Let's Get Literate! June 2025 Hopefuls
Jun. 8th, 2025 01:48 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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ladybusinessWe're counting down until mid-year!
Myy May TBR turned out to be more of a suggestion.
I read What Moves the Dead because I managed to read What Feasts at Night. And although I didn't get to The Brides of High Hill, I did reread The Empress of Salt and Fortune and grab When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain on my way to it. :D
June's a new month! And I've already read one of my anticipated books for the month, The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott. Plus I blazed through The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson because my library hold came in and I was afraid it would run out before I could finish. I want everyone to read these books! They're very different, but so thoughtful about power. The Witch Roads feels like a road trip with your adventurous aunt in a historical but deadly countryside while trying to solve a mystery of why The Girls Are Fighting. The Raven Scholar is like if The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie and a bunch of bananas had a baby and that baby was really into jumping out of dark corridors at you screaming, "SURPRISE!" Sometimes with a knife?
With one 648 page book in the bag, here are the rest of the books I would love to get to this month:
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh | Tor Books | May 2025
The hype has gotten me. Also, because of said hype, I'm pretty sure this is an awards contender. I haven't read Some Desperate Glory yet, because it sounded fairly dark. The buzz around this one says it's quite different.
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko | Amulet Books | August 2020
Di read this series and liked it. When another book in the series was nominated for a Lodestar Award I figured now was as good a time as any! We discussed the book on Fangirl Happy Hour last year but luckily all the knowledge and potential spoilers have leaked from my brain so I'll be able to give this a mostly fair shake. Will I also get to the sequel this month so I can read The Maid and the Crocodile? HMM.
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig | Orbit Books | May 2025
This is another peer pressure read because I keep seeing hints about a trope I love and have decided to finally check it out for myself. I've never read Gillig before. Besides the trope hints I know very little about this book. I'm keeping it that way! With new authors, if I learn too much before starting the book I get too hyped and either a) psych myself out of reading it because I'm afraid of being let down b) get too judgmental.
A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde | S&S/Saga Press | June 2025
The inclusion of this book on the list is absolutely aspirational because it's very chunky and I still have so much Hugo reading to do plus several massive library books. The premise of this sounds pretty good! It's giving, "oh, only the monarchy can do this? LIKELY STORY!" I do love that trope! Also, that cover by Richard Anderson! What a win for the author on their debut.
The Last Colony by John Scalzi | Tor Books | April 2007
I'm rereading this series to prepare for the release of The Shattering Peace this fall. Dear Tor: call me. I enjoy this series for its fast pace and interesting ideas. Do I like colonization? No. Am I obsessed with stories about it? Yes. I'm very curious about how the political tilt of the series, written so long ago, is going to hold up. Scalzi's usually very deliberate in his space opera politics so I'm hopeful! However, these books have terrible, generic covers now. Bring back the John Harris art covers!
I think, as per usual, I psyched myself out. Can you trigger your own RSD by making lists? Am I truly a mood reader? Anyway, June's list only has five books, giving me more space to read other things based on my moods and what holds come in at the library. Library holds are unpredictable and dangerous. I have so many waiting to spring.
Myy May TBR turned out to be more of a suggestion.
- The Brides of High Hill by Nghi Vo
- Loud: Accept Nothing Less Than the Life you Deserve by Drew Afualo
- What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher
- Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark
- Alien Clay by Adrian Tchaikovsky
I read What Moves the Dead because I managed to read What Feasts at Night. And although I didn't get to The Brides of High Hill, I did reread The Empress of Salt and Fortune and grab When the Tiger Came Down the Mountain on my way to it. :D
June's a new month! And I've already read one of my anticipated books for the month, The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott. Plus I blazed through The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson because my library hold came in and I was afraid it would run out before I could finish. I want everyone to read these books! They're very different, but so thoughtful about power. The Witch Roads feels like a road trip with your adventurous aunt in a historical but deadly countryside while trying to solve a mystery of why The Girls Are Fighting. The Raven Scholar is like if The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie and a bunch of bananas had a baby and that baby was really into jumping out of dark corridors at you screaming, "SURPRISE!" Sometimes with a knife?
With one 648 page book in the bag, here are the rest of the books I would love to get to this month:
The Incandescent by Emily Tesh | Tor Books | May 2025
The hype has gotten me. Also, because of said hype, I'm pretty sure this is an awards contender. I haven't read Some Desperate Glory yet, because it sounded fairly dark. The buzz around this one says it's quite different.
Raybearer by Jordan Ifueko | Amulet Books | August 2020
Di read this series and liked it. When another book in the series was nominated for a Lodestar Award I figured now was as good a time as any! We discussed the book on Fangirl Happy Hour last year but luckily all the knowledge and potential spoilers have leaked from my brain so I'll be able to give this a mostly fair shake. Will I also get to the sequel this month so I can read The Maid and the Crocodile? HMM.
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig | Orbit Books | May 2025
This is another peer pressure read because I keep seeing hints about a trope I love and have decided to finally check it out for myself. I've never read Gillig before. Besides the trope hints I know very little about this book. I'm keeping it that way! With new authors, if I learn too much before starting the book I get too hyped and either a) psych myself out of reading it because I'm afraid of being let down b) get too judgmental.
A Song of Legends Lost by M.H. Ayinde | S&S/Saga Press | June 2025
The inclusion of this book on the list is absolutely aspirational because it's very chunky and I still have so much Hugo reading to do plus several massive library books. The premise of this sounds pretty good! It's giving, "oh, only the monarchy can do this? LIKELY STORY!" I do love that trope! Also, that cover by Richard Anderson! What a win for the author on their debut.
The Last Colony by John Scalzi | Tor Books | April 2007
I'm rereading this series to prepare for the release of The Shattering Peace this fall. Dear Tor: call me. I enjoy this series for its fast pace and interesting ideas. Do I like colonization? No. Am I obsessed with stories about it? Yes. I'm very curious about how the political tilt of the series, written so long ago, is going to hold up. Scalzi's usually very deliberate in his space opera politics so I'm hopeful! However, these books have terrible, generic covers now. Bring back the John Harris art covers!
I think, as per usual, I psyched myself out. Can you trigger your own RSD by making lists? Am I truly a mood reader? Anyway, June's list only has five books, giving me more space to read other things based on my moods and what holds come in at the library. Library holds are unpredictable and dangerous. I have so many waiting to spring.
