New Books: 11 February 2025
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New science fiction, fantasy, and horror books for the week of February 11, 2025.
Becker, Elizabeth: The Moonlight Healers (Harlequin/Graydon House 978-1525830426, $30, 336pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook 02/11/2025)
Louis Winston belongs to a family whose women possess magical healing powers, which they use by moonlight. She moves to her grandmother’s orchard, where she discovers a diary with their secret history and has to contend with healing her best male friend, who has feelings for her.
Blake, Elly: The Forest King’s Daughter (Little, Brown 978-0316395724, $19.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Young-adult fantasy novel, first in the Thirstwood series. In a forest with red-leaved trees, a young boy gives a ring to a girl from a different kingdom. Soon after, their parents declare war, and the ring becomes a crucial weapon. Years later, they are drawn together again as he tries to undo his mistake.
Fawcett, Heather: Emily Wilde’s Compendium of Lost Tales (Penguin Random House/Del Rey 978-0593500224, $29, 368pp, formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Fantasy novel, third in the Emily Wilde series. Emily returns to the fae realm with her magical fiancé, Wendell, who has a claim to the kingdom. But how can an unassuming scholar such as herself pass for a queen?
Gammon, Jendia & Powell, Gareth L., eds.: Of Shadows, Stars, and Sabers (Stars and Sabers 979-8990705517, $29.99, 356pp, formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Anthology of cross-genre stories, the publisher’s first. Authors include Eugen Bacon, Laurel Hightower, T.L. Huchu, Ai Jiang, and Adrian Tchaikovsky. Crowdfunded on indiegogo.
Harrison, John: Residue: Paramentals Rising (WordFire Press 978-1680577365, $15.99, 288pp, formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, 02/11/2025)
Paranomal dystopian novel. A woman searches for her missing sister in a post-disaster Quarantine Zone where paramentals – beings made of negative psychic energy – lurk.
Herz, Henry, ed.: Combat Monsters: Untold Tales of World War II (Blackstone Publishing 979-8874748432, $18.99, 365pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Anthology of 19 WW II-era historical horror stories (and two poems by Jane Yolen) that introduce fantastical creatures to history, with historical notes on each story. Introduction by Joshua Palmatier. Authors include Eugen Bacon, Tanya Huff, Jonathan Maberry, and Harry Turtledove.
Hofstatter, Erik: Stone Martyrs (Aqueduct Press 978-1619762725, $5.95, 122pp, formats: ebook, 02/15/2025)
Collection of dark fantasy/folk horror prose poems. The Rollright Stones, once human, tell their stories.
Kade, Kel: Sanctum of the Soul (Tor 978-1250293893, $32.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Fantasy novel, the third in The Shroud of Prophecy trilogy. A group of stragglers holds back the war against the gods. After the death of the Chosen One, Aaslo takes on the role.
Nayak, Michael: Symbiote (Angry Robot UK 978-1915998422, $18.99, 400pp, formats: paperback, ebook, 02/11/2025)
SF novel, for fans of John Carpenter’s The Thing. While World War 3 rages, international scientists in Antarctica are spared the carnage. Until a group of Chinese scientists show up at the American base, with a corpse. Was it a murder? Or something worse, and contagious?
Lowachee, Karin: The Desert Talon (Rebellion/Solaris UK 978-1837864027, $16.99, 150pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Fantasy novella, second in the Crowns of Ishia trilogy. In a desert world, the dragon rider Janan is freed from prison, but hardly gets a chance to enjoy peace when a local baron becomes set on his land and dragon.
Pinkerton, Brian: The Perfect Stranger (Flame Tree Press UK 978-1787588974, $26.95, 240pp, formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, 02/11/2025)
SF novel. Linda works at an energy company, where she’s baffled by the meteoric rise of Alison, a seemingly-flawless young superstar. As Linda investigates her too-perfect young colleague, she’s suddenly the target of mysterious cyberattacks.
Pueyo, Hache: But Not Too Bold (Tordotcom 978-1250376633, $24.99, 128pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 02/11/2025)
Gothic novella mixing horror and monster romance. Dália steps into the role of servant to a humanoid arachnic creature. Her predecessor was eaten after doing something wrong — Dalia has to figure out what the infraction was, so she can avoid it and survive.
Rainey, Stephen Mark: The House at Black Tooth Pond (Crossroad Press 978-1637891773, $13.99, 296pp, formats: paperback, ebook, 02/11/2025)
Horror novel about a remote town in Virginia. Sheriff Bryce Parrott lives in the “Cold Case Capital of the World,” but he comes to suspect that a mutilated body is the work of something supernatural. Meanwhile, psychology professor Martin Pritchett is drawn to a house again and again… but can’t remember what happens there.
Rebelein, Sam: The Poorly Made and Other Things (HarperCollins/Morrow 978-0063252295, $18.99, 288pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Collection of connected horror stories set in the town of Renfield. When a bloody atrocity takes place in an old farmhouse, the tainted wood is reclaimed for other artifacts, which affect the town residents.
Riccioni, Jo: The Rising (Angry Robot UK 978-1915998576, $18.99, 400pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Romantic fantasy novel, second in The Branded Season series. Orphaned twin sisters in a desert world arrive in the city of Reis, where there are rumors of a healer who can help the Branded class.
Slatter, A.G.: The Crimson Road (Titan Books UK 978-1803364568, $18.99, 368pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Gothic fantasy adventure novel. Violet is a trained killer, but even she is endangered when her father sends her to the Darklands, a territory of evil beings and vampire Leech Lords.
Woods, Harper L.: What Lies Beyond the Veil (Tor/Bramble 978-0578374000, $18.99, 437pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
Fantasy romance novel, first in the Of Flesh & Bone series. A girl and her whole kingdom are endangered when the Veil, the barrier that keeps the fae away, is ruptured. The Wild Hunt breaks through, and certain humans are marked for pursuit. This is a pen name for Adelaide Forrest.
Zoboi, Ibi: (S)Kin (HarperCollins 978-0-06-288887-7, $19.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, paperback, ebook, audiobook, 02/11/2025)
YA fantasy novel about folklore and family. Fifteen-year-old Marisol is a soucouyant’s daughter, meaning she sometimes shape-shifts into a flaming ball of energy. Struggling to adjust to life in Brooklyn, she discovers a connection with Genevieve, a professor’s daughter.
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