I do keep vanishing and returning, but alas. I am finding balance. It's hard! Between writing my own projects - plural, I'm insane - and working on a paid freelance opportunity, it's been hard to find time to read, write a blog update daily, make video content, create reels, and do podcast and YouTube longform content.

Perhaps I have bitten off more than I can chew. So. I've been restructuring how I deliver information to people and how I maintain this space more responsibly and less erratically. Sundays are usually my big creation and writing days, so I'm going to focus on a reading recap every week and at LEAST get that out. I also plan to do my book club book posts here, too, for my classic sci fi and fantasy book club.

That will help feel less overwhelming, I think!

Anyway. To the books!

The Trials of Empire by Richard Swan

I can't say enough about this series. It's amazing. So well done and thoughtful with strong political thematics and crazy plot and characters. Swan is such a strong voice, I'm shocked he isn't more popular and on more lists. I am making it my mission to change that. Trials of Empire was a fantastically weird and thoughtful conclusion that wrapped up a story I couldn't put down. What began as a court intrigue book turned into a grand, epic-scale battle between the forces of good and evil. He worked in mystery and war and religion and political turmoil so well in this book that really worked for the story. The ending was perfect, but gutting in a specific way only Richard seemed to pull off perfectly. He created complex characters that were flawed, but earnest and begged the question of what it means to be good and just. The complexity of righteousness is a fantastic thing not enough authors explore.

Ebony Gate by Julia Vee and Ken Bebelle

This was amazing. I don't usually gravitate to urban fantasy, but they made something so cool and fun I couldn't put it down. I described it as east Asian-inspired fantasy John Wick and that's a hill I'll die on. Emiko Soong is a fantastic FMC who is thoughtful and troubled and flawed. She's aloof by nature and trying to be better, she also is trying to find her place in the world without having to put herself back into the one full of violence. They kept so much mysterious stuff from the reader in the best way because we only know what Emiko knows, even if we suspect more. The pacing was fast and breathless without being overwhelming and it was so refreshing to see so many cool creatures and tools from other east Asian cultures we don't get to very often. This book made me lock in and I wanted to immediately pick up Pearl City, but alas... I had indies to read.

The Tethered God by Noah Brisk

Full disclosure - Noah is a close, personal friend of mine and one of the best hype dudes out there. He's really thoughtful and encouraging and pushes his friends to succeed. I wouldn't be publishing TWO books in the next few months if it wasn't for Noah's persistence. I went into TTG trying to ignore our friendship as best I could. I liked it, I thought it was a fun indie debut and a really strong one by comparison to some trad pubs I've read. When I review indies, I take a different perspective and remember the resource constraints and limitations they face that trad books don't which makes me softer on them than a trad version so keep that in mind. This was Brisk's first formal push to tell a story and I think there's only better things to come from here. He's got a tale that, while not genre redefining, is solid and well deployed. I got lost in the magic system a bit and I felt like there were times we could've pushed more emotional language to let me sit with the sense of threat in the story in places, but overall this was fun and weird and I will be reading Book 2!

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin

This was the first book for the Classics Club where we read SFF classics every quarter! It's a foundational book, the cornerstone of so much fantasy it's unreal. I couldn't stop finding ways it inspired future books and it was throwing me through a loop. The Name of the Wind draws so much from this book it was actually alarming sometimes! I loved how different 1970s young adult books were to today, the genre has changed and fluctuated and moved so much that it's almost hard to see this book as a YA piece. It was dark, full of complex language, thoughtful, intense, and kind of scary. I could absolutely see this as a terrifying animated movie if Ghibli hadn't picked it up and turned it into something uniquely whimsical. There are two more in the series to read and I'm very excited to start book 2 to see where on earth she's going to take us next.

Titan's Nest by TD Orel

This book was delightful. A romp. A YA dragon book for young adults. I think there's this tendency to read YA books from an adult lens and be critical as a fully formed adult reader that's actively hurting young adult books. We are pushing young adults out of their own genre because we, adult readers, aren't growing out of YA books or are continuing to read YA books AND put adult demands on them. Read YA if you want! I fully support that! But recognize that those books aren't for you, an adult. They're for young people. Orel refused to cow to adult readers and kept this story for young people. The teenage version of him was excited about this book and you can sense it. There's lots of areas I could point to where the writing could be stronger and needed another editing pass or two, but overall this book is for young folks. Would younger Sarah love this? Yes. Would've eaten it tf up. It's no less strong than Throne of Glass. He's ambitious with the plot, creates a good magic system, is very cinematic in his style, and his teenagers behave like teenagers.

What Blood Remembers by C. William Phillips

I DM'd Will after I finished this and said "Will what the f*** was that." This was so good. I never read indies in the thriller genre, nor do I ever see them, but this was such a crazy surprise I'm floored. I loved it. This was wild and intense and emotional and thoughtful. I think this could sit next to SA Cosby on my shelf and I would argue for it. He's got such a good voice for thrillers it's crazy, I hope he does even more of them. This was about family, complex relationships, loss, and all circling drug cartels and dangerous men in a way that was realistic and jarring at the same time. He crushed it with this one.

Menilmonea by David Catuhe

This was so cute I want to die. Another indie YA fantasy story that was so much more than I expected. Catuhe crafted this unique, mysterious world with such good visuals and a fun, lyrical way of telling his story that was so effervescent and charming. I'd categorize this for 10-14 year olds, but as an adult I was enchanted by it. His mystery was good and he never sacrificed grown up themes for a young audience. He challenges folks' lexicons and puts bigger words in context in a way I loved while maintaining a whimsical adventure story around it. I thought his twist was so good and the way he fleshed out the world was creative and thoughtful! I'm surprised I don't see this in more places, honestly.

Now I'm currently reading He Who Ate the Wild and listening to Child of the Night Guild as I continue my September Indie Sprint through a bunch of indies I've had on my list and not been able to get to yet! Anything I fail to hit this month, though, WILL carry into October.

I'm still writing and still posting chapters on here for premium members - you get to participate and tell me what to change AND I have a few characters that will need names soon... just saying. My contracted project is halfway done so I should be done with that in a few weeks which will liberate me to complete my spine-building for Book 2 of The Book of Icarus! I also am posting podcast episodes with authors on my YouTube channel you can and should check out as well as recordings of all my IG live sessions for anyone who missed theirs.

I solemnly swear I will be better about weekly reading updates from here on out.

Maybe.

Probably.