Category Archives: Blog

October has come to an end, another month packed full of excellent books to talk about, so it’s time for my latest Monthly Highlights post here on Track of Words. This month I’m going purely for books (no audio dramas or short stories this time around) as my top picks from what I’ve been reading, although I’m also going to talk a little bit about an awesome event I attended in London, for a little added variety. I’ve picked quite a mix of books, from various publishers, but all of them have really caught my imagination and I’m keen to recommend every single one of them!

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After last month’s bumper collection of my highlights from July and August, it’s back to a single month for the latest roundup of the best things I’ve read of late. September was a busy month for my reading schedule, so I had plenty to choose from! I spoke last month about broadening out my reading a bit, and I’ve certainly done that (including a couple of non-SF titles that I won’t cover on Track of Words), but this month all but one of my highlights have been Black Library releases – there’s been a lot of good stuff coming out of BL recently, even if their marketing hasn’t always done such a great job of publicising it.

As with last month I’ll go through each of my highlights in turn, talking a little about why I enjoyed each one so much and linking out to my reviews. If you read through to the end you’ll also see a quick section where I look ahead to some of the books (and a book-related event) that I’m particularly looking forward to in October. Without further ado, then – let’s get straight on with the highlights. I’ll start with the one non-BL book that I’ve picked out.

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It’s been a while since I’ve done a Monthly Highlights post, but I think it’s time to resurrect the concept and get back in the habit – so I’m starting off by looking back at the last two months! I’m going to pick out a few of the best books I’ve read in the second half of the year so far and talk a little about each, linking back to my reviews, then do the same thing for short stories as well. I love a good short story! I’ll quickly touch on some interesting news regarding submitting stories to Black Library, then finish with a look ahead to a few things I’m particularly looking forward to in September.

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It seems like only yesterday that I was writing my first Monthly Highlights post, looking back at the stories that I’d read and listened to in January 2018 – but somehow it’s the very end of 2018 and I’m now looking back to choose my highlights for December! It’s hard to believe that 2019 is so close! I’ve spent a lot of December reading and listening to the various stories released as part of Black Library’s annual Advent Calendar collection, but I’ve talked a lot about those stories elsewhere so I’ve deliberately chosen three different stories for this month’s top picks.

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Welcome to another Monthly Highlights post on Track of Words, where I’m taking a look back at what I’ve been reading and listening to over the last month and pulling out a few top picks. It’s almost the end of 2018 (somehow!) and the Black Library release schedule is showing no signs of relenting, so it’s perhaps not surprising that all three of my choices for November are BL stories – I’ve gone for two novels (although I’m cheating a bit with one as I’ve read it but not yet reviewed it) and an audio drama…and what an audio drama it is! To be fair, all three of these stories are pretty damn spectacular, and I’m confident that most Black Library fans will enjoy each and every one of them as much as I did.

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Another month has rolled by, and we’re somehow into November already. As usual I want to take a look back at everything I’ve read and listened to in October and pick out a few highlights, the stories that have really stood out to me across the month. For this particular Monthly Highlights post I’ve gone for a novel, a short story anthology and a standalone short story, and while most of those selections are Black Library stories I’m going for something non-BL in there as well. I’ve read and listened to some really great stuff in October, but these were comfortable highlights.

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Somehow we’ve reached the start of October, and the final quarter of the year – how did that happen? Before September completely fades from memory, I’m having a good look back at everything I read (or listened to) and reviewed last month in order to pick out a few highlights. Planning out what I wanted to write this month, I realised that these Monthly Highlights posts have got a little bloated of late, so I’ve trimmed things down for this one. Also, rather than picking one top highlight and two notable mentions, this month I’m going with three top picks as I simply couldn’t choose between them.

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September is upon us, and it’s officially – technically – Autumn, so it’s time for me to take a look back at the stories I’ve read and reviewed in August and pick out a few highlights. Whether Autumn is really upon us or not, last month brought with it Black Library’s annual Summer of Reading campaign, and I’ve picked out two of the short stories from that campaign as my honourable mentions for August. It wasn’t hard to pick an overall highlight, however, even if I did cheat a little bit and consolidate three stories into one for that choice.

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Another month, another roundup of the best stories I’ve read and reviewed over the last few weeks. Last month I had a hard time picking just one story, but while I’ve had a blast with some fantastic books, audios and short stories recently, and it’s once again been a really tough call, one in particular does stand out as a real highlight from last month. As usual, however, I’ve picked a couple more which deserve recognising as well, so I’ll talk in a bit of detail about my main highlight before quickly taking another look at the other two honourable mentions.

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It’s July already, which means we’re halfway through the year – and also means it’s time for another roundup of the best books and short stories that I read over the course of June. As with previous months it was a difficult decision narrowing things down to just a handful of stories to talk about out of the fourteen reviews I posted across the month. In fact, it was so tough that rather than picking one highlight with a couple of notable mentions, this month I’m going to pick out three equal highlights and talk a little about each of them.

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