| Machine by Elizabeth BearStarring: Doctor Llyn Jens of the Synarche Medical Vessel I Race to Seek the Living, who answers a distress call from an ancient Terran ship and stumbles upon a mystery.
Can you start here? Although this 2nd White Space novel stands on its own, it does contain some small spoilers for Ancestral Night.
For fans of: C.J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union series, James White's Sector General novels, or Murray Leinster's stories of the Interstellar Medical Service. |
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| The Burning God by R.F. KuangWhat it is: the highly anticipated conclusion to the Poppy War trilogy, which finds warrior Rin facing off against colonizers, corrupt rulers, and the gods themselves.
Is it for you? This ultra-violent military fantasy, set in a world reminiscent of 19th-century China and starring an opium-addicted heroine struggling with PTSD, does not pull any punches.
Should you start here? Due to the complexity of the plot and world-building, newcomers should start with The Poppy War, followed by The Dragon Republic. |
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Monsters in the Garden : An Anthology of Aotearoa New Zealand Science Fiction and Fantasy Too stuffy inside? All those familiar social realist furnishings, all those comfortable literary tropes. Perhaps a stroll out under the trees, where things are breezier, stranger, more liable to break the rules. You may meet monsters out there, true. But that's the point. Casting its net widely, this anthology of Aotearoa-New Zealand science fiction and fantasy ranges from the satirical novels of the 19th-century utopians – one of which includes the first description of atmospheric aerobreaking in world literature – to the bleeding edge of now. Spaceships and worried sheep. Dragons and AI. The shopping mall that swallowed the Earth. The deviant, the fishy and the rum, all bioengineered for your reading pleasure. Featuring stories by some of the country’s best known writers as well as work from exciting new talent, Monsters in the Garden invites you for a walk on the wild side. We promise you'll get back safely. Unchanged? Well, that's another question.
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| The Midnight Bargain by C.L. PolkWhat it's about: Beatrice Clayborn dreams of becoming a Magus, but her family insists that she find a husband during the upcoming Bargaining Season. Will learning forbidden magic from an ancient grimoire empower her to determine her own fate?
Why you might like it: This series opener by the author of Witchmark boasts an evocative setting reminiscent of Regency England, an inventive magic system, and a gentle romance.
For fans of: Zen Cho's Sorcerer Royal books or Mary Robinette Kowal's Glamourist series. |
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Black sun
by Rebecca Roanhorse
A trilogy debut by the Nebula Award-winning author of Star Wars: Resistance Reborn is inspired by the civilizations of the Pre-Columbian Americas and follows the unbalancing of the holy city of Tova amid a fateful solstice eclipse.
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| The Fires of Vengeance by Evan WinterWhat it is: the sequel to The Rage of Dragons, which follows warrior Tau and exiled queen Tsiora as they plot to reclaim what's rightfully theirs.
Why you might like it: This 2nd book in the Burning series boasts plenty of action, a growing cast of intriguing characters, and a vividly depicted, Africa-inspired setting.
For fans of: the inventive system of magic in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn novels, the gritty battles of Joe Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, and the world-building of Pierce Brown's Red Rising trilogy. |
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Ashes of the sun
by Django Wexler
Torn apart in a magical war, Gyre comes face-to-face with his long-lost sister, Maya, who has become a magic-wielding warrior in the twelve intervening years in the first novel of a new series.
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Queen
by Timothy Zahn
A conclusion to the space-opera trilogy that began with Pawn finds Nicole and her fellow sentients swept up in a faction war that complicates her efforts to restore freedom to the shanghaied prisoners aboard the alien ship, Fyrantha.
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Books You May Have Missed
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| The Unwilling by Kelly BraffetStarring: Judah, a foundling whose special abilities put her in danger of becoming a pawn in the schemes of powerful people.
Is it for you? Life is nasty, brutish, and short in this violent, verging-on-grimdark fantasy novel, which regularly subjects its characters to abuse and torture.
Reviewers say: "Suspenseful, magical, wonderfully written, and never predictable" (Booklist). |
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| A Beginning at the End by Mike ChenWhat it is: an introspective post-apocalyptic novel that follows four people as they attempt to put their lives back together in the aftermath of a pandemic.
For fans of: Yoko Tawada's The Emissary, Kimi Eisele's The Lightest Object in the Universe, or Lily Brooks-Dalton's Good Morning, Midnight.
About the author: Mike Chen is the author of Here and Now and Then, as well as the forthcoming We Could Be Heroes. |
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| A Hero Born by Yong Jin; translated by Anna HolmwoodIntroducing: Guo Jing, an orphan trained by Seven Freaks of Jiangnan to fulfill his heroic destiny.
Why you might like it: Set during the Jin-Song wars, A Hero Born offers an enchanting blend of Chinese history, legend, and martial arts.
Series alert: First published in China in 1957 and finally available in English, this beloved wuxia novel kicks off the Legends of the Condor Heroes series, which continues with A Bond Undone and A Snake Lies Waiting. |
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QualityLand
by Marc-Uwe Kling
A U.S. release of an international best-seller imagines a country where a universal ranking system determines its citizens’ statuses, careers and romantic partners, where a machine scrapper becomes the unwitting leader of a band of misfit robots.
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Goldilocks
by Laura Lam
Five women spearhead a mission to find somewhere humanity can survive in the Goldilocks Zone, but someone on board is concealing a terrible secret
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| The Seep by Chana PorterIn a world... where a benevolent alien presence known as The Seep has transformed human society into a peaceful, post-capitalist utopia where now-immortal people can "recreate" into any form they wish, Trina Goldberg-Oneka, a middle-aged trans woman, mourns the loss of her wife, who has chosen to be reborn as a baby.
For fans of: the ambiguous alien invasions of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End and Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis series; the lyrical prose and dreamlike atmosphere of Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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