Mary Riley Styles Public Library: Fantasy and Science Fiction: April 2026

Supporting COMMUNITY. Inspiring DISCOVERY. Promoting LITERACY.

Recent Releases

Ruins
by Lily Brooks-Dalton

Professor Ember Agni is a rising star in archeology, trying to balance an unfulfilling career in academia and a crumbling marriage, all while pursuing her true passion: unearthing a lost empire that no one else believes existed. Just as she's about to give up on the ambitious expedition she spent a decade trying to fund, a message arrives from overseas. A former student claims to have found something extraordinary-an artifact that hints at the forgotten world lying beneath history's tidy surface. With vindication finally within reach, Ember risks everything for the sake of discovery and undertakes an odyssey that will either make her name or ruin her. Driven by unwavering faith in her vision of the past, she challenges the limits of her nation, her colleagues, and herself in order to exhume the missing pieces of how humanity began.

The Subtle Art of Folding Space
by John Chu

Polygon Ellie's universe--and this one--is falling apart. Her ailing mother is in a coma; her sister, Chris, accuses her of being insufficiently Chinese between assassination attempts; and a shadowy cabal of engineers is trying to hijack the skunkworks, the machinery that keeps the physics of each universe working the way it's supposed to. Daniel, Ellie's cousin, has found an illicit device in the skunkworks--one that keeps Ellie's comatose mother alive while also creating destabilizing bugs in the physics of this universe. It's not a good day. If she can confront her mother's legacy and overcome her family's generational trauma, she just might find a way to preserve the skunkworks and reconcile with her sister...but digging into her family's past is thornier than it seems, and the secrets she uncovers will force Ellie to choose between her family and the universe itself.

Nine Goblins: A Tale of Low Fantasy and High Mischief
by T. Kingfisher

Goblins aren't known for their fighting prowess, but Sergeant Nessika and her Whinin' Niners squadron have no choice against the humans encroaching on their territory. When a wizard teleports them behind enemy lines, they'll have their work cut out for them surviving long enough to go home. Fans of Delilah S. Dawson's Kill the Farm Boy and Terry Pratchett's Discworld series will enjoy this irreverent and thoughtful fantasy.

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me
by Ilona Andrews

When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn't take her long to recognize Kair Toren, a city she knows intimately from the pages of the famously unfinished dark fantasy series she's been obsessively reading and re-reading while waiting years for the final novel.
Her only tools for navigating this gritty world of rival warlords, magic, and mayhem? Her encyclopedic knowledge of the plot, the setting, and the characters' ambitions and fates. But while she quickly discovers she cannot be killed (though many will try!), the same cannot be said for the living, breathing characters she's coming to love--a motley band that includes a former lady's maid, a deadly assassin, various outrageous magical creatures, and a dangerously appealing soldier. Soon, instead of trying to get home, she finds herself enmeshed in the schemes--and attentions--of dueling princes, dukes, and villains, all while trying to save them and the kingdom of Rellas from the way she knows their stories will end: in a cataclysmic war.

Halcyon Years
by Alastair Reynolds

When a member of one of the most elite families on the starship Halcyon is mysteriously murdered, private investigator Yuri Gagarin is on the case. However, he gets caught between his client, Ruby Red, and Ruby Blue, the woman trying to stop him from digging too deep. With "a fun futuristic twist to the traditional private eye tropes," (Booklist) fans of Andy Weir's Artemis and the Cyberpunk 2077 franchise will have fun with this new science fiction noir.

Half City
by Kate Golden

Welcome back to Harker Academy for Deviant Defense, where the line between hunter and hunted has never been thinner. Viv Abbot will do whatever it takes to rescue Reid Graveheart, the reformed Brood demon she loves--even if it means teaming up with his violent, unpredictable older brother, Deacon. Her uneasy truce with him offers Viv something Reid never could: the chance to embrace her darkness. As the search for Reid intensifies, Viv and her friends must maintain appearances on Harker grounds while wading into Astera's seedy underbelly with none other than the White Stag as their guide. But when a bounty on Viv's head puts those she cares about most in danger, Viv will be forced to go to lengths she never dreamed in order to protect them. Who can she really trust in a city that thrives on lies?

Devil of the Deep
by Falencia Jean-Francois

Lu watched the love of his life walk the plank and sink into the inky-black depths of the sea. Nnenna was dead . . . or so he thought.Five years later, Lieutenant Lu Ortega, dutiful fleet officer, embarks on a mission to hunt down a powerful talisman now in the hands of a runaway mermaid. On his quest, he discovers the impossible: Nnenna is still alive. Fierce and cunning, and as breathtaking as ever, Nnenna 's won enough bloody sword fights as a pirate captain to earn the nickname Devil of the Deep. She has come to reject the system of order that Lu clings to, and worse, she's protecting the very quarry he's tracking: Pearl Highwater, who has defied the all-powerful sea god and might hold a valuable key to finding her people's lost island.When the tides and fates bring them together, Nnenna, Lu, and Pearl must choose their loyalties, find their courage, and race to protect the island from false gods and forces of evil--or risk unleashing an ancient curse that could destroy them all.

The Wind Weaver
by Julie Johnson

Rhya Fleetwood is a healer, an outcast, and like the realm itself--about to die. Or so she thought. When the ruthless Commander Scythe plucks her from the vile clutches of her executioner there's no time to feel relief. Her new captor wants Rhya for his own secret ends and they all lead back to the mysterious birthmark which brands her as a Remnant. One of four souls capable of calling forth inconceivable elemental power. Rhya knows she must master the wind that whispers within her and make an escape. But as she is dragged across treacherous terrain with Scythe's formidable band of soldiers, something keeps her at his side. Inside her, a tempest roars--terror and desire. Soon, she knows she must choose. Follow her magic, or her heart...

The Book of Blood & Roses
by Annie Summerlee

In this paranormal fantasy series starter, vampire hunter Rebecca Charity goes undercover at a school for vampires in the Scottish Highlands to get revenge for her murdered parents; however, her plans are disrupted as she starts falling for her powerful and beautiful roommate Aliz Astra. For fans of: LGBTQIA+ romantic fantasy and intricately plotted stories where the hunter falls for their quarry, such as Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell and As Many Souls As Stars by Natasha Siegel.

The Poet Empress
by Shen Tao

Wei Yin has only joined the Azalea House as a concubine out of desperation to save her family. But civil war may be on the horizon, and to survive, Wei may have to put herself directly in danger by harnessing the power of poetry magic in a world where women are forbidden to read. This tale of imperial court drama and immersive fantasy features a compelling and complex heroine who will do anything to survive, perfect for fans of R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War and Shelley Parker Chan's She Who Became the Sun.

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Mary Riley Styles Public Library

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