Good Reads & Views

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria Schwab
Fiction

What it’s about: Never pray to the gods who answer after dark. Desperate to escape an unwanted marriage and life in a small town, Adeline LaRue forgets this advice and makes a deal for her soul in exchange for her freedom for as long as she wishes to live. She soon realizes she is cursed to live forever but never remembered by anyone she meets. Three hundred years later in New York City, she meets a man who remembers her. 

Why you should read it: Victoria Schwab has written numerous fantasy stories with unusual plots, but this one does not feel like a historical novel or a fantasy or a typical romance. The prose is spare and haunting. Especially recommended on audio.

What to read next: For another book about an immortal denizen of New York, try Forever by Pete Hamill.

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The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
Fiction 

If you like: Stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, found families, and quirky fantasies, read this now!

What it’s about: Offbeat and heartwarming, this tale is set in a highly bureaucratic dystopian society where magical beings exist under the strict scrutiny of the bureaucracy. Linus Baker is a caseworker for the Department in Charge of Magical Youth whose life is changed forever when he is given a classified assignment to observe an island orphanage housing dangerous magical children. When he opens the top-secret case file and learns the secret of the first of these children, Linus faints with fear. But under the guidance of Arthur, their caretaker, these little monsters have the potential to become their best selves; as Linus learns, a case file can’t tell the whole story. A whimsical and surprisingly delightful story about celebrating differences.

You might also like: Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern, and Warlight by Michael Ondaatje.

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The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher
Fiction

What it’s about: In a fantasy world where humans have retreated to Spires far above the deadly surface, Merchant Captain Grimm flies his merchant ship Predator for Spire Albion until he is tapped to lead a team of agents on a secret mission.

Why you might like it: The cast of characters is large yet  nonetheless fully realized. Humor is mixed equally with suspense. The main characters are fundamentally good people caught up in an epic battle. It is the first in a series, and a lot of the world is yet to be explored by the characters.

You might also like: The Guns Above by Robyn Bennis another steampunk world with airships.

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Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton
Fiction

What it’s about: S.T., a domesticated crow, realizes something is wrong with his owner Big Jim when Big Jim’s eyeball falls out and then the guy tries to eat him. S.T., along with his good buddy Dennis, a sweet but dim-witted bloodhound, abandon the only life they’ve ever known to discover that the malady affecting Big Jim has struck all the humans of Seattle--they've become the raging undead, seeking only flesh and the bright glow of digital objects. S.T. and Dennis are in the fight of their lives as they struggle to survive and find purpose among the ruins of humanity. Fortunately, S.T. has acquired plenty of smarts from watching documentaries on the Discovery Channel.

Why you might like it: This quirky fantasy blends dark humor and horror, and features a sassy, plucky hero resulting in an exuberant read that’s full of heart.

Want a taste? Despite the snark, there are some surprisingly poignant and moving passages, like this: “Trust it turned out, was a very beautiful and fragile thing with a taste like wild raspberries and experienced only by the very brave.” And this: “Watching the sunrise.... what an act of beauty, of unwavering faith, something to look forward to each and every day.”

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Burn For Me: A Hidden Legacy Novel by Ilona Andrews
Fiction

What it’s about: Nevada Baylor, a private investigator and truthseeker mage, has to track down a powerful fire mage. Connor “Mad Dog” Rogan, a powerful telekinetic mage, wants to find the same guy. After bumping into each other and sparring a few times, they join forces and uncover more than they bargained for, including a conspiracy and romance.

Why you should read it: Ilona Andrews is a husband and wife writing team who have some really cool fantasy series. This series features a sizzling romance and an alternate history Houston in which powerful mages called Primes clash outside the law. I just finished book four and can’t wait for the next installment!

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Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James
Fiction

What it’s about: Gifted with an extraordinary sense of smell, lone wolf Tracker is hired to join a motley band of magically gifted mercenaries in a far-ranging search for a mysterious kidnapped boy. The book opens with the story of Tracker’s youth, when he learns to use his gift and begins his complex relationship with the shape-shifting Leopard. This is a hallucinatory, nightmarish trek across a richly-detailed landscape peopled with witches, magical children, mermaids, vampires, and trolls, and it also is funny, violent, heartbreaking, and romantic. The first of a trilogy.

Is it for you? If you miss Game of Thrones, and are looking for a sweeping, brutal, yet lush and compelling Afrofantasy that blends genres and tells stories within stories within stories, this book is for you. It’s about the power of storytelling, political pawns, chosen families, and love and hate in all forms.

Reviewers say: “Reading Black Leopard, Red Wolf was like being slowly eaten by a bear, one inviting me to feel every pressure of tooth and claw tearing into me…. But I can't deny that having finished it, I went back to the beginning to find things I now better understood, felt better able to withstand — as if in hollowing me out the book had made space for itself, had given me something in exchange for everything it put me through.” Amal El-Mohtar for NPR

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Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Fiction

What it’s about: Frustrated with her kind but incompetent father’s unsuccessful running of the family’s moneylending business, young Miryem takes over, starts collecting outstanding debts, and puts the business back on sound footing. When she is overheard boasting of her ability to turn silver into gold, she draws the attention of the Staryk, creatures who haunt the woods, ruled by a king of winter who loves gold.

Reviewers say: “A medieval fable of obscure moral import blossoms into a thoughtful, emotionally complex, absorbing drama that stands confidently on its own merits” (Kirkus). “This masterly, immersive high fantasy tale is grounded in real-world challenges and opportunities for growth” (Library Journal). “This book is about the determination and quiet competence of women doing remarkable things without knowing first that they can do them” (NYT Book Review).

You might also like: Novik's Uprooted, an award winning fantasy that Publishers Weekly called "a tale that is both elegantly grand and earthily humble, familiar as a Grimm fairy tale yet fresh, original, and totally irresistible." 

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The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
Fiction

What it’s about: Not long after the death of her mother, Yeine Darre is summoned to the city of Sky to become a third heir for her grandfather, the ruler of the city of Sky and therefore the world. Yeine hopes to solve her mother’s murder but becomes embroiled in a plot by the captive gods to win their freedom. She does not plan to fall in love with the Nightlord himself.

Why you should read it: N. K. Jemisin just won her third Hugo Award and is one of the leading writers in the Afrofuturism movement. This book is a good starting point to experience her rich worldbuilding and an unusual cast of characters.

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Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
YA Fiction

Elisa is a pampered princess with a Godstone in her navel, which means she is destined for a life of service…if only she knew what that meant. When she is kidnapped and taken across the desert, she must figure out how to survive and how to stop the invasion of a powerful enemy. Although Elisa seems whiny at first, I was surprised how strong she became. This unusual fantasy world is based on medieval Spain and is richly imagined.

The Bees by Laline Paull
Fiction

This surprising and imaginative dystopian fantasy will have you thinking of bees and the intricate social rituals of a hive in a whole new way. Sanitation worker Flora 717, born to the lowest social order of the hive, is excessively large, and unlike her sister sanitation workers, Flora 717 can speak. She is a variation and not a deformity, and so is permitted to live and even become part of the priestess Sister Sage's private experiment. This gives her permission to move among the different social strata, where she witnesses much of the beauty and mystery of the behavior rituals of bees. She works in the nursery, becomes a forager, and fights off enemies. When Flora breaks one on the hive's sacred laws, and lays an egg of her own, her secret pits her against the hive. Much of the information about life in the hive and social structure is accurate, but Paull does take some liberties with science. Even so, after reading this, I feel even more compelled to avoid using pesticides.