The sun is out (somewhere), the schools are winding down, and the prospect of holiday is on the horizon. So what better time to look at the books I’ve loved so far this year, and also to ponder the strange weight and joy of reading books for blurbs.
Writing update:
I wrote back near the start of the year about being in an epic reading slump, struggling to fall in love with books, struggling even to persevere with books I knew I’d normally enjoy just fine. Fortunately, this tragedy was brought to an end with the aid of birthday book tokens, which permitted me to buy some new releases by some of my absolute FAV authors.
Now, reviewing as an author is a tricksy thing I rarely venture into because I think there’s a certain inescapable tension between being a positive, supportive part of the author community, and honestly reviewing books in depth. BUT I do love doing a wee book buying post around Christmas time, and I have read a few stunning books recently so I figured eh, why not?
So in no sensible order at all, who has wooed me out of my reading slump?
Natasha Pulley - The Mars House.
A new direction for Pulley but with all her trademark subtle power, whimsical details and thoroughly original story. I love this woman’s brain and will forever read anything she writes. Societal divides on a future Mars colony, politics, romance, and talking mammoths. What’s not to love?
Stuart Turton - The Last Murder At The End Of The World.
While I love Pulley’s brain, I’m kinda terrified of Turton’s. Not because he should be locked up*, but because I just don’t know how he builds such intricately twisty, original plots without breaking some fundamental neurological laws. I do love the unravelling of a utopia (does this say bad things about me?) and this book might even edge itself into Fav Turton place over his last two.
*I mean, I don’t know. He does plot a very good murder…
Bridget Collins - The Silence Factory.
I am still recovering from the heartbreak in The Binding if I’m honest, so I was braced for THE FEELS and this book didn’t dissapoint. I love Collin’s ability to build tension so subtly, to sneak menace in while you aren’t looking. If you love historical anything, with a touch of the dark and the fantastical, then you’ll love this.
A.G. Slatter - The Briar Book Of The Dead.
I have adored every single Slatter book and love how she creates such unique stories set in the same world. This is a gut punch of a tale about sisterhood, power and protecting yourself, and I just … I want more. I want all the Slatter stories now please. Dark and moving and magical in all the best, most twisty ways. Read it.
Stephanie Feldman - Saturnalia.
This is a short book but an absolute fever dream, dark splendour of a thing. A carnivale in a future Philadelphia, secret societies, magic, revenge and a masquerade - it will consume you.
Jelena Dunato - Dark Woods Deep Water.
Croatian folkloric tale of a monstrous castle and three people tangled in its web. This was original, fierce, dark and beautifully (sometimes bloodily) surprising. I loved it & will be reading whatever Dunato writes next.
Katherine Arden - The Warm Hands Of Ghosts.
Omg guys. OMG this book slightly broke me. A WWI book like no other, following a sister trying to solve her brother’s disappearance, a trickster [spoiler] figure and a whole exquisite tangle of grief, trauma, love, and the brutal path to knowing yourself. Read it. Cry.
Emily Tesh - Some Desperate Glory.
Out last year I think, so not a new release but new to me. This was a stunning, stunning exploration of totalitarian indoctrination and the slow unravelling of self-deception and a society built on lies. Space opera made seriously powerful and achingly relevant.
Hester Fox - The Last Heir To Blackwood Library.
I love this author. There’s something about how she bring historical romance and fantasy together with a healthy dash of family trauma, darkness and beauty that just works for me every time. This was a captivating take on the ‘someone inherits strange house, discovers dark past’ story, full of unreliable memories, hunger and loneliness, and a perfectly ruthless vengeance.
Okay that’ll do for that. Now to talk about all the books I can’t talk about!
As you probably know, authors get asked to read upcoming releases to provide blurbs, or endorsements - those catchy quotes you see on the covers. It’s a strange step in the publishing process that I’ve talked about a bit before, and the more well known you are as an author, the more you get asked to blurb. I am not at the inundation levels of most authors, thankfully, but I get enough to keep me busy. It’s something that will always feel like a privilege - you want to send me this book that I’ll probably love for free, before it’s published, and all I have to do is say something nice about it?
What comes as a bit of a surprise to most authors is that it also feels like homework! We all love reading, and most of us read a lot, so it’s weird that reading for blurbs should feel different but it really does. Whether it’s the deadline or simply the weight of expectation, going into a book you’re reading to blurb feels just that little bit like work.
I say this guiltily as I have asked several friends to blurb Ghosts for me and they all kindly said yes even though they’re all swamped and tired and really don’t need any more homework. I also say it guility staring at the ARCs sitting on my shelf & kindle waiting for me to read them - I will read you, you beauties, I’m just *waves hands at everything* waiting for my brain to have room to breathe.
(No, I know, but if a brain could breathe, then mine doesn’t currently have room to do so)
So anyway, as a quick, delicious taster, here are two of the books I am gonna be devouring just as soon as the neurones allow:
Annabel Campbell - The Outcast Mage.
I’ve already read this in an earlier draft but want to read it again a) to refresh the memory, and b) because it’s fucking awesome. A city of glass in a desert, a girl with no powers and a man with more powers than people-skills. I love them both. It’s coming from Orbit in Jan 2025 and you will need it.
Ian Green - Extremophile.
Bio-punk future London, a hunt for a flower and a bunch of eco-warriors. Sign. Me Up. Also the cover is ridiculously eye-catching. 10/10 no notes. Out with Head Of Zeus in August, keep your eyes peeled.
Let me know which books you’ve been loving recently - if I completely ignore my tbr kindle folder I can pretend I need to stock up for the holidays, right?
My list probably won’t help you much to find candidates for your summer TBR, but maybe that’s a good thing if you’re already swamped. The books I’ve loved most recently are: The Queen of the High Fields by Rhiannon Grist, which was fun and gripping; Yellowface by Rebecca Kuang, which I devoured (read this in italics); and The Last to Drown by you, which absolutely had me in its claws with its beautiful, beautiful writing, despite the plot being so sparse and slow, and I really don’t know how you did that!!