May was certainly a whirlwind reading month for me. I finished off the month having read twenty-one books. Twenty-one!!! That may be a record for me. (Not counting the time I binge-read about 50 Harlequin romances back in college in a month’s time…) It helped that I was on vacation for part of the month and it also helped that I did read about seven romances which are always going to be quick reads for me.
But anyway, back to SFF. I also read a bunch of different genres in May–Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction, Steampunk/Alt-History, Historical Fantasy, Urban Fiction, Near Future Science Fiction, Space Opera, and Sword and Sorcery. This month has been quite the journey!
Favorite Reads of the Month:
- Witchmark by C.L. Polk. Oh man, I loved this book! It has such a different feel to it, and also there’s a bit of a slower burn romance which I just adored. I don’t know how to define the genre on this one other than Fantasy. It’s secondary world, but a bit of an analogue of England post WW1. But then it’s main plot is a mystery akin to Urban Fantasy. I think one of the reasons I liked it so much is that it has a bunch of elements I love from different sub-genres all in one book and manages to make it work into a whole new thing. I’ll have a full review for this one up in about a week.
- The Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan. This is the third Lady Trent book and it’s really where I fell head over heels in love with the series. Seafaring adventures! Dragons! Sea Serpents! Oh, everything about this was so much fun. Will also have a full review of this coming some time in the future.
May’s Book Reviews:
Here are all of the book reviews that went up in May in case you missed them.
5/5 Stars
4/5 Stars
Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente
4/5 Stars
The Plastic Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
4/5 Stars
Sorcerous Rivalry by Kayleigh Nicol
4/5 Stars
5/5 Stars
The Tropic of Serpents by Marie Brennan
4/5 Stars
Plans for June:
I have a lot less review requests/ARC’s scheduled for June, but I do have a few that I’ll be getting to, including a couple of TBRindr reviews. For June my focus will be to continue to catch up on series I need to finish as well as some re-reading for various reddit r/fantasy commitments. Don’t forget, we start our Kushiel’s Dart read along on Monday, so if you want to join us grab a copy of the book and get to reading! I also have a mid-year update post coming up shortly, so look out for that. I’ll be going over how I’ve been doing with my reading goals and perhaps a few stats on books read.
Hope you all have a great June in reading!
Way Too Fantasy 
You seem to be a really fast reader!! 21 books! :O
I’m not an especially fast reader, some books are just easier to read for me and I can breeze through them. I also listen to a lot on audio, anywhere from 2-5 hours a day, so that helps a lot. 🙂
I’ll come along for the Kushiel’s Dart read-along That’s been on my list for at least five years. That means juggling it along with the 20th c. Lit Novella, the doorstopper gritty fantasy, and the new Christopher Buckley novel about the people going to assassinate the King’s assassins, but I’ll hopefully manage.
They did have the first book on sale for kindle for a while, not sure if it still is. So excited! Don’t worry, you’re not alone in juggling things. I have a bunch of things I’m reading alongside this. 🙂
I picked up a free copy at TOR’s book of the month feature a year or so ago… just haven’t gotten to it yet. And, well, I’m a little more than a third through the first book of the Traitor Son Cycle, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to juggle anything else besides this book. By anything else, I mean sleeping, eating, perhaps breathing. But that’s a story for a future post.
Well, with the readalong ww are taking it slow, only 8 chapters a week. I feel like it’s doable for me at least. We’ll see.
Wow, what a fantastic month of books you’ve had. The Poppy War is probably one of my favourite books so far this year. I definitely want to read Witchmark and Circe and have heard great things about both. Hope your June is just as good.
Lynn 😀
Thanks, Lynn! There have been so many great books out lately, I feel spoiled. 🙂 Hope you enjoy Witchmark and Circe as much as I have.
Wow, amazing book month! I’d like to read Witchmark, so thanks for adding it here! I wondered if it was good or not.
Thanks! Hope you enjoy it!
WOW, you had a fantastic reading month! Witchmark is one of my most anticipated releases for June and I’m glad to hear that the actual content holds up to the premise. And a big YES to slow-burn romances!
Thanks! It definitely was a whirlwind of reading but in the best way. 🙂 The romance in Witchmark was probably my favorite thing about it, but then I’m a sucker for romance.