Stacking the Shelves

Posted August 20, 2016 by Nicky in General / 22 Comments

Happy birthday to meeee! If you wish to join in the festivities, it seems that we’re planning to celebrate by eating cake for every meal. (Sometimes stretching the definition to pastry.) My wife is even going to make Welsh cakes for me, for the first time in a while.

Also, we have a new bunny. Her name is Cinnamon, and she fits in my hand. I hope so much she’s going to settle in and stay with us for a good long time. <3

Photo of a tiny bunny hiding in a big basket

Received to review:

Cover of Once Broken Faith by Seanan McGuire Cover of The Family Plot by Cherie Priest Cover of Den of Wolves by Juliet Marillier

Eeeh! All of these are awesome, and I’m very excited.

Bought:

Cover of Ghost Talkers by Mary Robinette Kowal Cover of Persona by Genevieve Valentine Cover of City of Wolves by WIllow Palacek Cover of The Emperor's Railroad by Guy Haley

Fiiiinally, Ghost Talkers is out. <3 I need to get reading it nooow. Mind you, I say that, but there’s so much else I want to read now, too…

Finished this week:

Cover of Cold-Forged Flame by Marie Brennan Cover of The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe by Kij Johnson Cover of Chalice by Robin McKinley Cover of Stories of Your Life and Others by Ted Chiang Cover of The Door into Sunset by Diane Duane

Reviews posted this week:

The Dream-Quest of Vellitt Boe, by Kij Johnson. A satisfying story set in Lovecraft’s world, with a capable female character. It actually really charmed me. 4/5 stars
One Imbolc Gloaming, by Elora Bishop. Cute, but the plot doesn’t go where I hoped it would, which is kind of sad. 3/5 stars
Cold-Forged Flame, by Marie Brennan. I think this might be my favourite of the Tor.com novellas so far. It’s definitely up there. I find the setting fascinating, and Marie Brennan writes as well as ever. 4/5 stars
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl: Squirrel Power, by Ryan North and Erica Henderson. Fun, though not 100% my thing. You’ve got to love that Doreen solves several big issues with supervillains by talking to them. 4/5 stars
Runtime, by S.B. Divya. A lot of interesting stuff here, though the core of the setting reminds me heavily of other dystopian stories. 3/5 stars
Dancing With Bears, by Michael Swanwick. Not my thing at all, despite the heist part. That and the setting are about all that were my thing. So much sex stuff. 1/5 stars
Flashback Friday: Beowulf on the Beach, by Jack Murnighan. I don’t always agree with the author on what you should try and what you should skip in the Greatest Hits of Dead White Authors, but it was kind of entertaining anyway. 2/5 stars

Other posts:
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books in Post-Disaster Settings. What it says on the tin!

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22 responses to “Stacking the Shelves

  1. YAY, happy happy birthday to you!

    I really should pick up more of Seanan McGuire’s novels… I read Every Heart a Doorway several months ago and absolutely fell in looooooove, so I’m sure I’d enjoy her other stuff too, but…time?! Who has enough of it to do everything they want to?

    I hope you enjoy your day, and your recent acquisitions! Here’s my Stacking the Shelves, if you’re interested in checking it out–but no worries if you’re not! Happy book-ing to you in the near future.

    • Thank you! I loved Every Heart A Doorway too, and I like her differently-focused novels as Mira Grant, so I know I haaaave to catch up with the Toby Daye series too. So far I’ve only read the first one!

  2. Mianaai

    Happy birthday!! I am so, so, so, jealous of your copy of Once Broken Faith. I have 4 copies preordered right now (digital and dead tree for myself, two as gifts) and I CANNOT WAIT.

      • Mianaai

        Hey, it happens – and it’s a long series at this point! Luckily, each of the books is pretty short and action-packed, so I can generally do a reread at about 1 book/day. It’s really great to watch Seanan’s writing skills grow and develop throughout the series, in addition to the internal character development. Prepare for an immediate reread once you catch up, though, there’s a LOT of foreshadowing/details that are very, very, very well-hidden until you know what to look for. I’ve reread ~5 times and I STILL find new stuff!

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