New Books: 4 April 2023

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Akers, Tim: Wraithbound (Baen 9781982192556, $18.00, 464pp, formats: trade paperback, e-book, 4/4/2023)

Dark fantasy sorcery novel. Since he was a boy, Rae Kelthannis has dreamed of being a storm binder like his father, with an air elemental stitched into the fabric of his soul and the winds of heaven at his command. Those dreams died when his father, through no fault of his own, fell into disgrace and was banned by the justicars of the Iron Council. The family fled to the edge of the Ordered World, to live in fear in the shadow of encroaching Chaos.

Battis, Jes: The Winter Knight (ECW Press 9781770417205, $19.95, 368pp, formats: trade paperback, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Arthurian urban fantasy novel. A valkyrie investigates the death of one of the reincarnated knights of the round table in contemporary Vancouver BC.

Beagle, Peter S.: The Way Home (Ace 9780593547397, $27.00, 224pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Benton-Walker, Terry J.: Blood Debts (Tor Teen 9781250825926, $18.99, 416pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Young-adult queer Black contemporary fantasy novel about rich people with magic. Thirty years ago, a young woman was murdered, a family was lynched, and New Orleans saw the greatest magical massacre in its history. In the days that followed, a throne was stolen from a queen.

Bracken, Alexandra: Silver in the Bone (Penguin Random House/Knopf 9780593481653, $22.99, 496pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Young-adult contemporary Arthurian fantasy novel. Born without a trace of magic, Tamsin Lark is no match for the sorceresses and Hollowers who populate the magical underground of Boston. But when the only parent she’s ever known disappears without so much as a goodbye, she has no choice but to join in their cutthroat pursuit of enchanted relics to keep herself—and her brother, Cabell—alive.

Brown, Ness: The Scourge Between Stars (Tor/Nightfire 9781250834683, $16.99, 176pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/4/2023)

Science fiction horror novella. A starship captain, ferrying survivors from a failed colony planet, must keep her crew alive while an unknown intruder stalks them. A first novel.

Chiles, Patrick: Escape Orbit (Baen 9781982192549, $18.00, 352pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/4/2023)

Near-future science fiction novel. Five years ago, astronaut Jack Templeton took the spacecraft Magellan to the farthest reaches of our solar system, never to be heard from again. Until now.

Clare, Jessica: What the Hex (Penguin Random House/Berkley 9780593337585, $17.00, 336pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 4/4/2023)

Humorous paranormal romance novel. Penny Roundtree wants nothing more than to be a familiar to a witch. She’s been a member of the Society of Familiars ever since she was old enough to join the Fam. There’s just a small problem—no one’s hiring. Witches and warlocks are so long-lived that there are far more familiars available than witches to train them.

Cooney, Ellen: A Cowardly Woman No More (Coffee House Press 9781566896719, $16.95, 224pp, formats: trade paperback, 4/4/2023)

Novel with apparent fantasy/surreal elements. A 44-year-old woman at a company banquet at a restaurant (recently reopened after being damaged by a comet!) begins to reclaim her life during a number of uncanny events.

Dimaline, Cherie: Funeral Songs for Dying Girls (Tundra 9780735265639, $17.99, 280pp, formats: hard cover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Fantasy novel. After inadvertently starting rumors of a haunted cemetery, a teen befriends a ghost in this brand-new young adult novel exploring grief and belonging by the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of The Marrow Thieves series.

Esslemont, Ian C.: Forge of the High Mage (Penguin Random House UK/Bantam Press UK 9781787632554, $42.95, 480pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/6/2023)

Fantasy novel. After decades of warfare, Malazan forces are now close to consolidating the Quon Talian mainland. Yet it is at this moment that Emperor Kellanved orders a new campaign far to the north: the invasion of Falar.

Ford, R.S.: Engines of Chaos (Orbit US 9780316629614, $18.99, 608pp, formats: trade paperback, audio, e-book, 4/4/2023)

Epic fantasy novel. Torwyn burns as Sanctan Egelrath tightens his grip on power. The Draconate Ministry has gathered its forces, determined to eradicate the Guilds, but Rosomon Hawkspur still stands in their way.

Green, Simon R.: Not of This World (Severn House 9781448305780, $31.99, 192pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Harrison, Niall: All These Worlds: Reviews & Essays ( 9781870824675, $24.99, 480pp, formats: trade paperback, e-book 4/6/2023)

Non-fiction collection of over 50 reviews and three essays looking at SF from 2015-2014, discussing authors from Stephen Baxter, Liu Cixin, Kelly Link, and Vandanna Singh, and the increasingly international and diverse community of writers.

Howard, Amalie: Queen Bee (Penguin Random House/Joy Revolution , $18.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, audio, e-book, 4/4/2023)

Fantasy novel. A teen girl seeking retribution against her backstabbing former best friend finds her plans slightly derailed once she catches the eye of a familiar, handsome marquess. Bestselling author Amalie Howard delivers an anti-historical Regency-era romp.

Lukens, F.T.: Spell Bound (Simon & Schuster/McElderry 9781665916226, $19.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Young-adult fantasy romance novel. Two rival apprentice sorcerers must team up to save their teachers and protect their own magic in this young-adult romantic adventure from the New York Times bestselling author of In Deeper Waters and So This Is Ever After.

Monsef, Kiyash: Once There Was (Simon & Schuster 9781665928502, $18.99, 416pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Upper middle-grade fantasy novel. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them meets Neil Gaiman in this thrilling novel about an Iranian American girl who discovers that her father was secretly a veterinarian to mythical creatures—and that she must take up his mantle, despite the many dangers.

Moulton, Rachel Eve: The Insatiable Volt Sisters (Macmillan/MCD X FSG Originals 9780374538323, $18.00, 464pp, formats: trade paperback, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Horror novel of separated sisters reunited by their father’s death, but one remembers little about their childhood home, just dread about the pond behind the house.

Mullen, Thomas: Blind Spots (St. Martin’s/Minotaur 9781250842749, $27.99, 320pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Near-future SF crime novel about surveillance and disinformation, in a world where everyone has gone blind, dependent on a device that downloads visual data directly to the brain, someone hacks the system to hide murders.

Ross, Rebecca: Divine Rivals (St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books 9781250857439, $18.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Young-adult fantasy romance novel. When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

Spark, Anna Smith: A Woman of the Sword (Luna Press UK 9781915556042, $22.99, 339pp, formats: hardcover, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Fantasy novel, in it a Woman of the Sword is an epic fantasy seen through the eyes of an ordinary woman. Lidae is a daughter, a wife, a mother, and a great warrior born to fight. Her sword is hungry for killing, her right hand is red with blood.

Sterling, Michelle Min: Camp Zero (Simon & Schuster/Atria 9781668007563, $28.00, 304pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Near-future SF novel. In remote northern Canada, a team led by a visionary American architect is break­ing ground on a building project called Camp Zero, intended to be the beginning of a new way of life. A clever and determined young woman code-named Rose is offered a chance to join the Blooms, a group hired to entertain the men in camp—but her real mission is to secretly monitor the mercurial architect in charge.

Warren, A.E.: The Final Rising (Penguin Random House UK/Del Rey UK 9781529101379, $9.99, 368pp, formats: trade paperback, audio, e-book, 4/6/2023)

Fantasy novel. The future is within their grasp; can they rise to meet it? In this powerful conclusion to the Tomorrow’s Ancestors series, the rebels of Uracil have one final choice to make.

Wellington, David: Paradise-1 (Orbit UK 9780356518220, $18.99, 688pp, formats: trade paperback, e-book, audio, 4/4/2023)

Science fiction horror novel. An electric blend of SF and horror, Paradise-1 begins a terrifying new trilogy of exploration and survival in deep space from Arthur C. Clarke Award-nominated author David Wellington.