Quarterly Updates 2026 Q3

Oh wow, another quarter of the year is gone, which mean we are almost through 2026. But first, it’s time to look back at 2026 Q3!

In the 2026 quarterly updates, I do a quick recap of the reading I did, pick 5 of my favorite reads, and also report on how I progressed with my different reading challenges. All of these are based on my reading goals for 2026 post, which you are welcome to check out! I will also add some updates from other areas of my life, such as board gaming, writing, and my favorite feature from my newsletter, a mini playlist!

So, here goes my quarterly updates for 2026 Q3!

The Good, The Bad, and Everything in Between
Womble’s TBR Reduction
Year in Aeldia
The Sound of Madness
Writing
Board Gaming
The Playlist

Between July 1st and September 30th, I opened 14 books (2 more than in Q2). I only DNFd one of them. Out of the 14 books, none were rereads. As for format, 10 were audiobooks and 2 were ebooks and 2 were paperbacks. Technically, there were 15 books, I reread one that I read earlier this year for reasons, and decided not to count that twice for the same year, so we are sticking to 14.

So all that means is that I’m 93% done with my GR goal – I once again set the number to 40. And I thought that would be a hard number to reach this year. Well, sometimes we have to eat our own words.

Out of the 14 books, 5 were on the list I set up as my shortened TBR in my Reading Goals for 2026 post, which is, once again, more than I expected, honestly.

The books I loved the most in 2026 Q3

Out of the 14 books, I gave 5 crowns to 1 and the rest as 4 or below. I think this might have been the lowest rating I had in a while. I’m not sure if it was the books I picked, my mood or what, but it’s starting to feel like I need some distance from reading so I can really enjoy it again. As always, in these mini-lists, I’ll focus on highlighting those that I think have the potential to end up on my top 10 reads of 2026 list, regardless of what scoring I gave it. Sometimes books I initially scored lower are the ones that stay with me the most. I will not pick rereads, because I obviously loved them previously, so I’d like to give the spotlight to newcomers. The books are listed in the order I’ve read them.

Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson is the first book in Devin’s latest epic fantasy trilogy, I believe. I’ve been sitting on my copy for 2 years as he gave me a paperback back in Glasgow Worldcon 2024. Hey, better late than never, and book 2 isn’t out yet anyway, so I’m good. Epic fantasy isn’t really my thing, and I rarely pick it for myself, but I always make exceptions for authors whose writing I’m familiar with, because I can be sure I’ll have a good time. And I did. It took me a month to read it (due to my own issues, so nothing personal), and maybe it won’t be my favorite book from him, but I still liked it and would recommend it. No beheadings in this one tho. It has dragons, as a compensation!

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GOODREADS

The House Witch by Delemhach is the first book in a series which if I’m correct is/was originally a web serial. I’ve seen this book around, and I needed something fun and cozy so I picked up the audiobook. I sure did enjoy the story, but I could tell it was a serial, and I’m not quite sure how I feel about it. There were a few plots, most of which are unfinished – for obvious reasons. I think I’ll pick up the second book, because I liked the characters and I’m curious how it’s going to go from there.

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GOODREADS

An Unexpected Christmas by Kara Jorgensen is the follow up novella after the 4th Reanimator Mysteries novel, which also was the last in the series. I’m glad this came out because I wasn’t 100% happy with the ending, and it was nice to have one last glimpse into the lives of Oliver and Felipe. Even if they may show up in other books within the unieverse.

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GOODREADS

The Night Parade of 100 Demons by Marie Brannen is the first book in a trilogy Brannen wrote in the Legend of the Five Rings Universe. So the funny thing about this is that I read the third book first by accident, which I enjoyed, and always planned to go from the start. I finally picked up the audiobook of the first book and had a nice time getting to know Ryotora and Sekken from the moment they met in a small village haunted by demons. I have zero knowledge about the Legend of the Five Rings, but this book was still enjoyable without having all the lore.

BUY THE BOOK

GOODREADS

Triple World Score by Craig Schaefer is the 12th and latest book in her Daniel Faust series, in which Dan and Cait aided by their crew and some new people they met on the way, attempt to rob three different worlds in order to get an edge against the Enemy.

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GOODREADS

After the very good start, then a little bump to Womble’s reading challenge, I’m making a very good progress this year. In 2026 Q3, out of the 3 prompts, I finished 3!

July – A Ceasar Word Salad: The House Witch by Delemhach. For this one we had to read a book featuring an empire. I might pick something else for this, but out of the books I read in July The House Witch fit the bill the best, as it’s set right in the heart of a kingdom, the MC being the chef of the king.

August – Schools Out!: Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson. This prompt was about reading a book by an author not from the UK or USA. Since Devin Madson is an Australian, I think I nailed it.

September – Back to School: Queer as Folklore by Sacha Coward. Heh, I killed both the main prompt AND the stretch goal. I don’t usually read non-fiction, but I picked up the audiobook of Queer as Folklore and saved it for September. I did enjoy it too!

Book Roast’s Year in Aeldia reading challenges are always fun, and I loved the board game style last year. (Un)Fortunately, G decided not to come up with anything new this year, so we get the same board game map and prompts, but since there are four different paths to choose from, it’s quite understandable. In 2025, I took the path that led to 12C, a place that’s indicated with musical notes, so, you know, I was kind of obliged to, lol. This year I’m taking the B path and visit the sea side which is also very characteristic for me. Luckily the prompts are mostly in my favor so it shouldn’t be too challenging. The pros of taking a break from reading obligations is that I can accommodate my reading however I wish, meaning I can easily prioritise books based on whatever challenge I’m focusing on.

July – 7B – Read whilst on watch (book read entirely in the PM hours): Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson. Look, if I could do it in April/May, then I can do it now too. Since I started the book in July and finished in August, I thought it’s fair game to use it for two prompts for those two months. I’m not even sorry. Anyway. Since I usually read in the PM hours anyway, this was no hardship.

August – 8B – Use Truelight (read a a book with a word ‘light’ in the title): The Night Parade of 100 Demons by Marie Brennan. Right. So I think this is the first time this year I needed to use a free card and pick a different prompt than the one attached to my path. I just didn’t feel like reading the very few titles I had with “light” in it, so I opted instead to read a book that has been on my TBR at least a few years. I think it’s been 2 or 3 years since I wanted to read this book, so there we go.

September – 9B – Inspect frost (read a book with a light blue cover): My Mother’s Ridiculous Rules for Dating by Philip William Stover. I guess this one is quite obvious.

In 2026 Q3, I decided to add 7 books (tentatively) to The Sound of Madness Reading Challenge card. It’s always a slow start, as I’m never quite sure if something better will come along. Anyway, for now I decided to put another 5 on the board, which I might or might not change later on. Here they are:

• Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson for LOOK MOM I CAN FLY
• Once Was Willem by M.R. Carey for SECOND CHANCE
• The Night Parade of 100 Demons by Marie Brennan for BEAUTIFUL COLORS
• The House Witch by Delemhach for REAL GOOD FEELING
• Mortedant’s Peril by RJ Barker for THE DEAR LEADER
• Queer as Folklore by Sacha Coward for CALYPSO
• The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean for DEVIL IN MY HEAD

Here is what my card looks like right now:

Writing updates is one of the main features in my newsletter, so if you are a regular reader of that, then I probably won’t have a lot of extra info for you, and so you get my permission to skip this section.

It took me a long time, but I *finally* have a draft for Part 1! Which is nice, but also doesn’t mean a lot, because I already know that I need to move at least one chapter to Part 2… Anyway. I did reach a milestone in the summer, so I could spend most of August rereading what I have, make notes, do some editing, and get a lot of worldbuilding done. All of that while I was on holiday. Talk about a productive time. I also sent it off to two of my friends for feedback, and so far I got back some positive encouragement, although one of them only will send me his full notes and thoughts soon. I’m super curious, because this is the first time this particular friend read anything I wrote (well, apart from the short story that popped up in Murderhobo in the summer), and also I’ve been loving his stuff for years now, so it’s a bit surreal still. But he is also someone I can talk to about the craft and whatnot which is a very welcome and rather surprising turn of events. Honestly, it’s just such a relief to be able to talk to *someone* about these characters that had been living in my head for so long.

So at the end of Q3, Part 1 of Inkfeather stands at 33K, which means my prediction for 30K was quite good. Now comes the hard part, tho…

Last year I took up board gaming and started building my own collection. I’m picking up games that have solo mode as I generally play on my own, which isn’t as much fun, but what can I do? This year, I also started going to board gaming events to a nearby board game cafe in an attempt to 1) try out other games and 2) make some actual friends. I’m going about 3/4 times a month now and it’s doing a lot of good for my mental state and also my non-existent social skills, lol. So I thought I would talk a bit about the games I get/play with in these quarterly updates.

New Board Games in My Collection

By the end of 2025, I owned 13 games (you can check out my ever growing collection on BoardGameGeek). Ahahaha, so much slowing down and trying NOT to buy many new games. And I thought I was doing well there. Turns out, not. Explains why I’m having issues with space in my living room… In my defense, I got all of these during sales, so there is that.

In 2026 Q3 I added 7 more, in no particular order (the games are linked to their respective BGG page):

• The Isle of Cats – When I decided to buy this book I had no idea how big the box is going to be. It’s HUGE. For this game, half of the fun is making the different pieces fit on your board (picturing a boat, because the goal is to save as many cats as you can from an island). The game works quite nicely in solo mode, although I think I played more online so far. Still, I don’t have a lot of regrets buying it.
• Wreck Raiders – I first played with this in a café event and it was fun. I like that you not only get to collect treasures, but you make your neighbours pick one too if you land next to them, which makes an interesting dynamic. Since it has a solo mode, I bought it, although didn’t play as much with it yet. It does work in solo, but I think it’s more fun with multiple people.
• Koi – I had my eyes on this, so when I got to play with it in real life, I jumped on the chance. My first experience with Koi wasn’t the best, but that was due to being unlucky than the game itself. I eventually got my hands on it at an event with a price drop and I did not regret it. I love the components, the graphics and generally how well it’s manufactured. Plus, it’s beautiful and works very well in a solo mode.
• Take a Seat – A fun little filler game, I got on a sale. I played with this before so I knew what I was getting, although the solo mode is a lot less satisfactory than playing with someone else who can make things harder.
• Tucana Builders – I like puzzle games like this, where you have to pick random pieces and put them down on your board, trying to connect them the best you can while reaching goals and winning points. And this one is a lot harder to win than I expected, which can be a bit disappointing in the long run. Still, I’m not regretting this one.
• Tokaido – Ah, the game I love but it hates me. No matter how many times I play it on BGA, I can never win. I’m sure there is a right strategy, I just never found it yet. As simple as this game is, so frustrating it can be. The solo mode works well, although I only played once, so will have to give it a few more rounds.
• Balada – Another filler game you can pick up if you have 10 minutes and want to do something. It’s simple, has a fun theme and since it doesn’t have a lot of components, it’s easy to take when traveling. Also good for families because it doesn’t have a lot of rules, although it takes some time to remember some of the winning conditions.

Board Games Played in 2026 Q3

In this section, I’m going to tell you about some of the board games I got to try both at the board game café events I’m attending regularly and on Board Game Arena which I discovered earlier this year, and might be in danger of being addicted to, and is worth mentioning. If you are on BGA, please let me know!

• Wondrous Creatures – Ooh, this is a fun, but complex one. I won my first game and earned myself a frenemy in the process, lol. I pissed off one of the guys because I took a dragon egg he wanted, and then for a few months whenever we met again he made comments about not wanting to play with me. We since made up because he could take his revenge in another game, so we are good now. But back to the game at hand, I was a bit apprehensive of it at first because there are a lot of things you have to consider and I generally prefer less complex games, but I enjoyed this one. And it was a lot easier to get into than I thought. It also has a solo mode, but it’s not easy to beat.
• Boulder Bluff – It’s a quite simple card game developed by an actual climber, but it’s a lot of fun. A lot comes down to luck and picking the right time to bluff and use special animal cards to shake things up. It’s been a couple of months since I played but I’m still annoyed by one particular decision I made, because that made me loose the game which should have been mine. So. Annoying. I definitely would play again, though.
• Vantage – One of the most interesting experiences I had with games was with this one. It’s a co-operative open world adventure game that can be played alone. We had 4 of us, and while the other three eventually found each other (at the beginning you are all dropped at different parts of the world, and you have common goals you have to reach and it’s helping if you can also find each other) while I got stuck deep down in a cave, because exploring it seemed like a good idea. Definitely on my TBR to get my hands on a copy, but it’s a bit pricey.

As I mentioned in the intro of this post, circa a hundred years ago, one of my personal favorite feature of my newsletter is the mini playlist I include each month with 5 songs. I’m not going to feature all 15 of them here, just my top 5 (I’m going to have so many regrets), if you want more, sign up to my newsletter 😛 The songs are linked to Youtube.

• Mr Know It All by Teddy Swimms
• From Ember to Ash to Smoke by Dean Lewis
• Miracle by Smash Into Pieces
• Something I’ll Outgrow by ISHAN
• Imposter by Jack Harris

And that concludes my Quarterly Updates for 2026 Q3. On the whole, I’m doing well with my different challenges, and looks like I’ll be done with most of them in time, so I’m happy with my progress. Let’s hope I can keep it up for Q4 as well! I’d love to hear about how you are doing with your challenges so far, so feel free to comment below!