LibraryAware November 2025

Recent Releases

Lessons in Magic and Disaster
by Charlie Jane Anders

Jamie is a young witch worried about her mother Serena: after the passing of her wife, Serena has holed herself up in a one-room schoolhouse. Jamie decides to teach her mother magic as a way to help move past her grief, but the unexpected results of Serena's magic will force them both to confront uncomfortable truths. For fans of: queer witchy fantasy with thoughtful and character-driven stories such as "The Honey Witch" by Sydney J. Shields.

The Society of Unknowable Objects
by Gareth Brown

Within the hidden corners of London lies a secret society tasked with finding and protecting hidden magical objects. When the first new object in decades emerges in Hong Kong, the newest member, Magda Sparks, must not only go and recover it, but investigate the possibility that a member has leaked the society's existence to an outsider. Gareth Brown's latest standalone contemporary fantasy will delight fans of fast-paced action, rich atmospheric detail, and plucky heroines.

What We Can Know
by Ian McEwan

In 2119, the world is in ruins from nuclear war and climate change. Scholar Thomas Metcalfe searches for a lost love poem from 2014, written for the poet's beloved wife. The search sends Thomas on a journey of love and artistic legacy. Ian McEwan's latest after Lessons "offers up a heady, intellectual tale that takes a searing look at how history is created -- and distorted" ('Booklist').

Wild Reverence
by Rebecca Ross

Matilda, born as a herald to the gods, is tested by abuse and betrayal as she grows and hones her powers. She has an inexplicable connection to Vincent, a noble human who she sees in her dreams. When the two finally collide in reality, their union challenges the balance between the divine and the mortal forever. For fans of: emotionally intense and romantic fantasy tales such as Alix E. Harrow's "The Everlasting" and Margaret Rogerson's "An Enchantment of Ravens".

The Shattering Peace
by John Scalzi

John Scalzi returns to the Old Man's War series with this latest installation. After a decade of peace reigning throughout space, a new force of intelligent creatures enters the fray, threatening civil war. Now, mid-level diplomat Gretchen Trujillo is caught in the middle during a secret summit representing every known faction. Fans will devour this "[c]lassic Scalzi space opera at its wisecracking, politically pointed, and, somehow, fiercely optimistic finest" ('Kirkus').

Blood for the Undying Throne
by Sŏng-il Kim

"Blood for the Undying Throne", the sequel to "Blood of the Old Kings", is an epic fantasy adventure where the corpses of sorcerers power an empire and ordinary people rise up to tear it down. Nothing can stop the Empire's insatiable conquest. Not gods, not dragons, not armies. But heroes still rise. The Empire continues to enforce its so-called peace with massive war machines that destroy anything that opposes their might. Though the conquered are wholly at the mercy of the Empire, desperate odds such as these can be fertile soil for heroic resistance.

Rose in Chains
by Julie Soto

Captured as her castle is overrun by the enemy, and stripped of her Magic and her freedom, Briony Rosewood and the other survivors are quickly sold off to the highest bidders in an auction -- and as Evermore's princess, she fetches the highest price, but all is not lost as help -- and hope -- may yet arise in the most unlikely of places.

There Is No Antimemetics Division
by Qntm

Humanity is under assault by malevolent “antimemes”— ideas that attack memory, identity, and the fabric of reality itself—in this whip-smart tale of science-fiction horror, an entirely reimagined and expanded version of the beloved online novel.

“The coolest, smartest, mind-blowingest novel to be published this year, and probably for many years to come.”—Blake Crouch, 'New York Times' bestselling author of "Dark Matter"

A Dagger of Lightning
by Meredith R. Lyons

Let's get one thing straight: I am not your chosen one. When Imogen is kidnapped by an alien prince in disguise, there’s nothing she can do to stop him. He’s sidhe—a being with powerful abilities—and he’s grown up used to getting what he wants. The prince is convinced Imogen will fall in love with him, and that her new powers, once she’s turned sidhe, will help his country win a centuries-old feud. If Imogen can’t find a way to fight for herself, she’ll become a pawn in a world that has already decided what she’s going to be.

House of the beast : a novel by Michelle Wong

House of the Beast
by Michelle Wong

After sacrificing her arm to a terrifying god in exchange for her mother's survival, Alma is trapped in her estranged father's cruel noble House and begins plotting revenge, aided by the monstrous Beast bound to her.

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