Fantasy and Science Fiction
August 2025

Recent Releases
The knight and the moth
by Rachel Gillig

"Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams. Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god"
Once Was Willem
by M.R. Carey

In 12th century England, recently deceased 12-year-old Willem returns from the grave in the village of Cosham, only to be ostracized and outcast to the forest. As Once-Was-Willem befriends other supernatural creatures, the sorcerer who brought him back claws for more magic and more power...even if it means the lives of all the children of Cosham. M.R. Carey's latest is "a dark and hopeful fable with obvious contemporary resonance" (Kirkus Reviews).

*If you'd like to request this book, please visit your library and ask for assistance! 
Road to Ruin
by Hana Lee

Magebike courier Jin-Lu traverses the wastelands, delivering letters between star-crossed lovers Prince Kadrin of Kerina Sol and Princess Yi-Nereen of Kerina Rut while pining for them both. This action-packed science fantasy debut, the 1st installment of a planned series, is "savage, sexy, and deliciously screwed up" (Publishers Weekly). For fans of: the Mad Max franchise; Al Hess' World Running Down. 
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. 
The city and its uncertain walls
by Haruki Murakami

"We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears... and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life. Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and an other world--a mysterious, perhaps imaginary, walled town where unicorns roam, where a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and where shadows become untethered from their selves. Listening to his own dreams and premonitions, the man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he's been missing all along"
All the dead shall weep
by Charlaine Harris

"Following the murderous events of Serpent of Heaven, Lizbeth Rose is awaiting the arrival of her sister Felicia and her husband's younger brother Eli in Texoma. Both needed to leave the seat of the Holy Russian Empire in San Diego after Felicia's burgeoning wizardly power in death magic became the reason for kidnapping and assassination attempts from her mother's family of high-powered wizards in Mexico. Yet bad news has traveled ahead of them, as Eli is called back to San Diego, taking Peter along withhim, splitting them apart in more ways than one as their enemies' plans for revenge come to fruition"
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.  
Emily Wilde's compendium of lost tales : a novel
by Heather Fawcett

Renowned faerie scholar Emily Wilde must navigate the deadly intrigues of a faerie realm as they seize Wendell's throne and race to break a deadly curse, in the third novel of the series following Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands.
The city and its uncertain walls
by Haruki Murakami

"We begin with a nameless young couple: a boy and a girl, teenagers in love. One day, she disappears... and her absence haunts him for the rest of his life. Thus begins a search for this lost love that takes the man into middle age and on a journey between the real world and an other world--a mysterious, perhaps imaginary, walled town where unicorns roam, where a Gatekeeper determines who can enter and who must remain behind, and where shadows become untethered from their selves. Listening to his own dreams and premonitions, the man leaves his life in Tokyo behind and ventures to a small mountain town, where he becomes the head librarian, only to learn the mysterious circumstances surrounding the gentleman who had the job before him. As the seasons pass and the man grows more uncertain about the porous boundaries between these two worlds, he meets a strange young boy who helps him to see what he's been missing all along"
The last wizards' ball
by Charlaine Harris

"Lizbeth Rose's sister Felicia attends the Grand Wizards' Ball, and as one of the most powerful--and beautiful--death wizards in a generation, she is highly sought after as one of the belles of the ball. However, war and violence are on the rise in Europe as German and Japanese wizards are also courting Felicia . . . and some are refusing to take no for an answer. As the faưcade of genteel wizard society turns deadly, Lizbeth must learn to not only protect her sister, but also navigate the arcane world that is pulling her sister and husband into a dangerous dance with death that could change the world as they know it"
Contact your librarian for more great books! 
Central Mississippi Regional Library System
100 Tamberline Street, Brandon, Mississippi 39042
601-825-0100

https://www.cmrls.lib.ms.us