Arcs! Arcs! Arcs!

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to think through my May/June TBR!

It’s very hard because I have so many books – but in particular I have sooooo many arcs. All of them look fabulous. (As a side note, I only ever accept arcs that I’m very certain I will enjoy.)

I won’t complain about the abundance of arcs. Getting an ‘advance reading copy’ is a huge perk of being an author, however, this year I also want to make time for some sequels!!

As ever, organising myself is the key to all things – so I thought I’d do a blog post showing the arcs I currently have. This has the added bonus of allowing you can see what’s coming up in the near future!

Arcs – currently reading

I’m currently reading The Lost War and Sons of Darkness – both of which I expect to finish in April.

The Lost War is an old-school epic fantasy. If you like druids, found families, quests and demons – this is for you. So far, I’m enjoying the range of characters, the world building and there is also and undercurrent of mystery that is very intriguing.

This book won the SPFBO in 2020 and comes highly recommended. So far it has not disappointed.

Sons of Darkness – where to begin. The prose? It’s so good. The world building is incredible, as is the characterisation.

This is a historical fantasy with Indian mythology included. This is my favourite genre (obviously) – and Sons of Darkness is just everything I want in a book – history, mythology and a dash of grimdark. I’ve seen it blurbed as ‘Mahabharata imbued with A Song of Ice and Fire’ which is quite the sell!

If you like historical fantasy or mythology inspired books, I highly recommend!

Arcs – upcoming

I love H.M. Long as an author. Barrow of Winter (her last book) was brilliant and I’m hoping for something just as good with her next offering, which is Dark Water Daughter.

Also – there are weather witches and pirates! I’m in!

Gods of the Wyrd Wood feels amazing to hold. It’s big. And heavy. I’ve heard other readers compare it to John Gwynne and David Gemmell. I don’t think I could be anymore intrigued.

I’ve also read the blurb – and I like the way R.J Barker has played with the ‘chosen one’ trope. This book is out on the 27th June and I will be reading before this release date.

I received the arc for The Sword of Mercy and Wrath a while ago, but then heard the author was re-releasing a newer version that was significantly longer. I decided to wait until this version was released as I believe the author wouldn’t have changed the text unless they believed it was required.

This new version has now been released, has received some incredible reviews – and I can’t wait to read it myself! If you like your fantasy grimdark with werewolves – then I think this is a must read for you.

I’ve been seeing Seeds of War everywhere on Twitter recently. This book is about war, monsters – and has smoke magic. This mix is very interesting, and I was delighted when João asked if I wanted to read it. This book is out on the 1st of May – so while I won’t get to it pre-publication, I will get to it over the summer.

The Return of the Knights is another mythology inspired fantasy – this time Greek. We’ve had a lot of feminist retellings of Greek myths recently. However, I haven’t seen any epic fantasy books that use Greek mythology as inspiration in a long time. It’s nice to see something different!

This ticks a lot of boxes for me – a little more on the heroic fantasy side, which is nice. And as you already know, I’m a sucker for mythology!

Some of you might have seen the video where my dog, Chewy, was found giving my arc of The Combat Codes a little… chew.

Don’t worry, it was the cover and not the text – so I shall be picking this up shortly. In years gone by, I did Ju-jitsu, which I know the author teaches. I believe he has used this fighting knowledge when writing The Combat Codes. I love books where you know the author is very knowledgeable in their field (it always adds a layer of authenticity).

Anna Smith Spark is just a fantasy icon. The Court of Broken Knives absolutely blew me away. Her prose is really powerful. Honestly, if you want something classy, grimdark and thought-provoking, you can’t go wrong with her work. I’m therefore very excited that she’s offered me an arc of her newest book, A Sword of Bronze and Ashes.

Folk horror fantasy is a new sub-genre for me – but it sounds absolutely delicious!

So there we are – what a great few months of reading I have ahead of me!

Thanks for reading – and if you want to find out what I pick for my May/June TBR (alongside the sequels I will be reading), why don’t you sign up to follow my blog?