| The Tyrant Baru Cormorant by Seth DickinsonWhat it is: the 3rd installment of the Masquerade trilogy, after The Traitor Baru Cormorant and The Monster Baru Cormorant, in which the titular protagonist continues her quest to bring down an empire.
Is it for you? Readers seeking an escape from present reality should note that a pandemic figures prominently in this novel's intricate plot.
Read it for: lush prose, twisty political intrigue, detailed world-building, and a complex protagonist who will sacrifice everything -- and everyone -- to achieve her goals. |
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The City of a Thousand Faces
by Walker Dryden
A sweeping historical fantasy saga based on the hit podcast Tumanbay. Tumanbay, the most magnificent city on earth. The beating heart of a vast empire. A city of dreams, where those who arrived as slaves now reside in the seat of power. But the wheel of fate is never still, from the gilded rooftops to the dark catacombs, there are secrets waiting to be uncovered. For Gregor, Master of the Palace Guard, the work of rooting out spies and traitors is never done. His brother, the great General Qulan, must quell a distant rebellion. Whilst Shajah, chief wife to the Sultan, is suspicious that her new maid Sarah is not who she claims to be. And a mysterious stranger arrives with a gift for the Sultan himself. A gift that will change Tumanbay forever.
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Axiom's End
by Lindsay Ellis
The co-creator of the It’s Lit! web series presents the alternate-history tale of a woman who becomes an interpreter for an unknown being when her estranged whistleblower father launches a media frenzy about a first-contact cover-up. 60,000 first printing.
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Flyaway
by Kathleen Jennings
"In a small Western Queensland town, a reserved young woman receives a note from one of her vanished brothers-a note that makes question her memories of their disappearance and her father's departure. A beguiling story that proves that gothic delights and uncanny family horror can live-and even thrive-under a burning sun, Flyaway introduces readers to Bettina Scott, whose search for the truth throws her into tales of eerie dogs, vanished schools, cursed monsters, and enchanted bottles"
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| The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah JohnsonIntroducing: Cara, a "traverser" at the Eldridge Institute of Earth Zero, which sends its employees, mostly poor people of color, on dangerous data-harvesting assignments in other dimensions.
What happens: As someone whose "dop" (counterpart) has died in 373 out of 380 known alternate Earths, Cara can travel almost anywhere in the multiverse, which is how she can discover a worlds-altering secret while keeping a few of her own.
Want a taste? "Even worthless things can become valuable once they become rare. This is the grand lesson of my life." |
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| Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn MuirWhat it is: the much-anticipated sequel to the Locus Award-winning Gideon the Ninth, this time focusing on Lady Harrowhark Nonagesimus, now Lyctor to the Emperor.
Is it for you? Although Harrow the Ninth shares its predecessor's setting and stylistic verve, the perspective shifts of Harrow's dissociative viewpoint makes it a very different reading experience.
Want a taste? "It was in the close of the myriadic year of our Lord -- that far-off King of Necromancers, that blessed Resurrector of Saints! -- that you picked up your sword. That was your first big mistake." |
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Star Daughter
by Shveta Thakrar
When her human father is injured by a starfire flare, half-star Sheetal embarks on a quest to a celestial court of shining wonders and dark shadows inspired by Hindu mythology to track down her star mother and participate in a competition to determine the sky’s next ruling house.
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| All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane AndersThen: magic user Patricia Delfine and science geek Laurence Armstead become friends, their bond a shield against school bullies.
Now: They reunite as adults in San Francisco, where Laurence is an engineer and Patricia is a witch. Both are trying to save a world on the brink of destruction, but will their efforts do more harm than good?
Why you might like it: Set in a pre-Apocalyptic world that pits technology and magic against each other, this fantastical coming-of-age story is also a moving meditation on friendship and belonging. |
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| Vita Nostra by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko; translated by Julia Meitov HerseyWhat happens: Encouraged by her mysterious mentor-turned-benefactor, 17-year-old Sasha Samokhina enrolls in the Institute of Special Technologies, an unusual school that harbors dark secrets.
Reviewers say: "an unnerving, deeply philosophical coming-of-age tale" (Publishers Weekly).
For fans of: Leigh Bardugo's Ninth House, Sarah Gailey's Magic for Liars, or Elisabeth Thomas' Catherine House. |
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| The Magicians by Lev GrossmanIntroducing: High-school senior Quentin Coldwater, who has just been accepted to the exclusive Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy.
What happens: Practicing magic turns out to be far less glamorous -- and much more dangerous -- than it sounds. (Especially once Quentin learns that the fantasy series that inspired him to become a magician is not exactly fiction).
Media buzz: This series opener and its sequels, The Magician King and The Magician's Land, serve as the source material for the television series of the same name. |
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The highest frontier
by Joan Slonczewski
Preparing to enter her first year at a college located in orbit, Jennifer Ramos Kennedy grieves the untimely death of her twin brother and is urged to fulfill the expectations of her influential family in the wake of a surge in global warming and a threat by an invasive alien species
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Unseen Academicals
by Terry Pratchett
One of Terry Pratchett's most popular Discworld Novels adapted for the stage by long-time friend and collaborator Stephen Briggs. Football has come to the ancient city of Ankh-Morpork, and now the wizards of Unseen University must win a football match, without using magic.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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