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The clever, intricately constructed second space opera in Osborne’s Memory War series successfully builds on 2020’s Architects of Memory, returning to a far future wherein the human populated sectors of the galaxy are controlled by corporations, and humanity is threatened by the presence of the Vai, an advanced alien race. Despite the devastation the Vai have wrought, they have gained a faction of human supporters who claim that the aliens’ cooperative society would be a worthy model for humanity to emulate. Against this backdrop, Natalie Chan must confront the consequences of a major lie she told her employers, the Aurora corporation. In the previous volume, Chan’s friend Ashlan Jackson, an indentured miner, was transformed into “the most desired weapon in the world” to combat the Vai, and Chan falsely reported that Jackson had died in an accident instead of bringing her in to Aurora’s higher ups. But when Aurora’s corporate board detects Jackson’s heartbeat, they order Chan to retrieve her from the planet Tribulation. Newcomers will need some patience untangling the backstory, but once oriented, the gripping retrieval mission will win them over. Series fans and lovers of James S.A. Corey’s Expanse novels will be thrilled. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/18/2020 | Details & Permalink

Overmyer ramps up the action in this suspenseful sequel to The Goblets Immortal. After exacting his revenge on Lord Dewhurst, Aidan Ingledark the Summoner escapes with his companion, Slain, and resumes his search for the Questing Goblet in hopes that drinking from it will grant him magic strong enough to defeat the dangerous mage queen Meraude. Meanwhile, Meraude sends her children, twin sisters Jinn and Quick, to intercept Aidan—though unbeknownst to their mother, they aim to recruit Aidan’s help in bringing about Meraude’s demise. The four must find their way to the tomb of Cedric the Elder, where the Questing Goblet is said to be buried, but a mysterious shape-shifter is hard on their heels. Overmyer smoothly braids the narratives of the two pairs, building a slow-burning mystery as they trek through the woods. There are no real surprises along the way, but the magic system is innovative as ever and the dramatic chase scenes drive the plot forward. Series devotees will find plenty to hold their attention. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 12/18/2020 | Details & Permalink

With propulsive action and twists that keep the reader guessing, Wallace’s page-turning sophomore novel (after Salvation Day) spins a locked-room mystery set on an asteroid mining colony. After a terrorist attack against the spaceship transporting workers on the Titan Research Project leaves scientist Hester Marley with two metal limbs and a suffocating amount of medical debt, Hester finds work as a Safety Officer for Parthenope Enterprises, a powerful corporation in the asteroid belt. She plans to keep her head down, work off her debt, and return home to Earth—but that plan is derailed when David Prussenko, a colleague from her past, is killed just hours after sending her an enigmatic message. Hester’s investigation leads to a claustrophobic mining base, where she finds herself trapped with the murderer. Remarkably, most of the action takes place in just 24 hours, the mystery unraveling at warp speed as the violence escalates and the stakes steadily mount. Hester is a fascinating, troubled, but not overly dour narrator, who must use her wits and past experiences—which are teased out in flashbacks—to solve the murder and stay alive. This tense sprint through a future dominated by profit-driven amorality makes for a gripping, cinematic sci-fi thriller that readers won’t want to put down. Agent: Adriann Ranta Zurhellen, Foundry Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 12/18/2020 | Details & Permalink

Set in the near future, Lake’s quirky, chaotic debut follows trans man Penfield Henderson as he wrestles with his self-destructive impulses and stumbles his way toward finding a queer community. Penfield is obsessed with Aiden Chase, a trans social media influencer who glows with masculinity and woo-woo self-help wisdom. In a fit of pettiness, Penfield tries to hex Aiden into the Shadowlands of despair—but the hex instead accidentally catches Blithe, another trans man and a transracial adoptee. The Rhiz, a secret society of well-adjusted LGBTQ folks connected by a “subaltern, mycorrhizae-modeled network,” steps in, assigning Penfield and Aiden to work together to rescue Blithe from the Shadowlands. Disappointingly, Blithe’s time in the Shadowlands processing his gender and racial pain is largely glossed over, as Lake instead focuses on Penfield changing his middle name from Ruth to R., outgrowing his closeted celebrity hookup, and bonding with Aiden over iced coffee. While these slice-of-trans-life sequences are refreshing and honest, their myopic focus on Penfield undercuts the larger theme of queer interconnectedness. Nevertheless, Pen’s fairy tale ending hits the spot. Despite some disjointed plotting and frequent clumsiness around race, this coming-of-age journey through the surreality of gender will please readers seeking speculative queer fiction. Agent: Chris Clemans, Janklow & Nesbit. (June)

Reviewed on 12/18/2020 | Details & Permalink

The fantastic first Firebrand urban fantasy from Harper (Best Wishes) bristles with tension, mystery, and a tantalizing hint of romance. Emma Bellamy is a heartbeat away from finishing up her detective training when she’s assigned to the worst rotation in her London police department­­—Supernatural Squad. The vampires, werewolves, and Others of London have their own system of justice, so the Supe Squad is largely a formality. Shortly after receiving this disappointing assignment, Emma wakes up in the morgue following her own murder, and her life turns into a complex, deadly game of cat and mouse as she hunts for her killer and tries to understand why and how she was resurrected. To make matters worse, werewolves keep disappearing, her mentor on the Supe Squad vanishes without a trace, and she seems to have acquired a vampire shadow in the form of the mysterious Lukas. Harper brilliantly pairs supernatural intrigue with humor and well-drawn procedural elements. Readers will quickly come to adore the quirky characters, sharp dialogue, and exquisite world building. Combining the urban fantasy stylings of Ilona Andrews with tense British mystery that will put readers in mind of Agatha Christie, this spellbinding series opener promises good things to come. (Self-published)

Reviewed on 12/18/2020 | Details & Permalink

Wakanda meets Warhammer 40,000 in Rwizi’s sequel to Scarlet Odyssey, which returns to the African-inspired Redlands and transitions from epic journey to political fantasy but never quite rises above its overused genre tropes. Yerezi sorcerer Musalodi has finally reached the class-divided city of Yonte Saire, only to find its king recently murdered in a military coup and the imperiled new ruler, Princess Isa, isolated within the Red Temple and engaged in precarious political brinksmanship to protect her clan from genocide. Musalodi must navigate a web of lies to help Isa stop the imperialist regent from inciting a war, and along the way Musalodi’s Axiom, the source of his magic, proves part of a puzzle that will rock the very foundations of the kingdom. Rwizi’s tidy, engaging prose offers smart perspectives on genocide and the abuse of power, but the sprawling plot is smothered in lore-heavy worldbuilding and the story frequently takes a backseat to exposition. The result is that this technofantasy reads more like a role-playing game sourcebook than a literary epic. Readers will enjoy the setting and the magic system, but should be prepared to retread genre staples. Agent: Julie Crisp, Julie Crisp Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 12/18/2020 | Details & Permalink

Coates (Silence in the Shadows) kicks off her Gravekeeper series with this atmospheric, open-ended thriller whose heroine struggles with her mystery-shrouded past. Keira awakens in a rainy wood, with no memory of how she got there and no explanation for why she’s being hunted. Seeking refuge in the nearby town of Blighty, she is taken in by a kindly pastor whose house abuts a graveyard. Almost immediately, Keira sees a specter emerge from the cemetery: it’s Emma Carthage, who was murdered by a descendant of the town’s founder in the 1980s and whose ghost is visible only to Keira. As Keira investigates Emma’s murder, she draws in some new friends and allies—but also incites the ire of a slew of new enemies. Coates laces her macabre tale with the requisite gothic flourishes, but the mysteries they darken dissipate easily with a minimum of drama. In contrast, Keira’s identity and the source of her unusual talents are enigmas that remain to be solved in future installments, creating an open-ended feeling that will frustrate some readers. Fans of eerie ghost stories will be hooked by the premise, but many will long for a more substantial execution. (May)

Reviewed on 12/18/2020 | Details & Permalink

Riley (Comanche) presents a convincingly bleak vision of the future in his latest. Set at a time when “even the word country sounded archaic” given the disarray the United States has fallen into, the story is framed by an unnamed man taking his two children to a cemetery to tell them the story of a generations-old struggle within the cult that has taken over the government. After fundamentalist Christian Jonas Strickland was elected president, he wiped out all of America’s electronic technology in an event called the Purge. Now Strickland’s successor, Matthew Rook, plans a second Purge, killing all those he considers opposed to his regime. But his plan to convert New Orleans into a prison runs into unexpected resistance from Gabriel Troy, that city’s Lord of Order, after Troy learns that the mass incarceration is a prelude to a scheme to annihilate the city. The ensuing violence will be too gory for some readers, but those who stick with it will find Riley has a facility for fast-paced action that keeps the pages turning. Though the worldbuilding is a bit murky, there’s plenty to keep readers’ attention and enough questions are left open to make a sequel welcome. Those who like their dystopias especially gritty will want to take a look. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 12/11/2020 | Details & Permalink

Seven people awake to the revelation that Boston and the surrounding area are abandoned, overgrown, and teeming with coywolves in this riveting postapocalyptic outing from Doucette (The Spaceship Next Door). Harvard students Robbie and Carol are the first to find each other in this strange, deserted world. They soon join up with computer programmer Touré, and the three discover juvenile delinquent Bethany while searching for food and answers. Doucette draws a contrast between this scrappy group’s struggle for survival in Boston and the confident know-how of two characters outside the city: nondenominational pastor Paul, who jury-rigs his truck and fills it with guns and supplies; and marketing executive Win, who adopts a blasé approach to facing down mountain lions. Closest to uncovering what happened is Ananda, an MIT astrophysicist whose discovery of a mysterious device suggests extraterrestrial interference. Subtly eerie occurrences propel the story past the midpoint, and the group’s daily efforts to survive provide more satisfaction than the abrupt revelations of the finale. Despite the underwhelming denouement, Doucette’s vibrant prose and unique premise make for an enticing adventure. (May)

Reviewed on 12/11/2020 | Details & Permalink

Nebula Award winner Pinsker’s cold and cerebral latest (after A Song for a New Day) revolves around technological haves and have-nots who are divided by class, disability, and ideology. Teacher Val and political staffer Julie come from underprivileged backgrounds, and their marriage has immersed them in suburban life, with two kids and a money pit of a house. Enter the Pilot, a new technology for enhancing brain function via a stimulating implant. It quickly becomes a fad: first Val’s wealthy students and then Julie’s congressman boss sport the Pilot’s tell-tale blue lights at their temples, and soon David, the couple’s teenage son, has one. The family, though, shies away from the implications of his enhanced capabilities until he announces his decision to join the military’s new program for people with Pilots. Meanwhile, David’s sister Sophie, whose epilepsy makes her ineligible for implantation, must confront being a have-not in a neural-enhanced world. It’s a slow-developing narrative, marred by slight characterization and check-the-box inclusion of topical issues. Pinsker raises fascinating questions about technology that will appeal to fans of hard science fiction, but the story itself too often reads like dry reportage. Agent: Kim-Mei Kirtland, Morhaim Literary. (May)

Reviewed on 12/11/2020 | Details & Permalink