Hello, book nerds!

I’m up to my old tricks again: reading a lot of things at once. Did I have to do this to myself? No. But alas, here I am. When library holds come in and ARCs are approved, do you question the hand of fate?

That said, I don’t have a review ready this week as I haven’t finished anything in time. So instead, here’s everything I’m currently reading and my thoughts so far on each:

1. The Will of the Many by James Islington
   • I’m genuinely loving this so far. I’m having a great time (in the sense that the characters are obviously not having a great time, since they’re trying not to die at every turn, but I sure am enjoying it).
   • I like the main character, he’s giving me reluctant hero vibes. But the kind of reluctant hero who will have to face the moral consequences of inaction if he chooses that path.
   • Setting is intriguing, magic system is cool and symbolic.
2. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
   • I’m reading this for an online book club. It’s interesting so far, though I’m reading it fairly slowly, perhaps a chapter or two at a time. I have a feeling this is generally going to feel more wholesome overall.
3. Chainsaw Man by Tatsuki Fujimoto
   • My first committed foray into manga, as recommended by my brother-in-law. I’m so far very entertained.
4. Glint by Raven Kennedy
   • The sequel to Gild, and I’m going to review the whole series when I’ve finished.
   • The writing so far is very similar to book 1; it’s easy to breeze through. I’m interested in where the plot will go from here.
5. The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso
   • This is an ARC that comes out next month that I need to finish and review ASAP. I’ve just started, and so far I’m intrigued. I like that the main character is a recently postpartum woman; I feel like there’s not enough MCs like that in fantasy.
6. Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand.
   • This one is long. It’s very, very dense. It has over 550,000 words…for reference, the Lord of the Rings trilogy is about 480,000 words. I’m reading it very casually, both in physical and audio form depending on when the mood strikes.
   • I always have a classic on deck for when I’m motivated, and often that means the reading of one classic novel can stretch on for months at a time. So for one as long as this, I fully expect to still be going at it by 2025.

Hopefully I’ll finish any of these by next week so I can have something ready to review. Until then, happy reading!