Weekly Reading Update: 04/21/24

Time for another weekly check-in using WWW Wednesday, a meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words. Want to participate?  Simply answer the three questions below and tag the host site!  Book covers link to Goodreads.

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you’ll read next?

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Currently Reading: THE ELEMENT OF FIRE by Martha Wells, A FATE INKED IN BLOOD by Danielle Jensen, and OATHBRINGER by Brandon Sanderson
I’m working on finally catching up my February ARCs, starting with THE ELEMENT OF FIRE. This has been revised and republished in THE BOOK OF ILE-RIEN, an omnibus of two standalone novels set in the same world. I’m really enjoying this quite a bit; it follows the captain of the Queen’s Guard as he navigates escalating palace tensions, from a rogue sorcerer loose in the city to the sudden arrival of the king’s half-sister, who is also half-fay. It’s very entertaining, if a slower read (it is a BIG book with tiny print).

Because it is a slower read, and I decided to pick up something easier for when I was tired. Enter the fantasy romance A FATE INKED IN BLOOD! I’m actually really enjoying this one. It’s a Viking-inspired fantasy that follows a woman with a rare magical gift that is linked to a prophecy: whoever controls her fate will unite all the clans. After she’s bound to a jarl who wants to rule, she finds herself falling for the jarl’s son, who has a mysterious role in the prophecy as well. I’m about 25% in and liking it quite a bit, more thoughts soon!

Oathbringer Audiobook Reread Progress: 30%

Recently Finished: THE HEMLOCK QUEEN by Hannah Whitten and IMMORTAL PLEASURES by V. Castro
I finished THE HEMLOCK QUEEN early in the week and have my review already posted. The TLDR is that if you really enjoyed the pining of book one, you’ll have a good time, as the three central characters are trapped together by circumstance, but unable to follow through on their feelings because of the same circumstance. I do wish the plot hadn’t dragged quite as much as it did, but I still found myself caught up in the book overall, so I’ll definitely be back for the finale!

After finishing THE HEMLOCK QUEEN, I pulled from the ARC TBR jar and got IMMORTAL PLEASURES. I’d seen some mixed things about this one but gamely dove in. Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing this one at 15%. The writing was just not for me at all, especially the way the author dropped all of the main character’s backstory and motivations in dry info dumps in the opening chapters. For a vampire story, there was very little atmosphere. After three or four chapters, I realized I just wasn’t going to get anything out of this one and decided to DNF.

Probable Next Read: BLACK SUN by Rebecca Roanhorse
It’s (finally) reread time! I meant to start my reread of BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY sooner than this week, but the timing actually worked out, as Saga Press kindly sent me a finished copy of BLACK SUN! I read this originally as an eARC, so I’m looking forward to sitting down with a physical copy this time. Book 3, MIRRORED HEAVENS, comes out in June and I’ve got an ARC of that as well, so time to get cracking!