Monthly Musings – October 2014

This is a where I look back at what I read (or tried to read) during the past month. I also plan on highlighting my experiences in any book club reads I from the month as well. I will always start with any books I would label as a surprise find/under-read books so if anyone missed my reviews for them, and don’t make it to the end of this post, they’ll be easy to find.

How is October finished already?? But it is, and reading wise, I read some amazing books this month. I decided to put both review books and book club books to the side for a bit, and just pick what I wanted to read. I still love the books I get for review, and am quite excited to get back to them. But this month, was a nice treat to focus on a books that I have been wanting to read for quite some time.

Surprise Find/Underrated/Underread Book

The Broken Road by Teresa Frohock

I love horror, I love fantasy and I always love when the two combine for a dark fantasy story. This novella delivered a very entertaining, enjoyable story that left me wanting more. Always a great sign. Frohock’s writing is dark, imaginative and full of magic and I look forward to reading on when the next one comes out and hopefully going back and reading some of her previously published books as well.

Highest Rated Science Fiction Book

Ancillary Sword by Anne Leckie is the continued pay off for time invested in Ancillary Justice. It is a highly intelligent, fast paced and intriguing story that I just could not put down. For anyone that is on the fence if they want to continue the series, I absolutely urge you to read on. I think for some, learning the world and technology made Ancillary Justice a harder read. But those were all carried over, so this book allowed for a quicker reading experience, where the reader could focus on plot and characters much more without compromising the complexity of the world that was built in the first book.

Highest Rated Fantasy Book/Series

Liveship Traders by Robin Hobb – I’m so happy I read this. After reading all of her books featuring Fitz, I was a bit concerned if I could enjoy her other books as much. But I do love this, and for different reasons. It’s full of diverse, strong women characters, adventure, pirates, dragons, politics. Really, just loved it. The world, characters, pace and story telling are all very well done. Now, I have to make time to read the Rainwild Chronicles!!

Review Summary

• [5 Oct] The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North DNF
• [6 Oct] Ancillary Sword by Ann Leckie ★★★★★
• [8 Oct] The Broken Road by Teresa Frohock ★★★★
• [20 Oct] Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb ★★★★★
• [24 Oct] Fortunately, the Milk . . . by Neil Gaiman ★★★★★
• [27 Oct] Mad Ship by Robin Hobb ★★★★★
• [30 Oct] The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss ★★★★

Tough Traveling with the Tough Guide Tour

• [2 Oct] Tough Traveling – Curses
• [23 Oct] Tough Traveling – Elves
• [30 Oct] Tough Traveling – Monsters

Backlist Burndown

My first month to make an effort with this, and I did quite well! I read the Liveship Traders trilogy straight through and really enjoyed it. It’s been quite a while since I took the time to read a series like that and realized I missed it.  I still need to write my review for Ship of Destiny, that should show up next week. So, quite happy with this new feature and am thrilled to finally have read Liveship Traders because of it.

Looking Forward

I got a great start on Backlist Burndown, but only had one Flashback Friday review. Since most books I will need to revisit on some level to do a review, I may aim to do just a couple of these a month.

Here’s the books I have on tap to read. I got completely distracted with Liveship Traders this month, so I pretty much made no progress with review books. But, that’s OK. I also requested nothing this month, at least not until the very last day when I had a couple of irresistible books show up form Orbit. But since I did finish two review books early in the month, the number of books I have  to review has held steady. My goal was to do one backlist book a month, but since I did three this month, I may skip a month or two. Maybe my goal should be year based. 12 backlist books a year 🙂 I can aim for that. Here’s the books that are towards the top of my TBR at the moment:

The Heart Does Not Grow Back by Fred Venturini – This sounds like a wonderful change of pace type of book. (And I am currently half way through and loving it)

City Stained Red by Sam Sykes – Many thanks to Orbit for the review copy of this! I have wanted to read something by Sykes and this looks to be a perfect opportunity

The Inheritance Trilogy by N.K. Jesmin – This series has been on my TBR list, and with the omnibus coming I was thrilled to get a copy from Orbit.

California Bones by Greg Van Eeckhout – Quite excited to have won a copy of this from Tammy at Books, Bones and Buffy. Looking forward to it

Gleam by Tom Fletcher – The setting/world for this have me quite intrigued. Really looking forward to reading it!

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett – I’ve been wanting to read a book by Bennett for awhile. Everything I have heard about his books and recommendations that have been made to me really lead me to believe I will love his stories. So, I am quite excited to finally have one in my hands.