Welcome back, denizens of geek! We’ve got another Roundup in store for you, with all the best of spec this week! I’m quivering with antici… …pation, so let’s cut the usual goofy intro and jump right in!
Monday
Our very own Nancy O’Toole Meservier is in the House of MFT to celebrate her newest release, Black and Blue — the followup to her urban superhero fantasy, Red and Black! What can you expect from this week’s favorites? A nostalgic revisit of teenage favorites, with realms of immortals and animal magic; fantastical hair worthy of an HBO epic; and music from a well-loved violinist! Get inspired here!
Tuesday
J.L. reviews the sixth entry in Ilona Andrews’s Kate Daniels series, Magic Rises. As part of her Resolution Project, J.L.’s revisiting the books she’s read to build up to a first reading of the final book in this classic urban fantasy series. So what can you expect from this jaunt to magical Atlanta? How about…not Atlanta at all? Kate and the gang journey across the Black Sea to deal with some old European magic that raises the stakes in this ever-evolving series. Intrigued? Check it out here.
…How about a second serving of awesome? On Tuesday, we also have Merrin‘s review of Michelle Renee Lane’s debut novel, Invisible Chains. The story follows Jacqueline, a creole slave in antebellum New Orleans suspected of murder, and her adventures with vampires, the loup-garou, conjurors, and all other beings of mayhem. Is this book as bewitching as it sounds? Take a look!
Wednesday
In the perfect anecdote to the summer heat, check out Kelly‘s review of the final book in the Winternight Trilogy. Katherine Arden’s Winter of the Witch concludes the Russian fairy-tale flavored story of the maiden Vasya and ice king Morozko. Kelly fell in love with the first book in the series, The Bear and the Nightingale, and has journeyed every step of the way to the very end. So, it all a happily ever after? Find the answer here.
Thursday
Thursday’s another double whammy of posts! First, we’ve got a From the Salt Mines post from Nicole, where she focuses on something very specific in the Stargate Universe that gets under her skin. What could it be? Hmm… Next, we’ve got a gentle reminder about our August Book Club from Shara, so get ready for some fun and exciting homework!
Friday
Another spin of the wheel means another resolution — Resolution Project, that is! This time we have Sherry tackling her 2019 goal, to watch all of the movies of the Star Wars franchise in proper order. What’s the next film for Sherry to tackle? 2008’s CG-animated The Clone Wars, a spinoff film of the animated TV series comprising its first four episodes. How does that even work? And how does The Clone Wars work in the grand scheme of the Star Wars Universe? Check it out here!
Book Club
July is now over and we’ve wrapped our July Book Club discussion of V.E. Schwab’s Darker Shade of Magic here. Of course you can still join in the conversation, but with August arrived, it’s time to enroll in Brakebills University with Quentin and company! For the back-to-school season, we’re talking about magical institutions of higher learning and your Book Club pick, Lev Grossman’s The Magicians. Big changes are coming to Book Club, so we’d like to close out this episode of its life with a bang, and come back stronger than ever. So what are you waiting for? Hit the books! Your assignment is due August 30th!
Whew, August’s arrival was fast and brutal! I don’t know about you, but I went from one extreme to the other — last week, mudslides; this week, 100-degree weather. Hooray, August in Kyushu! And that reminds me, August 1st marks my third-year anniversary of living and working in Japan! It feels like a lifetime of changes have happened in these three little years, and if you would’ve talked to me about it around the time I was in college and grad school, living in Japan never would have crossed my radar as a possibility. It’s amazing how much you can change, and how much things can change you. I hope you have fun little moments like this in your life; fun little anniversaries where you can take a step back and admire how far you’ve come.
Photo by Finan Akbar via Unsplash.
Thanks for being along for the ride, dear readers, and we’ll see you next week!
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