Weekly Roundup

This week I’ve finished two books, started another, written one review, and read one story from The Big Book of Modern Fantasy. Read on to find out more!

This Week’s Posts:

Thursday: Book Review: Dragonfly Falling

This Week’s Reading:

This week I finished reading Blood of the Mantis by Adrian Tchaikovsky, the third book in the Shadows of the Apt series. I didn’t enjoy this one nearly as much as Dragonfly Falling. The good news is, I’ve started on Salute the Dark, the next book in the series, and it’s right back to form. I’ve also dipped back into Spoils of War, the first short story collection in the same world.

As well as this, I also finished The Outside by Ada Hoffman. It was a little rough going in the middle, but it had a great final act.

And I’ve started reading Curse of the Mistwraith by Janny Wurts, for an r/fantasy read-along, and I’m very much wondering if I will ever get into it properly. Either way, it’ll be a unique experience.

And finally I’ve started tentatively getting back into my SPFBO reading, which I need to start tackling properly to get myself back on track.

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.

The Monster by Satu Waltari: I never quite got a handle on the prose in this curious story about a young girl who secretly travels at night and befriends a strange monster. The dialogue had some fun twists, but otherwise the story left me a little cold. 2.5/5

Movie/TV Thoughts:

Ron’s Gone Wrong (cinema): I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would. My son absolutely loved it. A boy finally gets his robot buddy, but it’s highly defective – and he learns to love it anyway. A surprisingly biting look at social media which is genuinely quite funny, the movie suffers a little from having a few too many acts, clocking in a little long for a children’s movie at an hour and forty five odd minutes. You’re not getting Pixar level characterisation or storytelling, but there’s a decent heart to the movie, and it’s a fun one to watch with the kids.

Next Week’s Posts:

Next week I’ll either get a review of Blood of the Mantis or The Outside written, possibly some extra content to come soon also.

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

Nothing picked up from my shortlist again! Still mostly getting through my backlog of partially read books

Here’s a link to my last Weekly Roundup, if you wish to compare the two (although you’ll quickly find they are the same!). The book in the bottom row 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!