Kelly Barnhill
[isbn]
A few things to know about me as a reader: I’m a sucker for a literalized metaphor; I’m very invested in the expression of female rage; and I love dragons. I’m also a huge fan of Kelly Barnhill’s middle grade writing (The Girl Who Drank the Moon is a masterpiece that should be devoured by readers of all ages), so when I found out she was writing an adult fiction novel in which unhappy, furious women spontaneously turned into dragons, my... (read more)
Recommended by Madeline S.
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Django Wexler
[isbn]
Isoka, a ward boss in the slums, is used to violence. She’ll gladly confront and create it to keep her younger sister safe. But when her hidden magical talent is discovered, that dedication is held over her head: to save her sister, she must become a sacrifice to a ghost ship of legend and claim it for the emperor. With a compelling cast of characters and world building reminiscent of Brandon Sanderson, I can’t wait to see where this series goes... (read more)
Recommended by Madeline S.
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Brandon Sanderson
[isbn]
Spensa has lived her whole life in the underground caverns of Detritus, the shipwreck planet that houses the last bastion of humanity. Her father inspired her to fly, but his desertion branded her a coward’s daughter. How can she claim the stars if the admiralty won’t let her reach them? A thrilling start to a sweeping new series!
Recommended by Madeline S.
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Garth Nix
[isbn]
Sabriel lives in Ancelstierre, where magic isn't real — or so they say. Across the Wall in the Old Kingdom, the living dead walk, and Sabriel must take up the bells of the Abhorsen, a Necromancer tasked with keeping the dead at rest. A fascinating, unforgettable blending of worlds from a master storyteller!
Recommended by Madeline S.
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Philip Pullman
[isbn]
This oft-banned book is a must-read for any fan of sci-fi or fantasy. In a world where the soul takes the shape of an animal companion, or daemon, young Lyra Belacqua and her daemon, Pan, leave their home in Oxford to embark on a dangerous adventure to the Arctic — and beyond. This trilogy contains some of the most thoughtful, beautifully written genre fiction I've ever encountered.
Recommended by Madeline S.
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Neil Gaiman
[isbn]
"I think
that I would rather recollect
a life mis-spent on fragile things
than spent avoiding moral debt."
So begins Gaiman's introduction to this collection of "short fictions and wonders," which reads as a short story itself. The writing herein is some of Gaiman's best, and this oft-overlooked book makes an excellent gift for any fan of this master storyteller's other works.
Recommended by Madeline S.
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Neil Gaiman
[isbn]
This slim book holds heavy truths about the human heart, family, friendship, and sacrifice, all written in classic Gaiman style. Steeped in mythology and longing, it's a book I could not put down but nonetheless didn't want to finish.
Recommended by Marianne T
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Annie Carl
[isbn]
Unique stories, profound stories, wacky stories, highly imaginative stories, all offered through the lens of disability representation. This collection is as compelling — and fun — as it is important.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Kim Harrison
[isbn]
As a long-time reader of Kim Harrison's urban fantasy books, the upcoming arrival of her newest series almost slipped past my radar. Once found, I pounced on a copy of Three Kinds of Lucky, and then quickly devoured it. It was so enjoyable to dive into a completely new series, with unique new magical elements and complicated characters. I am now enamored of the world where certain people can see the residue left over from using magic,... (read more)
Recommended by Mecca A.
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Kelly Link
[isbn]
Kelly Link's debut novel is as expansive, funny, human, and strange as I could've possibly hoped. The Book of Love reads like it has a heart, beating so strongly and desperately, it strains at its container. The story is full of grief and friendship and acrimony, teenagers trying to sort through impossible feelings and circumstances, memories that erode and rewrite themselves and turn inside out. It's such a phenomenal feat; I'm so... (read more)
Recommended by Kelsey F.
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Jacqueline Carey
[isbn]
Come back to the world of Terre d'Ange, a land full of secrets. Relive the action of the epic fantasy, Kushiel's Dart, now told from the eyes of Joscelin. Kushiel's Dart followed bond servant Phedre as she rises through the court as a courtesan/spy, and the betrayals that land her and her guard, Joscelin, in the hand of the enemy as they fight to save their country. Cassiel's Servant is Joscelin's experiences from their... (read more)
Recommended by Mecca A.
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Anna Burke
[isbn]
I discovered Anna Burke this year with Compass Rose and immediately got my hands on every book of hers I could. Roses of Pieria was an absolute delight. Dark academia! Urban fantasy! Vampires! Greek (alternate) history! Mushroom fae! Shapeshifters! I know it sounds like an impossible mishmash, but it does everything with a clear purpose and a skillful execution. The characters were stunning and the sapphic dynamics were so... (read more)
Recommended by Carlee B
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Catherine Leroux and Susan Ouriou
[isbn]
This incredible work tackles problems both fictional and very real. Alongside the poisoned rivers and regenerative houses, Leroux also beautifully addresses ongoing racial and economic injustice, pollution, and violence. However, in this same struggle, we find strength, resilience, and power in community. In the strange world we live in today, this book is important and a great reminder that we are strongest as a community.
Recommended by Aster A.
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Heather Fawcett
[isbn]
Besides a grumpy, young professor, this book has FAIRIES and adventure, romance, mystery… and did I say FAIRIES? This is a highly entertaining read that I thoroughly enjoyed. (And even the professor isn’t so grumpy in the end!)
Recommended by Marianne T
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Arkady Martine
[isbn]
The most hardcore, creative, complex, compelling world I've had the privilege of inhabiting all year. Mahit travels to the Teixcalaanli empire as ambassador from her tiny independent space station in hopes of keeping the massive, politically hungry neighbor from annexing them, only to somersault into loads of trouble. A phenomenal thought experiment in the tradition of Le Guin or Herbert on the seductive pull of empire, the fraught nature of... (read more)
Recommended by SitaraG
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Travis Baldree
[isbn]
Bookshops and Bonedust is a love letter to the book all wrapped up in a cozy fantasy setting. I fell in love with the dreamy coastal town of Murk, the hodgepodge of memorable characters, and with the joy of finding the right title at the right time. This book left me longing for books I've never read (and for all of Travis Baldree's future books)!
Recommended by Lindsay P
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Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
[isbn]
Just imagine Baba Yaga as a youthful Slavic goddess, fighting for good and maybe falling in love, all during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. There's something here for anyone who enjoys history, mythology, even romance. I could not put this book down!
Recommended by Marianne T
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Chengen Wu, Julia Lovell
[isbn]
If the impulsive, incorrigible, immortal kung-fu monkey doesn't sell you, maybe the lovely allegory for enlightenment will. One of the most fun and gripping classics out there.
Recommended by Edme G.
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Anna Burke
[isbn]
Compass Rose gave me the story I didn’t know I was looking for. I’m always interested in narratives where being queer isn’t the focal point, but is still intrinsic to the characters. This was exactly what I wanted. Rose is a complex protagonist with character growth that surprised me in the best ways. Her relationship with Miranda (the hot pirate captain) is an important part of the plot, but it’s not the entire plot. The supporting... (read more)
Recommended by Carlee B
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TJ Klune
[isbn]
It is very possible that I am making TJ Klune books my entire personality, but when you're gifted with characters like Ox, a loyal, fierce, strong, passionate, protective pack member, how can you blame me? I've never been more invested in the well being of characters like Ox and the rest of his packpackpack.
Recommended by Chris P.
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Djuna and Anton Hur
[isbn]
The Korean conglomerate LK is creating an elevator into Earth’s orbit on the fictional island of Patusan, much to the displeasure of the Patusan people. This new hub of travel to and from our planet has turned their once quiet one-time stop tropical resort into a bustling gateway to the beyond. Originally planned to be a low-budget sci-fi movie, this antic novel features a maze of fake identities, neuro-implants, and political grievances from the... (read more)
Recommended by Aster A.
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Alexandra Rowland
[isbn]
I read A Taste of Gold and Iron in 2022 and loved it more each time. It’s a beautiful, character-driven fantasy romance. The fantasy world is interesting, the sprinkle of magic is just enough, and the secondary characters are wonderfully fleshed out. But the draw for me, and what brought me back again, was the two main characters: Kadou and Evemer. They both shine so brightly in this narrative; as they stumble through their (wrong) first... (read more)
Recommended by Anna B.
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Fonda Lee
[isbn]
I have no idea how to do justice to this series, dear god Fonda Lee — a rip-roaring world so complex that it feels impossibly real, Lee's series is as heartfelt and complicated as her characters and each book somehow raises the emotional and literal stakes of the last until the last jaw dropping page. Slick, sexy, and smart as hell, perfect for fans of Jemisin's Broken Earth Trilogy and Ang Lee movies.
Recommended by SitaraG
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Victoria Goddard
[isbn]
if you're looking for doom and gloom, war, and morally gray characters, this is not the book for you. If, however, you want to read about good men trying to make the world a better place through government reform and the most profound friendship that exists, please read this book!
Recommended by Anna B.
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Victoria Goddard
[isbn]
This book should not be as good as it is. It wanders. It's lengthy. The vast majority of it is inside Kip's head, going over and over what he's feeling and what he's thinking at any given moment. But it's so good.
This is the most emotionally well-paced and cathartic book I've ever read. There were chapters where I had to reread sentences, paragraphs, pages over and over because I could not process the emotional weight fast enough. I wanted to... (read more)
Recommended by Anna B.
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Cassandra Khaw
[isbn]
Without a doubt, the most insane thing (actually and in a good way) you'll read in 112 pages. The fairy tales got everything wrong. The kids are all frankensteined, the mermaid is eating discarded body parts, and the plague doctor is the hottest character ever written. Cassandra Khaw, I love you.
Recommended by Stacy W.
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Susanna Clarke
[isbn]
This book is simple and stunning, elegant and totally engrossing. The author of the famous Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell has once again created something brilliant and memorable, and I was captivated with Piranesi from the start. A perfect read for any season!
Recommended by Marianne T
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Rebecca Yarros
[isbn]
I am absolutely obsessed with Fourth Wing in all its brutal beauty. Dragons, death, betrayal, and enemies-to-lovers spice, I really couldn't ask for more. Violet is an amazing protagonist, and her chronic illness is based off of the author's own experiences with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Reading this gave me that elusive feeling of exhilaration I'm always looking for in a book. I can't wait for the sequel!
Recommended by Charlotte S.
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Sue Lynn Tan
[isbn]
Based on Chinese mythology, the immortal world of the Celestial Kingdom is absolutely entrancing, as is Xingyin's journey from servant to celebrated archer of the royal army. It's a story about love and lies and just how far she's willing to go to free her mother from banishment.
Recommended by Carly J.
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Roshani Chokshi
[isbn]
Set in 1800s Paris, treasure hunter Severin enlists a crew to help him steal magical artifacts from a secret society. It's Dan Brown meets Six of Crows with intriguing puzzles, high stakes, and a dynamic and diverse ensemble cast. Chokshi delivers lush prose to craft a world that's both glittering and gritty.
Recommended by Carly J.
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Mary Doria Russell
[isbn]
This book absolutely dazzled me, taking a common sci-fi premise — humanity finally makes contact with alien life — and making it feel completely new. A team of scientists, anthropologists, and linguists journeys into space to meet the newly discovered extraterrestial culture. Their mission is funded by the Jesuits, but there are a range of religious beliefs, and lack thereof, among them. The vision of what the alien world would be like is... (read more)
Recommended by Claire A.
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Moniquill Blackgoose
[isbn]
To Shape a Dragon's Breath is a book I want to shove into everyone's hands. Anequs is a fantastic lead, and the supporting characters are wonderfully diverse. It is a fun and smart alt-history that leans into a very cool science system that relates to dragons and the riders that study at the academy Anequs is forced to attend. But Anequs is an indigenous native of these colonized lands, and she begins to learn that there are much older... (read more)
Recommended by Lesley A.
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Alice Hoffman
[isbn]
Like a lot of folks, I grew up with Practical Magic somehow constantly playing on TV somewhere in the house, so I think I went into Hoffman's book with low expectations and unintentionally did myself a favor. Pretty much a total departure from the movie, Hoffman's classic is still just as sweet and sexy — the Owen sisters navigate their supposed magical gifts and outwit complicated familial curses with their love for each other and their... (read more)
Recommended by SitaraG
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Nathan Tavares
[isbn]
This is one of those books where you can tell the author's whole heart was in every single word. Kaleidoscopic in scale and with an infatuating cast of characters you can root for, A Fractured Infinity erupts in the same heart-tugging way Everything Everywhere All at Once did when it broke you in half. Remember?
Recommended by Stacy W.
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Rowenna Miller
[isbn]
A bobble here, for fair weather. A trinket there, to find something lost. These bargains are simple; these bargains are safe. But when the family orchard is on the brink of insolvency, when the fabric of society is on the cusp of upheaval, when the safety of your dearest loved one is on the line — how do you articulate what you truly need? And where the fae are concerned, how can you be certain you can bear the price? I was enchanted and startled... (read more)
Recommended by Brandon S.
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TJ Klune
[isbn]
Klune does it again! In the Lives of Puppets is a story about the power of found family, the lengths we go to for the people we love most, and how everyone is deserving of love and happiness. Featuring an anxious vacuum cleaner, a sociopathic robotic nurse, and lessons on what it means to be human, this book is not to be missed. And yes, you will need tissues!
Recommended by Chris P.
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T Kingfisher
[isbn]
Kingfisher weaves in vivid and jarring elements of horror — a pelican dentist, a cursed ventriloquist, and more — into this high-fantasy story in a way that scared but also delighted me.
Recommended by Sarah B.
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Rivers Solomon
[isbn]
An Unkindness of Ghosts is a beautiful and visceral story about Aster, a neurodivergent queer person aboard the low decks of the HSS Matilda. She and the other residents of the ship fly towards the supposed Promised Land. While this novel is hard sci-fi among the stars, it is also an analysis of racism, classism, and ableism. Aster is definitely one of my favorite neurodivergent characters.
Recommended by Rin S.
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Olivie Blake
[isbn]
The dark academia viral sensation filled with magic, mayhem, mystery, and a deadly competition.
Recommended by Taylor W.
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Fonda Lee
[isbn]
Woman-led fantasy with middle-eastern mythology? Manticores?? Rocs??? Destructive paths of revenge???? ARE YOU KIDDING ME????? Excuse me while I scream about this book until I get a film adaption.
Recommended by Stacy W.
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Alex Woodroe
[isbn]
If your eyes aren't on Portland-based publisher Tenebrous Press, you may need to get your prescription checked. This collection of Weird (with a capital "W") horror stories was concocted to unsettle and perplex you, and that it will. Highlighting Mae Murray's "The Imperfection" and Carson Winter's "In Haskins." Long live the Weird!
Recommended by Stacy W.
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Ta-Nehisi Coates
[isbn]
Gosh, this book was lovely. His lyrical style works wonderfully in this book, which transforms the underground railroad with magical realism. Highly recommended!
Recommended by Lesley A.
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Peng Shepherd
[isbn]
I really enjoyed getting lost in this story — maps, mystery, and a touch of magic — how could you go wrong? The characters are dynamic and interesting and the mystery unravels at a pace that'll keep you hooked. A very entertaining read.
Recommended by Carrie K.
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Cameron Johnston
[isbn]
Forty years ago, Black Herran led an army of nightmares to nearly conquer the world, vanishing on the eve of victory. Something far worse has risen from the ashes. Now the future of the world is in the hands of the same monsters that brought the world to the brink of ruin. It's amazing what you can achieve with careful planning and a few exploding pigs.
Recommended by Matthew B.
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Mira Grant
[isbn]
Move over Disney's Ariel – these are the mermaids of your nightmares.
Recommended by Mecca A.
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Victor LaValle
[isbn]
Victor LaValle is so good! Just — so good. His new book blends horror with the myth of the American West, in a story about Adelaide, a woman who will go to extraordinary lengths to protect both herself and the secret of her family's curse. This book is so inventive, so startling, so pleasantly strange, and has one of the most satisfying endings I've read in a long time. Already, I know it's one of the books that's going to get better the more I... (read more)
Recommended by Kelsey F.
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Jinwoo Chong
[isbn]
In trying to describe Flux, I felt myself reaching for comparisons. In no particular order, I landed on: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow; the photo of Elizabeth Holmes holding a tiny vial of blood; Interior Chinatown; Inception; the bittersweet experience of aging; Glass Onion... Flux is a little bit of all these things, and yet totally unique. You will gasp, and cheer, and cry, and you... (read more)
Recommended by Michelle C.
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R.F. Kuang
[isbn]
Months before its release, this book is generating equal parts buzz and polarization among reviewers, which you’ll find, after reading it, is actually the most fitting reception imaginable. Yellowface is incisive, infuriating, clever, cringeworthy, deeply meta, full of ugly publishing industry truths and Book Twitter drama, devoid of likable characters and redemption. I loved-slash-hated it.
Recommended by Tove H.
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David R Slayton
[isbn]
White Trash Warlock begins the story of Adam Binder, a self-trained practitioner whose estranged family never acknowledged magic. His quest to find cursed objects leads him straight to his family and the man he falls in love with. The plot thickens! WTW is such a good example of inclusive urban fantasy. It reminded me a little bit of The Raven Cycle, one of my all-time favorites. The trilogy’s overall arc of solving mysteries... (read more)
Recommended by Carlee B
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T Kingfisher, Ursula Vernon
[isbn]
This story is the feminist fantasy quest of my dreams. Kingfisher crafts charming, relatable characters who you'll just want to keep hanging out with, and worlds you'll want to stay lost in forever. Her turns of phrase are wonderful and there's the perfect amount of cleverness and wit. She's my new fave!
Recommended by Carrie K.
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Don Delillo
[isbn]
A thoroughly endearing and post-modern examination of family, consumerism, truth, and dread/death anxiety. The hilarious cast of characters' confusion about everyday events becomes increasingly relatable as you read on! Fun and good!
Recommended by Adam B.
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Bioy Casares, Adolfo
[isbn]
This intricate, sun-soaked daydream of a novel influenced classic films like The Shining and Last Year at Marienbad, and Jorge Luis Borges and Octavio Paz both called it "perfect."
Recommended by Kai B.
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Benjamin Percy
[isbn]
If you're looking for very well-written escapism, this sci-fi book is for you! Debris from a comet turns a dying Minnesota town into a violent, crazed, weird, greedy boom town. Percy is a successful superhero comic writer. It shows.
Recommended by Nan S.
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Nathan Ballingrud
[isbn]
In this horror-adjacent collection, Ballingrud sets up unique premises, intriguing characters, and white-knuckle tension in nearly every story. What happens when people in dire straits are faced with unimaginable horrors? Find out if you're not chicken!
Recommended by Adam B.
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Martha Wells
[isbn]
The always intriguing, inventive, and fun Martha Wells gives us a fabulous fantasy tale and hours of reading pleasure and adventure.
Recommended by Doug C.
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Lindsay Ellis
[isbn]
An action-packed, first-contact novel from video essayist Lindsay Ellis, Axiom's Edge dispenses with "E.T. is good, if we could JUST understand them" and instead wrestles with questions of whom we can trust, whether humans or aliens. I'm eagerly awaiting the second installment in the series.
Recommended by Anne R.
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Marlen Haushofer and Shaun Whiteside
[isbn]
A woman is plunged into the bitter heart of isolation after a mysterious event separates her from the whole of humanity. It's not simply the imaginative premise, the beautiful depictions of care amongst animals, or the political underpinnings of this novel that make it one of the most important and criminally unrecognized books of the 20th century, but some ineffable linguistic quality particular to the experience of a woman (and mother) trying... (read more)
Recommended by Nadia N.
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Ann Leckie
[isbn]
I think The Raven Tower might have ruined every other fantasy book I'll ever read in the future. Incredible, thought-provoking world-building combined with one of the most memorable narrators I've ever encountered, and a Hamlet-esque plot of deception and revenge...??? I'm still starstruck. How did you do it, Ann Leckie??
Recommended by Nicole S
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Becky Chambers
[isbn]
Becky Chambers' vision of a time when humanity takes its place among a bustling galactic diaspora is so hopeful and funny and gentle that it makes the future look good. Far and away from the technology-and-politics hard scifi of my youth, I was tripping over myself to get to the next book in the series just to keep spending time with her characters. A world worth getting lost in!
Recommended by SitaraG
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Kelly Link
[isbn]
Kelly Link is hands-down, no-questions-asked, one of my favorite working authors today. I remember when a friend gave me her collection, Magic for Beginners, my freshman year in college, like Link’s writing was a secret she only wanted to share with a select few. But I’m so lucky she shared with me, because her stories have become a constant for me. I’m obsessed with these stories: as twisted and weird and hilarious as I’ve come to... (read more)
Recommended by Kelsey F.
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T H White
[isbn]
A brief obsession with knights, magic, and the round table led me to White's classic and it delivered on every front. His characters are hilarious, tragic, and romantic, the writing is absolutely beautiful, and his creativity breathes new life into all the old Arthurian stories and mythology. Meditative, lyrical, and so warmly written that I laughed and cried in equal measure. Best in front of a fireplace.
Recommended by SitaraG
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Evan Winter
[isbn]
A rich world filled with wonder plays host to a brutal story of revenge, star-crossed love, and struggle. Winter paints an all-too-real portrait of what it's like when even the most humble dream meets an unjust reality. You'll struggle to tell if your heart is racing from the action poured across the page or from the frustration welling up from every character.
Recommended by Matthew B.
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Nicola Griffith
[isbn]
A fascinating and lush retelling of Arthurian legend that feels as true and strange, as lofty and immediate, as queer (in every sense of the word) as a myth should be — I devoured this book and it haunted me wonderfully.
Recommended by Claire A.
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Neil Cochrane
[isbn]
A trans- and queer-centered homage to Beauty and the Beast! This book is wonderfully imaginative, lushly written, and just a downright joy.
Recommended by Gigi L.
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Hailey Piper
[isbn]
A noxious blend of horror and romance through an unabashedly queer lens from the name in horror no one can stop screaming about, Hailey Piper. Themed around women's agency and its incessant overriding, Queen of Teeth speaks to those who see the delight in the disgusting, the fairness in ferocity, and the vaudeville in the villainous. And, of course, to the gays.
Recommended by Stacy W.
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Robin Mckinley
[isbn]
O Robin Mckinley, light of my life! This book fully ruined reality for me at 15 and I've reread it obsessively in dark times ever since. If only life were as simple as stepping into your magically imbued spiritual inheritance and going head to head with a demon king...
Recommended by SitaraG
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Becky Chambers
[isbn]
Each of the four books in Chambers's Wayfarers series is remarkable, but Record of a Spaceborn Few is by far my favorite. This book is a deep reminder for me of what it means to be human, how small acts of deliberate kindness can make all the difference, and that everyone's story deserves to be told. I cried on the bus while reading this book about five different times, and there's no higher recommendation I can give.
Recommended by Anna B.
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Travis Baldree
[isbn]
What happens when a road-weary barbarian decides to retire from her adventuring days and open a coffee shop? A charming, funny, and all-around lovely cozy fantasy with a splash of romance! I adored reading every moment of this book, and I am more than looking forward to reading it again (and again...and again)!
Recommended by Bee D.
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Izumi Suzuki, Polly Barton, Sam Bett
[isbn]
Terminal Boredom: what phrase could better describe the tepid yet frenetic aura of modern life? This collection, originally written in the 1980s and newly available in English, fizzles with dark, punky magnetism. The reader is seamlessly initiated into Suzuki's universe of fantastical queer landscapes, green-haired aliens, and societies in which people are cryogenically frozen into the dreams of the living as a form of population... (read more)
Recommended by Nadia N.
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KC Jones
[isbn]
Wow. This read felt like being in a movie theater — all of the horrors larger than life, swallowing me whole. Me — wide-eyed and on the edge of my seat, muttering 'oh no' beneath my breath. This is a monster movie of a book. But in the deft hands of K. C. Jones, it's also a character study of two flawed people who find their reason to live at the end of the world. Cancel your plans and get comfy, you're in for a wild ride.
Recommended by Heather A.
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Tamsyn Muir
[isbn]
Ever felt disappointed by God, your job, and your love life? Have I got the series for you. In preparation for Nona, Muir's third installment in the Locked Tomb series, I gotta recommend Harrow. This book is the epitome of getting what you want but not the way you want it, and the aftermath of that experience. A brutal reckoning with what has been, can be, and can't be, all woven together with sexy Catholic guilt, Muir's... (read more)
Recommended by SitaraG
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Kelley Armstrong
[isbn]
While drawn to the sound of a woman in distress, Mallory ends up attacked... and wakes up in 1869 Edinburgh, in the body of a house maid for an undertaker. Now it's a race to figure out who attacked them and get back to her own body in 2019. First in a new series, I can't wait for the next one!
Recommended by Mecca A.
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Haruki Murakami, Alfred Birnbaum
[isbn]
This book combines Murakami's early writing style with some of his best worldbuilding. Magical subterranean creatures, unicorn skulls, sci-fi brain surgeries, and surreal microworlds combine into a landscape that I wish I could have so much more of. If you haven't yet taken the dive into the fantastic and confusing stories of Murakami, I would recommend this book as an entry point (especially for readers coming from the sci-fi/fantasy genre).... (read more)
Recommended by Jun L.
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John Crowley
[isbn]
Crowley's sprawling family saga is fantasy maximalism and it's wonderful. We follow average guy Smokey Barnable as he travels on foot to the Edgewood estate and marries into the odd Drinkwater family. What follows is a miasma of malevolent magical bargains, faerie theosophists, star-crossed lovers, fated tarot readings, dysfunctional family, and the elusive future. Dense, romantic, and tragic by turns, Crowley's beautiful prose is a bonus. A... (read more)
Recommended by SitaraG
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Megan Bannen
[isbn]
A fun and funky rom-com genre mash-up that's set in a fantasy-western world filled with zombies, demigods, magical mail service, and dogs!! One of my favorite books I've read in 2022 so far. Beware... you might need tissues, but it does have a HEA. xoxo Enjoy!
Recommended by Mecca A.
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Margaret Killjoy
[isbn]
A fast-paced, compelling, and truly marvelous collection: Killjoy delivers the queer, anarchist, and (dare I say it) utopian science fiction I didn't realize I needed until I read this book.
Recommended by CJ H.
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N. K. Jemisin
[isbn]
N. K. Jemisin is undoubtedly one of the most creative voices out there today. Her Great Cities Duology wraps up with The World We Make and I have decided I am obsessed with New York and the concept of cities personified. Jemisin's writing is vibrant and powerful and I always lose myself in her books. I definitely believe that this is urban fantasy at its best.
Recommended by Rose H.
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Zen Cho
[isbn]
This collection rocketed to the top of my personal favorites list. Malaysian author Zen Cho's stories crackle with wit, history, and some of the most accurate Malay familial dynamics I've ever seen in writing. An anthology that chronicles myriad exchanges and encounters between the living and dead, Cho brings the spirit world and the Malaysian diaspora's religious and cultural history alive. Tender, sly, and totally magical.
Recommended by SitaraG
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Caroline Peckham
[isbn]
I'll be honest, I started this series as a joke. The books had gotten very popular on tiktok and I thought there was no way it could actually be good. One week later, I was completely sucked into the world of Solaria and I ended up finishing the six books out at the time in a month, the authors made me feel like the twins were my best friends. Full of romance, a collegiate magic school setting, and lost princesses regaining their throne — I have... (read more)
Recommended by Lauren M
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Clive Barker
[isbn]
I read this collection of stories at the tender age of 15 and the stories have stuck with me over half my life. The terror instilled in this collection exudes our most primal fears. Clowns? Check. Being alone on the train? Check. The inherent terror of the English countryside? Check. Clive Barker does it all and everyone will find a story to haunt them.
Recommended by Lauren M
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Stephen King
[isbn]
In this difficult world we're in, sometimes we want to wrap ourselves in the fantastic lands and breath and story that Stephen King can bring. Fairy Tale is such a place. It is all we know, but covered with the beautiful skin of King's imagination.
Recommended by Doug C.
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P. Djèlí Clark
[isbn]
A Master of Djinn returns us back to P. Djèlí Clark’s alt-Cairo historical steampunk universe that he first introduced us to in The Haunting of Tram Car 015 and A Dead Djinn in Cairo. Dapper-dressing Agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi — along with her quasi-girlfriend — are joined this time with both new and old colleagues from the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities. It’s another case full of murders and... (read more)
Recommended by Mecca A.
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Samantha Shannon
[isbn]
In this quasi-medieval world, East and West are at odds — the East reveres their water dragons and their dragon riders, while the West hates all dragons after one of the wretched, fire-breathing ones nearly destroyed the world. There’s a large cast of endearing characters, but the hearts of the story are Ead, lady-in-waiting to the queen, and Tané, dragon-rider in training, both harboring dangerous secrets. The Priory of the Orange Tree... (read more)
Recommended by Carly J.
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Ted Chiang
[isbn]
For over 30 years, Seattleite Ted Chiang has slowly and steadily been writing emotionally intelligent, speculative short stories. He’s not a quick writer, or a prolific one. He’s published just 18 stories in that time. But what incredible stories they are. (Sci-Fi award committees agree: Chiang’s won four Hugos and four Nebulas.) Exhalation is Chiang’s second collection, and though it was only published a few years ago, these nine... (read more)
Recommended by Adam P.
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Naomi Novik
[isbn]
Uprooted by Naomi Novik is one of those stories that you feel has somehow always existed. I mean that as a highest compliment. It captures the essence of a classic fairy-tale: what is really in that tower? and just how dangerous are those woods exactly? Novik has proven time and time again that she’s a fantasy collection must-have with napoleonic dragons, magic schools, fable, and more. Still, Uprooted is where... (read more)
Recommended by Sarah R.
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N. K. Jemisin
[isbn]
The Fifth Season brings about devastation, volcanos erupting, the ground beneath your feet falling apart — communities don’t survive it; it’s a complete reset of the world they know. We follow the perspectives of Damaya, Syenite, and Essun — three women coming to terms with their connection to the Earth, their control of the plates, and how to best manipulate this energy for the protection of civilization and their own safety. Jemisin... (read more)
Recommended by Tawney E.
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Becky Chambers
[isbn]
A Prayer for the Crown Shy continues the story of Dex and Mosscap as they visit the villages and towns on the moon they call home. Many reviewers have called this series “a hug in book form” and I have to agree. This is a perfect and much-needed dose of Cozy Fantasy, sweet and delightful and lovely.
Recommended by Deana R.
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Neal Stephenson
[isbn]
Neal Stephenson’s books seem to either have devoted fans or vocal detractors, and Seveneves is perhaps the most polarizing book I’ve ever read! I have always enjoyed books that break the conventions of storytelling, and while I was initially shocked at where Stephenson takes Seveneves two-thirds of the way through the novel, I quickly found myself happily along for the ride. Seveneves explores what humanity will do when... (read more)
Recommended by Lesley A.
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Nnedi Okorafor
[isbn]
Binti runs away from her beloved desert home and family on Earth to go to the most prestigious university in the galaxy. She starts her journey as an outlier, as the first-ever Himba to be accepted. Mid-way, her ship is attacked and she witnesses a horrific massacre — and has to come up with a way to survive and broker peace between two warring groups before the ship lands. The experience colors Binti’s life, world, and sense of self in... (read more)
Recommended by Michelle C.
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Ann Leckie
[isbn]
Before there was Murderbot, there was Breq, the AI protagonist of Leckie’s Ancillary Justice, which caused a genderfuss when it was first published in 2013. Breq is non-gendered and the default pronoun for much of society in that civilization is “she,” regardless of gender. Four years later, All Systems Red, the first Murderbot novella, was published. In the space of four years, awareness of gender fluidity expanded.
Recommended by Mary Jo S.
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Paolo Bacigalupi
[isbn]
This story hits the ground running through the dangerous winding streets of a future Bangkok, walled against the rising sea and populated with characters clawing out existence amidst food shortage and energy collapse. One of the single greatest science fiction settings I have every had the pleasure of “visiting.” Calories have become currency, crops are going extinct, and synthetic lifeforms are on the brink (or past the point) of singularity.... (read more)
Recommended by Sarah R.
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Patrick Rothfuss
[isbn]
The Name of the Wind is the story of Kvothe, who grows up in a nomadic troupe of players, the Edema Ruh, where he learns the fundamentals of magic, music, and the dramatic arts. After years as a penniless orphan in Tarbean, he eventually attends the University, where he narrowly avoids expulsion several times. Kvothe is brilliant, full of panache and daring, but certainly not exempt from suffering or heartbreak. The genius of The... (read more)
Recommended by Mary Jo S.
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Cixin Liu
[isbn]
The Three Body Problem is hard sci-fi — the kind of hard sci-fi that will leave you puzzling over astrophysics and researching the particulars of quantum mechanics for days — but the patient reader will be rewarded with a dazzling epic full of mystery and moral dilemma. Liu grapples with the darkness of humanity, but leaves room for hope that someday we will fling ourselves out into space, into a vast life that only visionary sci-fi... (read more)
Recommended by Emily B.
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Brandon Sanderson
[isbn]
Skaa-born teen and street thief Vin is in over her head. Posing as a noblewoman as part of a scheme to steal precious atium requires that Vin amplify her newly discovered powers of Allomancy to influence the nobility and also learn to fight assassins for her own survival. Power gained from this world’s magic, based on internally burning various paired metals, has long been used to assault and murder defenseless skaa workers; now society is ripe... (read more)
Recommended by Sara F.
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William Gibson
[isbn]
Set in the then-present day of 2002, William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition is the work of a mind that is usually thinking ahead, but has paused to look deeply at the present. Reading it today, it’s remarkable how — although it may no longer be about the present — it remains shockingly current. Gibson foresaw — any write-up of a William Gibson novel will contain at least one sentence starting this way — that information merchants would... (read more)
Recommended by Keith M.
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Marlon James
[isbn]
This National Book Award finalist starts with a failure — Tracker, a man with an uncommonly good nose, is telling the story of how he ended up in this jail cell, about the boy he was meant to find, about how he came to have the eye of a wolf. Black Leopard, Red Wolf unspools in spirals, and we learn more about how he came to this quest (and the ragtag rogue’s gallery that he uneasily agreed to work with), when he first met the leopard... (read more)
Recommended by Michelle C.
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Neil Gaiman
[isbn]
In 1992, Neil Gaiman moved to America. In 2001, he released American Gods. In the 10th anniversary edition, he recollects “this strange huge place where [he] now found [himself] living” and the urge not just to understand it but also to describe it. Describe it he did. I hesitate to use the term “masterwork” in book reviewing but here no lesser word applies. American Gods is masterful. Gaiman’s ability as a storyteller and myth... (read more)
Recommended by Sarah R.
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Sangu Mandanna
[isbn]
Okay, so you’ve read all of TJ Klune, Becky Chambers, T. Kingfisher — but there has to be something else, right? You are in luck, because The Secret Society of Very Irregular Witches is exactly the book you need. Mika is a South Asian witch who is mysteriously summoned to a house hidden in the countryside to tutor three young girls in controlling their magic. Found family, a cranky librarian, and a car whose interior magically expands... (read more)
Recommended by Mary Jo S.
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R. F. Kuang
[isbn]
This was the loveliest and most fulfilling read. The story is smart and exciting and thoughtful and human. The author, R. F. Kuang, makes magic and science out of etymology, and the words in this book, the characters, what they have to say — it all rings true.
Recommended by Doug C.
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Kurt Vonnegut
[isbn]
Vonnegut's profound exploration of free-will and humanity's relationship with time. What does it mean to have nearly unlimited power in the vastness of the cosmos? It likely means nothing when your choices, ultimately, are insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. Who is Rumfoord, really? Will Unk find himself or his best friend? Will the Martian Army destroy the Earth and its civilizations? Does it even matter? This book is a romp... (read more)
Recommended by Eric L.
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