Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/13/26 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm listening to the second in Rachel Gillig's Stonewater Kingdom series, The Knave and the Moon; I'm reading Chloe Benjamin's captivating novel Under Story; and I'm listening to Madeline Martin's newest novel, A Time of Witches.
What are you reading, bookworms?
01 The Knave and the Moon (Stonewater Kingdom #2) by Rachel Gillig
In The Knight and the Moth, the first title in Gillig's Stonewater Kingdom series, a shadowy, eerie tone gives way to heartwarming, sometimes funny moments as an unlikely pack of allies sets out on a journey of discovery, complete with battles, evolving loyalties, and an increasingly high-stakes quest. The romantic aspect is less essential than the fantasy elements, which I appreciated.
In book two, key characters Rodrick Myndacious, Bartholomew, and Maude Bauer have evaded what felt like certain death to return to the kingdom, where Sybil has been forced to marry the faulted, weak king Benji. At the first of a series of tournaments meant to illustrate Benji's control, a mysterious knight becomes champion. He will turn out to be pivotal to Sybil's resistance--and to the path forward for the kingdom.
I'm listening to The Knave and the Moon as an audiobook courtesy of my public library and Libby.
Rachel Gillig is also the author of The Knight and the Moth and the Shepherd King duology.
02 Under Story by Chloe Benjamin
In Chloe Benjamin's haunting, beautiful novel Under Story, Laurel is a biologist who studies fungi and who's running from her past. She's gotten as far away as possible from her home, and now she's working long hours outside of her profession, toiling in a kitchen at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.
But as she settles into a new community, she is fascinated by an inexplicable glowing apparition in the Antarctic snow, which McMurdo residents call the Arc. Is the Arc simply a light, visible energy, or, as Laurel is beginning to imagine, possibly a portal to another time?
When Laurel's lifelong love and ex-husband arrives unexpectedly with other physicists to explore the Arc, Laurel wonders if he and she might find their way to each other again--at least in order to understand the mystery of the Antarctic phenomenon.
I received a prepublication version of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Putnam.
Chloe Benjamin is also the author of The Immortalists and The Anatomy of Dreams.
03 A Time of Witches by Madeline Martin
In Madeline Martin's dual-timeline novel, Lilith lives in present-day Savannah, Georgia, and Sybil lives in 1645 Suffolk, but the two are mystically connected across the centuries.
Sybil is a strong-willed widow who, after refusing a powerful suitor, is accused of witchcraft and cruelly jailed.
Since Lilith's mother's death, she has developed strange powers and visions, and when her future is foretold by an odd, believable seer, Lilith knows she must find a way back in time to help Sybil, or else Lilith herself will die. Lilith travels to England to reach Sybil, save her own life--and just maybe fall in love.
Martin builds an infuriating version of real-life witch hunts, featuring men's past, horrific abuses of control in order to silence powerful women.
I received a prepublication audio version of this title (narrated by the wonderful Saskia Maarleveld) courtesy of Libro.fm and Hanover Square Press.
Madeline Martin is also the author of The Secret Book Society, The Librarian Spy, The Last Bookshop in London, The Keeper of Hidden Books, and The Booklover's Library.
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