I fell in love with Freya Marske's blend of magic, romance, and steam, but I am very happy to see that she has more tricks up her sleeve. This book of hers may offer a romance or two, but they stay mostly in the background, leaving space for themes such as class, duty, and the grueling job that is healing people.

I fell in love with Katherine Arden's writing when I read The Bear and the Nightingale (and then the other two novels in the trilogy) and, quite without making an effort, have read everthing she has published since. Including her Middle Grade horror novels (they are great) and a picture book. Arden has returned to historical fantasy with this book, and added unicorns.

It started as hype, but cozy fantasy is here to stay, in a more subdued, comfortable way. Which is perfectly fitting if you ask me. While Travis Baldree may not have singlehandedly invented the subgenre, his novel definitely is the one that made it widely known and beloved, for me as well as many other readers. Now what could be better than having this "high fantasy, low stakes" adapted into a graphic novel?

Time to celebrate! Not only did my character Sistani (powered by my stellar time management and reading prowess) manage to finish another semester at Orilium Academy, but she also achieved her Higher Calling of MYTHOLGIST. I lagged behind during the first week, which was only natural, seeing as a lot of real life things were happening, but thanks to a couple of Scrolls as well as some really good, exciting, well-written chonkers, I caught up during week two.

I have been busy readathon-ing in September and doing real life stuff, so I don't have too much to report. Quickie News We are jumping headfirst into fall with Spooktastic Reads, a Wyrd & Wonder spinoff, if you will, a mini reading event running from October 19th through to Halloween. It's all about spooky reads and yes, there are…

Ah, time travel. And aaaah, Terry Pratchett. It was only a matter of, well, time, until the two combined and created something wonderful. In this case, Pratchett sends Commander Vimes of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch into the past to relive a time in history that has both personal and national importance. NIGHT WATCHby Terry Pratchett Published: Corgi, 2002…

I have loved Joan He's writing since her debut novel, Descendant of the Crane. She made YA exciting again, threw the plot twists at you faster than you could read, and jumped genre as if it was nothing. With this duology, my love for the author is waning a bit. I liked the first book very much, but this one started out only good, then got really boring after a while, and it never managed to hook me emotionally at all.

Week three is over and I am almost at my goal already. If I finish my current reads plus the graphic novel I have checked out from the library, that's it. Readathon done. STATS That's more like it. A couple of chonkers and, suddenly, the challenging part of the readathon is not so challenging anymore. Books read: 8 Pages read:

There comes a time in a reader's life when the cozy fantasies, the funny romances, and the whimsical fairytales need to take a step back and make space for some blood and gore. And who's more certain to deliver a great grimdark story than Joe Abercrombie? Partly due to my promise to catch up on some larger series, read a chonker once in a while, and catch up on authors I like but don't read enough of, and partly because I was just in the mood, I finally continued exploring the world of the First Law.

I don't remember the last time a book series was this consistently excellent, but I am beyond happy that what I thought was going to be a trilogy is now a full-fledged series. The Tainted Cup was absolutely brilliant, then A Drop of Corruption was even better. How could Robert Jackson Bennett possibly keep up the same level of quality, I wondered.

What? Another week over already? STATS Well, it's not looking too great right now, but I am almost done with two huge chunky books that will push the page count into an acceptable range. Here's my current status, not counting unfinished books: Books read: 5 Pages read: 1671 With the two scrolls I bought, I can count A Trade of Blood…

Swordheart is one of my favorite T. Kingfisher books, because it does the whole fantasy romance thing so well but keeps Kingfisher's trademark humor going throughout the book. Imagine my delight at finding out that not only is she writing the rest of the trilogy, but that the second book would feature Learned Edmund as a protagonist who gets saddle with the magical sword.

I came to the Bluebeard fairy tale relatively late in life. Having grown up with all the classic Grimms' tales, there's only so many retellings that can still manage to feel new or like the put a fresh spin on them. But I like Bluebeard, this grim and dark tale of a murderous husband has great potential for retellings, twists, and new spins.

The first week is almost over, but since I chose Sundays for my weekly check-ins, we're doing this one only six days ito the readathon. There's not a lot to report yet, as I have started a lot of books but not finished any. I have, however, come to certain decisions about which Scrolls to buy in the Guild Emporium and how to interpret the rules.

Welcome to another year of Hugo Award winners. I said I might set my alarm clock and watch the ceremony live on YouTube, but seeing as I got married on Saturday (hooray!) and had slept about 5 hours in two nights, that was... optimistic. My actual reaction to remembering what I had promised was more like HAHAHAHAHAHHAHA. I did manage to tune into the awards ceremony during the Best Editor Long Form announcement, so I managed to watch a fair bit live.

I may not feel any pressure to "read the classics of SF", but I do always find it fascinating to take a look back at what was popular at a particular time. While by no means a perfect measure of said popularity, my go-to for this is the Hugo Awards (also I just love them, okay). I have read almost half of all the Hugo Award winners and, so far, my takeaway is that they span a vast range, both in terms of quality and how well they've aged.

I am preparing this post in August, but guys, guys, by the time it goes up, I will be married! AAAAAAH! 😀This is also the reason I probably missed some news and or adaptation announcement, because let me tell you... one of the things I look forward to the most is never having to plan another wedding ever again. …

Like I'll ever miss a semster at Orilium School with my fellow book nerds, ha! This autum semester comes with new prompts and my biggest challenge yet. Here's G's announcement video (part 1). HERE'S THE LINK TO THE G DRIVE WITH ALL THE INFO AND GRAPHICS AND FAQs This semester's special extra is particularly dear to my heart, because I've been doing crosswords and puzzles of all kinds since I was a kid, and I have very fond memory of stealing my grandpa's crossword books and battling my father in Scrabble and other puzzle games.

As a lifelong reader, one acquires a long list of authors to trust, and if we're all lucky enough for said authors to publish books regularly, that means a neverending stream of quality fiction. But even with a lot of auto-buy authors, favorites, and trusted writers, it pays off to look out for debuts. Who knows, a new favorite might just be lurking around the next novel.

It's official, this is my favorite of the Amazon Original Stories anthologies yet. And it has the best covers thus far as well. MAGIC & MYTERYby Travis Baldree, Sarah Beth Durst, Robert Jackson Bennett, Heather Fawcett, Scott Lynch, Tananarive Due, J. M. Miro Published: Amazon Original Stories, 2026Ebook: 236 pagesAudiobook: 7 hours, 40 minutesNarrated by:

Here's another Top Ten Tuesday theme that hits me where it hurts. Although I have become much better at continuing and even finishing the series I start, SFF as a genre tends to make it hard to stay on top of everything. The traditional trilogies have made room for duologies, but there are also those long-running series that can range from anywhere between four and...

I may be a Witches girl all the way through, but reading a Discworld novel is always a treat, with Sam Vimes and the City Watch becoming more and more my thing. When I say this wasn't the greatest example of Discworld Pratchett has given us, that isn't saying very much. Compared to other books, this was great. Compared to other Discworld books, it fared well enough, but will probably not end up in my top ten.

People who read as much as we do in this particular bubble of the internet will know just how rare it is to find a book that manages to truly grab you, bring you joy with every single page, and then leave you wrung out, emotionally wrecked but also highly satisfied. This book here turned me into a mess, in the best of ways.

I keep calling Best Novel "the big one" but, really, that title should go to this category. Even if it were comprised only of trilogies and duologies, it's usually the heftiest one in terms of page count. With certain repeat finalists, some of these series have been going on for decades and are scratching the 20-volume-mark. So yeah, I think I'm going to start calling Best Series "the big one".

Guys, how is it August already? I know this post is a bit late, but we had to flee the ridiculous temperatures in Vienna and run off to the countryside. Dipping into lakes and spending the afternoons at water playgrounds was the only way to survive without going crazy. With the worst of it behind us, I bring you this month's State of SFF.

I updated my Challenges page a few days ago and felt to need to check in on myself, to see whether I was still on track to reach my reading goals, whether some challenges I set myself were maybe a bit too ambitious or just don't fit into my daily life. You get the idea. As someone who gets a kick out of checking things off a list, reading challenges are near and dear to my heart, but I also want to get something useful out of them.

I don't like it when books make me think they're perfect for me only to change course and turn stupid later. I was so sure this debut novel would deliver what it promised, but it kept getting worse and worse, sinking from a solid 6.5 to 4.5 rating. THISTLEMARSHby Moorea Corrigan Published by: Del Rey, 2026Hardback: 424 pages…

Why do I feel so called out by this week's Top Ten Tuesday theme? Oh well, maybe because buying books IMMEDIATELY when they come out (or pre-ordering them) only for them to sit and languish on my shelves for years is less of a special occurence and more of a hobby at this point. So I'm making this list in part to kick myself in the butt and maybe, just maybe, pick up those books I just had to have.

When I fell in love with August Clarke's writing last year (reading their Scapegracers trilogy), I knew I needed to read everything else by this author. Many thanks to NetGalley and Erewhon Books for the eARC of their latest novel,which happens to come out tomorrow. THE FELICITY COMPLEXby August Clarke Published: Erewhon, 28th July 2026Ebook: 320 pages…

I was drawn to this book for of several reasons. It's a debut, its premise sounded wild and fun and the best sort of complicated, and early reviews were very divided. I saw lots of people DNFing the book after reading barely a quarter, and most seemed to have issues with the writing style. After reading a sample chapter, I decided this might just be the kind of book for me.

Look at me, actually reading what I said I would. Cadwell Turnbull is a new-to-me author, and damn, why did I wait so long to discover him? This book had elements we've seen done before, but never quite in this way, which turned it into a novel unlike anything I had read before. I am so hyped to have found a new author that has the potential to become a favorite.

The most anticipated books for your summer, fall, and holiday TBR stacks

Yes, Hugo Award reading is fun, but sometimes a girl has to treat herself with a long audiobook about a man and his talking cat trying to survive a dungeon filled with monsters. THIS INEVITABLE RUINby Matt Dinniman Published: Dandy House, 2026Ebook: 784 pagesAudiobook: 20 hours, 27 minutesNarrated by: Jeff HaysSeries: Dungeon Crawler Carl #8…

Here's another series I finished reading for the Hugo Awards this year. With four (and a half) entries, it's on the shorter end, but fortunately/unfortunately, every instalment was really good. That's nice for me because I had fun reading them, but also makes ranking the finalists even harder. This volume gave me bittersweet feelings because it ended on a perfect note, but it also means Thara Celehar's story is over now.

Awards season is upon us, I'm very deep into Hugo Award reading, and much is happening in the SFF world. So lots of news this month, including some sad ones.My personal life is super busy right now. With a toddler, things never really slow down, but planning a wedding on top of everything else is really something. And let's not forget the heatwave.

It's been ages since I participated in a Top Ten Tuesday tag, but it's the halfway point of the year, so it feels natural to look back at the first half and look forward to the second half of 2026. This week's topic is most anticipated release for the second half of 2026 and I am beyond excited for these. So brace yourselves, hold on to your wallets (or don't, I'm not your mom) and mark your calenders.

It's that time again. The middle of the year is here, so naturally, us book lovers and avid readers, ebook fiends and audiobook nuts, come together to reflect upon the previous six months, look ahead at the next six months and... collectively freak out! Overall, I've had a very good 2026 so far. I discovered some new favorites, reviewed my ARCs in a timely manner, am keeping up (somewhat) with new publications and, of this I am quite proud, my Hugo Award reading is going extremely well this year.

Look, I never truly enjoy writing this type of review, but when you commit to putting your honest opinion to paper (or pixel) then you better be prepared to deliver. And I swear I expected to love this book. It comes recommended by pretty much everyone and it's compared to other books I've enjoyed. I hope you'll forgive me the comp to…

It's a good sign when reading a book in a series makes me want to pick up the next book in that series right away, without any kind of palate cleanser in between volumes. I just did that with John Scalzi's Old Man's War series and I'm doing the same with Katherine Addison's Chronicles of Osreth. The Best Series Hugo Award is going to be really, really hard to rank this year.

I have reached the end of my accidental read-through of the Old Man's War series and I am a bit deflated. Part of my brain says I want more of the same, the more sensible part says this is the sweet spot to stop before I get Scalzi-fatigue. As you can imagine, the more emotional part is prevailing right now. Which is to say, hello, I am now a fan and would eventually like more books like this please.

I am making my way through the Best Series category of this year's Hugo Awards, hurray! At this point, I've dipped my toes into some series, read an entire one in one go (Scalzi's Old Man's War), and I felt like going back to the world of The Goblin Emperor. Long names, intricate goblin and elven social rules, and slow-burn plots included.

Let's look at the Big One, the award we've been waiting for. Best Novel, ladies and gentlemen. I was quite taken with this year's line-up, even though two big novels of 2025 that I expected to be here didn't make it (Katabasis and The Devils, When the Moon Hits Your Eye), but with or without them, 2025 was a kick-ass year for SFF.

I finally read my first book by Claire North. This may not sound super interesting, but they are one of those authors whose books always sound intriguing which makes me buy all of them. It's one of those reader mysteries why some authors remain on the shelf for so many years until I finally actually pick up one of their books to read.Sorry, Claire North, that it took me so long, but at least I have almost your entire backlist on my e-reader already.