The last Must-Have Monday of March, and the largest of the year so far – THIRTEEN books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Magical Realism
Representation: Afro-Carribean cast, nonbinary lesbian MC
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads
Folktales and spirits animate this lively coming-of-age tale of two Jamaican-Trinidadian sisters in Brooklyn grappling with their mother’s illness, their father's infidelity, and the truth of their family's past
Sisters Zora and Sasha Porter are drifting apart. Bearing witness to their father’s violence and their mother’s worsening illness, an unsettled Zora escapes into her journal, dreaming of being a writer, while Sasha discovers sex and chest binding, spending more time with her new girlfriend than at home.
But the sisters, like their parents, must come together to answer to beings greater than themselves, and reckon with a family secret buried in the past. A tale told from the perspective of a mischievous narrator, featuring the Rolling Calf who haunts butchers, Mama Dglo who lives in the ocean, a vain tiger, and an outsmarted snake, The Human Origins of Beatrice Porter & Other Essential Ghosts is set in a world as alive and unpredictable as Helen Oyeyemi’s.
Telling of the love between sisters who don’t always see eye to eye, this extraordinary debut novel is a celebration of the power of stories, asking, what happens to us when our stories are erased? Do we disappear? Or do we come back haunting?
I’ve seen enough reviews hinting at something wonderful but spoilery (that they therefore can’t disclose) about this book that it definitely has my attention, but I really don’t know what to expect. I haven’t seen anyone who hasn’t loved it, though!
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads
On Prospect Hill, you can get nearly anything you want from the Fae—if you know how to ask and if you can pay the price.
There is no magic on Prospect Hill—or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae, and all their magic. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier—a bit of glass to find something lost, a cup of milk for better layers in the chicken coop.
Much of that old wisdom has been lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at the copper works and the cotton mill. Alaine Fairborn’s family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find her lost shoe and ensure dry weather on her sister Delphine’s wedding day.
But when Delphine confides her new husband is not the man she thought he was, Alaine will stop at nothing to help her sister escape his abuse. Small bargains buy them time, but the progress of locomotives and factories hasn’t given way to equitable laws for women. A major bargain is needed, but the price for sweeping change may be more than they’re willing to pay.
This was vaguely on my radar, but I became very interested when Elyse John mentioned that it’s packed full of quotes from invented books of fairy lore. That’s the kind of thing I absolutely adore!
Genres: Sci Fi
Representation: Desi cast and setting
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads
A bold, bitingly satirical near-future mosaic novel about a city run along 'meritocratic' lines, the injustice it creates, and the revolution that will destroy it.
We are the future of the human race.Welcome to Apex City, formerly Bangalore. Here, technology is the key to survival, productivity is power, and even the self must be engineered, for the only noble goal in life: success.
Everything is decided by the mathematically perfect Bell Curve. With the right image, values and opinions, you can ascend to the glittering heights of the Ten Percent – the Virtual elite – and have the world at your feet. The less-fortunate struggle among the workaday Seventy Percent, or fall to the precarious Twenty Percent; and below that lies deportation to the ranks of the Analogs, with no access to electricity, running water or even humanity.
The system has no flaws, and cannot be questioned. Until a single daring theft sets events in motion that will change the city forever...
Previously published in South Asia only as Analog/Virtual, The Ten-Percent Thief is a striking debut by a ferocious new talent.
The reviews for this are a little mixed, but the premise is so interesting that it has me hooked. Apparently it’s more a series of interconnected short stories than a traditional novel? Which really doesn’t bother me when it’s done well!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Achillean MC
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads
When Sir Harrance ‘Harry’ Larksdale, bastard brother of the king, falls for a mysterious lad from the mountains, he is unwillingly caught up in a chaotic world of court intrigue and murderous folk tales. Meanwhile Queen Carmotta Il’Lunadella, First-Queen of the Brintland, needs to save her life and her unborn child. With the Third-Queen plotting against her, and rumours of coups rocking the court, Carmotta can rely only on her devious mind and venomous wit.
But deep within the walls of Becken Keep squats the keep-within – patient, timeless, and evil. To speak of the keep-within outside the walls of Becken Keep guarantees your bizarre and agonising demise within nine days. All the while, people fearfully whisper the name Red Marie: a bloodied demon with rusted nails for teeth and swinging scythes who preys on the innocent.
Harry and Carmotta are clinging to their dreams, their lives, by threads. And, beneath all, the keep-within awaits.
I ended up really enjoying Worrad’s debut, Pennyblade, and The Keep Within is another standalone in the same setting. I’m a little curious to know if the commrachs (elves) will appear in this book too, since they featured in Pennyblade – maybe Red Marie is a commrach? I’m not sure I’ll enjoy this as much if it’s a purely human-centric story, but we’ll see!
Genres: Fantasy
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads
One of Us is Lying meets A Deadly Education in this fantasy thriller that follows six teenage wizards as they fight to make it home alive after a malfunctioning spell leaves them stranded in the wilderness.
Ren Monroe has spent four years proving she’s one of the best wizards in her generation. But top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. If being rich were a sin, he’d already be halfway to hell. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays—Theo’s punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. Which doesn’t sit well with any of them.
A fight breaks out. In the chaos, the portal spell malfunctions. All six students are snatched from the safety of the school’s campus and set down in the middle of nowhere. And one of them is dead on arrival.
If anyone can get them through the punishing wilderness with limited magical reserves it’s Ren. She’s been in survival mode her entire life. But no magic could prepare her for the tangled secrets the rest of the group is harboring, or for what’s following them through the dark woods…
I’ve been hearing good things about The Door in the Dark since last year – I could swear I was told there’d be queer rep, but I can’t find any details about that now, so maybe I’m misremembering. But I’ve enjoyed Reintgen’s books before, and that plus the praise of people like KD Edwards for this book means I’ll definitely be picking it up.
Genres: Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: Sapphic MC
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads
In Strictly No Heroics, a normal teen girl must navigate crushing on her best friend, starting a new summer job, and not being squashed during the next supervillain showdown in B.L. Radley's young adult debut filled with humor and heart.
A Normie’s guide to staying alive in Sunnylake City:
1. Keep your head down.
2. Don’t make enemies.
3. Strictly no heroics.The world is run by those with the Super gene, and Riley Jones doesn’t have it. She’s just a Normie, ducking her way around the hero vs. villain battles that constantly demolish Sunnylake City, working at a crappy diner to save up money for therapy, and trying to figure out how to tell her family that she’s queer. But when Riley retaliates against a handsy superhero at work, she finds herself in desperate need of employment, and the only place that will hire her is HENCH.
Yes, HENCH, as in henchmen: masked cronies who take villains' coffee orders, vacuum their secret lairs, and posture in the background while they fight. Riley's plan is to mind her own business and get paid...but that quickly devolves when she witnesses a horrible murder on the job. Caught in the thick of a gentrification plot, a unionization effort, and a developing crush on her prickly fellow henchwoman, Riley must face the possibility that even a powerless Normie can take a stand against injustice.
This sounds reminiscent of Hench, which is one of my all-time favourites, so OF COURSE I will be giving it a try!
Genres: Fantasy
Representation: Bisexual MC, nonbinary secondary character
Published on: 28th March 2023
Goodreads
From New York Times bestselling author Justina Ireland and Tessa Gratton comes the first book in a ferocious YA fantasy duology featuring ancient magic, warring factions, and a romance between the two people in the world with the most cause to hate one another.
Darling Seabreak cannot remember anything before the murder of her family at the hands of House Dragon, but she knows she owes her life to both the power of her Chaos Boon and House Kraken for liberating her from the sewers where she spent her childhood. So when her adoptive Kraken father is captured in battle, Darling vows to save him--even if that means killing each and every last member of House Dragon.
Talon Goldhoard has always been a dutiful War Prince for House Dragon, bravely leading the elite troops of his brother, the High Prince Regent. But lately his brother's erratic rule threatens to undo a hundred years of House Dragon's hard work, and factions are turning to Talon to unseat him. Talon resists, until he's ambushed by a fierce girl who looks exactly like the one his brother has painted obsessively, repeatedly, for years, and Talon knows she's the key to everything.
Together, Darling and Talon must navigate the treacherous waters of House politics, caught up in the complicated game the High Prince Regent is playing against everyone. The unlikeliest of allies, they'll have to stop fighting each other long enough to learn to fight together in order to survive the fiery prophecies and ancient blood magic threatening to devastate their entire world.
I’ve got to be honest; I detest the character names in this, which do not give me high hopes that this won’t be the wrong kind of YA (for me). But I adore Tessa Gratton and I loved Justina Ireland’s Dread Nation books, so I’m still going to give this a go. Seriously crossing my fingers and hoping that my first impression is completely wrong!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MCs, nonbinary love interest
Published on: 30th March 2023
Goodreads
A half-drowned stranger turns up at the door of Garad Gaheris, retired King's Champion, with a hell of a story to tell. The ex-knight may have uncovered a conspiracy involving the very highest echelons of London's elite.
'A riveting tragedy of blood and desire. A masterwork of urban fantasy - and the coolest thing you'll read this year' - SAMANTHA SHANNON on Blackheart Knights
Current King's Champion Si Wyll, a master illusionist, still reeling from the betrayal of his lover and the death of his mentor, is poised to become the most dangerous man in London. Then a figure from his past surfaces, determined to blackmail him into a plot to change the balance of power for good.
'A brilliant, bloody wild' - JAY KRISTOFF on Blackheart Knights
And the city's godchildren, those born with illegal magical abilities, have had enough of being put down - but who must die to ensure their ascension?
Hands-down the book I’m most excited for this week!!! This is the sequel to Blackheart Knights (read my review here) which was one of my favourite books of 2021. I can’t WAIT to get back to Eve’s incredible urban fantasy setting – seriously, it’s like no other I’ve ever seen – and her unique take on Arthurian legend!
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 30th March 2023
Goodreads
Brynhild is a Valkyrie: shieldmaiden of the All-Father, chooser of the slain. But now she too has fallen, flightless in her exile.
Gudrun is a princess of Burgundy, a daughter of the Rhine, a prize for an invading king – a king whose brother Attila has other plans, and a dragon to call upon.
And in the songs to be sung, there is another hero: Sigurd, a warrior with a sword sharper than the new moon.
As the legends tell, these names are destined to be rivals, fated as enemies. But here on Midgard, legends can be lies…
For not all heroes are heroic, nor all monsters monstrous. And a shieldmaiden may yet find that love is the greatest weapon of all.
From Sunday Times bestselling author Kate Heartfield comes a glorious, lyrical retelling of one of Norse mythology’s greatest epics.
So far I’ve massively enjoyed all of Heartfield’s books, and I’m expecting nothing less from The Valkyrie. It certainly doesn’t hurt that I love the valkyries as mythological beings/figures!
Genres: Sci Fi
Published on: 30th March 2023
Goodreads
Dust jacket illustration by David Curtis.
Arkady Martine, the acclaimed author of the Teixcalaan Series, returns with an astonishing new novella.
Basit Deniau’s houses were haunted to begin with.
A house embedded with an artificial intelligence is a common thing: a house that is an artificial intelligence, infused in every load-bearing beam and fine marble tile with a thinking creature that is not human? That is something else altogether. But now Deniau’s been dead a year, and Rose House is locked up tight, as commanded by the architect’s will: all his possessions and files and sketches are confined in its archives, and their only keeper is Rose House itself. Rose House, and one other.
Dr. Selene Gisil, one of Deniau’s former protégé, is permitted to come into Rose House once a year. She alone may open Rose House’s vaults, look at drawings and art, talk with Rose House’s animating intelligence all she likes. Until this week, Dr. Gisil was the only person whom Rose House spoke to.
But even an animate intelligence that haunts a house has some failsafes common to all AIs. For instance: all AIs must report the presence of a dead body to the nearest law enforcement agency.
There is a dead person in Rose House. The house says so. It is not Basit Deniau, and it is not Dr. Gisil. It is someone else. Rose House, having completed its duty of care and informed Detective Maritza Smith of the China Lake police precinct that there is in fact a dead person inside it, dead of unnatural causes—has shut up.
No one can get inside Rose House, except Dr. Gisil. Dr. Gisil was not in North America when Rose House called the China Lake precinct. But someone did. And someone died there. And someone may be there still.
I’m not completely certain how the release of this is going to work – Subterranean Press is not great at release dates, which makes pinning them down for my book calendar pretty difficult. Fingers crossed the ebook will be available this week, anyway! Though I’ve been surprised to see some very unimpressed reviews – not what I was expecting, after the marvel of the Teixcalaan books! Still going to be reading it and make up my own mind, though.
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Trans MC, sapphic MCs, polyamory
Published on: 31st March 2023
Goodreads
"One does not learn to fly without taking a leap. And one has to fall to be caught."
Nomi is a young druid finally taking the chance to spread her wings and leave her home. To see the world and discover its magic, beauty… and maybe love. Calia is a dragon on the hunt for angels, trying to square an old debt. That, and to get Laura, her desired bondmate, to finally return to her side, where she belongs.
Nomi immediately catches the eye of the powerful dragons. Calia entices her with honeyed words and a skillful tongue. On the other hand, Laura, much smaller but equally intimidating, takes it upon herself to protect her.
Despite the warnings, Nomi can’t help being drawn to Calia's charm, her power, her fangs… and the hidden gentleness in her eyes. She promises danger where Laura promises safety, and Nomi is torn between the two. Luckily there is a convenient cult out for the dragons’ heads, providing Nomi with ample distraction and at least one dragon egg to steal, hatch, and raise by herself. Perfectly normal things for a young transgender druid to get involved in!
In the clutches of dragons, battling dark forces from beyond the stars, Nomi faces the questions of who she is and who she wants to be. Whether she deserves the love offered to her, and what it truly takes to earn her wings...
Not gonna lie, the cover DEFINITELY won me over on this one, but it also sounds super sweet and soft, and I am always up for more poly fantasy!
Genres: Queer Protagonists
Representation: Bisexual MC, bisexual love interest, M/M
Published on: 31st March 2023
Goodreads
Ezra Santos is tired of running. Of burning bridge after bridge and going through new names like used matches. He desperately wants something he was never destined to have—a future all his own. Having escaped his hell of a home two years ago, he can’t go a day without looking over his shoulder. Putting down roots was never in the cards when the family that raised Ezra relentlessly hunts him across the country. Right as he’s about to restart the cycle—new name, new life, the whole nine yards—his plans come to a screeching halt when he crosses paths with a mysterious and charismatic vampire, Killian Hale. He promises a way out from a life on the run. Ezra knows there's no helping a man with the devil on his heels—but there's something about Killian that makes him believe he could finally break free of the Espinas once and for all. It’s only a matter of time before the clock winds down and the rest of Ezra's troubles come home to roost. There's something sinister in his blood—a dark fate passed down through generations. Can the two survive an ancient family curse or will Ezra doom them both?
I have been promised dark queer spookiness, and I am here for it!
Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Black sapphic MC, F/F
Published on: 31st March 2023
Goodreads
Oba’s a mermaid.
More importantly, though, she’s a career girl; ambitious, motivated, and destined to be chief one day. Nothing can stand in her way. (Well. Float in her way.)
Except that thirty minutes into her first ever job – delivering correspondence across the ocean to a neighboring tribe of merfolk – she screws up. She loses her chief’s amulet, an irreplaceable treasure that marked her out as a legitimate maritime messenger.
Even worse, the amulet is found and taken away by that most terrible of things: A boat .
Boats, Oba knows, are where humans live. Which means that she’s just allowed proof of her people’s existence to fall into the hands of their mortal enemies.
Oh, she is so fired .
Not content to give up her dreams nor able to endure the mockery she knows will await her back home, Oba decides to take her dilemma to the local sea witch.
And… well, when has that ever worked out for anyone, honestly?
FANTASY, YOUNG ADULT, COMING-OF-AGE, F/F
TJ Land continues to be one of my very favouite authors (nothing will ever top Lovequake) and I’m very excited for their take on Black mermaids! YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU!
Will you be reading any of these? Let me know!
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