Reading Round-up: May/June 2026

It has felt like I’ve been reading less the past two months, mostly because I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, but when I looked at what I had actually read it’s pretty comparable! So check it out, and let me know if you loved one of these or they’ve found their way on your tbr!

The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow

It is no surprise that the book that won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel is a lovely book. I love star-crossed lovers – the pathos, the drama! – but more importantly, I love time travel and reincarnation stories. There is something so wonderful about watching people reach towards one another across death – what romance! There’s nothing like it. And the book was quasi-Arthurian and oh that is catnip. I had one tiny pet peeve, which was the very end. But overall a lovely book and well deserving of the awards, you should check it out. (Fantasy)

Wolf Worm by T. Kingfisher

Oh no. Oh no. A horror book that was too horror.

I have still not stopped thinking about Wolf Worm. I randomly just get squicked by it weeks later. I also have to say that I really loved the setting – historical fiction set in the US seems like an interesting way to learn about how people really lived in previous technological levels of our society, which I much appreciate. Very hard to find that data in a comprehensive way in nonfiction. Mad props to writers doing the research for me.

I definitely recommend this book, but be prepared for the terror. (Horror, Historical)

Translation State by Anne Leckie

I told you there might be sci-fi! Translation State was a lot of fun, as Leckie’s work always is. It took me a minute to warm up to the characters, but once I did I really enjoyed everything this book did. (Sci-Fi)

The Tapestry of Fate by Shannon Chakraborty

This book made me a little sad actually? It feels very much like a middle book – Empire Strikes Back as a pirate adventure, if you will. That said, it was really, really good. So go into it with the expectation that things are going to get a little dark, and I think you’ll be fine. I really ended up loving the villain a lot, despite the fact that she was ultimately very deranged. (Adventure, Historical, Fantasy)

Platform Decay by Martha Wells

Bonus sci-fi! Yes, I finally got around to reading this book, which was a lot of fun. I love MurderBot very dearly, as many do, and it was fun to see it interacting with Dr. Mensah’s family, and with other SecUnits. (Science Fiction)

A Widow’s Charm by Caitlin Paxson

The last book on my list for this two-month period is A Widow’s Charm, which was one of those books that absolutely defies genre expectations. It’s a romance, but there’s a lot of necromancy involved, and it’s not per se cute necromancy. It’s a second-chance romance with the nominal widow, but her husband hasn’t been dead for a convenient length of time. I think it would have been easy to not root for the main couple here, but Paxson did a great job of making them so utterly human and likeable. I hope we see more from this author. (Fantasy, Romance)