Science Fiction/Fantasy

This book is part of our Fall Reading Challenge 2023. Read more about the challenge here.

Should all curses be broken? This lush, subversive retelling of Sleeping Beauty turns the fairytale on its head. This is the story of Toadling, the faerie who is guarding the tower within which the princess sleeps. T. Kingfisher brings us a polished gem with this beautiful novella. The world-building is rich and verdant. The prose is lyrical, haunting, and sweet. Thornhedge is pure magic. Toadling will steal your heart.

—Trey

This was so much fun! Wole Talabi has created a rich and vibrant world just on the other side of ours. Drawing from the Yoruba spiritual traditions, this fast-paced adventure bounces back and forth across time and place, drawing the path that brought gods of nightmare and sky, ancient demons, and hapless magicians to an epic love story and an elaborate, magical heist to determine the fate of the orisha. A perfect escape for any fantasy reader.

—Jocelyn

Oh God, The Sun Goes is a bizarre and lovely meditation on what happens to us when the object or person we've chosen to orbit disappears. With the sun serving as metaphor for whatever has been the object of our love, this novel explores loss both ontologically as well as psychologically, as we follow our unnamed main character through the various brain regions processing his loss. I loved this strange and poetic little book!

—Zoe

Godkiller immediately drew me into a barbaric world where characters must traverse through a lens of their individual experiences with gods and humans, blurring the lines of their own beliefs and morals along the way. Kaner’s imaginative writing and unique approach to the relationship between humans and gods will keep you turning the page throughout this vivid fantasy of intrigue and mystery! Brace yourselves for a world of deceptive promises and white lies.

—Taylor

From the very first page, Victor LaValle’s Lone Women pulls you in and never lets go. You become heavily invested in Adelaide Henry’s journey from a small Black farming community in Southern California to the wide-open spaces of Montana in 1914 and equally as curious about what is in her heavy steamer trunk. Disturbing characters fighting their own inner demons and strong female protagonists banding together in the wild frontier to do battle with evil makes for a wild ride. 

—Kristina

Sisters of the Lost Nation by Nick Medina is a suspenseful and engaging debut thriller, one that will sit with you after the last page. Weaving in Native folklore, Medina paints a tragic tale about the all-too-real horrors of Native women disappearing and the heartbreaking, out-of-balance reality many Native People experience daily. A powerful coming-of-age novel about facing long-held fears to become a voice for the missing and the heart of a tribe. 

—Kristina

This is a major departure from Martha Wells’s Murderbot series. Kai is a demon capable of inhabiting the bodies of the recently deceased. But not even his powers can match the might of the mysterious Hierarchs, whose only goal seems to be to subjugate others. You can expect top-notch world building, endlessly compelling characters, and Wells’s signature humor. I can’t stop thinking about this one. 

— Ivy

I have been a fan of Ann Leckie’s for years now, and I am beyond thrilled to see her return to the Ancillary universe. Leckie asks hard questions and challenges our notions of gender, identity, and the nature of humanity. Oh. And she’s a master of high-octane space battles. This one is a standalone, so you can just dive in, but I do highly recommend you read anything at all by her. You won’t be disappointed. 

—Jax

This supernatural tale grabbed me by the throat and dragged me under. What begins as a simple story of two sisters reuniting for their father’s funeral transforms into a haunting exploration of the family’s dark past, their island’s monstrous origins, and the hidden powers that have been growing inside them. This novel is strange, engrossing, and a wonderful exploration of how both trauma and love surpass the physical realm and change us from within.  —NIKOLE

The City Inside is now available in English! Privacy is a thing of the past in Basu’s dystopian India. The biggest industry is of celebrities livestreaming themselves. Basu’s bright characters and their journey through this all-too-familiar near-future takes the reader across class and caste, violence and meme, rebellion and selling out, boiling down all doubts, ambitions, fears, and moral ambiguity.  —JOCELYN