Fantasy and Science Fiction
May 2025

Recent Releases
Shroud
by Adrian Tchaikovsky

They looked into darkness. The darkness looked back ... A commercial expedition to a distant star system discovers a pitch-black moon alive with radio activity. Its high-gravity, high-pressure, zero-oxygen environment is deadly to human life, but ripe for exploitation. But as they travel, Juna and Mai begin to understand Shroud's unnerving alien species. It also begins to understand them.
Soma
by Fernando Llor; illustrated by Carles Dalmau

Maya is a comic artist in the middle of a creative rut and struggling to make her deadlines. Just then, her crisis is interrupted by an alien crash landing into her living room. The creature, Soma, warns Maya that she is the only one who can stop an oncoming alien invasion. Colorfully detailed and packed with action, this graphic novel will hit home for "new adult readers and millennials who are continually exhausted with living in unprecedented times" (Booklist).
A Curse Carved in Bone
by Danielle L. Jensen

Caught between divine heritage and a dark prophecy, Freya must navigate forbidden alliances and the clash of gods and mortals to save her people in the second novel of the series following A Fate Inked in Blood.
Vanishing World
by Sayaka Murata

From the author of the bestselling literary sensations Convenience Store Woman and Earthlings comes a surprising and highly imaginative story set in a version of Japan where sex between married couples has vanished and all children are born by artificial insemination.
The Wandering Earth
by Cixin Liu

These ten stories, including five Chinese Galaxy Award-winners, are a blazingly original ode to planet Earth, its pasts, and its futures. Liu's fiction takes the reader to the edge of the universe and the end of time, to meet stranger fates than we could have ever imagined. With a melancholic and keen understanding of human nature, Liu's stories show humanity's attempts to reason, navigate, and above all, survive in a desolate cosmos.
Elphie: A Wicked Childhood
by Gregory Maguire

We all know the story of how Elphaba became the Wicked Witch of the West. But what happened before her powers fully took hold? In Maguire's new prequel to Wicked, young Elphaba Thropp struggles against neglectful parents, sibling jealousy, and early signs of the mistreatment of animals in Oz. Fans of Maguire's twisted fairy tales will enjoy this coming of age addition to Elphaba's story, in tandem with the blockbuster adaptation of the original novel. 
A Dragon of Black Glass
by James Rollins

In the 3rd novel of the Moonfall series, Nyx and her allies must find an ancient weapon buried in the sands of a scorching desert. Beneath the earth lies an ancient army tasked with protecting their secret to the death. Can Nyx uncover these secrets before Moonfall strikes -- or before she loses control of her growing powers? For fans of: cinematic and atmospheric fantasy such as Mai Corland's Five Broken Blades.  
The Rainfall Market
by You Yeong-Gwang

They say that if you send a letter detailing your troubles to an abandoned house on the edge of Rainbow Town, you could receive a ticket to the Rainfall Market that will change your life. Dissatisfied and lonely Serin, accompanied by a magical cat, must find her happiness at the market within one week or lose herself forever. For fans of: cozy and whimsical magical realism such as The Lantern of Lost Memories by Sanaka Hiiragi and The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee. 
Contact your librarian for more great books!
Brantford Public Library
173 Colborne Street
Brantford, Ontario N3T 2G8
519-756-2220

www.brantfordlibrary.ca