The Leaning Pile of Books

Since I'm going on a shopping trip on the day I'm posting this and there's a book I may get to read soon, this week's edition may actually be longer than what is below. I'll have to save it for next week if I do, though, because I don't expect to have much time to get this post ready on Sunday and am therefore writing it beforehand.

So for this week, I have two review copies (one of which I will be reading very soon).

Killbox by Ann Aguirre

This would be the book I'll be reading pretty soon. This fourth book out of six total in the Jax series will be released on August 31 (according to Amazon) or September (according to Ann Aguirre's website). I really enjoy this series because it is just so much fun - fast-paced space opera adventure that maintains a great balance between action and character development plus some romance (more in some books than others). The first chapter is available online.

TALK IS CHEAP WHEN LIVES ARE IN JEOPARDY

Sirantha Jax is a “Jumper,” a woman who possesses the unique genetic makeup needed to navigate faster than light ships through grimspace. With no tolerance for political diplomacy, she quits her ambassador post so she can get back to saving the universe the way she does best—by mouthing off and kicking butt.

And her tactics are needed more than ever. Flesh-eating aliens are attacking stations on the outskirts of space, and for many people, the Conglomerate’s forces are arriving too late to serve and protect them.

Now, Jax must take matters into her own hands by recruiting a militia to defend the frontiers—out of the worst criminals, mercenaries, and raiders that ever traveled through grimspace…

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Factotum by D. M. Cornish

This is the third book in the Monster Blood Tattoo series. It's coming to Australia and New Zealand in October and the United States on November 11. I've had the first book in this YA series on my TBR for a little while. I have to admit the series name put me off a bit since it sounds gory to me, but the reviews I've read (which have all been very positive) seem to indicate this is not the case.

Rossamund Bookchild stands accused of not truly being a human at all, but of being a monster. Even the protection of Europe, the Branden Rose the most feared and renowned monster-hunter in all the Half-Continent might not be enough to save him. Powerful forces move against them both, intent on capturing Rossamund whose existence some believe may hold the secret to perpetual youth.