Book Club: January/February 2025

[Sapphire Michaels]

So I’m thinking of some fun murder/thrillers! It took a bit of digging but I settled on these three.


A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft
A sharp-tongued folklorist must pair up with her academic rival to solve their mentor's murder in this lush and enthralling sapphic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic.

Spoiler: Summary

Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness to secure his reign of the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only ever read about.

The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
A Holmes and Watson–style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with a mystery twist, from the Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated Robert Jackson Bennett

Spoiler: Summary

In Daretana’s most opulent mansion, a high Imperial officer lies dead—killed, to all appearances, when a tree spontaneously erupted from his body. Even in this canton at the borders of the Empire, where contagions abound and the blood of the Leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death at once terrifying and impossible.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch
Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

Spoiler: Summary

Probationary Constable Peter Grant dreams of being a detective in London’s Metropolitan Police. Too bad his superior plans to assign him to the Case Progression Unit, where the biggest threat he’ll face is a paper cut. But Peter’s prospects change in the aftermath of a puzzling murder, when he gains exclusive information from an eyewitness who happens to be a ghost. Peter’s ability to speak with the lingering dead brings him to the attention of Detective Chief Inspector Thomas Nightingale, who investigates crimes involving magic and other manifestations of the uncanny. Now, as a wave of brutal and bizarre murders engulfs the city, Peter is plunged into a world where gods and goddesses mingle with mortals and a long-dead evil is making a comeback on a rising tide of magic.

This poll will be open for 7 days, so get your votes in quick! Once we have a winner, we'll have two months to discuss and enjoy in this thread, before the next poll begins. I hope you like these choices.

React/discuss at your own pace. All of us are differing levels of busy and differing levels of how much we can read at once, so remember to use spoilers for spoiler-related content so you don't spoil for others! Please be respectful in this regard.

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The current book club leader schedule is as follows;

Jan/Feb- Jess
March/April - Rowan
May/June - Daphne
July/August - Sarah
Sept/Oct - Mia
Nov/Dec
Anyone keen to take the lead in future should let Cyndi know!

 

[Stefan Archer]

My husband really loves the Aaronovitch novels, but I've always really struggled with them, but this would be a good incentive to actually properly try it.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

My husband really loves the Aaronovitch novels, but I've always really struggled with them, but this would be a good incentive to actually properly try it.

do ittttt

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

This is an easy pick for me, I've already read the first one and the second one has been on my list for a while, and I've never heard of the third so I'm voting for The Tainted Cup.