February 2026 reading
These are the books I read in February.
- A Conventional Boy by Charles Stross. The end of the Laundry Files is upon us, so I caught up with this penultimate volume from last year before reading:
- The Regicide Report by Charles Stross. It was good to be back in Bob's head as the POV/protagonist for this one. The Laundry Files have never been a particularly light-hearted or cheerful read, and the level of light-hearted cheerfulness here is approximately zero. It's bleak. The author has said several times on his social media how writing about grim, eldritch beings manoeuvring the world to suit their terrible schemes isn't what it was, given the state of, well, everything. The Regicide Report practically screams, "Look! Do you get it yet?!" I mean that in a good way. Timely, gripping, depressing. I enjoyed it a great deal.
- Leonard and Hungry Paul by Rónán Hession. A book club assignment, this is one I would never have picked up otherwise. Which would have been a shame. Easy-going, friendly, optimistic. The opposite of The Regicide Report.
- Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake. February was the month of reader's whiplash from extreme tonal variety. I enjoyed every word of this book, especially how the author writes about motherhood. I'm a dad, not a mum, but I felt it all deeply. It's visceral. As is everything else that happens, including the (off-screen but oh so present) horror elements. I needed to pause for a few deep breaths after the ending.
- We Are The Dead by Mike Shackle. I love me a chunky fantasy trilogy. Even better with a bit of grimdark, apocalyptic, death cult army invading all around. No minor character is safe, and I have my doubts about the future of several major ones. So far no surprises, but genre tropes are genre tropes and it's all good. I'm over half-way through the second volume by now, and will tear straight on into the third.
