I’m off the meds that were messing me up last month, and BOY does it show!

ARCs Received

Now that Netgalley has the option to cancel requests… I cancelled a bunch of mine. I reminded myself that being excited to read a book isn’t a good enough reason to request it – there’s the all-important question of, can I review it? That’s why I don’t request books by Nghi Vo any more – I don’t think I’m capable of doing her books justice – and there are books I’d like to read without the obligation of having to review them hovering over me.

That being said, I’m MASSIVELY excited for so many of these! Especially The Dawnhounds, Thief Mage Beggar Mage, and The Spear Cuts Through Water – I was refreshing the page for Spear multiple times a day until it turned from wish for it to request, and I maaay have shrieked a little when I got approved!

Read

I read 20 books this month! That’s exactly twice as many as in March! WOO!

New-to-me standouts were the third and final season of Ansible by Stant Litore (soul- searing) Slatter’s Sourdough and Other Stories (how did I not read it years ago?!) and Wrath Goddess Sing by Maya Deane (which I already expected to be incredible, but which still completely blew me away). It was truly a most excellent month for reading!

Case in point: 40% of the books I read this month were by BIPOC authors!!! I’m pretty sure that’s the highest score I’ve EVER managed in one month since I started keeping track!

Reviewed

I decided not to post all of these this month – it just makes life easier if I can build up a buffer – but WOAH. Nine full reviews!!! And that’s without counting the mini-reviews or the DNF ones! Gotta be honest, I’m feeling pretty proud of myself. Especially for my review of The Hourglass Throne, which I agonised over but which turned out great.

DNF-ed

As many DNFs as last month, but at least it wasn’t more – although I was sorry not to click with some of these.

ARCs Outstanding

Finally starting to get these down to manageable numbers again, for which I’m grateful. I’m working on reviews for Wrath Goddess Sing (unequivocally adoring) and The Ballad of Perilous Graves (unequivocally not adoring), and now that I’ve reread the earlier books in the trilogy I can jump into The Origin of Storms!

Misc

The Unmissable SFF of 2022 list continues to be updated; this month, with the cover and new synopsis of The World We Make (I didn’t realise the series was a duology!!! Did you?!) and When the Angels Left the Old Country; and the additions of The Witch and the Tsar, a historical fantasy about Baba Yaga, and Grant Morrison’s Luda, about a magical drag queen.

I made a rec list of SFF for International Asexuality Day, and another for Autism Acceptance Month (which I still think should be renamed Autism Appreciation Month). I managed to write a line or two about all the books I read for r/Fantasy’s 2021 book bingo, and interviewed Erica McCorkle about her book Merchants of Knowledge and Magic.

So it’s been a pretty busy month!

Looking Forward

May is PACKED with releases I’m excited for, a few of which I’ve read already, but most of which I haven’t! I’ve now read The Hourglass Throne twice, but I still can’t wait for it to come out so more people can read it! To say nothing of how excellently the street team has been doing promoting it!

Of the books I haven’t read, I’m most excited for Siren Queen (Nghi Vo is a literary goddess), Darknesses (sapphic counter to Dracula!), and Uncommon Charm (ALL THE REASONS). And I suspect I Kissed Shara Wheeler is going to be a lot of fun, even if it isn’t SFF – I’ve utterly adored both McQuiston’s previous books!

I’m also really looking forward to Wyrd & Wonder – this’ll be my third year taking part! I have lots of plans, but we’ll see how many of them come to fruition.

In short: ONWARDS TO MAY!