Bookshelf Roundup: 05/08/21: 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!
Exciting new arrivals this week! With thanks to Del Rey, I received the following ARCs: Paper and Blood by Kevin Hearne is the second book in his Ink & Sigil series which spins off of The Iron Druid Chronicles. I love the new star character Al MacBharrais and I’m anxiously looking forward to catch up with him on this next adventure! From the publisher I also received The Desert Prince by Peter V. Brett, the start of a brand new story set after the events of the author’s epic Demon Cycle. That series concluded some time ago and it feels like I’ve been waiting forever for Brett’s new project! Can’t wait to read this one.
I also want to thank Titan Books for sending me a copy of The Lights of Prague by Nicole Jarvis, a gaslamp fantasy that has been described as science meets magic. I’m going to be taking part in a blog tour with a review next month, so keep your eyes out for that. I have plans to start this one very soon.
And finally, thank you to the kind folks at Subterranean Press for sending me an ARC of City of Songs by Anthony Ryan. This is the third novella in The Seven Swords series, and I haven’t even started the first! I really want to read these books though, and they’re pretty short, so hopefully one of these days I can sit down and knock them all out at once.
Just one audiobook in the digital haul this week. I became intrigued by The Maidens by Alex Michaelides after seeing this mystery/thriller being talked about everywhere, so when the opportunity the review the ALC came about, I took it. With thanks to Macmillan Audio.
Reviews
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (4 of 5 stars)
The Helm of Midnight by Marina Lostetter (3 of 5 stars)
What I’ve Been Watching
Like so many others, I’ve been watching Shadow and Bone on Netflix. Progress had been slow because life has been pretty busy, but I finally finished this week. As someone who has read the trilogy as well as the Six of Crows duology, I really liked how they mashed the characters of the two series together, because without a doubt, I probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the show as much if they hadn’t. It might not be the best adaptation, not to mention the writing could have been better, but on the whole I thought they made solid, sensible changes while preserving the most important elements from the source material. Visually, it was also stunning and you could tell everyone put a lot of work and love into it. Fans of the books, especially if you love the Crows, will be quite pleased. If you’ve also seen it, let me know what you think!
What I’ve Been Playing
This past week I’ve also been taking a break from the PS5 to dive back into my Nintendo Switch, because of, ahem, New Pokémon Snap. Back in the day, the original game for the N64 was one of my favorites (DON’T JUDGE ME) which made this an automatic buy. Twenty-two years later, I’m still a total geek for taking cute pictures of Pokémon and bouncing up and down like a lunatic whenever I get a great shot. Now you can even edit your photos with stickers and special filters to show off to the world what a big Pokémon nerd you are…
What I’ve Been Reading
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 
I got the E-arc of Lights of Prague and am So excited for it! Hope you’ll enjoy it 😁
Im very happy to see we arent the only ones who didnt binge S&B in a single weekend 🙈 We are still only on episode 3 tho.
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I hope I’ll enjoy LoP as well! And yeah, I didn’t binge S&B and honestly it didn’t seem like the kind of series to binge, I liked taking my time with it 🙂
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I’m about halfway through LoP now, and am having a great time with it 😁 We rarely binge series in general, just watching episodes of things during dinner. Unless its a murder mystery that takes the whole season to solve 😋
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Not sure how I feel about the new Brett series. It completely rewrites the conclusion of the last one …which I didn’t really like the last two books of. So… I dunno.
I also have City of Lights and Paper & Blood! And I hope you like the Seven Swords novellas! I’ve really enjoyed the first two. I mean, I’ll take #3 if you don’t want it… 😉😁
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Also… Pokemon Snap? Don’t worry, I’m not judging you (I’m totally judging you) (judgy judgy judgy) 😂
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LOL you are totally judging me…it’s okay, it’s okay…I’m used to it 😛 *hugs my pokemon*
And I hear you with the Brett series. Honestly, I was soured on that series after book two when he focused half of it on the worst character. And then I think it was the end of book 3 where things literally went off a cliff? But I kept going back, because I’m just a glutton for punishment I guess. And okay fine, there was a part of me that couldn’t get enough of the “Days of Our Lives in the Hollow” vibe 😛
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I’m not judging you for pokemon. I think I’ve played Blue a dozen times. I just found Snap boring comparatively 😅
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I was looking forward to hearing comments on Shadow and Bone by book readers, so I’m glad to learn that it was a decent adaptation. Even though I’m not familiar with the original, I enjoyed the story about the Crows because it gave a more “grown up” flavor to what might have been a too-YA story – too-YA for my tastes, granted. And now I must dust off my copy of Six of Crows and finally start reading it! 😉
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The Crows’ story definitely felt more grown-up. Shadow and Bone was actually a “very YA” trilogy for me, full of all the teen angsty emo BS. I don’t think I would have enjoyed an adaptation that was completely faithful 😛 The Six of Crows part of it definitely helped offset the YA-ness.
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And I have Darkling crush, they rest can burn mowuahahahahahah
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Haha, you’re one of those in the Darkling camp? Nooooo 😛
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Give me some Darkling any day. I blame Ben Barnes
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All of the arcs seem interesting. Should be some good reading coming up for you!
I’m only a few episodes into Shadow & Bone with my husband, who has not read the books, I think they do not do a great job of explaining the world building to anyone who hasn’t read the books. I keep having to tell him how things work in this world and I think that really takes away from it. I agree with you though, if they hadn’t thrown Kaz & crew in there, I may have given up on it already. I do not like the casting for the Darkling at all. Everyone else is pretty fitting though.
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My husband has not read the S&B/Grishaverse books either and I think he was pretty confused as well. I barely remember the books because it’s been a while since I read them, and I also had trouble following until more started coming back to me. They did have some issues with the writing and combining the two series! I thought most of the casting was okay, but Kaz was perfect, lol 😀
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I’ve finished season 1 now and I really think Kaz held that show down!
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I hope you enjoy The Lights of Prague! It was a great vampire novel and the setting was diviiiine. I have seriously gotten behind on my reading thanks to Pokémon Snap – it’s so much fun and so cute 😍
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I’m so glad to hear LoP was good! Can’t wait to check it out. And yay, preach it, my fellow Pokemon Snap geek 😀
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Ohh nice! I still need to finish the Iron Druid series! I fell behind when it switched to hardcover. I want to check out this series of his too, but I try to make myself finish the series I have from an author before starting a new one…usually. Lol.
Hope you enjoy all the 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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I kinda gave up on the Iron Druid series, the main character started getting on my nerves 😛 But so far I’m loving Al, the protagonist of this new spin off! I hope that will remain the case!
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I had to turn down The Lights of Prague which killed me, but I just wouldn’t have been able to fit it in. I’m looking forward to your review!
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I know how that it! I had to turn down a couple other Titan Books tours, but this one I knew I had to read!
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I enjoyed the Shadow and Bone adaptation WAY more than I thought I would, largely owing to the way they worked in the Six of Crows characters. And really, the SoC stuff was the best part of the show and the reason I binged the whole thing in one weekend (which I NEVER do). Happy reading!
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Yes, I was curious to see how they would adapt S&B because from my recollection I didn’t enjoy books 2 and 3 as much when the characters went downhill with their melodrama and hang ups. Them putting in the Crows was a very nice surprise and imo single-handedly made the series watchable, lol.
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I was excited to see Paper & Blood since I just finished Ink & Sigil a couple months ago and really enjoyed it. And I just started my first Anthony Ryan book, an eARC of The Pariah. So far so good.
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That’s awesome, I saw that you had won The Pariah in a giveaway on your other comment and I’m so excited to hear you’re enjoying it!
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Oh that’s nice! So many intriguing things to read!
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Indeed! Happy reading!
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Ooh, the second Kevin Hearne book, how exciting.And I’ll also be starting The Lights of Prague soon.
Lynn 😀
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Me too, re: Lights of Prague. can’t wait to pick your brain about it, when we’re both finished 😀 It does sound good!
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