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Songs of the Dead (The Strata Wars)

Brandon Sanderson

Peter Orullian

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Featuring stenciled edges and original art for the front and back endpapers. A London rocker is faced with a life-or-death choice when he realizes that a powerful society of magic wielders are the only ones keeping London safe in this deft contemporary fantasy cowritten by #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson with author and musician Peter Orullian. When Jack Solomon, a struggling musician who works in London’s West End, is killed, he awakens to a new reality in which light and music are used to create magic and where living eras of the past sprawl beneath modern London, layer upon layer, all the way back to recorded history. Jack also soon discovers that many of those who reside in the stratums of London’s past have grown angry with the present world, and that their anger is being channeled by a powerful society of light-and-music-based magic wielders who can cross the realms between life and death, between the present and the past. A past where the dead are sowing revolution against the living, and all of history is at stake. Welcome to the Strata Wars.

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Posts about this title from DocoftheDarkArts

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 1

Member Exclusive: Weekly Reading Update: 6/13/26 - 6/26/26

- The Broken Binding SE Website: https://thebrokenbindingsub.com/collections/dragons-hoard?rs\_ref=FjdvMiYp or use code "DARK" for special edition books - 15% off at The Broken Binding https://www.thebrokenbinding.co.uk/ : Use code "DARK15" - 10% off Bookish Clothing at https://flowersandfantasyco.com : Use code "BOOKDOC10" - $5 off your first order of $10 or more on used books at Pango Books: https://pangobooks.com/DOCOFTHEDARKARTS - Support indie bookstores by buying books from my Bookshop.org affiliate store: https://bookshop.org/shop/docofthedarkarts

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5 books

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 28

Poll:\ \ Where do you get most of your books?\ \ The Sunday Prescription \ \ One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.\ \ Symptoms: Tribalism in Bookish Spaces \ \ I have been thinking a lot recently about how we, as people, have a natural tendency towards tribalism. From an evolutionary sense, it is a highly logical reaction - often in our ancient history, finding a group of people and sticking with them meant safety and access to resources. It's a fascinating phenomenon from a neuroscience standpoint as well. Research has shown that feeling like you are part of a group activates circuits in our brains that have to do with rewards and positive associations, and even activates empathy (at least within our tribe). And of course, as with all things, there are positive and negative aspects of tribalism. \ \ Over the last year in the online book space, I have seen a lot of the positive aspects of this - the support that people who feel some sort of connection with the content I put out there has been overwhelming and amazing. But of course, there are downsides as well, and one of the times where I see this the most is anytime I talk about where I get my books. \ \ I love books in all forms - I love a good special edition of a book that I adore. I love buying used, and I like buying new. I consume stories in all forms, including hardbacks, paperbacks, e-books, and audiobooks, and use a library when possible. And inevitably, when I post about a specific kind of purchase, I hear from the opposite tribe. If I post about being a Broken Binding rep, I can count on a comment about special editions ruining books and gatekeeping reading. If I talk about a used purchase, I will get someone telling me I should support the author and buy new. Team Kindle is always lurking, and of course, team library is always there as well. \ \ I personally think that having a plethora of options is good for reading. As more and more studies come out showing how, all around the world, the percentage of people who read for pleasure is declining, and literacy rates are dropping, giving people options is a good thing. If you have disposable income and love buying a big fancy expensive special edition, that's awesome - you're supporting a publishing company, the author, and the artists involved. If you have a great library near you and you never buy books, that's awesome - you're supporting a great thing, and supporting the author with your rentals. Used books support other book buyers and allow stories to perpetuate, and I've encouraged a lot of people to buy a new book because of my review of a used one. E books are accessible for lots of folks, and audiobooks have made reading stories easier and more accessible for a myriad of people (busy parents, people with reading disorders, folks with long commutes and busy lives, etc.). And while I am always a big supporter of shopping local, and using resources like Libro.fm for audiobooks and Bookshop.org for purchasing online and supporting independent booksellers, I understand that for some folks, financial and logistical pressures make Amazon the best route for purchasing. It's easy to judge, but reality is messy, and we all have different and unknown circumstances. \ \ The same can be said for toxic fandoms - as a Lord of the Rings fan, I would never criticize someone for mispronouncing a word (I do it all the time), but it happens everywhere. If someone doesn't like my favorite books, why would I criticize them? It wasn't their thing, and I can't force you to like something. However, we see it all the time in the book world. At all levels, tribalism can turn into gatekeeping, and put people off from reading. \ \ So my hope for the book world, and something I encourage highly, is to make our tribe the tribe of people who love books and stories, and who encourage and support people who read, no matter what that looks like (as long as you're not stealing of course)! Offer people options, but don't criticize their choices in how they interact with or consume books. Talk about the books you love, but don't get mad when they don't like your favorite book - talk to them about the why! Let's encourage more reading, even if that reading doesn't look like your reading. \ \ What do you think about tribalism in the book space, and have you encountered it in any way? Let's chat down below!\ \ The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing \ \ My new Fable Book Club starts this Wednesday, July 1 with Our Sister's Keeper by Jasmine Holmes. The book club is called Dr. Bob's Literary Apothecary, and our goal is to read diverse authors, diverse genres, and try to find diverse books that aren't popping up on your algorithm! I'd love to have you join, we'll do a book a month, and no changes to our usual book club. I'm really excited to kick this off, and would love to see you there!\ \ In terms of reading, I was on vacation last week and, being at the beach, had loads of great reading time! I finished our Dark Travelers June book, Stoner by John Williams, Songs of the Dead by Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian, The Dungeon Crawler Carl Graphic Novel, and The Photonic Effect by Mike Chen. Be on the lookout for my reviews on IG and TikTok, as well as some here, in the coming weeks!\ \ I am currently all over the place with reading! I should be finishing up What Blood Remembers by C William Phillips this weekend, and am loving the Audiobook of Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove. I started our July Doc of the Dark Arts Book Club pick Jade City by Fonda Lee, and am enjoying it so far - if you want to be part of that book club, make sure to join us on Discord! And I also started a deep dive reread of the Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien with the Celebreabird read along. A second read there has been amazing so far!\ \ Given I was off, I didn't;t do a weekly reading update or a YouTube video last week, but I will be back this week. One of the YouTube videos I'm working on is a Q&A Video, so if you have any bookish/book content/personal questions you'd like to ask, let me know!\ \ July is going to be a great month - as I said we are doing Jade City for the main bookclub, Our Sister's Keeper for the Fable book club, and the Dark Travelers book for July is going to be Headlights by CJ Leede. \ \ It is also time for our July reading challenge! Participants are eligible for a $25 bookshop.org gift card. To be eligible, you have to either complete the challenge on StoryGraph, or share what you read on the challenge channel in our Discord server. If you are outside of the US, we can figure out a website/gift card/prize for you if Bookshop is not available to you. The theme for July is "Choose a book by its cover." The goal here it to pick a book just based on whatever is on the cover (so the cover, the description on the back/inside the dust jacket). No looking up reviews, no advanced information, just finding something that looks and sounds cool. I am going to be reading A Palace Near the Wind by Ai Jiang. \ \ Want More In-Depth Access? \ \ If you enjoy getting into the details with me about reading, then consider upgrading to The Dark Travelers tier! My Dark Travelers get an exclusive Discord role and channels, a weekly deep dive reading update video, early access to YouTube videos, and each month they get to pick a book for me to read. This can be a book they want to read with me, or something they want me to try for them. It's super fun and a great tight knit group that I really enjoy talking books with, and I'd love to have you part of it!\ \ Thank you as always for being here, and I hope you all have a great week of reading!

The Sunday Prescription: June 28, 2026

10 books

6

2

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 10

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Weekly Reading Update 5/30/26 - 6/5/26

Check Out My Full Written Reviews: - StoryGraph: https://bit.ly/3MzSdKn - Goodreads: https://bit.ly/48VzNvb

Buy Me a Book: https://bit.ly/3MrX3JE

8 books

1

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 7

[Poll:\ \ Should I give Dungeon Crawler Carl another try and read book 2?\ \ The Sunday Prescription \ \ One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.\ \ \ \ Happy Sunday everyone, and welcome to the first installment of The Sunday Prescription, where each week I plan on discussing a bookish topic, my reading plans for the week, and call out some books you all should be checking out! And as always, none of my stuff is written with any kind of generative AI - it's just me rambling!\ \ My Symptoms: DNFing \ \ I've talked a bunch before both here and other platforms about DNFing books, and my general thoughts around that. And, truth be told, I think I have a pretty solid feel for how I handle individual books. But I've had a few experiences this week that have really got me thinking about my approach to a series and whether I DNF that or not. \ \ First, I saw some really interesting reels from C.J.Dennyreads and Sarahdoesbookishstuff\ \ where they discussed the price of admission for reading a series, or the idea that for some series, you need to make it through a book or two before the series "gets good." This is pretty common (Suneater, Dungeon Crawler Carl, Throne of Glass all come to mind). Now generally speaking, I usually give a series one book. One. That's it. My thought is that, if I get to the end of book one, and I absolutely hate the characters, the story, and am severely bored or angry, I should just DNF the series. Stop. Do not pass go. Do not collect any money because I don't get paid to read things I hate. And as I thought about my favorite series, I realized I loved all the book 1's. \ \ Now of course, if I can find some redeeming qualities, or see some light at the end of the tunnel, I'll keep going. However, Both Sarah and CJ made some great points and really got me thinking about this. Then I started listening to The Dragon Republlic, book 2 in The Poppy War Trilogy, and that got me thinking even more. Mild spoilers ahead for The Poppy War in the next paragraph. \ \ I've posted my review of The Poppy War on socials before, and I really struggled with Rin. I think throughout the book, she wreaked havoc on everyone around her, made frustrating decisions (even for someone her age), and showed a tendency to be a sociopath (remember in tactics when she suggested to ruin the ecology of an area of the country for decades and lose tons of civilians in the process just to win one battle? THAT'S A SOCIOPATH!). And by the end, I was like wow, this book is really just about a sociopath who gets too much power and how bad war is - I know how that works as an avid reader of history. \ \ Over the last few months I have been strongly considering DNFing the whole series, because I just thought this was a one note, one theme series, and I didn't find any of the characters interesting or compelling. Just kind of different shades of miserable. However, CJ and Sarah got me thinking about if I'm being too harsh. So I got my Libro audiobook credits, and promptly picked up the Dragon Republic. And wishing the first few chapters, this book is already showing more humanity and nuance for our characters than the entire first book, and has even made Rin redeemable for me. I was floored by how good the first six or so chapters have been. And it's made me think: should I revisit a few series I put down after book one, or start a series I have said I never would?\ \ Now this is not to say I expect every single reading experience going forward to be game changing, and I will still probably DNF some series and avoid others. But it got me thinking about how I might tweak this approach this year. It's even got me thinking about whether or not I should read book 2 of Dungeon Crawler Carl. Let me know what you think in the poll below!\ \ The Rx: What I'm Reading and Doing \ \ Now as you all know, I am a feral mood reader, so my plans always reserve the right to change. However, this is what I'm reading this week:\ \

The Sunday Prescription: June 7, 2026

One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.

7 books

5

6

Posts about this book from across Bindery

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jul 1

\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://docofthedarkarts.binderybooks.com/item/OJDt8jOdKlp7WRgGRTgE/)

Member Exclusive: Weekly Reading Update: 6/13/26 - 6/26/26

Check Out My Full Written Reviews: - StoryGraph: https://bit.ly/3MzSdKn - Goodreads: https://bit.ly/48VzNvb

Buy Me a Book: https://bit.ly/3MrX3JE

5 books

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 28

The Sunday Prescription: June 28, 2026

10 books

6

2

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 10

\ \ Upgrade for $5 or login](https://docofthedarkarts.binderybooks.com/item/PD1ayF54y8NEezeGwfRs/)

MEMBER EXCLUSIVE: Weekly Reading Update 5/30/26 - 6/5/26

Check Out My Full Written Reviews: - StoryGraph: https://bit.ly/3MzSdKn - Goodreads: https://bit.ly/48VzNvb

Buy Me a Book: https://bit.ly/3MrX3JE

8 books

1

DocoftheDarkArts\ \ Bob Stuntz\ \ • Jun 7

The Sunday Prescription: June 7, 2026

One reading topic, one week of plans, and plenty of books administered weekly for chronic readers.

7 books

5

6