New Books, 16 April 2024
Castro, V.: Immortal Pleasures
(Penguin Random House/Del Rey 9780593499726, $17.99, 304pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Dark fantasy novel about Malinalli, once the infamous Malinche who aided Cortés in his destruction of the Aztec empire, now an immortal vampire avenging conquered peoples by regaining their plundered artifacts, but also looking for love and intrigued by a horror novelist who finds her strange condition fascinating.
Chang, Molly X.: To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods
(Penguin Random House/Del Rey 9780593722244, $30, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Fantasy novel. Ruying lives in a conquered world, but is blessed with a gift — the power to pull life out of mortal bodies. An enemy prince offers her a deal: become his private assassin and her family will never starve or suffer harm again.
Cotman, Elwin: Weird Black Girls
(Simon & Schuster/Scribner 9781668018859, $17.99, 320pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Collection of seven stories about the anxieties of living while Black, a mix of folklore, satire, cosmic, and domestic horror.
Edgmon, H.E.: Merciless Saviors
(St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books 9781250853639, $20, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel, second in the Ouroboros series after Godly Heathens. As Gem, Rory, and Enzo search for a way to restore the balance without sacrificing themselves, new horrors make them question how far they’re willing to go. In the end, Gem may be forced to fully embrace their merciless nature and kill off their own humanity―if it ever really existed in the first place.
Holness, Nevin: King of Dead Things
(Simon & Schuster/Atheneum 9781665946919, $19.99, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Young-adult urban fantasy novel inspired by Afro-Caribbean lore. In magical Londoon, two Black teens with powers search for the fang of the leopard god Osebo, a deadly weapon that can eat magic.
Kinsella, Shona: The Heart of Winter
(Flame Tree Press UK 9781787588301, $16.95, 240pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 04/16/2024)
Faced with a forced marriage to the god of Summer, Brigit seeks out the Queen of Winter hoping to learn how to live on her own terms.
Little Badger, Darcie: Sheine Lende
(Levine Querido 9781646143795, $19.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel, a prequel to Elatsoe. Shane works with ghost dogs, tracking down missing persons, then her mother goes missing after a strange encounter with a fairy ring. Illustrated by Rovina Cai.
Medina, Nick: Indian Burial Ground
(Penguin Random House/Berkley 9780593546888, $28, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Thriller/horror novel drawing on Native American myths and folklore. Noemi Broussard suspects her boyfriend’s apparent suicide is not all that it seems. When her uncle returns to the reservation with a past full of secrets, they set out to find answers about decades of mysterious deaths.
Repetto, Valentina Cano: Sanctuary
(CamCat Books 9780744309461, $28.99, 336pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Horror novel about a couple in 1933 Italy move into a remote mill and villa which turns out to dangerously haunted, with a parallel narrative of another family in 1596.
Salvatore, R.A.: Pinquickle’s Folly
(Simon & Schuster/Saga Press 9781982175443, $29.99, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Fantasy novel, the first in The Buccaneers trilogy set in the world of Corona from the DemonWars Saga series. In the free sea, sailors and pirates fight to maintain their freedom from the encroaching Xoconai empire.
Samatar, Sofia: The Practice, the Horizon, and the Chain
(Tordotcom 9781250881809, $18.99, 128pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 04/16/2024)
SF novella about a boy raised as one of the Chained worker on a space mining ship, suddenly chosen to be educated at the ship’s university.
Wilkinson, Lili: Deep Is the Fen
(Penguin Random House/Delacorte 9780593562703, $19.99, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 04/16/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel. Merry teams up with her archnemesis to save her best friend from joining the Toadmen, a secret society that follows supernatural traditions.
