Murchie Plus Books: September 14th to 20th

The premise: I love my dog. I love books. I combine the two by photographing my dog with every book I read, barring the stuff I get through Marvel Unlimited. Last week, that was lots of work by POC creators in honour of A More Diverse Universe.

The photos: go live on Instagram as I take them and appear here in digest form every Sunday.

I began the week with THE MAGICIAN KING, which I showed you last Sunday. It knocked my socks off all over again and left me no choice but to dive straight into THE MAGICIAN'S LAND.

Which I had as digital review copy--not something that makes for good photos, with or without a small dog in the mix. The digital ARC doesn't include so much as a map or a fancy title page, let alone a version of the cover.

I tried to take some pics of Murchie with the boring, here's-the-title-and-that's-that page, but the results were less than impressive. And so I offer you this close-up shot of my dear boy being sad about books that don't have pretty covers (though I reminded him it was kind of Penguin to let me have a copy in the first place).

Or maybe he's annoyed with me for trying to photograph him in front of a basically blank e-reader screen. Take your pick.

I'm pleased to report the book BLEW MY MIND. It's a 5-star read for sure, and it tastes all the sweeter because it's my first such book since early July. (BOY, SNOW, BIRD would've made it on the list if it weren't for the last twenty pages. I will never, ever stop being angry about BOY, SNOW, BIRD's last twenty pages.) It was fabulous from start to finish, and I'm going to have a fun time turning my OMGTHISISOSAWESOMEHOWDOIDOWORDS response into a coherent review.

I know this series isn't for everyone, but it's sure as hell for me. Thank you, Mr. Grossman. Thank you.

Having had MY MIND BLOWN, I proceeded to THE MAGPIE LORD by KJ Charles. It's the first pick for Tiffany Reisz's new Wizard Books Book Club, and I'll admit, I was a little nervous about reading it so soon after THE MAGICIAN'S LAND. Mindblowing books have a way of making whatever you read afterwards seem a little less bright.

I needn't have worried. THE MAGPIE LORD was a fabulous follow-up to THE MAGICIAN'S LAND; which is to say, it was great. The two leads have fabulous chemistry, the magic is nice and complex, and Charles's prose is just plain addictive. I'm looking forward to the discussion on September 25th.

If you've read the book and would like to join in, you can follow along on Twitter via #WizardsBBC at 7pm Eastern.

I finally finished RUNAWAY by Evelyn Lau, which left me in need of a new secondary book. Enter SUBVERSION: SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY TALES OF CHALLENGING THE NORM, an anthology about, well, guess. I'll pick away at it over the next few weeks, whenever I fancy something a little shorter than a full novel.

Murchie refused to sit nicely beside it, but that's all right. I'll take a standing pose if I can get it.

Next week: Jo Walton. More KJ Charles, if I can swing it, and maybe another volume of the Wheel of Time. I'll have a new audiobook to show you, too.