I didn’t do anything for Halloween because I was pretty wiped out but I hope everyone had a great, spooky time! It wasn’t actually a super busy week academics-wise but I’m learning how to Riso print right now so I spent a lot of time playing around with that and only got around to reading three books. We have one backlist title, one new(ish) release, and one audiobook to talk about, so let’s get into it!
The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong
This is a YA paranormal urban fantasy about a girl named Chloe who has a nightmare, gets her period, starts seeing dead people, attacks one of her teachers, and ends up in a home for troubled teens—all in the same day. But
at Lyle House, all is not as it seems and Chloe doesn’t know what scares her more—the idea that she’s crazy, or the idea that she isn’t.
This was super easy to read and had that nice classic YA fantasy feel, which made it a nice, unintimidating thing to read while my brain was all over the place. I just kinda wish it went somewhere. This very much feels like the first book in a series because it’s basically all lead-up. There are fun moments with the characters but I didn’t find any of them really compelling and despite all the lead up I don’t feel much urge to continue the series. Sometimes paranormal urban fantasy just feels like the author shoved a whole bunch of classic monsters and mythologies into one world without a lot of thought, and this book kind of gave me that sense. It was readable and entertaining and charmingly nostalgic but it didn’t really scratch the itch like I was hoping.
This is a standalone court intrigue epic fantasy inspired by Chinese history about Wei Yin, the daughter of a rice farmer living in a small village devastated by famine. When Wei gets the opportunity to offer herself as
a concubine to the country’s cruel heir to the throne, she takes it, hoping to give her family a better life. Immediately, Wei is plunged into the cunning, bloodthirsty world of the court and must find a way to survive, secretly learning to read and write in the hopes of becoming like the people she fears most.
Absolutely horrifying in the best possible way. I like my books dark, and this is one of the darker fantasies I’ve read recently for sure. It’s violent and heart-wrenching and high stakes—delicious, in other words. I also always love political/court intrigue and I think this book did that pretty well, with plenty of backstabbing and poisoning and all that. The poetry-based magic system was definitely cool and the way it connected to literacy made for a really nice education-as-power metaphor, although I might have liked to see more of the magic in action to get a better feel for the mechanics. Like the princes have sigils which makes them especially powerful in a certain area but it seems like anyone who can write can do some magic so I just wonder how all of that works. Another thing this book does really well are these kind of nested POVs, so you get the story of Terren’s childhood from one angle, then another, and with each successive POV you get closer to understanding the full story. I think I just wanted more from it overall, like I think there could have been more tension building and depth to the characters if this was stretched into a duology, but fantasy standalones are hard to write so kudos to Shen Tao for deciding to make it just one book. I’ll definitely be keeping a look out for what she writes next because I can see her becoming a comparable author to M. L. Wang, possibly the queen of fantasy standalones in my opinion.
Sleuth-Hound: The Case of the Real Sherlock Holmes by Lindsey Fitzharris
This is a history nonfiction book about Arthur Conan Doyle and Joseph Bell, one of Doyle’s professors in medical school who inspired the character of Sherlock Holmes. It covers Joseph Bell’s medical career as
as well as his side gig helping out the Scottish Justice system, functionally providing the blueprint for forensic analysis, expert witnesses, and the use of medical evidence in court alongside Henry Littlejohn. Simultaneously, the book follows Arthur Conan Doyle’s humble beginnings, rise to fame, and his eventual struggles with stardom.
This was pretty good! It jumps around a lot so it’s kind of hard to nail down exactly what it’s about, but it’s an interesting look into the early days of forensic analysis, major crime in 1800s UK, and how Doyle really transformed the literary scene. There are parts that feel more true crime oriented since it covers a few of the big cases that Bell and Littlejohn were involved with, and there are other parts that feel more biographical or science-history oriented. I’ve definitely read about Joseph Bell before, although I can’t remember where for the life of me, but he’s an interesting figure for sure. Solid all around!
Perfectly alright reading week, especially considering I was pretty out of it. That’s also another two books knocked off the twenty-six in 2026 list, and I might focus on reading the remaining eight for the next few weeks since I don’t have a lot of ARCs to get through. It will be nice to have that checked off heading towards the end of the year. I have Palimpsest by Cathrynne M. Valente checked out on Libby which is about…a sexually-transmitted city. I don’t know what that means but I’m excited to find out! I didn’t particularly enjoy Deathless by Cathrynne M. Valente but I haven’t enjoyed Slavic fantasy historically so it might have just been that and I know she does a bunch of different stuff. Two others on my list—Grave Situation by Louisa Masters and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North—I have on hold and should come in soon, so those might be options. I still have Bloom Town: Genesis by Ally North on my ARC list but I have a few weeks until I have to get to it. Next up on audiobook is Moss’d in Space by Rebecca Thorne, which I’m afraid might be too cozy for me but maybe it will surprise me.
Also, next Saturday I’ll be at the Portland Book Festival! Last year was kind of a shitshow but hopefully they’ll be more prepared for the crowds this year. I haven’t planned everything out but I definitely want to go to the Becky Chambers talk which I’ll probably have to line up in advance for. I’ll let you know next week what talks I went to and how they were!
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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