New & Notable Books, July 2023
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenya, Chain-Gang All-Stars (Pantheon 5/23) In an alternate US, private-run prisons let prisoners compete for freedom in gladiator-style arena death matches. Adjei-Brenya’s debut novel is ‘‘both an impassioned critique of America’s broken justice system and a heart-rending queer love story.’’ [Ian Mond]
Nina Allan, Conquest (riverrun UK 5/23) Allan’s latest follows a missing coder swept into a UFO conspiracy cult, which relies on an obscure SF novella as their primary text – a novella included within the pages of Conquest itself. ‘‘Conquest is probably the most experimental work yet from a boldly adventurous novelist.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]
Peter S. Beagle, The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volume I: Lila the Werewolf and Other Stories; The Essential Peter S. Beagle, Volume II: Oakland Dragon Blues and Other Stories (Tachyon 5/23) Each of these two collections contains 16 of Beagle’s fantastical and intimate short fiction pieces, plus one new story in Volume II. We ‘‘come away from these volumes feeling we’ve gotten to know one of our greatest fantasists on an almost personal level.’’ [Gary K. Wolfe]
Moniquill Blackgoose, To Shape a Dragon’s Breath (Del Rey 5/23) In the first in the new Books of Nampeshiweisit series, a teen from a remote island finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with the hatchling, but Anglish colonists force her to attend a proper Anglish dragon school, or else the hatchling will be killed. The assimilation-versus-resistance story builds social and academic stakes toward an elaborate finale. ‘‘It’s tensely explosive and deftly done… a striking debut.’’ [Liz Bourke]
Justin Cronin, The Ferryman (Ballantine 5/23) In Cronin’s mind-bending thriller, residents of an island paradise thrive away from the deteriorating outside world, and when their bodies fail, they take a ferry to wipe their minds and start over in renewed bodies. When unrest stirs among the support staff, a ferryman struggles to uncover the truth of the world he thought he knew.
Siddhartha Deb, The Light at the End of the World (Soho Press 5/23) Deb weaves Indian mythology, history and possibility together with four supernatural journeys, each situated on the verge of catastrophe at various points in the past and near future.
Cassandra Khaw, The Salt Grows Heavy (Nightfire 5/23) Khaw’s latest novella is mermaid body horror, about a mermaid who marries a prince, and when things go wrong, she ends up on the run with a plague doctor. ‘‘A grotesquely perfect feast.’’ [Caren Gussoff Sumption]
C.E. McGill, Our Hideous Progeny (Harper 5/23) McGill draws on Shelley’s Frankenstein in this feminist gothic horror novel. In 1853, scientists Mary and Henry try to create new life, working from the notes of Mary’s long-lost Great-Uncle Victor. Their quest for success and security takes deadly turns and explores feminist questions of love and recognition.
Adrian Tchaikovsky, Lords of Uncreation (Orbit US 5/23) The conclusion of the Final Architecture space opera trilogy depicts the full spectrum of humanity on the brink of extinction and one man’s determination to save it.
Martha Wells, Witch King (Tordotcom 5/23) Wells returns to fantasy with a novel exploring trust, friendship, and power. Kai is a newly revived demon looking for answers regarding his own murder, and the changes in the world since then.
From the July 2023 issue of Locus.
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