New Books, 2 July 2024
Asaro, Catherine: The Down Deep
(Baen 9781982193508, $28, 240pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
SF novel, first in the Dust Knights series set in the Skolian Empire. In a city divided between the rich and the poor, a member of the Royal class wants to help the Undercity, and recruits Major Bhaajan and her Dust Knights for a mission of good will. But the problems of the Undercity run deeper than anyone knows.
Bannen, Megan: The Undermining of Twyla and Frank
(Orbit US 9780316568258, $19.99, 416pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Humorous fantasy romance novel, set in the same world as The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy. Twyla and Frank discover the body of one of their fellow marshals near an enormous footprint, Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon, and Twyla and Frank wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot.
Bérubé, Amelinda: The Ones Who Come Back Hungry
(Sourcebooks Fire 9781728290607, $11.99, 368pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Young-adult dark fantasy novel. Jo’s deceased sister Audrey comes back dead and decaying, and Jo’s determined to fix her, not realizing Audrey’s hunger for blood is matched by her secrets and jealousy of Jo.
Coles, Donyae: Midnight Rooms
(HarperCollins/Amistad 9780063228092, $28, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Victorian gothic fantasy novel. An unexpected visitor claiming to be fabulously wealthy seeks the hand of Orabella Mumthrope, a mixed-race orphan with no connections, but the manor house which becomes her new home is full of sinister and dangerous secrets. A first novel.
Finch, Freya: Rise
(Disney/Melissa de la Cruz Studio 9781368100991, $18.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 07/02/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel. Bryn is the youngest sister in a family of Valkyries who live in a Renaissance faire in Chicago. When her mother disappears on a mission for Odin Bryn senses that something has gone wrong, and begins to have visions of Ragnarök. Then a violent zombie appears, the first of a horde of monsters, proving her visions true.
Frost, Gregory: Rhymer: Hoode
(Baen 9781982193492, $28, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 07/02/2024)
Epic fantasy novel, the second in a trilogy about Thomas the Rhymer, the 12th-century Scottish balladeer who fights through time against the aliens that everyone else calls “elves.” Grieving for his wife and daughter, Thomas becomes a hermit, until a dying outlaw arrives on his doorstep with items stolen from his alien enemies.
Gordon, Marianne: The Gilded Crown
(Harper Voyager US 9780063248762, $30, 384pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Fantasy romance novel, the first in The Raven’s Trade series. Hellevir has the power to bring back the dead, for a price, but things change when she’s summoned to resurrect a princess, then ordered to stay with her in case of future assassination attempts, and starts to fall for the difficult princess. A first novel.
Greenwood, Kirsty: The Love of My Afterlife
(Penguin Random House/Berkley 9780593816134, $19, 384pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Fantasy romance novel. Delphie is offered a second chance at life if she can reconnect with her soulmate on Earth in just ten days.
Harmon, Clay: Into the Rift
(Rebellion/Solaris UK 9781786188649, $16.99, 448pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 07/04/2024)
Fantasy novel, the second in the Rift Walker series set in the harsh world of Mira. Jakar sets out with Efadora – the only person left with the power to bind him – across the Rift. He hunts the cultists who enslaved him, intent on ending their trade in elemental children.
Harris, Joanne: The Moonlight Market
(Pegasus Books 9781639366637, $28.95, 288pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Urban fantasy novel about a war between the Butterfly and Moth kingdoms. Lonely London photographer Tom Argent finds himself falling in love with a beautiful woman, and pursuit of her reveals an alternate world on the rooftops of London, where day and night factions fight in an all-out war.
Kate, Lauren: What’s in a Kiss?
(Penguin Random House/Putnam 9780593545171, $19, 368pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Fantasy romance do-over novel. Liv encounters her one-time prom date, now a successful TV personality, as her Lyft passenger. They meet up again at Liv’s friend’s wedding, where he’s the best man. Suddenly Liv’s world turns upside down, and she’s living the life where they kissed at prom, and he’s her true love. Except now her best friend and her mom hate her.
Kreuter, Aaron: Rubble Children
(University of Alberta Press 9781772127720, $26.99, 228pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 07/02/2024)
Collection of seven-and-a-half interlinked stories centered on a fictional Reform synagogue in a Toronto suburb, about Jewish belonging, colonialism, Zionism and anti-Zionism, love, and cannabis culture. Mix of realist/satirical/speculative — one couple in time loop permutations of Israel/Palestine.
Lerner, Fred, ed.: In Memoriam
(Fantastic Books 9781515458159, $15.99, 244pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, 07/02/2024)
SF novel. The Remnant of Terra, survivors of the Cataclysm that destroyed life on Earth, have lived with the alien Wyneri who rescued them for two centuries, but one young man decides to dig into the mysteries of the Cataclysm, with dangerous results.
Liar, Benjamin: The Failures
(Astra House/DAW 9780756415273, $28, 544pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Apocalyptic science fantasy novel, the first in the Wanderlands trilogy. A group of heroes, each summoned by a strange dream, travel across their broken mechanical planet to meet at a vast underground structure known as the Keep. There they discover a giant imprisoned by magicians and gods. A first novel.
Query, Matt & Query, Harrison: Wilderness Reform
(Simon & Schuster/Bestler/Atria 9781668024133, $28.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Horror novel. Thirteen year old Ben, sent to a remote Montana wilderness camp for troubled teens, realizes something is wrong with the overly upbeat counselors, and starts to investigate with the help of his cabin mates.
Sangoyomi, O.O.: Masquerade
(Tor/Forge 9781250904294, $27.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Historical fantasy novel inspired in part by the myth of Persephone and Hades. In a re-imagined 15th century West Africa, a young Yoruba woman is abducted by the warrior king who conquered her homeland, choosing her to be his wife. Faced with this sudden change in fortune, she must navigate political schemes, tensions with rival states, and reforge the loyalties of the court in her favor, or risk losing her life.
Satterthwaite, Jenna: Made for You
(Harlequin/Mira 9780778310426, $18.99, 400pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Suspense novel about a synthetic woman designed to win a reality show dating competition, only to become the main suspect when her husband goes missing. A first novel.
Shea, Michael: Momma Durtt
(Hippocampus Press 9781614984177, $20, 310pp, formats: trade paperback, 07/07/2024)
Cosmic eco-horror novel. Increasingly bizarre things are happening around the Quicksilver Mine in California, where dead bodies are being dumped and strange sounds and smells come from the depths. Foreword by Linda Shea.
The novel, started in 1988 and completed a few years later as his thesis for a master’s degree, has now been published. Its themes of eco-horror (a term I don’t think existed in 1988), corruption, and greed are even more appropriate today. With a bevy of colorful characters (including various vehicles), a more muted Lovecraftian connection, and much more room for Shea’s vibrant writing, Momma Durtt becomes far more entertaining and relevant.
—Paula Guran, Locus, July 2024
Song, K.X.: The Night Ends with Fire
(Ace 9780593815724, $30, 432pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Fantasy novel, the first in a duology inspired by the Chinese tale of Mulan and historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Meilin’s father, an opium addict, refuses to answer the imperial draft. He plans to sell her for her dowry to support his habit. Realizing her husband-to-be is a violent, ill-tempered man, Meilin disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.
Sullivan, J. Courtney: The Cliffs
(Penguin Random House/Knopf 9780593319154, $29, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Novel with possible supernatural elements. Jane investigates the history of a neighbor’s old Maine mansion, after the woman thinks renovations may have disturbed spirits.
Walker, David F.: The Second Chance of Darius Logan
(Scholastic Press 9781338826425, $19.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Young-adult superhero SF novel. Black teen Darius, on his own since his family was murdered in the Attack eight years ago, ends up in trouble and is rescued by Captain Freedom and given a chance at a special rehabilitation program.
Zahn, Timothy: The Icarus Changeling
(Baen 9781982193485, $28, 320pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 07/02/2024)
Space opera SF novel, fourth book in The Icarus Saga. Gregory Roarke — agent for the ultra-secret Icarus Group – has received a new assignment: locate a teleportation portal on a backwater colony world. But what should be a an easy assignment leads to a string of murders, and a race against an alien enemy.
