Fantasy and Science Fiction
February 2022
Recent Releases
Cyber Mage
by Saad Z. Hossain

Dhaka, Bangladesh, 2089: Teenage hacker Marzuk Khan Rahman discovers a powerful new AI, while sword-slinging "slum sipahi" Akramon Djibrel seeks to learn the fate of the long-vanished djinn.

Crossover alert: Although this intricately plotted fusion of fantasy and cyberpunk stands on its own, it's set in the same dystopian world as the author's Djinn City and The Gurkha and the Lord of Tuesday.

Also available in eBook on Hoopla
Where the Drowned Girls Go
by Seanan McGuire

Welcome to: Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children, an unorthodox boarding school for young people who’ve returned, often unwillingly, from journeys to fantasy realms. 

Where you'll meet: Cora, who's so traumatized by her experiences that she'll do anything to forget them -- including transfer to the sinister Whitethorn Institute, the anti-magic antithesis of West's school.

 
Battle of the Linguist Mages
by Scotto Moore

Starring: Isobel Bailie, Queen of Sparkle Dungeon, a virtual reality MMORPG about medieval rave warriors facing off against aliens.

What happens: Selected to participate in usability testing for the game's latest installment, Isobel soon discovers that she's the one being tested, and that her success (or failure) has real-world consequences.

 
How High We Go in the Dark
by Sequoia Nagamatsu

What it is: An "epic and deeply intimate" (Booklist) mosaic novel that charts the devastating course of the Arctic Plague, an infectious disease that emerges from melting permafrost in 2030 and transforms society.

Read it for: Realistically flawed characters, an intricate narrative structure, a bleak yet hopeful apocalyptic tale.

Also available in eBook & eAudiobook on Libby
Also available in eAudiobook on Hoopla
Daughter of the Moon Goddess
by Sue Lynn Tan

What it's about: Xingyin, daughter of the Moon Goddess and the archer Houyi, sets out on a quest to rescue her imprisoned mother that will take her to the Celestial Kingdom and into conflict with its Emperor.

Why you might like it: This coming-of-age story boasts a detailed and atmospheric setting, copious palace intrigue, action-packed battle scenes, and an angsty love triangle, all rendered in lyrical prose.


 
First Contact Stories
Semiosis
by Sue Burke

What it is: A multigenerational saga about a group of colonists who settle on the planet Pax, which hosts a variety of sentient native flora. 

Want a taste? "The war had begun long before we arrived because war was their way of life."

Also available in eAudiobook on Hoopla
The Three-Body Problem
by Cixin Liu; translated by Ken Liu

What it is: A sweeping, intricately plotted science fiction saga that follows the search for extraterrestrial life from China's Cultural Revolution to the present day.

Series alert: This 1st installment of the Remembrance of Earth's Past series continues with The Dark Forest and concludes with Death's End.

Also available in eAudiobook on Hoopla
Also available in eAudiobook on CloudLibrary
Children of Time
by Adrian Tchaikovsky

What it's about: A highly evolved race of spiders clash with the last humans in the universe, who discover their planet after fleeing a dying Earth.

Sequel alert: This Arthur C. Clarke Award-winning novel is followed by Children of Ruin.

 
Rosewater
by Tade Thompson

Welcome to: Rosewater, a doughnut-shaped Nigerian city that rings the mysterious alien biodome that has become an object of veneration since it first appeared back in 2055.

Where you'll meet: Government agent Kaaro, who owes his psychic abilities to the biodome. When his fellow "sensitives" start dying, Kaaro investigates and makes some unsettling discoveries about his past -- and his future.

 
The Lesson
by Cadwell Turnbull

What happens: The alien Ynaa occupy St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands, causing tension between the newcomers and the locals.

Why you might like it: This thought-provoking debut is at once an allegory for colonialism and a moving, character-driven first contact story.

Also available in eAudiobook on Libby
Contact your librarian for more great books!