Weekly Roundup

It’s been a solid week for reading, with three books finished, and one more started! I also posted two reviews and my Monthly Reading Retrospective. Read on to find out more!

This Week’s Reading:

On Saturday I finished Defekt by Nino Cipri, which I thought delivered far better as a novella than Finna, although I enjoyed both of them. It captures incredibly well what it’s like to work for a large retail corporation, and how they often try to get you to define your identity through them.

Then on Tuesday I finished Priest of Gallows by Peter McClean, which is the third and penultimate book in the War for the Rose Throne series. It’s as great as the first two, and clearly building up to an epic finale. I’m so interested to see what Thomas Piety is going to do next

After finishing Defekt I started Bear Head by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and finished it yesterday. A sequel to Dogs of War, it never really hit the highs of its predecessor for me. It’s still a good book, because it’s Adrian Tchaikovsky, but I didn’t love it like I loved Dogs of War.

Because I’m doing a bit of a thing where I have one sci-fi and one fantasy book on the go, the day after finishing Priest of Gallows I picked up Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. I’ve wanted to get to this book for a while

Not as much progress on the audiobook of Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots, but I’ve listened to a bit more.

My SPFBO reading has dropped off this week, but I’m planning to get stuck back into it next week.

This Week’s Posts:

Monday: Monthly Reading Retrospective (May) – I had a mixed performance on my goals last month, with an arc backlog making it trickier to fit in all the books I wanted to. Read the post for more details!

Tuesday: Book Review: The Broken God – Perhaps a step down for me from the last two, but still a great read, The Broken God will not be the last in the Black Iron Legacy series, and definitely not the last one I read.

Thursday: Book Review: The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman – A incredibly strong fantasy debut from a writer known for his horror books.

Next Week’s Posts:

Will I finally get out my review of The Expert System’s Brother and How to be Dead? I think so, as I only have one more finished ARC left to review, so nothing else will take precedence. I’ll also hopefully be putting up my Priest of Gallows review.

Next Week’s TBR Shortlist (Not including SPFBO books):

I’m now onto a six week streak for picking top row TBR books, with a double pickup from last week’s top row of Bear Head and Tigana.

Here’s a link to my last Weekly Roundup, if you wish to compare the two. The book in the middle top is She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker-Chan, and the book in the top right is The Splinter King by Mike Brooks (I’m excited about this one, since I really liked the first book The Black Coast). It’s an incredibly similar list to last week, with just The Name of All Things being pushed back (again – I’ll get to this book eventually!) and First Sister and the two arcs getting priority at the top.

I have a lot I want to get to this month, in terms of arcs & SPFBO books, so for the first time I have actually made myself a reading order, which will follow my TBR shortlist and intersperse SPFBO books. First Sister is right at the top because of a readalong on r/fantasy this month, and both arcs have July dates, so ideally I’ll read them both this month in enough time to get a review out before the release date this time!

As usual, let me know if there’s anything there you’d recommend!