It is very difficult to talk about books right now.
It’s rare that I find talking about books to be frivolous. Especially in this time of increased book bans targeting work by historically marginalized authors, I’m keenly aware of the ways that literature and culture are intertwined. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, dear reader, how shaped we are by what we read, and how reading widely and diversely can affect the way we empathize with other people. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that cultural fear that targets books and writers speaks to a wider desire to control how others think and feel. And I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that all art is political, and that it is impossible for writing not to be influenced by political agendas, historical moments, and cultural values.
Especially when it comes to genre fiction, which can be viewed as having less literary value even in the best of times, we see how politics and culture seep into our imaginations. We’ve seen what happens when authors use a trek across Middle-earth with hobbits and elves to convey the terrible effects of war and the devastation of industry on natural resources. On the flip side, we’ve seen how an author’s secretly held beliefs can bleed into their work and into the minds of children, how a fictional school we were told would always welcome us home has since shut its doors to certain types of readers. We know how trips across the stars and conversations with aliens can teach us about home and humanity, how the further we are from reality, the more we can say what cannot be said in the real world. Speculative fiction’s ability to extend metaphor into the creation of new worlds and systems is the most important tool artists have to explore what could be, what should be, and what ought never be. You know as well as I that we are not simply talking about faeries here.
It is hard to balance my desire to uplift writers and their work with the crushing despair I feel watching devastation unfold in front of our eyes. And even as I sit here, I can’t escape the irony of writing this out and then presenting you with a list of books I hope you’ll read. But at the end of the day, I love the books. I love them, I know you love them too. They keep us centered.
I hold on to one truth: that art matters, that making art matters even in times of darkness, or most especially in times of darkness. We create because we are human, we seek out art to connect with other humans. We read, we feel. We feel history’s weight behind us and the future before us. We dream of other worlds, and we are reminded of our own world, of our place in it, of each other.
I hope that soon there will be a permanent ceasefire. I hope that you know, in your heart, that words have power—and that the words of poets and writers martyred by this atrocity will echo throughout time. I hope that through the creation and admiration of art, we find some joy.
Here are some books I hope you’ll read in the first half of the year.
First, a few you may have already heard about: We’re getting a new release from Brandon Sanderson called The Sunlit Man (March 5, Tor Books), as well as a new Cixin Liu, View from the Stars, a collection of stories and essays (April 2, Tor Books). The newest entry in Sarah J. Maas’ Crescent City series is House of Flame and Shadow (January 30, Bloomsbury), and R. A. Salvatore starts a new fantasy trilogy with Pinquickle’s Folly (April 16, Saga). The Book of Ile-Rien is a collection of Martha Wells’s previously out-of-print fantasies with revised text (February 27, Tordotcom Publishing), there will be a collection of short fiction from Ann Leckie called Lake of Souls (April 2, Orbit), and a brand new work of fiction from icon Peter S. Beagle called I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons (May 14, Saga). We’ll also be getting Mike Chen’s A Quantum Love Story (January 30, MIRA), Wicked Problems from Max Gladstone (April 9, Tordotcom Publishing), The Bezzle by Cory Doctorow (February 20, Tor Books), and The Bad Ones from Melissa Albert (February 20, Flatiron). Additionally, Veronica Roth makes her fantasy debut with When Among Crows (May 14, Tor Books), and a new beauty from Helen Oyeyemi, Parasol Against the Axe (March 5, Riverhead).
We’ll also get to revisit some extraordinary worlds and continue reading some of our favorite series this year. There’s a new entry in the Singing Hills Cycle from Nghi Vo called The Brides of High Hill (May 7, Tordotcom), a new Emily Wilde story from Heather Fawcett titled Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (January 16, Del Rey), and a new book set in the world of Lovecraft Country, The Destroyer of Worlds from Matt Ruff (February 21, Harper). The next in Tahereh Mafi’s This Woven Kingdom series is called All This Twisted Glory (February 6, Harper Collins), Amélie Wen Zhao’s Song of the Last Kingdom continues with Dark Star Burning, Ash Falls White (January 2, Delacorte), and Xiran Jay Zhao follows Iron Widow with the much anticipated Heavenly Tyrant (April 30, Tundra Books). Hannah Kaner continues the adventures of Inara and Skedi in Sunbringer (March 12, Harper Voyager), Terry J. Benton-Walker’s tale of New Orleans’ magical community continues with Blood Justice (April 23, Tor Teen), M.K. Lobb follows Seven Faceless Saints with Disciples of Chaos (February 20, Litte, Brown BYR), and Joan He’s Kingdom of Three duology completes with Sound the Gong (April 30, Roaring Brook Press). There’s a follow up to T. Kingfisher’s gothic novella What Moves the Dead titled What Feasts at Night (February 13, Tor Nightfire) as well as a sequel to Liz Kerin’s Night’s Edge called First Light (April 23, Tor Nightfire). Mark Lawrence continues his Librarians series with The Book That Broke the World (April 9, Ace), The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles is the second book in Malka Older’s Mossa and Pleiti series (February 13, Tordotcom), and Moses Ose Utomi returns to The Forever Desert in The Truth of the Aleke (March 5, Tordotcom). We’ll also get Carissa Broadbent’s The Ashes and the Star-Cursed King (June 4, Bramble), and a sequel many years in the making, Nisi Shawl’s follow up to the classic novel Everfair, Kinning (January 23, Tor Books).
Stephen Graham Jones closes out his brilliant Indian Lake trilogy with The Angel of Indian Lake (March 26, Saga), we’ll also see the finale of Brigid Kemmerer’s Defy the Night series with Destroy the Day (January 23, Bloomsbury YA) and the conclusion to Rebecca Roanhorse’s Between Earth and Sky trilogy, Mirrored Heavens (June 4, Saga Press). Holly Black also closes out her Stolen Heir series with The Prisoner’s Throne (March 5, Little, Brown BYR), H.A Clarke’s Scapegracers series concludes with The Feast Makers (March 26, Erewhon), Victoria Aveyard’s Fate Breaker is the finale to her Realm Breaker trilogy (February 27, HarperTeen), H.M. Long’s Four Pillars series ends with Pillar of Ash (January 16, Titan), David Dalglish’s Vagrant Gods trilogy wraps up with The Slain Divine (January 9, Orbit), as does Leslie Vedder’s Bone Spindle trilogy with The Cursed Rose (February 9, Razorbill. Other series finales include The Eternal Ones from Namina Forna (February 13, Delacorte), Sarah Raughley’s The Lady of Rapture (April 16, Margaret K. McElderry), Adam Silvera’s Infinity Kings (March 12, Quill Tree Books), and Lori M. Lee’s Calling of Light (April 16, Page Street YA). And Olivie Blake’s Atlas series comes to an end with The Atlas Complex (January 9, Tor Books).
There are also a couple of titles I want to point out specifically: Sun of Blood & Ruin by Mariely Lares (Harper Voyager), which I mentioned last time, has moved to February 20. If you’re into nonfiction, please be sure to check out two speculative-adjacent essay collections—Dinner on Monster Island by Tania De Rozario (February 6, Harper Perennial) and Vanessa Angélica Villarreal’s Magical/Realism (May 14, Tiny Reparations Books).
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan
Following her mother’s death, Sana and her father move from Johannesburg into a new house by the coast—an once-great mansion now in need of much repair, with flickering lights and tattered curtains, that has since been converted into apartments. They are searching for Home, that elusive concept, and a fresh start. But of course, in a house like that, it’s only a matter of time before quiet and socially uncomfortable Sana starts to see things—a figure in a window gone in a blink, a flicker in the dark out of the corner of her eye. There are many secrets in a house like that. And when Sana manages to unlock a door that’s been closed for years, the djinn in its wardrobe wakes up. The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years is a novel filled with equal amounts of eeriness and heart, a gothic that stretches beyond the confines of its old house. Written with an incredibly skilled hand and the tenderness necessary to apply to a story of tragedy and loneliness, this novel explores memory and connection to discover that there is indeed still life amongst the decay. (January 9, Viking)
Exordia by Seth Dickinson
Hey. Hey come here. Come over here for a second. You wanna read something weird?? Well I’ve got just the book for you. Seth Dickinson’s Exordia is the unhinged action-adventure sci-fi of your dreams. We follow Anna, a Kurdish refugee turned recently fired cog in the corporate machine, who agrees to let an alien she discovers in Central Park become her roommate. NYC rent is absolutely insane so, this makes sense. Ssrin (aka Sexy Snake Wife) offers money in exchange for Anna’s help finding the evil entity that is hunting her. Anna and Ssrin find themselves connected—both emotionally because they are quite similar and literally because Ssrin can communicate telepathically—but whether this arrangement is gonna work out or not remains to be seen. This is a book that seems to say, humans are kind of shitty but it’s fine, maybe even good, and also modern life would be unmanageable without stories to guide us. Exordia is so clever and so funny and so absolutely wild. Plus it has an alien reading several books at one time because she’s got multiple heads, so. What more could you want really? (January 23, Tordotcom Publishing)
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
Where the world was once filled with elves, fae, and humans, now only the elves remain, divided into tribes locked in a forever war for land and resources. Yeeran is about to become colonel of the Waning elf army, and is ready to lead her troops—only to make a critical mistake on her very first day. Her actions would normally result in her death, and she is only saved by the will of the chieftain, who also happens to be Yeeran’s lover. But exile is no comfortable fate, and so Yeeran, along with her sister Lettle (a diviner), and her Captain Rayan venture out beyond their homeland and discovers that the vicious fae may not have been lost to time and myth after all. Saara El-Arifi’s epic Faebound is a twisting, magical journey into lands unknown, both literal and emotional for the characters involved. With their fates intertwined, the sisters and hot captain boy are made to re-learn everything they thought they knew about the world—but I wanna be clear, this isn’t so much about war and politics as it is about romance (there is only one bed! and the ladies have knives!) and cultural commentary. El-Arifi’s latest hooks you right at the start but will keep surprising you throughout, and is a promising start to a new trilogy. (January 23, Del Rey)
Your Utopia by Bora Chung
Your Utopia is the second collection of Bora Chung stories translated by the masterful Anton Hur, filled with hilarious and uncanny tales of a future that is just kind of shitty and weird—which feels accurate, considering how our current dystopia is going. Chung’s style is casual and conversational in a way that makes you feel like you’re listening to a friend, and it’s only afterwards that you realize how deeply weird that story was. Everything is ordinary until its not: a low-level employee is told to invite a celebrity to the anniversary gala for the Center of Immortality Research, scientists board a spaceship to escape the most chill apocalypse ever, a husband confronts his wife about the mysterious after-hours phone calls she’s making only to hear her confesses she’s an alien. Chung’s imaginative, curious, and expertly crafted stories are not to be missed. (January 30, Algonquin)
Infinity Alchemist by Kacen Callender
I’m not gonna lie to you, it didn’t occur to me until now that Kacen Callender has only been writing middle grade. Their work is attention-grabbing, with enough crossover appeal that I didn’t even notice they were writing for an entirely different audience than the ones I normally pay attention to. But it’s true, Infinity Alchemist is their debut YA fantasy, and it follows Ash, a young man who works as a groundskeeper at the prestigious Lancaster College of Alchemic Science—because he couldn’t get in to the school to study. He’s been secretly teaching himself magic (super illegal without a license, because the system is designed to keep people like him out), and it’s all very Good Will Hunting. Except that when he gets caught doing a sneaky little spell in the office of one Professor Ramsay Thorne (hot, young, tragic past), he’s given a choice: help with the hot professor’s unfunded project/quest to find a mythical book of magic (dangerous, secret, probably real sexy) or get reported. I’ll give you one guess as to what he chooses. With one of my favorite tropes, hot annoyance to begrudging partners to lovers (NOT enemies-to-lovers as it is often mistakenly called), Infinity Alchemist is an addictive, propulsive fantasy that challenges systems of wealth and power. (February 6, Tor Teen)
The Tainted Cup by Robert Jackson Bennett
First of all let me say: this starts off with the coolest murder scene EVER. Body rammed through by a group of trees? What a way to go! I mean, sucks for that guy, but I love the drama of it all. Dinios Kol is told that initially it was difficult to even identify it as a body, or possibly several bodies—and the only testimonies available are from the household staff, who can’t help screaming because of the thing they’ve seen. Fortunately Din has been altered to remember everything he sees using scent as a key, which makes him the best assistant for lead detective Ana Dolabra, a Sherlockian wonder assigned to the case. So begins the newest from Robert Jackson Bennet, an elaborate, cerebral speculative mystery. Look y’all, I read a lot of fantasy and a lot of it feels very similar. There are plenty of good reasons for that, but sometimes you want something that feels radically new. Believe me when I say the eco-futurist setting of The Tainted Cup is one of the most inventive fantasy worlds I have encountered in a really long time, and I am so thankful for that. Bennet lets it all unfold with decisive skill, so if you’re looking to get deeply involved in the details, this is the one for you. (February 6, Del Rey)
Projections by S.E. Porter
Catherine’s untimely murder at the hands of a so-called friend has left her spirit entangled with his life—and when he flees the murder scene afterwards, he unwittingly carries her to Nautilus, the city of sorcerers (which is a great name for a magic city as far as I’m concerned). Since Nautilus is a place beyond the mortal world, she is unable to move on. This is, as to be expected, alarming for both of them. Even more alarming when she learns that he murdered her because she doesn’t love him. We, dear readers, can translate this to: he is a bitch ass no good slimy piece of shit, a fact which thankfully Catherine recognizes. And look, we’ve all been there. A guy claims to like you, you’re not feeling it, the instant you tell him he says something like “you’re a bitch anyway who would want you” or whatever. And since he’s an evil magician he plans to exact his bitchassness on other women throughout time until one of them loves him back or he stops being such a bitchass. And ghost Catherine has to witness all of this. So S.E. Porter’s first book for adults might as well have been called Men Ain’t Shit: A Novel. Projections is a dark fantasy exploration of misogyny and vengeance and womanhood, and is absolutely one for all the angry girls out there. (February 13, Tor Books)
The Book of Love by Kelly Link
So I hear Kelly Link has written a novel…
Kelly Link is, hands-down, one of the best writers we have working today. In any genre. In every genre. If you’re not familiar with her, I honestly don’t know what you’ve been doing with your time and you should be ashamed of yourself. But up until now, she has worked exclusively in the medium of short fiction. The Book of Love, her first novel, is anything but short—it is a masterpiece of epic proportions. I almost don’t want to tell you too much about it because it is so weird and wonderful that it eludes all explanations. What I will say is that it follows a group of teenagers who have been resurrected from their untimely death, or rather, have forcibly crawled their way back to life. In a bid to stay alive, they agree to a deal with two entities that may or may not be gods, but one of them is definitely their music teacher. What happens from there is an exploration of life and its value, of love and friendship, of the little things that make it all worth it. It is weird and wonderful, and you will feel so many emotions you won’t know what to do with yourself. This is a book to treasure. (February 13, Penguin Random House)
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
If this isnt one of the biggest books in YA this year, I’ll be shocked. I’ve been waiting for this new book from Hafsah Faizal ever since it was announced, because it has everything you could possibly want—vampires, a heist, a cozy tearoom that turns into a vampire speakeasy, a magic pistol, a hot rich snarky vampire boy. Are you ready to be obsessed? If not, you better get ready. A Tempest of Tea follows Arthie, owner of the aforementioned tearoom-turned-bloodhouse, with the pistol she’s pulled out of the stone (you might guess where this is going), her right hand man Jin, and her crew of outcasts as they fight to protect their beloved tea room from the government that seeks to oppress and silence them. Of course that means making a deal with the aforementioned hot rich vampire boy. Of course that means getting into some wild shit and surviving by the skin of their teeth. Of course that means romance and adventure and laughter along the way. Faizal has absolutely knocked this out of the park, so put on your tea kettle and settle in for a good time. (February 20, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan
In a city where humans and creatures of the sea—the titular fathomfolk—live side by side, half-siren Mira has worked to become captain of the border guards. As the first of her kind in the military, she knows her position of precarious, and there is no shortage of discrimination faced by herself and the other folk. Under the water, rebellious and strong-willed Nami is attempting to steal the last dragon egg, something the humans view as a symbol of peace but Nami knows is false hope. Seawitch Cordelia manipulates behind the scenes, striking deals to further her own agenda. In Fathomfolk, Chan uses these three characters to explore the various ways people react to living as a minority in a highly divided society—Mira is on a lawful path, Nami is a revolutionary, Cordelia is focused on gaming the system for personal gain—each of which have political advantages and failures, none of which are easy. And there are plenty of complex political issues explored in this novel—everything from climate change and displacement to the interplay of race and class. Chan sets up an expansive world, one which goes way beyond the pages of this first book—and will no doubt continue to grow as the series progresses. Plus there are some truly epic food descriptions, which only adds to the magic of this solid debut. (February 27, Orbit)
Where the Dark Stands Still by A.B. Poranek
I need you to know that I devoured this book in two days. I stopped only to sleep. I just love me a dark magic forest and a hot monster, okay? Fight me. Where the Dark Stands Still follows Liska, who lives in a town on the edge of the spirit woods and is desperately trying to hide the big, dangerous magic she has inside of her. In an attempt to get rid of her big dangerous magic, she follows the legend of a wish-granting flower into the spirit woods. Only once she’s there, she is found by the Leszy—demon guardian of the forest, and certified hottie. He gives her a deal: serve him for one year, and he’ll grant her wish. So she moves into his decaying, sentient forest house. Which is pretty much the dream if you ask me. This book has big Howl’s Moving Castle vibes, with a slow burn romance and plenty of dark magic to propel them into dangerous yet romantic entanglements. And I would have read eighty million more pages of it. (February 27, Margaret K. McElderry Books)
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
Premee Mohamed is one of the most prolific SFF writers out there (and one of the funniest people on the internet) yet I feel like not enough people have taken serious notice of this her yet. That’s gonna change right now, with you and me. We’re all on Team Premee now, okay? Good. This is her first fantasy, and it’s an absolute stunner. It’s a rude morning interruption when the guards come for her. Veris (middle-aged, total badass) is still in her bathrobe when she’s brought before the Tyrant, who demands her assistance in finding his children, who have gone missing in the forest. You know, the forest that no one but Veris has ever come out of alive. The forest where something lives that likes to lure children away. And Veris doesn’t really have a choice but to go, again, into the dark and wild place. And because of the horrors of the forest, she only has a day. The Butcher of the Forest is the best of the fantasy genre packed into a powerful novella. Written with the deft hands of a master, this is a tale for anyone who loves an ancient cursed forest (including us, Team Premee), a take-no-shit protagonist (also us), and exciting, inventive magic (you guessed it—we love that shit). (February 27, Tordotcom Publishing)
Those Beyond the Wall by Micaiah Johnson
When a book starts off with an epigraph from poet Danez Smith, you know it’s going to be a banger. Right from the beginning, Michaiah Johnson is clearly ready to lay something epic down, and that’s exactly what she does in this standalone set in the same universe as The Space Between Worlds. Scales is a tough-as-nails mechanic in Ashtown who likes to flirt and fix things. She also works for the emperor, who she has a unique relationship with—she’s good at what she does and favored because of it. And while she’s a badass, nothing can prepare her for watching a woman crushed like a tin can by some invisible force right before her eyes, a horrific death like nothing anyone’s ever seen before. The wastelands outside of Wiley City aren’t easy to survive and thrive in as it is, and made even more so when five more bodies turn up, all killed in the same fashion and all seemingly at the same moment. Thats how Scales gets sent to see scientist Adam Bosch, and subsequently gets pulled into events she does not really want to be a part of. But Scales is an interesting narrator, having been incredibly traumatized by this world and its systems, and is propelled by that throughout—rage and an instinct to fight against injustices drive the narrative, but she has moments of tenderness and connection too, showing how vital that is for survival in a harsh world. Johnson’s second novel has big Mad Max: Fury Road vibes, but with a murder mystery that will keep you turning pages. (March 12, Del Rey)
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley
It is an incredibly ambitious novel, this. Natasha Pulley has made a name for herself as a genre-leaping powerhouse, but while most of her previous work has gone more historical, The Mars House takes us into a future where a climate apocalypse has forced humans to begin colonizing Mars. But when ballet dancer January arrives, Martian society is divided in two—Naturalized humans, whose bodies are adjusted to life on Mars, and Earthstrongers—whose bones are so dense, a simple touch could kill someone who is naturalized. The residents of Mars view Earthstrongers as a threat, and so politicians are working to Naturalize everyone, which comes with benefits (jobs, universal basic income, healthcare) but could be disabling or deadly. January gets pulled into political turmoil, where there’s much more to uncover—and maybe a bit of romance, too. Pulleys’ vision of the future is deceptively progressive (though definitely queer normative) with the very realistic view that where humans progress, there is always an equal amount of push back by those who want everything to stay the same. The Mars House is a complex and captivating story—especially if you’re a footnotes sicko like me!! (March 19, Bloomsbury)
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo
It’s been really lovely to see a growing number of novels featuring trans protagonists tackle historical narratives—there’s often a worry that doing so will necessitate a certain amount of transphobia within the narrative and that the author will have to engage in some uncomfortable misgendering of their own characters while simultaneously combating the long held cis-het idea that trans people didn’t exist before the 1990s. While some of that is true, watching trans writers hold space for their ancestors in a way that both honors their identities but doesn’t hide away from their struggles is truly marvelous. Lee Mandelo’s The Woods All Black is one such story, following Leslie, a front nurse in 1929 who, after a breakup, takes a position in Appalachia, hoping to help a small community with medical needs as well as whispered needs (like birth control and trans healthcare, etc). He’s not what the town is expecting however—they expected someone in a skirt—and the local congregation is not pleased. And there’s something strange about the town. And there’s something moving in the woods. Mandelo’s expertly crafted historical horror is everything he does best as a writer—smart and spooky and sexy, with deep emotions running throughout. (March 19, Tordotcom Publishing)
The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le
Nhika isn’t welcome here in Theumas, as one of the few remaining members of her ethnic group, and the last Bloodcarver —a healing magic specific to her origins that was supposedly wiped out by the colonizers (and her people have a very different name for it). Her magic works kind of like a big CT scan but without going into a loud metal tube; she’s able to see ailments clearly in the body and make change on a cellular level. It’s a practice that’s outlawed and feared, and though she’s been hiding her abilities under the guise of folk healing with tinctures and essential oils, one choice finds her kidnapped and sold to a rich family who seeks to use her powers to solve the mystery of their patriarch’s death. It is not easy to blend multiple genres in a single work. Many have tried, often it feels clunky and overstuffed, but Vanessa Le’s The Last Bloodcarver manages to build a blended world that doesn’t feel jarring—magic and technology live side by side in a sorta steampunky fashion. It allows for commentary on the delineation between indigenous practices and what’s allowed to be called “modern science”, and how the ruling class’ idea of progress can seriously harm minority cultures. Le weaves a lot through this story, and it’s a perfect example of what the best contemporary YA fantasy can do—give us a dynamic plot, sparkling characters, and social commentary all at once. (March 19, Wednesday Books)
The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
Oh, it’s just so beautiful. It’s so beautiful, my friends, you must believe me. In The Emperor and the Endless Palace, Justinian Huang has crafted an epic love story that transcends lifetimes, a tale of reincarnation, two souls destined for each other through it all: He Shican and Huang Jiulang in 18th century China, Dong Xian and Commander Jujun in 4 BCE, River and Joey in Present Day L.A. Now, at the risk of being sentimental, I do believe in soulmates and true love. I believe there’s nothing more wonderful than when two people find each other against all odds. And the most enchanting part of this novel is exactly that—how they find each other and fight for their love. Sometimes the fight is big and political, sometimes it’s small and personal, but the swell of emotion is no less powerful either way. Huang has penned something important in The Emperor and the Endless Palace, a novel that ought to sit on your shelf next to Garth Greenwell and Alexander Chee. It is, simply, spectacular. (March 26, MIRA)
Darker by Four by June CL Tan
June CL Tan just knows what the people want. We want drama, we want sharply dressed boys being moody on rooftops, we want the mixing of old gods and new tech, we want complicated emotions and characters with slightly broken moral compasses. Everyone in Darker by Four is pretty and they all make terrible decisions and I love them, they’re my disaster babies. A sign from the heavens indicates that the kings of the underworld must save the soul of a mother and her unborn child, but it comes at a cost—the disappearance of Four, one of the Kings of the Underworld and head reaper Nikai’s best friend. Eighteen years later, hardworking and talented Rui is training to join the Exorcist Guild. When a spell gone wrong transfers her powers to Yiran, the non-magical but extremely sassy second son of a rich family (think: Chuck Bass but better), the two are drawn together and become vital elements in the search for the missing King of Hell. There’s no shortage of complications here—dangerous deals are made, evil Revenants threaten the human world, and everyone’s kinda sad and horny. But it’s also sweet and funny and full of heart. With a cast of extremely lovable idiots, June CL Tan gives us a a sleek urban fantasy that is an undeniable page-turner. Read Darker By Four and get ready to adopt a new blorbo. (April 2, HarperTeen)
Someone You Can Build a Nest In by John Wiswell
Monster romance lovers, stand up! It’s our time! I’ve introduced you to Alien Wife (Exordia‘s Ssrin) and now I’d like you to meet your Monster Wife: Shesheshen, a heartless (literally) shapeshifter who dines on humans like she’s at a three Michelin star restaurant. She’s living her best life in her caves, minding her own monstery business until a group of hunters come along and wound her. Assisted by her pet bear, Blueberry (!!! are you FUCKING KIDDING ME that’s cute as hell), Shesheshen uses the human bones she’s consumed to form a body and ventures down to the town to find a way to heal in the form of human meat—and instead, she finds Homily, who nurses her back to health. And friends, it’s just so much fun, it’s weird and wonderful and sweet and funny. I don’t know how to explain— actually, you know what you need to do? Go google both the US and UK covers for this book. Both of them are accurate. That’s the vibe. (April 2, DAW)
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
So I have to tell you, this is one of the two books on this list I haven’t actually gotten the chance to read yet. That’s because Bardguo’s newest novel is under LOCK AND KEY. And rightly so! Bardugo’s ambitious catalog comes with an army of fans, and no one wants to spoil anything about the author’s latest work. What we know is that it’s a historical fantasy set in Spain’s Golden Age, that it follows a young girl with secret magical abilities who is yanked from her life as a scullion and forced to use her skills to help the family she works for, which embroils her in intrigue, political schemes, and a whole new magical world. What I can guess is that, knowing Bardguo’s talent for complex plots, this book will take us on a million twists and turns, each darker and more dangerous form the last. I’ve read enough of her books to know we’re in good hands no matter what she does, and I trust that The Familiar will be the latest in a long line of total knockouts. (April 9, Flatiron)
To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods by Molly X. Chang
I was unprepared for this, I have to say—Chang’s debut is a morally complex story that does not shy away from darkness. I could tell you that it’s a story about magic and death, and the price paid for power, or that it’s about the brutal relationship between colonized and colonizer, and the sacrifices people make for survival. But that’s only a small slice of the pie here. We follow Ruying, a young woman living in Jing-City under Roman occupation with the power to pull qi from humans—a power she resists the urge to use on a daily basis. But of course, dangerous times call for dangerous measures, and her power is eventually discovered, forcing her into a situation with a Roman prince she can’t get out of. Ruying’s journey is not an easy one, and not one everyone will be comfortable with—but how can anyone make good choices under tyrannical rule? To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods is an ambitious project that finds an interesting balance between history and fantasy, and is sure to spark many vital conversations. (April 16, Del Rey)
The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djèlí Clark
Eveen is not a cat, but she is most certainly dead and most certainly a trained killer. And she’s one of the best—part of a guild dedicated to serving Aeril, Matron of Assassins. It’s weird that she agreed to this before she died, and she now has no memories from her time as an alive person so all she really knows about how she got into this was that she did it to herself, but that’s besides the point. Eveen takes a contract from someone who has paid an insane amount to stay anonymous, which means it’s a juicy but potentially dangerous get for her. But she’s good at her job, she’s stealthy and doesn’t need to sleep, so it should be no problem. Should be being the key phrase here, because of course the person she’s supposed to kill is someone her heart recognizes, even despite her lack of memories, and it all spirals out from there. It is insane to me what P. Djèlí Clark can do with the novella form, it feels so effortless that I never once think ‘oh I wish this were full-length’. It doesn’t need to be, it’s perfect as it is. Clark is a master of banter-y dialog and clever prose and agile worldbuilding, and Eveen is a snarky protagonist who I desperately want to be best friends with. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins is the latest entry in Clark’s impressive oeuvre, and it’s a perfectly crafted adventure. (April 23, Tordotcom Publishing)
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea by Rebecca Thorne
Let’s be honest with each other here. Every single one of us (yes, even you, don’t lie to yourself or to me) has thought about running away from our lives and opening a bookstore/tea house/bar/potion shop. Bookstore & coffee/tea shop at the same time is the ultimate combo. It’s the dream, right? And it’s the dream that Reyna (sexy & stabby guard for the queen) and her girlfriend Kianthe (powerful magic babe, ideal couple dynamic in my opinion) have. Only they both have terribly important jobs, and there are dire consequences for them if they just up and go. For Reyna especially, abandoning her post is treason—but the queen is a tyrant, and so of course she goes anyway. What begins then is a different kind of adventure for the two young lovers. Unlike other books of the same ilk, the stakes aren’t that low in this one, but the romance and the dream of a comfier life is definitely the driving force. So if you’re fully in your Cozy Fantasy era, Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea simply must be on your shelf. (May 7, Bramble)
A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur
Iseul treads across the landscape in search of her sister Suyeon, who has been kidnapped by the tyrant king Yeonsan. It’s a lost cause, they tell her, the tyrant takes and takes and gives nothing back. He takes wives from husbands, land from its people. But Iseul is determined, despite how dangerous it is. She believes that if she can catch Nameless Flower, the vigilante killing the king’s sympathizers, the kind might just let her see her sister. On the other side of things, Prince Daehyun walks a fine line as the king’s illegitimate half-brother—while he cannot take the throne, he knows how evil the king is, and something must be done about it. He smiles to the king’s face while plotting against him, a treasonous act that could result in a massive backlash all around. This is a tale of revenge and determination and making alliances in the most unlikely of places—both Iseul and Daehyun are slow to trust and have seen some real horrors, yet have hope for a brighter future for all. A Crane Among Wolves brings attention to a dark time in Korean history while still highlighting June Hur’s trademark skill for devastatingly romantic relationships, told in such achingly lovely prose that will capture you from the very first page. (May 14, Feiwel & Friends)
Lost Ark Dreaming by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Suyi Davies Okungbowa has steadily been making a name for himself as a genre-crossing powerhouse, and is poised to be a driving force in speculative fiction. Lost Ark Dreaming is an impressive dystopian sci-fi by way of Ballard’s High-Rise. Once, there was the city of Lagos, before the water rose and flooded. Then, there were the Fingers—a collection of high rise buildings on a man made island off the coast, designed to serve as both home and community, luxury apartments along with stores and banks and everything a person could possibly need so they never have to leave. Now, the Pinnacle (the tallest building, guess which finger) serves as the centerpiece for a society now stratified into Lowers, Midders, and Uppers, as the waters rise and only a few have the ability to live above. The landlord corporation serves as government (a thought that is deeply horrifying to me, a New Yorker, a place with a less organized but still stratified way of living and the lion’s share of terrible landlords). But a crack in the walls of a Lower floor is enough to change the lives of three people, and kick start a fast-paced thriller packed full of social commentary, history and mythology, and impressive plot twists. Okungbowa successfully layers POVs to pull of a very big story in a small amount of time, a tale of a future that seems all too possible given the pace of gentrification and climate change. Lost Ark Dreaming simply cannot be missed. (May 21, Tordotcom Publishing)
Ninetails: Nine Tales by Sally Wen Mao
This is the second on the list that I haven’t gotten the chance to actually read yet but, *slams fists on table* I love poets writing prose fiction!!!!!! Because poets are not only spectacular with words, but I believe they fundamentally see the world in a different way, which is a prime cocktail for some excellent speculative fiction if you ask me. I’ve loved reading Sally Wen Mao’s work for years and am beyond thrilled that she’s putting a collection of short stories out in the world. These stories will explore myth and folklore from Chinese culture — shapeshifting foxes, ghosts, mysterious goddesses—as well as immigration, sexuality, Asian American identity, and more with linguistic skill and spectacular imagination. Knowing Ninetails was was a two book deal and there’s a novel to follow only makes this release even sweeter. (May 28, Penguin Books)
Mouth by Puloma Ghosh
I’m going to start off by saying, this one is not for normal readers. This one is for weirdos. The people who like the weirdness to creep up on them until you’re wondering how far the creep is gonna go, the ones who understand the intrinsic link between sexuality and sadness. Puloma Ghosh’s stories are about obsession and hunger and yearning, about feeling alone and strange, about blood and sex and the pain of belonging to two places and nowhere all at the same time. A young girl becomes fixated on a fellow ice dancer who she thinks might be a vampire. A city begins to lose its women, and instead becomes overpopulated by wolves. A freshman is visited by the campus ghost and becomes curious about her mysterious legacy. With effortless prose and skillfully applied surrealism, Mouth is an unforgettable debut collection from a writer I cannot wait to see more from. (June 11, Astra House)
Craft: Stories I Wrote for the Devil by Ananda Lima
In 1999, a writer meets the Devil at a Halloween party. She is dressed as slutty Nancy Reagan, he is dressed as “The Future” (you’ll get it, once you read it). They get to talking, she commiserates about the man she’s in love with who is in love with her friend, and he admits to being the Devil. Like, the actual Devil. He calls them ‘kindred spirits’. They sleep together, once, that night. And afterward, she begins to write stories for him. What unfolds in the pages of Ananda Lima’s debut story collection is a series of surrealist, spooky, sexy tales that are completely unpredictable and utterly fascinating. Using a unique blend of horror and literary weirdness, Lima’s work discusses what it means to belong (or not) in another land, to search for home, and to discover who the devil might really be. (June 18, Tor Books)
Rakesfall by Vajra Chandrasekera
I dunno what to say, Vajra Chandrasekera is just a lyrical genius. The sentences are just so damn scrumptious I’m almost mad about it. The kind of sentences you want to read over and over again until you realize you’ve been on the same page for ten minutes because you’re just trying to soak it all into your brain. Like, Chandrasekera could be writing about traffic lights changing color and I would read it and be fucking riveted. It is shocking to me that this man is not a poet. He is a poet. Anyway. Rakesfall is story within story within story, a tale of reincarnation and entangled souls. Leveret and Annelid are two characters played by actors on TV, they watch the dead children who watch them. Leveret and Annelid are the same person, maybe, or maybe it doesn’t matter. Leveret and Annelid are passing through worlds, living anew, over and over again. Leveret and Annelid are caught between war and death and ghosts and the jungle and their families, destined or cursed to experience the world together, through violence and oppression and all the shitty things humans do to each other. Chandrasekera’s imagination is seemingly boundless, and Rakesfall takes is everywhere and anywhere while still feeling rooted in its intentions. Plus, like I said earlier, the prose is so stunning it makes me want to scream into a pillow. You know, like a normal person. It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Vajra Chandrasekera please write a collection of poetry thank you. (June 18, Tordotcom Publishing)
We Shall Be Monsters by Tara Sim
This isn’t a spoiler cuz it’s on the first page—this book opens with a girl punching her way out of her own coffin. If that isn’t a fucking badass start to a book, I don’t know what is. A character introduction up there with Captain Jack Sparrow coming in on the sinking boat, you know? Our badass Kajal didn’t actually die in the accident that put her in the coffin—but unfortunately, her sister did. She then—get this—steals her sister and RIDES OFF ON A DEMON HORSE. If that’s not enough to get you to pick this book up, I don’t know, friend, you might be dead inside. It’s a Frankenstein retelling (kinda), so Kajal then goes on to attempt the resurrection of her sister, and undoubtedly there are some insane complications, a little romance, and a little revolution maybe (as a treat). PLUS there’s an undead dog. Just in case you needed a cherry on top to convince you to read Tara Sim’s new dark and dramatic masterpiece. (June 25, Nancy Paulsen Books)
Stay tuned for more in the second half of the year, and happy reading.
