Well, despite my best intentions, I have already let the year get away from me! I meant to do regular reading updates here on the blog – at least monthly – but I’ve lapsed terribly. Most of that is due to reading slumps, but I also struggle sometimes with feeling obligated to stick to my reading plans when I just want to mood read. So, I’ve decided to change my reading update format a bit.
First, I plan to list the books I’m focusing on reading right now. Yes, that was a plural “books.” I hardly ever read one thing at a time. I usually have something going in physical format, an e-book on my Kindle app on my phone, and sometimes another book on my actual Kindle! So, this part of the update will be a place to spotlight these books and how I feel about them so far.
Then the other part of reading updates will be a list of what I plan to read next. Luckily, StoryGraph has an “Up Next” feature that is perfect for this. I have to limit myself and quit creating these crazy TBR lists that are borderline unachievable. I still create monthly lists, but I pick my next reads from those and add them to my Up Next on StoryGraph. This helps keep me focused on the books I really want to get to, and it has the added bonus of making these reading update posts a reasonable length.
Currently Reading:
A Letter to the Luminous Deep by Sylvie Cathrall
In all honesty, by the time this post is live, I may have finished this book. At the time of writing, I am 60% into the book, and it is flying by. This is an epistolary novel which is one of my favorite types of novels, so I already knew I’d like it. At its heart, it is a love story between two introverts who manage to find commonality through letters in a world where most people live on permanently anchored ships and the only piece of dry land is an Atoll.
E., who lives in the famous Deep House at the bottom of the ocean, reaches out to Henerey for the first time due to his work as a scholar and her need to figure out what that strange fish swimming outside her window could be. There’s a bit more to the story than that, but this gives you an idea of the central thread running through it. I am loving it so far, and I can’t wait to finish it!
Infinity Gate by M.R. Carey
I just started this book the other day, and I’m already nearly 100 pages into it. Infinity Gate is the first book in a planned series by M.R. Carey, and it explores the existence of the multiverse. Within the multiverse is a political entity called the Pandominion that rules over certain parallel worlds. The story is narrated by an artificial intelligence, and it explores something known as the Pandominion War.
So far, I’m still in the set-up stage of the book, but it feels like events are about to escalate. I am really enjoying the writing, even though some people might have trouble with portions of the book that focus on scientific principles and explanations. I like that the story begins on our version of Earth, and there’s definitely already some climate change commentary going on there. If all goes well, I’ll probably finish this book over the weekend.
Up Next:
Ghost Station by S.A. Barnes
I’ve been trying to read more horror and more science fiction, so this book is perfect for that! Ghost Station takes place on an abandoned colony planet where a crew has been tasked with finding out why it was abandoned and re-establishing the colony. Unfortunately, a brutal murder reveals much more is going on here than is first apparent, and Dr. Ophelia Bray, the team’s psychologist, is tasked with figuring out who the killer is before any more murders can take place.
If I commit to participating in Summerween this year, I am definitely getting this book on my list!
Catchpenny by Charlie Huston
Sidney “Sid” Catchpenny is a thief with a unique gift. He can travel through mirrors, and he’s used this uncanny ability to steal and traffic in magical objects. Naturally, such a career can lead to a person owing certain other unsavory individuals debts. So, when Sid is given the opportunity to pay off those debts, he jumps on it. Unfortunately, as is often the case with these sorts of deals, Sid finds himself in a much more complicated situation than he anticipated. Now, he has a mystery to solve, and once it’s unraveled, Sid’s world may never be the same.
The first thing that drew me to this book was the cover. I don’t know what it is about that yellow and the eerie image of the girl on the front, but I was intrigued enough to read the synopsis. That’s what really hooked me, and I added it to my TBR.
Echo of Worlds by M.R. Carey
I am not looking at the synopsis for this book until I finish the first one, so I will leave it to you to click the link to the book’s StoryGraph page to read the summary for yourself. Just know I have read enough of the first book that adding the second book to my “Up Next” was a no-brainer.
Foul Days by Genoveva Dimova
Kosara is a witch of Chernograd who spends her days fighting monsters. Unfortunately, one of those monsters, Zmey the Tsar of Monsters, is also her ex. He’s finally tracked her down, and the only way to escape is to sell her shadow, the source of her magic, for passage to Belograd. Kosara has since fallen ill to a wasting sickness that only reclaiming her magic can heal. There’s just one problem. Zmey has her magic, and he’s using it to infiltrate Belograd in his hunt for her.
I am usually pretty picky about books that mix fantasy and romance, but this one sounds like the stakes may be high enough to overcome my usual qualms about the emerging romantasy genre. The good news is, if I like it, there’s a sequel coming out later this year!
The Fractured Dark by Megan E. O’Keefe
I’m not going to lie, I’ve had this book for a while. I read the first one, The Blighted Stars (read my review here), last year. I’ve been waiting for the entire trilogy to be available so I could finish the last two one after the other. That time has finally come!
The StoryGraph summary didn’t have any spoilers, so her it is:
Naira and Tarquin have escaped vicious counter-revolutionaries, misprinted monsters, and the pull of a dying planet. Now, bound together to find the truth behind the blight that has been killing habitable planets, they need to hunt out the Mercator family secrets. But, when the head of Mercator disappears, taking the universe’s remaining supply of starship fuel with him, chaos breaks loose between the ruling families. Naira’s revolution must be put aside for the sake of humanity’s immediate survival.
Well, that’s my reading update! I know it’s at the end of June, but I wanted to at least get one out there. I’ll likely have another update by mid-July, and after that, I plan to do an update at the beginning of each month. I may also add a section for what I finished reading since the last update. That might be better as a separate wrap-up post, though, so we will see.
Have you read any of these books? Do you see anything you might like? Let me know in the comments below!
Tea Rex Reads 