New Books: 11 April 2023

Anders, Charlie Jane: Promises Stronger Than Darkness (Tor Teen 9781250317506, $21.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Young-adult science fiction novel. When Elza became a space princess, she thought she’d be spending her time at the palace, wearing gorgeous couture, and soaking up everything there is to know―but instead, she’s on the run, with everyone hunting for her and her friends.

 

 

Armstrong, Kelley: Someone Is Always Watching (Tundra 9781250865410, $18.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Young-adult psychological horror novel. Blythe and her friends — Gabrielle, and brother and sister Tucker and Tanya — have always been a tight friend group, attending a local high school and falling in and out of love with each other. But an act of violence has caused a rift between Blythe and Tucker . . . and unexpected bursts of aggression and disturbing nightmares have started to become more frequent in their lives.

 

 

Avila, Lorraine: The Making of Yolanda La Bruja (Levine Querido 9781646142439, $19.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Young-adult fantasy novel about Yolanda, a young bruja who’s been having dangerous visions involving gun violence in her Bronx high school, and bad feelings about a racist new white student.

 

 

Barron, Rena: Master of Souls (HarperTeen 9780062871169, $21.99, 432pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Young-adult fantasy novel. A king with a score to settle. A demon sowing rebellion. A girl who holds the power of the gods. Arrah has sacrificed almost everything in her battle against the Demon King. Now, forced to give up the gift of magic she’d sought for so long, she must decipher the legacy of her past life as the orisha Dimma—and weave an uneasy alliance between her beloved Rudjek, the Demon King, and the remaining orishas, hoping to restore peace to all of their worlds.

Cerón, Ella: Viva Lola Espinoza (Penguin Random House/Kokila 9780593405628, $19.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Magical realist romance novel. A debut young-adult novel that’s Pride & Prejudice with a dash of magic, about a booksmart teen who spends the summer in Mexico City, meets two very cute boys, attempts to learn Spanish, and uncovers a family secret that changes her life forever.

 

 

Draker, Piper J.: Wings Once Cursed & Bound (Sourcebooks Casablanca 9781492683865, $16.99, 304pp, formats: trade paperback, 4/11/2023)

Urban fantasy romance novel. Peeraphan Rahttana lives in Seattle, unaware of the supernatural world close by until she stumbles into a deadly curse, and a vampire tries to help her.

 

 

Elwood, A.J.: The Other Lives of Miss Emily White (Titan Books UK 9781803363707, £9.99, 320pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/14/2023)

Horror novel. Banished from her parents’ farm to a boarding school for young ladies, Ivy feels utterly alone. In a crumbling and isolated seminary that has seen better days, she is shunned by the other pupils for her working-class origins, and mourns for her sister, who died not long after she was sent away.

 

 

Lee, Fonda: Untethered Sky (Tordotcom 9781250842466, $22.99, 160pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Fantasy novella. Ester’s family was torn apart when a manticore killed her mother and baby brother, leaving her with nothing but her father’s painful silence and a single, overwhelming need to kill the monsters that took her family.

 

 

McCarten, Anthony: Going Zero (Harper 9780063227071, $28.99, 304pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Technothriller of high-tech surveillance. Ten Americans have been carefully selected to Beta test a ground-breaking piece of spyware. FUSION can track anyone on earth. But does it work? For one contestant, an unassuming Boston librarian named Kaitlyn Day, the stakes are far higher than money, and her reasons for entering the test more personal than anyone imagines. When the timer hits zero, there will only be one winner…

 

 

McKenna, Juliet E.: The Cleaving (Angry Robot UK 9781915202222, $17.99, 384pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Arthurian fantasy novel. The Cleaving is an Arthurian retelling that follows the tangled stories of four women: Nimue, Ygraine, Morgana, and Guinevere, as they fight to control their own destinies amid the wars and rivalries that will determine the destiny of Britain.

 

 

Nuttall, Kotuku Titihuia: Tauhou (House of Anansi 9781487011697, $18.99, 224pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Tauhou is an inventive exploration of Indigenous families, womanhood, and alternate post-colonial realities by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall, a writer of Māori and Coast Salish descent. This innovative hybrid novel envisions a shared past between two Indigenous cultures, set on reimagined versions of Vancouver Island and Aotearoa New Zealand that sit side by side in the ocean.

 

 

Powell, Gareth L.: Descendant Machine (Titan Books UK 9781789094312, $16.95, 336pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Science fiction novel. When Nicola Mafalda’s scout ship comes under attack, she’s left deeply traumatised by the drastic action it takes to keep her alive. Months later, when an old flame comes to her for help, she realises she has to find a way to forgive both the ship and her former lover. Reckless elements are attempting to reactivate a giant machine that has lain dormant for thousands of years. To stop them, Nicola and her crew will have to put aside their differences, sneak

 

 

Sangster, Caitlin: He Who Breaks the Earth (Simon & Schuster/McElderry 9781534466142, $21.99, 592pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Young-adult fantasy novel. Mateo spent years believing he suffered from a strange wasting sickness, but he’s finally learned the much darker truth. Now he will do whatever it takes to save himself, even if it means betraying Lia, the one girl who’s ever made him care about something more than his research.

 

 

Shaw, Vivian:  (Lethe Press 9781590215371, $13.00, 142pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 4/15/2023)

Supernatural thriller novella. When a plane goes missing in mysterious circumstances, Devin Stacy, a freelance necromancer-er, contingency communication specialist-finds the National Transportation Safety Board needs his special abilities. Using his unique arcane skill to touch base with a dead pilot, Captain White, Stacy must discover the truth about a horrifying flight gone awry, even under enormous pressure from the NTSB, as the missing plane blips on and off of their radar.

 

 

Shusterman, Neal & Eric Elfman: I Am the Walrus (Little, Brown 9780759555242, $17.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 4/11/2023)

Upper middle-grade science fiction novel. When fourteen-year-old Noah falls from the trees on his classmate Sahara, he doesn’t understand how, or why, he would have been up there. It’s just one more in a string of strange things happening to Noah lately.

 

 

Smith, Cynthia Leitich: Harvest House (Candlewick Press 9781536218602, $19.99, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 4/11/2023)

Young-adult ghost story, a follow-up to Hearts Unbroken. Hughie Wolfe is excited to be part of the spooky Halloween show at Harvest House, until he learns an actor will be playing the vengeful spirit of an “Indian maiden” based on a bigoted local legend — and odd things have been happening at night nearby.

 

 

Stewart, Andrea: The Bone Shard War (Orbit US 9780316541510, $29.00, 624pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/16/2023)

Fantasy novel. in Sukai has won her first victory as Emperor, but the future of the Phoenix Empire hangs in the balance – and Lin is dangerously short of allies. As her own governors plot treason, the Shardless Few renew hostilities. Worse still, Lin discovers her old nemesis Nisong has joined forces with the rogue Alanga, Ragan. Both seek her death.

 

 

Suzuki, Izumi & Sam Bett: Hit Parade of Tears (Verso Fiction 9781839768491, $19.95, 288pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 4/11/2023)

Collection of 11 strange stories with twists on science fiction and fantasy tropes, Izumi Suzuki had ideas about doing things differently, ideas that paid little attention to the laws of physics, or the laws of the land. In this new collection, her skewed imagination distorts and enhances some of the classic concepts of science fiction and fantasy.

 

 

3dtotal Publishing: Sketching from the Imagination: Character Concepts (3dtotal Publishing 9781912843626, $29.99, 320pp, formats: trade paperback, 4/11/2023)

Art book showcasing designs and their inspirations by 50 artists and illustrators, part of the Sketching from the Imagination series.