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Fantasy and Science Fiction October 2020
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| Piranesi by Susanna ClarkeThe only people in the world: "Piranesi," the narrator, and his mysterious mentor, known as "the Other," who dwell in the House, a surreal labyrinthine building full of impossible things.
Why you might like it: This long-awaited novel by the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell offers a puzzle box of a plot and metafictional magical realism wrapped up in lyrical prose.
Reviewers say: "a tenebrous study in solitude" (The Guardian). |
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| Ink & Sigil by Kevin HearneStarring: Aloysius "Al" MacBharrais, a Glaswegian sigil agent whose job is to enforce treaties between humans and supernatural beings.
What happens: After losing his most recent apprentice (they never last long), Al discovers that the man was involved in some shady business with the Fae.
Series alert: Ink & Sigil is a stand-alone novel set in the world of the author's Iron Druid Chronicles (which begins with Hounded). |
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Dead Lies Dreaming
by Charles Stross
What happens: As Wendy hunts down Imp—the cyberpunk head of a band calling themselves “The Lost Boys”— she is dragged into the schemes of louche billionaire Rupert de Montfort Bigge. Rupert has discovered that the sole surviving copy of the long-lost concordance to the one true Necronomicon is up for underground auction in London. He hires Imp’s sister, Eve, to procure it by any means necessary, and in the process, he encounters Wendy Deere.
Series alert: Dead Lies Dreaming is the 10th book in the Laundry Files series.
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| The Memory of Souls by Jenn LyonsWhat it is: the 3rd installment of the Chorus of Dragons series, after The Ruin of Kings and The Name of All Things.
What's at stake: the wards that confine Vol Karoth, king of demons, are weakening and that's bad news.
Read it for: inventive world-building, an intricately plotted story that unfolds from multiple perspectives, and a genderfluid trio of leads whose will-they-won't-they relationship evolves throughout the series. |
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| Hench by Natalie Zina WalschotsIn a world... where supervillains rely on a thriving gig economy to supply them with cheap, expendable minions, freelance "hench" Anna Tromedlov survives an encounter with a superhero and decides to use her data analysis skills to reveal who the real bad guys are.
Reviewers say: "A fiendishly clever novel that fizzes with moxie and malice" (Kirkus Reviews).
For fans of: Austin Grossman's Soon I Will Be Invincible, V.E. Schwab's Vicious, or the Amazon series The Boys. |
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The Monster of Elendhaven
by Jennifer Giesbrecht
A thing with no name—after washing up on the docks, empty, alone and unable to die—teams up with a frail young man who can twist minds with magic, and together they launch a dark and cruel plan that consummates their horrible passion for each other.
Reviewers say: "The uncovering of secrets and the evolving relationship of Johann and Florian is a true delight and is supported by crisp dialogue and narration. With elements of gothic, horror, and fantasy, the story will appeal to readers who enjoy witty and dark tales smeared with blood and vengeance." Booklist
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We are Where the Nightmares Go : and other stories
by C. Robert Cargill
Fantastical monsters are reimagined in a collection of short stories that includes "The Town That Wasn't," which sees the inhabitants of a small town disappear one-by-one as the dead return to steal the souls of the living.
Reviewers say: "Cargill has a gift for haunting imagery as well as exuberant gore, and most of his horror has a beating heart, albeit a bloody one. His fans will be thrilled by this strong collection." Publisher's Weekly
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| Lovecraft Country: A Novel by Matt RuffChicago, 1954: Black army veteran Atticus Turner sets out on a road trip across the segregated United States to find his missing father, encountering both racism and eldritch horrors along the way.
Media buzz: Lovecraft Country is now a critically acclaimed HBO series.
For fans of: dark fantasy that employs Lovecraftian themes to examine racism, such as Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic, or N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became. |
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| Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeerWhat happens: A biologist, a psychologist, a surveyor, and an anthropologist set out on a scientific expedition to Area X, a quarantined zone that defies all attempts to map its terrain. Eleven previous missions have failed; is the 12th time the charm?
Read it for: the palpable sense of menace that permeates the dreamlike narrative; embedded homages to works of classic SF (such as the Strugatsky Brothers' Roadside Picnic).
Series alert: This Nebula and Shirley Jackson Award winner kicks of the Southern Reach trilogy, followed by Authority and Acceptance. |
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Little Eyes
by Samanta Schweblin
They've infiltrated homes in Hong Kong, shops in Vancouver, the streets of in Sierra Leone, town squares in Oaxaca, schools in Tel Aviv, bedrooms in Indiana. They're everywhere. They're here. They're us. They're not pets, or ghosts, or robots. They're real people, but how can a person living in Berlin walk freely through the living room of someone in Sydney? How can someone in Bangkok have breakfast with your children in Buenos Aires, without your knowing? Especially when these people are completely anonymous, unknown, unfindable.
The characters in Samanta Schweblin's brilliant new novel, Little Eyes, reveal the beauty of connection between far-flung souls--but yet they also expose the ugly side of our increasingly linked world. Trusting strangers can lead to unexpected love, playful encounters, and marvelous adventure, but what happens when it can also pave the way for unimaginable terror?
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Contact your library for more great books!
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