Then and Now #62 (29/1/24 - 4/2/24)

Happy Sunday!  The Sunday Post is a blog news meme hosted @ Caffeinated Reviewer. See rules here: Sunday Post Meme. Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came in their mailbox during the last week.  It is hosted weekly over at Mailbox Monday and every Friday they do a round-up of some of their favourite, shared reads!  

Last Week

Happy Sunday and happy February! I don't know what it is, but January at once feels soooo long and yet was also over in the blink of an eye. I cannot wait for next week, when the semester is over and usddenly I'll regain hours of my time to recover and to write! Like, I have so many ideas for my thesis just running through my head and I have not found the hours yet to put them on the page. And that needs to happen, because otherwise I'm not getting that Dr. title anytime soon. I do also just need to catch up on sleep and rest though, so that is also happening.

But the week was good, busy, productive. I do feel like I was only partly aware of everything that happened, but I enjoyed the teaching, enjoyed the workshop I took part in, and had a good leaving lunch for a colleague. I have also managed to carve out some extra space for reading and therefore I also managed to actually write some reviews (cue the shock, horror, gasp). I'm still desperately struggling to catch up on reviews, which will continue to take time, but at least I'm making the time to read. It's insane that sometimes I forget how much I love diving into stories? Don't know if you ever have that, but hey, I'm here to tell you that I have once again really enjoyed just devouring, or perhaps being devoured, by SciFi and Fantasy books. 

Posted since last time:

• BC #19 - How to Read A Lot (Listener Question)
• Review: Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir, narr. by Moira Quirk
• Review: Stations of the Tide by Michael Swanwick
• Friday Friyay: Three Eight One by Aliya Whiteley

Recommendation

This is random, but I have never been able to get into Sara J. Maas' books, but I have always been curious what the hype is about. I talked about this with a friend and she recommended the videos below and I have been obsessed all week xD 

Mailbox Monday

The West Passage by Jared Pechaček (Tor Publishing; 7/16/2024)

A palace the size of a city, ruled by giant Ladies of unknowable, eldritch origin. A land left to slow decay, drowning in the debris of generations. All this and more awaits you within The West Passage, a delightfully mysterious and intriguingly weird medieval fantasy unlike anything you've read before.

When the Guardian of the West Passage died in her bed, the women of Grey Tower fed her to the crows and went back to their chores. No successor was named as Guardian, no one took up the fallen blade; the West Passage went unguarded.

Now, snow blankets Grey in the height of summer. Rats erupt from beneath the earth, fleeing that which comes. Crops fail. Hunger looms. And none stand ready to face the Beast, stirring beneath the poisoned soil.

The fate of all who live in the palace hangs on narrow shoulders. The too-young Mother of Grey House sets out to fix the seasons. The unnamed apprentice of the deceased Grey Guardian goes to warn Black Tower. Both their paths cross the West Passage, the ancient byway of the Beast. On their journeys they will meet schoolteachers and beekeepers, miracles and monsters, and very, very big Ladies. None can say if they'll reach their destinations, but one thing is for sure: the world is about to change.

Hi, I am so here for giant Ladies of unknowable, eldritch origin!!! That is like... one of my favourite things so I cannot wait to get into this book soon. Also, as a medievalist and a fantasy nerd, I think The West Passage was written for me.

Calypso by Oliver K. Langmead (Titan Books; 4/2/2024)

A ground-breaking, mind-bending and wildly imaginative epic verse revolution in SF. A saga of colony ships, shattering moons and cataclysmic war in a new Eden.

Rochelle wakes from cryostasis to take up her role as engineer on the colony ark, Calypso. But she finds the ship has transformed into a forest, populated by the original crew’s descendants, who revere her like a saint. 

She travels the ship with the Calypso’s creator, the enigmatic Sigmund, and Catherine, a bioengineered marvel who can commune with the plants, uncovering a new history of humanity forged while she slept. 

She discovers a legacy of war between  botanists and engineers. A war fought for the right to build a new Earth – a technological paradise, or a new Eden in bloom, untouched by mankind’s past.

And Rochelle, the last to wake, holds the balance of power in her hands.

When I read the blurb for Calypso something in my brain just went yessss. I adore how SciFi and Fantasy play with religion, with how societies build and rebuild themselves. Also, love all of this taken place on board of a space ship and that bioengineers and botanists are gonna be very important.

The Book of Love by Kelly Link (Head of Zeus; 3/14/2024)

Laura, Daniel and Mo disappeared without trace a year ago. They have long been presumed dead.

Which they were.

But now they are not.

And it is up to the resurrected teenagers to discover what happened to them.

Revived by Mr Anabin – the man they knew as their high school music teacher – they are offered a chance to return to the mortal realm if they can solve solve the mystery of their deaths, learn how to use the magic they now possess, and identify the mysterious fourth soul that crossed back over with them.

This feels a little different than my normal reading and initially the title made me skip over it. I know, bad me, I shouldn't judge a book by its title. The blurb really intrigued me, however, mysteries taking place across dimensions or realms? Intrigued to see where this is gonna go.

And that's it for me! How was your week?