It feels like I just did my writeup for my August renewals but here we are already closing out the month. Like August, September as well as October will be pretty sparce months, though I completely ruined my TBR last month with extra non-sub special edition sales and a ton of ebooks, oops-
Confirmed Book Picks:
Aardvark Book Club (TBD)
As usual, at the time of this blog post, Aardvark teasers for next month’s book picks have not been released yet which will be updated accordingly soon.
Goldsboro Fellowship: Tempest by Victoria Aveyard (Skipped)
One of the bigger titles of the season, Tempest by Victoria Aveyard is a highly anticipated book and I’ve been craving a good nautical adventure or pirate story after how disappointing Saltswept was earlier this year. Tempest is a book I’m definitely looking to read, however I will be getting a copy via another book box subscription which I opted to keep over Goldsboro’s Edition. I’ve been loving Goldsboro’s book picks as well as their classy customizations with exclusive colorway duskjackets or endpaper art, but their edition for Tempest leaves a bit to be desired. The edges are alright but remind me of Inkstone’s edition of Eye of Leviathan except less stylized and the hardcover foil detailing being a simple quote with minimal graphic design is pretty underwhelming.
The Broken Binding Fantasy: Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan (The Riyria Revelations #1 (Skipped)
Like all of TBB’s subs, this renewal is a month early for the October book pick which is the first book in the sub’s next series revealed to be the Riyria Revelations by Michael J. Sullivan. While there was a positive reception to this announcement, I opted to skip it as I’ve fallen severerly behind on reading my TBB Fantasy sub books as well as essentially buying this series blind. This series is hard to find in hardcover form and sounds interesting, but I opted to skip it as I originally planned to instead get TBB’s upcoming set of The Shattered Seas by Joe Abercrombie. That said, I’m currently about halfway through speed reading the first book and may end up passing on the sale anyway. Either way, I’m trying to be more selective with my renewals and book buying so this one was a pass.
The Broken Binding Scifi: Chaos Vector by Megan E. O’keefe (The Protectorate #2) (Renewed)
I already renewed the current TBB Scifi sub series which is an all or nothing renewal, the September renewal will be for the October book which is Chaos Vector, the second book in Megan O’Keefe’s Protectorate series. As of writing this blog entry, the first book slated for August has yet to be shipped, but I don’t mind as I’m also quite behind with reading my Scifi sub books. As I mentioned back in my July renewals, I was on the fence about this series and mistakenly missed the skip deadline for this series but was not mad about it as these books look like they will be an entertaining time on top of having very sleek designs that are a big improvement over the trade covers that look like very generic scifi book material. I also haven’t read very many traditional scifi space operas since returning to reading so I’m quite excited to dive into this series soon!
Surprise Book Picks:
Illumicrate (Renewed)
Bodies of Magic by Freya Marske
This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I was thrilled when I saw the teasers suggesting this book was selected by Illumicrate. Freya Marske has been an author on my TBR list for ages, particularly her Last Binding series, but Bodies of Magic even on its own sounds like an interesting read. I love fantasy mystery stories and the early comparisons to Gray’s Anatomy and A Deadly Education have me very intrigued in a good way. Illumicrate also teased that their design is heavily themed around the book’s location and setting so I’m looking forward to seeing gothic dark acadamia goodness when this book comes in later next month!
Illumicrate Afterlight (Renewed)
Be Still My Beating Heart by Josh Winning
I was fully prepared to cancel Afterlight after their string of picks that weren’t my cup of tea all of last year and the first half of this year, however this Fall lineup looked much better and featured far more M/M romance books than expected; ironically the three renewals I had this year for Afterlight were all of their M/M queer romance picks, loving The Open Era and really disliking Star Shipped. That said, I was somehow able to hit the minimum number of renewals for the year so Afterlight lives to see 2027! Admittedly this wasn’t something on my TBR despite passing on the chance to ARC review it but it looks like it’ll be a fun read and I love books set in Italian seaside areas. Although I really did not like the character art for Afterlight’s edition of The Open Era, I’m looking forward to what they do with this one.
Owlcrate Adult Fantasy (Skipped)
The Scarlet Ball by Nghi Vo
While I’ve heard great things about Nghi Vo’s books, their premises haven’t really grabbed me and this is another one that sounds interesting but not one of my preferred picks when I’m trying to be selection on my subscription renewals. The themes of this book don’t really appeal to me personally but the ARC reviews sound very promising for this so I might revisit this book and read an ebook copy later on.
FairyLoot Adult (Skipped)
Immortal Rose by Alexandra Bracken
I already covered this book in my last month’s recap as it was also selected for Owlcrate Adult’s fantasy sub in August, so I won’t go into too much detail again. This book sounds alright but not something that I necessarily feel the need to own, let alone a special edition book. Having now seen the artist lineups for both editions as well as the leaked dusk jacket for Owlcrate’s edition, I personally would’ve gone Owlcrate’s sub instead. FairyLoot has much stronger picks on their upcoming slate of books so I opted to skip this one yet again.
The Broken Binding SF&F (Skipped)
Deathless King by R. A. Castellan
After a string of really solid and highly anticipated scifi titles followed by an off-month due to their original September book having its publication date pushed back, the next book for their October pick is The Deathless King. I’ve covered before how I’m trying to be much more selective when it comes to trilogies due to the sequel commitments and this month is truly a blank slate that could go any different direction. This book at the time when I chose to skip had zero ARC reviews , though it’s technically not an author’s debut as R. A. Castellan is a pen name for David Hair who has written four previous fantasy series. While the synopsis sounds interesting, I’m generally not very interested in undead/paranormal style fantasy stories and with so many good books on my renewal list and upcoming SE sales, this one was an easy skip decision.
Illumicrate Mindsight (Renewed)
Murder at the Grand Alpine Hotel by Lucy Foley (+Agatha Christie)
This is a very interesting pick as not only because it’s a pretty highly anticipated title, but because of its association with Agatha Christie. This is a book following Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple character written by Lucey Foley. While I loved the movie adaptations of Murder On the Orient Express, I haven’t actually read any of Agatha Christie’s works and specifically have very little experience with her Miss Marple character. However, Lucy Foley is an author I’ve been meaning to read for a long time on top of wanting to read Agatha Christie so this is a bizarre and unorthodox way too do both at the same time. I was originally thinking of skipping it due to having never read a Miss Marple book, but I’m told it’s a standalone book that can be read blind so we’ll put that to the test when I get my copy! My book friend Rachelle had this as one of her most anticipated reads of the year so I’m certainly very curious about this one.
Off Months / No Renewals:
- Illumicrate Starbright
- Inkstone
Recap:
While not quite as low as last month, all in all this is pretty respectable and manageable month with only four renewals (pending Aardvark). Then again, I said the same thing about August but ended up getting a trilogy set from Illumicrate that I was originally planned to skip as well as potentially TBB set this coming Saturday. That said, I’m really liking this month’s spread of one fantasy book, one paranormal queer romance, one scifi book, and one mystery thriller vs some other months that can be very Fantasy heavy. As a slight spoiler, October’s renewal are also looking to be quite light at currently two certain but as many as four based on some future reveals. And with that, I’ll see you in another month for the next monthly book sub recap!