Weekly Roundup

This week I’ve started and finished two books, started one more and read one short story from The Big Book of Modern Fantasy. I only posted one review, with a slow month likely to come. Read on to find out more.

This Week’s Posts:

Thursday: Book Review: Far From the Light of Heaven

This Week’s Reading:

This week I threw everything else I was already reading to the side in an attempt to stave off a reading slump. First I read Masters of Strata by G.D. Penman, a litrpg sequel with some elements that make it feel different enough from the usual fare, seemingly drawing inspiration from the Dark Souls games.

After that I read Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian Tchaikovsky. I read it first about ten years ago, and while my impression of it has improved since then, it’s still just a solid epic fantasy with some fun worldbuilding elements. This time I hope to continue with the Shadows of the Apt series – and I’ve made a small start to Dragonfly Falling, the second book in the series.

I did manage to dip into The Assimilated Cuban’s Guide to Quantum Santeria by Carlos Hernández (and that is quite a title to repeatedly type out, so I hope I don’t spread out my reading of it too much!) The blurb describes the short stories as quirky, which is pretty apt. None of them have blown my mind yet, but they’ve all been enjoyable, with interesting premises.

The Slow Read Through The Big Book Of Modern Fantasy

In which I read and review at least one short story a week from The Big Book of Modern Fantasy, edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer.

Kaya-Kalp (Metamorphosis) by Intizar Husain: A story about a Prince getting turned into a fly every night to escape a giant. I like the philosophical direction this one took, and the prose was pretty good too! 4/5

Movie/TV Thoughts:

Nothing this week. Next week – Dune!

Next Week’s Posts:

Next week I’ll post my mini reviews for The Masters by Ricardo Pinto and Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire.

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

This week I picked up Empire in Black and Gold from the top row of my TBR shortlist.

Here’s a link to my last Weekly Roundup, if you wish to compare the two. The book in the top rowwith a blank cover is The Outside by Ada Hoffman, while the book on the third row down with a blank cover is an arc of The Bone Shard Emperor by Andrea Stewart.

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