20: Stacking the Shelves & Recent Reads
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every 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 summarize what I’ve finished reading in the last week 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!
There are fewer books coming in through the mail these days, given what’s happening in the world, but I’m still getting some here and there. First, a big thank you to Del Rey for sending along a finished copy of Shorefall by Robert Jackson Bennett! This one is high priority for April, and I hope to be starting it very soon. My thanks also to Orbit Books for this surprise ARC of Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler, another highly anticipated release coming out later this summer. I’m a big fan of the author, and can’t wait to discovery this new series. Also thanks to the kind folks at William Morrow for sending The Last Odyssey by James Rollins, the newest novel in the Sigma Force sequence. Technically this is book fifteen in the series, but can be read as a stand alone. I read the previous one without any issues and enjoyed it, so I’m looking forward to checking this one out too.
The ever awesome Subterranean Press also brightened up my day when a box of books showed up last week, containing In the Shadows of Men by Robert Jackson Bennett, a novella about two brothers who purchase a mysterious old motel in the desolate flats of west Texas; Edited By by Ellen Datlow, a huge collection of speculative fiction stories from the queen of SFF anthologies; and Dispersion by Greg Egan, a sci-fi novella about a new disease that fragments the world’s rigid social structure. There’s not a lot of info on these yet, but I’m definitely interested in the Robert Jackson Bennett, and even the Greg Egan, though not sure I want to be reading any book related to a disease right now!
In the digital pile, I picked up a few new audiobooks for review. I’m so excited for Deeplight by Frances Hardinge as I haven’t read a single book by her yet that I haven’t loved, and I suspect that’s not going to change with this one! I also picked up The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix which I can’t wait to listen to, and I’ve already heard some amazing things from other reviewers. With thanks to Audible Studios for these! And from Random House Audio, I snagged Pretty Things by Janelle Brown, a new mystery thriller that caught my eye because I’ve been curious about the author and the book’s description sounded really good.
Reviews
Voodoo Shanghai by Kristi Charish (4.5 of 5 stars)
Follow Me by Kathleen Barber (4 of 5 stars)
Girls with Razor Hearts by Suzanne Young (3.5 of 5 stars)
Roundup Highlights:
This Week’s Reads
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 
There are such hight expectations for Shorefall in the blogosphere, that I have finally acquired Foundryside and will read it soon: it would be impossible to ignore my fellow bloggers’ enthusiasm any longer… 😉
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Yay! I hope you enjoy Foundryside!
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Two books by Robert Jackson Bennett? Awesome! I still haven’t tried Django Wexler but would really like to. And it’s been years since I’ve read anything by Greg Egan. I absolutely loved some of his early works.
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I know, it’s a great year for RJB. I didn’t even know about the one from Subterranean Press, but I’m intrigued! And Wexler is great, he’s one of my favorite authors; loved his Shadow Campaigns series!
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OOh nice new reads! Quite a few new to me ones! I hope you enjoy each and every one of them!
My StS will be up tomorrow, so stop by then if you can!
Have a GREAT day!
Old Follower 🙂
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Thank you! Happy reading 🙂
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I’m really curious about Deeplight. I have yet to read Hardinge, not sure why I haven’t yet! Enjoy the Grady Hendrix, I think it will be really good on audio!
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Hardinge is so good! Her books tend to be YA/MG I think, but you wouldn’t think it with the gorgeous language she uses and the depth of her stories. Her world-building is most impressive, I think you’d like her work!
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Looking forward to seeing what you think about the latest Sigma Force adventure.
Glad you enjoyed Voodoo Shanghai as much as I did (and felt the same rage over that cliffhanger, and really curious what you think of Crush the King (on my TBR pile).
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I enjoyed the last Sigma Force book, despite jumping into the middle of the series, so I hope I’ll have the same positive experience with this one! And yeah, so sad about the Kincaid Strange series 😦
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I also loved Crush the King!!!
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I just finished it and oh my, that payback! So good!
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Aaah, I want Shorefall. *_* Enjoy!
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I’m planning on reading that one soon – hope you can get your hands on a copy! 😀
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Wtf Wexler has a new one?! I have yet to try that YAMG one. Must put it on my wishlist
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Yep, this is his new series coming out from Orbit…he’s got his YA from Tor which is on book 2, but I’m not caught up yet
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Looking forward to reading your views of Sunder City! I have Deeplight on my shelf, too – looking forward to that one.
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SHOREFAAAAALLLLL!! Oh my god I loved that book, hope you enjoy it too! I also got Ashes of the Sun from Orbit, curious to check it out!
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Shorefall lost out to Ranger of Marzanna this week, but hopefully I’ll get to it before it comes out. I hope you like them all! I’m looking forward to Ashes of the Sun- I can’t wait to hear how you like it!
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Once again, a lot of great looking books here. Definitely looking forward to your thoughts on the new Wexler. Enjoy!
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Shorefall and Night of the Dragon are my next reads and I can’t wait. I think you’ll like Deeplight – I thought it was very impressive, but I’d not read the author before so I have no idea how it stacks up against her previous books. I have bought another of hers just based on how much I enjoyed this one.
Lynn 😀
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