[loved liked ok nope dnf bookclub*]
Dread Nation • This Inevitable Ruin • Platform Decay • A Long and Speaking Silence • Strange Animals • What Feeds Below • Clara and the Devil • Othello* • A Parade of Horribles • The Epic of Gilgamesh • Blood Over Bright Haven • Ursula K. Le Guin's Book of Cats • The Glorians • The Gravewood • All Hail Chaos • Hangsaman
May was pretty much New Release Month for me, with almost all my most anticipated 2026 reads releasing within a week or two of each other. And they mostly didn't disappoint!
Dread Nation [GR review] ★★★1/2☆ - Enjoyed the premise and loved the central dynamic between narrator Jane and her rival-to-friend Katherine (and even shipped it a little. gdi, the ONE TIME I, an aroace person, don't wanna be represented and I'm represented 😔). Also adored the audiobook narrator, Bahni Turpin. I'm reserving some judgment until I read book 2, but it's a strong start.
This Inevitable Ruin ★★★★☆ - The plot was extremely convoluted, but damn did those emotional arcs hit. I loved the epic scale of the battles and heists and I did in fact cry at one point (Carl & Katia in each other's mind palaces?? leave me alone to die 😭)
Platform Decay ★★★★★ - I drove an hour in a terrifying blizzard to a Martha Wells Q&A/signing on release day, so this book had to really deliver. And it really delivered! Between the fun new characters and the fun new setting, I liked it even better than System Collapse. Thanks for braving the snowstorm @ Ms. Martha <3
A Long And Speaking Silence ★★★1/2☆ - Eh. As Singing Hills books go, this one was underwhelming—heavy on themes/allegory, light on structure. Not terrible, but lackluster compared to my favorite installments.
Strange Animals [GR review]★★★☆☆ - Hmm. A solid debut with nice prose and a cool premise, but underbaked characters.
What Feeds Below [GR review]★★★1/2☆ - Okay so I may have predicted the entire plot about 10% of the way through, but the body horror was eating it UP here and the psychedelic eco-horror vibes were excellent (very Scavengers Reign). I love that it's YA—if I were a teen and I read this, I'd feel respected as hell.
Clara and the Devil ★★★1/2☆ - Not much happened in this first book other than ruminating, but awoogah that's some amazing art
Othello ★★★★☆ - I hadn't read Othello since I was in Othello in high school, so it was fun to read again with book club! Noticed lots of new details this time around.
A Parade of Horribles ★★★★☆ - It was cool to go "and now for something completely different" and get a highly structured DCC installment after the relative messiness of TIR, but at the same time, I kinda found myself longing for TIR's emotional impact. Still loved this though. Especially the Goat Karaoke. LET HIM SING
The Epic of Gilgamesh ★★1/2☆☆ - Pretty much just felt like reading the Bible. I can see why the fujos love it but twasn't for me. Oh well, now I can say I've read it!
Blood Over Bright Haven ★★★1/2☆ - Another very Theme-Forward book and I once again predicted the whole plot very early in the story. Also another one where it's well-crafted and I totally get the hype (and appreciate M.L. Wang's commitment to shamelessly thin allegory—"Bringham" killed me) but I didn't feel much of a personal connection to the book.
Ursula K. Le Guin's Book of Cats ★★★★★ - Good stuff in here. Who knew Ms. Ursula had so many poems and stories and doodles of cats? (Everyone but me, probably.)
The Glorians: Visitations From the Holy Ordinary ★★★1/2☆ - This beautifully-written essay collection nonetheless left me with two significant bones to pick with its author: 1) girl what even was that bison thing and 2) STOP LETTING YOUR CATS OUTSIDE OH MY GOD
All Hail Chaos ★★★★☆ [GR review] - The plot thickens! But more importantly, the relationships get way weirder. AHC was on the messy side, plotwise, and I didn't always love Emer's or Marius's arcs, but goddamn if Rae's arc didn't have me capital-S seated. Also enjoyed the intro of the little sister characters & that scene where [redacted] and [redacted] angstfucked in that pile of [redacted].
Hangsaman ★★★★☆ - I mean it's Shirley Jackson, you read it for the prose and then go "How worried should I be if I deeply relate to this character?" [Me reading the blurb after finishing the book] wym there was a "descent into madness" I thought we were all being normal together
DNFs: The Gravewood. I could immediately tell it was too YA for me, and while I actually love the premise of a deaf heroine who trades her blood to vampires in exchange for hearing aid batteries, where it all fell apart for me was that it seemed to be the case that her whole town would be massacred if anyone knew she'd had contact with vampires?? And I'm supposed to be rooting for her?? Talk about messing up your stakes (vampire pun intended)
June is a bit of a giant question mark because I'll be picking some of my reads off of the yet-to-be-published book club summer reading reclist! But I'm partway through my Count of Monte Cristo reread, I've started Canon by Paige Lewis, and I'm also planning to check out The Unicorn Hunters when it's released. And do some traveling. And maybe bring Jaws with me to Paris and haul it around reading it in classy places. Yeah that image satisfies me
2026: january february march april
