Escape This World: New SF Recommendations
Get out of the world without leaving your sofa. These SF/Fantasy titles have booksellers talking.
The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey
This is a “glue your ass to the chair and don’t stop reading until you’ve finished it” kind of book. Evelyn’s kind of awful, but in a conscious, well-of-course-she-is sort of way; Gailey’s characterization lets her seep through the cracks of how we define sympathetic, in the same way you’re able to see pricks of light even when you’ve put your hands over your eyes – and Evelyn’s just like that light, because once you’ve seen it, you can’t look away. The Echo Wife is chilling and timely, a strange mesh of The Stepford Wives and science fiction and real life (real life!) that will absolutely enmesh readers. Loved it.
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
I will add my voice to all the shout outs for Winter’s Orbit. It made a great New Year’s Eve date that lasted all of January; one that ended with a contented smile and hopes of future adventures with Jainan and Kiem. A book I will happily put in readers’ hands.
Star Wars The High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Gray
Claudia continues to write some of my favorite Star Wars novels and it was a lot of fun to see what she did in the High Republic era of the Star Wars universe. Claudia has a lock on how to make her novels feel like Star Wars and it was great having that feel yet with all new settings and characters. It didn’t take long to get attached to these fantastic characters, which are so enjoyable to follow along with on their adventures. The action is great, filled with plenty of exciting twists. While with Star Wars books it’s all about immersing in the Star Wars universe, it is such a wonderful feeling to once again not have a sense of what is going to happen to the characters or the galaxy. Having those stakes make a book like Into the Dark that much more exciting to read.The era of The High Republic looks very bright with this wonderful installment of stories that have been released so far. Can’t wait for more!
The Night Parade of 100 Demons by Marie Brennan
There is a lot of stigma regarding tie in fiction and I hope that everyone who reads these will appreciate how much this shatters all expectations and breaks the mold of traditional tie in fiction. Atmospheric to the role playing setting, something I’ve enjoyed for 20 years, Night Parade is a thought provoking but also viscerally violent book just like the fictional society from which it sprang. Love love love this, all three of the Aconyte L5R novels, and can’t wait for more!
Game Changer by Neal Shusterman
What I thought was going to be a football book about getting hit too hard and suffering a concussion proved to be stunningly incorrect. Although the story begins this way, the mind altering changes that Ash experiences kept me so engaged, startled, and fascinated. This story provokes so much thinking about how we see life. It explores gender, racism, friendship, and alternate realities, leaving you thinking about how much we really don’t know about the brain, and what existence is itself.