June 1, 2026: May reading wrap-up and June tbr

Ever since finishing Assassin’s Quest - the third book in the Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb, all I can think about is reading. Even though uni is super busy this time of year, I managed to finish six and start two books.
I used to be so overwhelmed with all the books I still want to read, naturally a list with no end in sight, that I would be paralyzed by choice of what to read next. What really helps with this is deciding on a tbr in the beginning of the month, so I can just pick a book randomly from that pile.

1. Assassin's Quest ★★★.75 Robin Hobb

This paragraph contains spoilers for all books in this trilogy. In the third and final book in the Farseer Trilogy, Fitz sets out on a personal quest to kill King Regal. After being a tool to the crown all his life, this is the first major choice he makes for himself, and it is a good one in my opinion. Regal is a well written villain; even as Fitz was clearly blinded by rage to any dangers, I couldn’t help but root for him, especially during the chapters in Tradeford.
I’ve read a few reviews of people who thought the traveling parts were too long and repetitive, which in hindsight I do agree with. I don’t mind the traveling, don’t get me wrong; in Wheel of Time the chapters in Eye of the World where Rand and Mat travel to Tar Valon are some of my favorites in fiction, but the constant setbacks got frustrating at some point. I suppose it made the relief of arriving in the Mountain Kingdom and seeing trusted characters even more relieving.
I was particularly glad to see the Fool halfway through the book for some comedic relief(?). I like to think I relate to him in ways, but it’s also good to see someone finally get through Fitz’ thick skull and have him realise things. Honestly, it’s frustrating sometimes how dense Fitz is… (/affectionately).
It’s been almost a month and still I haven’t decided what I think of the ending. I think I will still be contemplating it by the time I finish the Liveship Traders Trilogy (the next trilogy in the Realm of the Elderlings), but when I finally come to a conclusion I will update you.

From p. 498:
 The Fool took a careful look around the hut, and then closed the door behind us. ‘That’s the first place I’ve ever lived that was solely mine,’ he observed as we walked away from it.
 ‘You leave so much behind to do this,’ I said awkwardly, thinking of his tools, his half-finished puppets, even the plants growing inside by the window. Despite myself, I felt responsible for it. Perhaps it was because I was so glad that I was not going on alone.
 He glanced over at me and shrugged. ‘I take myself with me. That’s all I truly need, or own.’ He glanced back at the door he had painted himself. ‘Jofron will take good care of it. And of Kettle, too.’
 I wondered if he left behind more than I knew.

2. The House in the Cerulean Sea ★★★ TJ Klune

A book set in a world where magical people exist, but are segregated from non-magical people due to prejudices and regulations. We follow Linus Baker, who works for the department in charge of magical youths (DICOMY), and is tasked with inspecting an orphanage with exceptionally ‘dangerous’ children. During his four week stay, he realises these children are not dangerous in the slightest, and instead much more than their files (provided by DICOMY) suggest.
While this was an enjoyable and funny read, some parts were a bit cringey, and I think I’m just not the target demographic anymore. I bet you I would’ve absolutely loved this if I read it at 14. I do have to mention that the characters were well done, I particularly liked Chauncey, and that the world is one to get lost in. It made me want to take a trip to an island in the middle of the sea.

3. Somewhere Beyond the Sea ★★.5 TJ Klune

The sequel to The House in the Cerulean Sea. Now, I know I said it wasn’t for me, but when I found out there was a second part, I had to know what it was all about.
I’m not sure if this story needed this full second book to get to the point. I really enjoyed the plotline that was basically an analogy for fighting back against oppressive systems, but a lot of this book was just filler, and it got noticeable about 60% through. I would even say if the book had half the pages it has now, you could still fit the plot in.
Though having said all that, I will be reading the third book in this series :p

4. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead ★★★★ Olga Tokarczuk

In a rural Polish village near the Czech border, sixty-something Janina Duszejko tells us about the death of her neighbour and other strange events. She loves astrology and nature, and when members of the local hunting association are found killed, she retorts that animals could have killed them out of vengeance.
While there was nothing really liked in this book (I hate thrillers), there were so many great lines, and it made me laugh to myself one too many times to give it any lower than four stars. I would even say it was a bit slow (dare I say boring?) at some parts, but the ending was more than worth it. Truly something you have to see for yourself.
Maybe something worth mentioning: I read this book in Dutch, and the translators did an amazing job at it. I feel they really captured the weirdness of the book well.

5. Kitchen ★★★★★ Banana Yoshimoto

This book was gifted to me by a teacher for my graduation, and I only read it now, two years later. Kitchen includes two tales about loss, grief, and acceptance.
Usually, I don’t enjoy short stories a lot, but Yoshimoto does characters in such a way that you understand them from just a few sentences, or even words. While each story was really short, they did not feel rushed or unfinished at all. I especially enjoyed Moonlight Shadow, which was less than 50 pages, but so so touching.

From p. 126:
 “Umm…sure. But why? How did you get my phone number?” I said, faltering. She seemed to be calling from a phone booth, judging by the sound of traffic in the background. I heard little puffs of laughter.
 “I just say to myself, ‘I must get this phone number,’ and it just naturally comes to me,” Urara said, as if reciting a spell. She said it in such a matter-of-fact, reasonable way that I thought, oh, I see.

6. Red, White & Royal Blue ★★.5 Casey McQuiston

The description on Storygraph reads ‘What happens when America’s First Son falls in love with the Prince of Wales?’ And well, not this. Putting how not realistic this was aside, it was a fun read. I wanted to challenge myself by reading something in the romance genre, and a friend recommended this. I despise the classic third act breakup, which inevitably happened in this book, and after that it really just went downhill for me. There were also some characters that made zero sense, but I think the movie did a good job of combining some characters (like Nora and June, who both are like sisters to Alex). I have to add that the book was better than the movie overall, the movie really showed no chemistry between Alex and Henry.

To hopefully shorten my physical tbr, I want to include two or three books that I already have on my shelves, while the rest can be anything I can download and upload to my Kindle.
I will be copying descriptions from either the blurb or Storygraph :)

1. Ship of Magic by Robin Hobb

This is the first part of the Liveship Traders. Set in a land bordering the Six Duchies, Robin Hobb begins her epic tale of pirates, talking ships, magic, sea serpents, slave revolts, dashing heroes and bloody battles. (from Storygraph)
Honestly, I’m kind of scared to start this. The Farseer Trilogy sucked me in so bad that for a week all I could think about was Fitz and his adventures, so I will be waiting until mid June, when exams are over, to start this.

2. Waar je gevallen bent, blijf je by Cees Nooteboom

This book hasn’t been translated to English as far as I know, so bear with me while I translate the blurb…
A desert village in the Sahara; Barrientos, president of Bolivia in the days of Guevara; twelfth-century art in the Pyrenees. Cees Nooteboom looks at and listens to it with the same unyielding curiosity as he would to a Communist Party congress or an exhibition by Chirico. Waar je gevallen bent, blijf je forms an overview of serials, travel journals, and art critiques that Nooteboom wrote between 1961 and 1983, in which the scent and taste of history are preserved perhaps better than in the official reports.
I’m afraid that as I know little to nothing about history, this will be a very challenging read, but hopefully by the end of this month I’ll have the time and energy to take this on.

3. Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó

Iza's Ballad is a striking story of the relationship between two women, in this case a mother and a daughter. Ettie, the mother, is old and from an older world than the rapidly modernizing Communist Hungary of the years after World War II. From a poor family and without formal education, Ettie has devoted her life to the cause of her husband, Vince, a courageous magistrate who had been blacklisted for political reasons before the war. Iza, their daughter, is as brave and conscientious as her father: Active in the resistance against the Nazis, she is now a doctor and a force for progress. Iza lives and works in Budapest, and when Vince dies, she is quick to bring Ettie to the city to make sure her mother is close and can be cared for. She means to do everything right, and Ettie is eager to do everything to the satisfaction of the daughter she is so proud of. But good intentions aside, mother and daughter come from two different worlds and have different ideas of what it means to lead a good life. Though they struggle to accommodate each other, increasingly they misunderstand and hurt each other, and the distance between them widens into an abyss… (from Storygraph)
I was recently introduced to this book, and since I’ve been talking with my mom about going to Budapest for a weekend trip in the near future (ironic, I know), I thought I’d try to read Hungarian literature for the first time!

Quite a short tbr I have to admit, though I’m also still reading East of Eden and The Dawn of Everything, and the latter is taking me forever. Besides, I’m in the middle of finals season so don’t have as much time to read as I’d like.

Background image art by Denis Korobkov