Rebecca Roanhorse is speculative fiction writer and Nebula, Hugo, and Sturgeon Award Finalist. She is also a 2017 Campbell Award Finalist for Best New Science Fiction and Fantasy writer. Her novel Trail of Lightning is the first book in the Sixth World series, followed by Storm of Locusts in 2019. She lives in northern New Mexico with her husband, daughter, and pug.
Metal from Heaven (2024) August Clarke "I know comfort books are in, and yes, they have their place, but there's nothing quite like reading something dangerous. Something rich with ideas, something challenging, something transgressive, and revelatory, something that feels like it's pushing the genre forward, something punk in the true meaning of the word, something that truly does not give a f**k what you think of it. This is that book. Metal from Heaven is a thunderous, visceral, Sapphic fever dream of a book, thick with religion, myth, and revolutionary ideologies. The prose seduces, the worldbuilding astounds, and the heart bleeds pure. This one goes on my best of 2024 lists for sure."
When Among Crows (2024) Veronica Roth "I give it all the stars. A novella that harbors inside it a wonderfully fleshed out world of Slavic myth living just under the surface of modern Chicago. There are moments of terror and violence. There are also moments of quiet intimacy. Roth accomplishes something magical in a very small number of pages and tells a heartbreaking and beautiful story. 5/5 would return to this world and these characters in a heartbeat."
Five Broken Blades (2024) (Five Broken Blades, book 1) Mai Corland "I started this one and could not put it down. It's everything you want in a unlikely group of untrustworthy bad people getting together to pull of an impossible heist (or in this case, an assassination) story."
Godly Heathens (2023) (Ouroboros , book 1) H E Edgmon "This is the kind of book that changes young lives. The kind readers will force into their friends' hands and shout, 'Read this now!'. The kind where readers will fall in love with every character who is messy and sexy and terrible in their own way. The worldbuilding is fun and creative, the twists are satisfying, and it is super queer in the best way. There is plenty here to love. If only all the villain stories in YA could be this good!"
Starter Villain (2023) John Scalzi "Scalzi's latest is a light-hearted story with a likeable fish-out-of-water protagonist and a lot of very smart cats. There's also a dolphin labor dispute, some truly awful techbros, and a volcano island lair... Who could resist?"
My Heart Is Human (2023) Reese Hogan "A scfi thriller that takes us into the near future and explores what it means to be human, to find family, and to emnrance our full selves. Perfect for fans of Sara Pinsker and Annalee Newitz."
The Strange (2023) Nathan Ballingrud "I blasted through The Strange in a couple of days, a definite page-turner. The writing is lovely and poetic, and there's a great undercurrent of horror."
White Horse (2022) Erika T Wurth "An unapologetic world of dive bars, dark secrets, and true life horrors. I became completely enthralled. . . . Wurth [is] an exciting new voice in literary horror."
The Dawnhounds (2022) (Endsong, book 1) Sascha Stronach "Fiercely queer. A strange and wondrous re-imagining of noir that takes its cues from biopunk and SE Asian mythos to create something wholly different. There's real imagination at work here - I loved it."
Last Exit (2022) Max Gladstone "It's strange and wondrous and chilling and creepy and beautiful all at once. A book fit for our end-of-times times."
Scorpica (2022) (Five Queendoms, book 1) G R Macallister "Ambitious and engaging... A sprawling epic fantasy that spans the lives of warriors, queens and the fate of a continent."
She Who Became the Sun (2021) (Radiant Emperor, book 1) Shelley Parker-Chan "An absolute stunner... The story, much like the characters, is ambitious and clever and the depth of emotion Parker-Chan is able to tap into without ever becoming maudlin is astounding... There's war and violence and betrayal (oh the betrayal) and destiny both embraced and defied. Incredible work. Cannot wait for the next one."
Harrow the Ninth (2020) (Locked Tomb, book 2) Tamsyn Muir "The patient reader will be rewarded tenfold with brilliant original characters and magic, heartbreaking intimacy, laugh out loud humor and the best damn soup in the galaxy."
A Song Below Water (2020) (Song Below Water, book 1) Bethany C Morrow "Morrow masterfully blends the real lives of Black girls in contemporary Portland with a mythic world of sirens, gargoyles and other supernatural creatures to create a compelling coming-of-age story in which two sisters, bound by love and fate, find their voices and their power."
Bonds of Brass (2020) (Bloodright Trilogy, book 1) Emily Skrutskie "An exciting space opera full of action and adventure that explores the bonds of loyalty and love, and what happens when they are stretched to their limits."
Gods of Jade and Shadow (2019) Silvia Moreno-Garcia "An evocative and moving fairy-tale about a downtrodden girl and the Mayan God of Death and how they both find each other and their humanity together . . . Loved it. Highly recommend."
The Light Brigade (2019) Kameron Hurley "Starship Troopers meets Edge of Tomorrow. A call for us all to be the light in dark times."
Song of Blood & Stone (2015) (Earthsinger Chronicles, book 1) L Penelope "Set against a backdrop of myth and magic, Song of Blood and Stone is a sweeping tale of love, duty and destiny that feels as urgent as it does timeless."
