Reading Roundup: April 2026

Life updates

Bertie is 7 months old this weekend, and I took him for his first Italian meal at a nearby chain today. he enjoyed some of my garlic bread and Arancini and the wife's mozzarella pearls and chicken. For such a small Human, he packed away a rather heroic quantity of food. Not looking forward to the other end later.

I got to 2 of the 4 books on my wish list this month, and although the Star Trek was a bit of a let-down, the other one was gold.

DNF this month

I started Harry Potter and the shadowed light, a fanfiction where Voldemort is supposedly Harry's soulmate so he ends up going back in time after defeating him to mould the younger tom into someone nicer. It's arguably a similar story to Lily's Boy in some ways but the execution was much poorer and I gave up after all the "my dear"-ing became too sickening for me to cope with.

Rereads or books off-catalogue

Macroscope by piers Anthony

an old classic. it veers into totally weird teritory but is a bit of a guilty pleasure.

The Second String

This is one of my all-time favourite fanfics of recent years, this is probably my 3rd or 4th read.

Darkness Within

Another fanfic, second time out for this one.

Prostho Plus

A Piers anthony one again,

Hard Sell

And this, which I struggled to find complete a couple of years ago having read it in Braille as a kid.

I am not a Robot

A silly fanfic, which I don't normally go for but it had its amusements.

New reads for April

5 stars to The Many, by Sylvain Neuvel

Book Description:

The minds of five normal people merge in a beautiful, unnerving first contact story where the strangest thing humanity has to face is each other, from the critically acclaimed author of Sleeping Giants. “I’m you now. We all are.” When advertising executive Carole Veilleux loses it at Booker’s donut shop and bites Booker on the arm, it’s about the most interesting thing to happen in the small city of Marquette, Michigan, in years. But that’s only the beginning of the story. Carole and Booker find their minds merging, in a collective that extends to include Carole’s husband Shivansh and local doctor Evelyn Schlapp. The four of them become the beginning of something larger and stranger than they could ever have imagined.

My Thoughts:

"Jeremiah Briggs III was fifth-generation military, and he had a small penis. These two unrelated facts had, in tandem, come to shape every single aspect of Jeremiah’s life." Has to be one of the best openers of a chapter I've come across in a long time. I read this in a single sitting and enjoyed myself tremendously throughout. I wasn't sunk on the spheres, utterly enjoyed the giraffe, and enjoyed everything in between.

This Book: has 304 pages, a community rating of 3.63, was first published in 2026.

4 stars to Lily's Boy, by Somewhere’s Sword

Book Description:

Fandom: Harry Potter Pairing: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter ------------------------- Before his third year of Hogwarts has even begun, Harry faces three whole weeks of unsupervised time in Diagon Alley. In that time he takes a trip to Gringotts - and that changes everything. Burdened with the knowledge that Dumbledore has been blocking his family magic, and manipulating far more than he ever thought possible, Harry doesn't know who he can trust; but he knows he can't keep going that way. There's a whole world of lore and politics and history to catch up on, and the more he learns, the more Harry realises his true place in the world, and how much is being kept hidden from him. All the while, Dumbledore's twinkling eyes are constantly watching, and Harry can't let on how much he knows. With help from unexpected places, Harry starts on a journey to end the war, and reshape the wizarding world. With how much he looks like James Potter, people have forgotten one important thing about him - he is Lily Evans' son, and she was one hell of a witch. Remus Lupin/Severus Snape Neville Longbottom/Ginny Weasley Sirius Black/Charlie Weasley

My Thoughts:

So the ending was a bit tame, Voldemort's death very low key, and almost everyone was gay. Oh, and Harry's Indian. But I found myself surprisingly keen to read on. this author has a way about them and kept my interest, even though it felt like the homo pairings were deliberate provocation rather than just a natural part of the story sometimes. I think the thing that appealed at the beginning is that the divergence from canon happened after book 3, which is unusual in later fanfic. And for all the sheer number of pairings grated a little, the wholesome nature of the work did come across really well.

This Book: has 1422 pages, a community rating of 4.51, was first published in 2020.

4 stars to How to Defend Your Home From Goblins (A LitRPG Series) (Everyday Monster Defence Book 1), by James Bolton

Book Description:

All James wanted was a place to call home. After a childhood bouncing from house to house, his cottage in a quiet English village is finally somewhere he can put down roots. Just one every few nights, goblins lay siege to it. The place isn’t just falling apart. It’s cursed, and now James is the latest contestant in a centuries-old battle. To survive, he’ll need to level up, unlock new skills, build traps, and fight off wave after wave of foul-smelling little monsters. But surviving the sieges isn’t enough. What happens between them - planning, rebuilding, and keeping himself together - is just as important. Good thing he’s not alone. A ghost with unfinished business, a sharp-tongued barmaid, and two shotgun-wielding pensioners turn his crumbling house into a proper home. The goblins are coming. The doors won’t hold forever. And James is about to learn that home ownership can be murder. Perfect for fans of LitRPG progression, dark comedy, and blood-soaked action - blending monster-slaying mayhem with found family and a distinctly British sense of humour. If you love Shaun of the Dead and Evil Dead, you’ll feel right at home here.

My Thoughts:

I found myself hooked on this in a fun, light sort of a way. I don't know why James plumped for a name like Samantha when he can't spell it half the time and do wonder if the t on his keyboard is sometimes a bit broken (shotgun has a t sometimes but not others); perhaps shogun is an affectation? Little typos aside, the story was fun and I've pre-ordered the second one!

This Book: has 388 pages, a community rating of 4.00.

4 stars to Entropy (First Contact), by Peter Cawdron

Book Description:

Deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, on the border between Brazil and Peru, lies the Vale do Javari, a region so remote that the native tribes living there remain uncontacted by Europeans. When a Gulfstream crashes in the jungle with billionaire John Teitel onboard, an international rescue mission is launched to search for the wreckage and any possible survivors. As the team follows the winding tributaries into the dense rainforest, Lisa Mendes realizes they're being watched, but by who? Could it be that an uncontacted tribe has been contacted by extraterrestrials exploring the diversity of life on Earth? FIRST CONTACT is a series of stand-alone novels that explore humanity's first interaction with extraterrestrial life. This series is similar to BLACK MIRROR or THE TWILIGHT ZONE in that the series is based on a common theme rather than common characters. This allows these books to be read in any order. Technically, they're all first as they all deal with how we might initially respond to contact with aliens, exploring the social, political, religious, and scientific aspects of First Contact.

My Thoughts:

Like many of Peter's works, I found this hard to put down. For all that the aliens have much less of a presence than in some of his other stories, they were no less impactful. I can't say it was up there in my top 2 or 3 of his, but it was still a great read - The Hunt chapter in particular gripped me, even without any alien influence.

This Book: has 324 pages, a community rating of 4.43, was first published in 2026.

4 stars to Eager (Eager, #1), by Helen Fox

Book Description:

It's the end of the 21st century where technocrats rule and robots take care of humans’ every need. Your house watches you, knows your secrets, and talks to you. And your closest friend can be—a machine? Gavin Bell and his teenage sister Fleur come from a middle-class family. Their much-loved, old-fashioned robot, Grumps, is running down and can’t be repaired, so a scientist friend loans them EGR3, an experimental new robot to help Grumps. EGR3, known as Eager, learns from his experiences, as a child would. He feels emotions—wonder, excitement, and loss. When the ultra high-tech, eerily human BDC4 robots begin to behave suspiciously, Eager and the Bells are drawn into a great adventure that is sometimes dark and often humorous. As Eager’s extraordinary abilities are tested to the limit, he will try to find the answer to this What does it mean to be alive?

My Thoughts:

I quite enjoyed the whimsical tone of this work. Although of course some of the reveals were almost too strongly telegraphed it being designed for teens, it nonetheless had an interesting future depiction and a cool lead character in Eager. Perhaps one to revisit when my son is older.

This Book: has 288 pages, a community rating of 3.72, was first published in 2004.

3 stars to The School for Thieves (Crookhaven, #1), by J.J. Arcanjo

Book Description:

"So this is really a school for criminals." It was meant as a question, though it came out more as an accusation. "We are so much more than that," Caspian said, sitting in a plush leather chair and gesturing for Gabriel to sit in a similar one across the table. "We are a home for the forgotten, a sanctuary for the lost and ... yes, a training ground for the greatest crooks of the future." 13-year-old Gabriel is a brilliant pickpocket, a skill which he uses to keep his often empty belly not quite so empty. And then one day, he's caught. But instead of being arrested, he is invited by the mysterious Caspian Crook to attend Crookhaven - a school for thieves. At Crookhaven, students are trained in lock-picking, forgery and 'crim-nastics', all with the intention of doing good out in the world, by conning the bad and giving back to the innocent. But ... can you ever really trust a thief? With a school wide competition to be crowned Top Crook and many mysteries to uncover, Gabriel's first year at Crookhaven will be one to remember...

My Thoughts:

I heard of and disregarded these when the first of them came out, but them appearing on the TV caused me to take a second look. A friend started reading before me and pointed out the Harry Potter vibe, and indeed there's plenty of that about: an impoverished orphan attends a secret boarding school hidden from the majority of society where in his first year he travels by both train and boat, whilst en-route meeting a bossy know-it-all type before having an introductory lecture from a headmaster with twinkling eyes and being sorted into a specific group by some mystical process, and meeting a set of identical twins. So far, so familiar. All that aside, I found the beats quite predictable and the writing style just reasonable. I wonder if getting at it younger would've appealed more, to be truthful. I feel like I missed a subtle connection somewhere to truly click with the story.

This Book: has 279 pages, a community rating of 4.41, was first published in 2022.

2 stars to To Defy Fate (Star Trek: Picard #6), by Dayton Ward

Book Description:

A thrilling new adventure based on the acclaimed TV series Star Picard! 2401: Just weeks after defeating a devastating joint attack by rogue Changelings and remnants of the Borg Collective, Starfleet and the Federation face a long period of recovery that requires replacing lost personnel and ships. While touring the U.S.S. Titan-A, which is just beginning an extensive repair-and-refit process that will take nearly a year to complete, newly promoted Captain Seven of Nine and her first officer, Commander Raffi Musiker, experience a bizarre temporal event which renders them both unconscious and sends Seven into a deep coma. In the aftermath of this inexplicable attack, Admirals Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher are surprised by the appearance of Crusher’s son, Wesley. Now a Traveler capable of traversing through all of space and time, he warns them that forces he cannot identify are working to disrupt time for unknown and potentially catastrophic reasons. Reality as they know it is in jeopardy and, despite their initial best efforts, the effects are not contained but instead continue to escalate. Picard, Crusher, and Musiker join Wesley in hunting through time to stop whoever or whatever seems hellbent on rewriting history. But what is their unknown adversary’s ultimate objective? Left unchecked, their efforts might well erase from existence those Picard and his friends hold most dear. What could justify attempting to defy fate itself?

My Thoughts:

I wanted to enjoy this, but I couldn't quite work out what it was supposed to be. On the one hand, you have an interesting view into Wesley, but on the other, all the fluff of old TNG-era visits. Picard felt like he was there just for the name, and unlike the Dark Veil it didn't work here. So not overly impressed, unfortunately.

This Book: has 352 pages, a community rating of 3.91, was first published in 2026.

Coming up

I have no idea. My pre-order of book 2 of how to defend your home was cancelled, and I still have a couple of the April releases to read, but I've not seen anything uber exciting in May.