It looks like it’s finally cooling off in Portland and the school year is just around the corner so I have lots to look forward to! That being said, this was another pretty awful reading week, and I’ll try to keep this roundup fairly short for both of our sakes. The book-related highlight of the week actually wasn’t a book, it was seeing Natasha Pulley do an author talk at Powell’s. She’s one of my favorite authors and did a short US tour for her new book The Salt King (see my glowing review here), which is nice since she’s UK-based and I didn’t have much hope of meeting her. She’s an absolutely lovely, genius human for the record, and even though The Salt King literally came out this past Tuesday, I’m already chomping at the bit for whatever she has planned next. Back to the roundup, we have two ARCs, two new releases, and one audiobook/reread to talk about, so let’s get into it!
Strange is the Light by Sarah Maria Griffin (out 9/8/26)
This was an ARC so you can read my full review here! This is a fantasy novel with some mild horror elements about a group of four friends who would spend summers together growing up, playing an imaginative game of
their own creation. After time apart, they’re brought back together as adults to play the game for a final time, this time led by a gamemaster with sinister intentions and dark abilities.
I’m not going to get into the weeds too much since I think I did enough of that in my full review. In short, the first part of this story is really beautifully written but frustratingly dragged out considering you know it’s all lead-up. Then, when you finally get to the actual plot, it all becomes a confusing jumble of surreality, unanswered questions, plotholes, strange character choices, etc. I basically never like when a book just devolves into fever-dreams/surreality (and this will not be the last book in this roundup to do it) because when anything can happen, nothing has weight and the reader can’t tell what’s consequential and what’s imaginary bullshit. I know it’s intentional, but just because something is intentional doesn’t mean it’s good or has been thought through. This was a pretty big disappointment overall and by the end I was just annoyed.
Trad Wife by Sarah Langan (out 9/29/26)
This was an ARC so you can read my full review here! This is a horror/thriller novel about a journalist named Jenny Kaplan who—desperate to save her career—accepts an assignment to write a profile of
Mia Wright, a trad wife influencer living on an isolated farm with her beautiful husband and seven children. As Jenny sees what’s behind the scenes at Black Swan Farm, she begins to suspect that there are dark forces at work, and more than her career might be at risk.
Again, I like how this started off and I think it’s a really solid premise. The early characterization of Jenny and the specifics of Mia Wright’s online persona were really strong. And then the author ruins all of the great tension and characterization she has going by devolving into fever-dream nonsense! This is a very common thing but I find it to be so lazy and it’s one of the fastest ways to just lose me. Follow through with the goddamn plot! For this book in particular it’s annoying because it’s a subject with lots of potential for social commentary, and that also completely gets lost. There are also just a bunch of discordant plot threads that never really come together. There’s the farm and the dark entity that keeps Black Swan Farm and Mia looking perfect, but then there’s these women (witches? idk) who were killed and yellow fog and for some reason the entity is called Mr. Yellow which is an unbelievably stupid name. Ultimately, the lack of cohesion and tension lost in the surreality also hurt the book’s capacity for horror, so it wasn’t even really scary. Definitely another let down, but I can imagine someone who really likes that kind of descent into surreality narrative enjoying it.
The Revenant of Surolifia by Florence Chien
DNF – No Rating
This is a political fantasy following two main perspectives: A usurped prince-turned-pickpocket named Faye, trying to rally his people and recapture his throne, and a member of the gendarmerie named Lucas who is
infiltrating the empire from the inside after the massacre of his people. For a time the two are enemies, but they must come together to defeat a common enemy and liberate their people.
Not much to say about this since I only read maybe 30-40%, skimmed another 10-20%, and then accepted that I wasn’t in the mindset for this. The part that I read was fine but I didn’t find the characters super interesting and since there are a bunch of characters disguised as other characters or hiding their nature, it’s pretty confusing to follow right from the start. The writing was fine and I don’t think I would have disliked it if I was in the right mood, but it just wasn’t happening and I doubt I’ll pick it back up. If you loved it, feel free to try to convince me!
An Infinite Love Story by Chanel Cleeton
This is a historical fiction novel with romance and speculative elements following Vivian, the wife of an astronaut, shortly after her husband is lost in space. Crushed by grief and her countless questions, Vivian
relives their love story as she desperately searches for answers that will give her closure.
This was a solid and pretty quick read. I love historical fiction about real space agencies—speculative or otherwise—like The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal (and the rest of the Lady Astronaut series) and Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid, so I figured this would be up my alley as well. It’s always a great set up for lots of high stakes and drama which I love. An Infinite Love Story is a little more lowkey in terms of tension and drama, but it’s a nice close-examination of a relationship and the very real stress that being an astronaut puts on a marriage. I’ve read a few real astronauts’ memoirs as well like An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth by Chris Hadfield (which I would highly recommend) and Dinner With an Astronaut by Leroy Chiao (which I wouldn’t recommend), and both of them recount struggling with dating, having a successful marriage, and being parents because of their responsibilities as astronauts. I think more could have been done with this premise, but it was well-written with some nice emotional moments and I liked the kind of speculative twist towards the end. It wasn’t amazing, but clearly it didn’t have a lot of competition this week.
Grip of the Shadow Plague by Brandon Mull (reread)
This is the third book in a middle grade fantasy series following siblings Kendra and Seth as their grandparents introduce them to the hidden magical world, made up of preserves like their own Fablehaven where magical creatures
and beings are kept protected. The third book follows the family facing the accusation that their greatest ally might be a traitor, all while a mysterious plague takes over the preserve, turning creatures of light into creatures of darkness.
Not much to add about this that I didn’t say about the second book in my roundup last week. I’m rereading this series on audiobook. It was one of my favorites as a kid and I genuinely think it holds up really well. I am realizing that I’ve misremembered the order of some plot events since I remember Kendra being kidnapped in book three, but it must actually be at the beginning of book four. I’m excited to continue but none of my libraries have the audiobooks and I’m out of audible credits, so I’ll have to wait to listen to book four.
Not a great week, but I’m kind of scattered with the school year coming up so that’s at least partially my own fault. As for the plan for next week, I’ve definitely made a dent in my stack of ARCs but Buzzard by Inez Ray, which is a dystopian novel, and The Henchperson’s Guide to Unionizing by Michael J. Moore, which is a humor fantasy novel, are both out September 22nd so I should get to those in the next week or two. I have a handful of things checked out from the library at the moment: The Demon Star by Jesse Aragon which is an epic sci-fi/fantasy that I’m excited for but also intimidated by because it’s pretty chunky; Headlights by CJ Leede which is a paranormal horror/thriller that I’m not sure about but might take a peek at; The Divine Gardner’s Handbook by Eli Snow which is a queer fantasy that sounds really good but doesn’t have great ratings; and I mentioned last week that I want to reread Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston so I have that checked out as well. I also have two books checked out from Kindle Unlimited: The Mercenary and the Mortician by Alexandra St. Pierre which is a queer dark romance I’ve heard great things about, and The Poet Empress by Shen Tao which is a dark political fantasy that I’ve also seen people raving about. Not sure what’s up next on audio since I’ll have to wait for more audible credits before I can continue Fablehaven, but I always have some fun nonfiction audiobooks lined up that I can get on Libby. So if anything I have way too many options for what to read right now, but since I’m a little moody that might be a good call. By the time my next roundup is posted I’ll have started classes, so I might be reading more or less depending on my workload during the school year.
I hope you had a better reading week than I did! Have you read any of these books? Did I convince you to read one of them (or not to read one of them)? By all means, let me know what you’ve enjoyed recently or what you’re looking forward to!
Happy reading!
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