R e i s s u e s

Justina Robson’s first novel in four years, THE GLORIOUS ANGELS ( , 11 February, Gollancz), is reminiscent of ’ 70s and ’ 80s feminist science fantasy. Set in a world ruled by women, it features flying cities, telepathic Empresses, and shapeshifting tiger-dogparahumans who absorb knowledge by eating people! We said: “Tap dances along the lines between genre boundaries, kicking up its heels with a giddy, ferociously smart inventiveness.” Ready Player One author Ernest Cline’s latest, ARMADA ( , 11 February, Arrow), has a fair amount in common with ’ 80s film The Last Starfighter. Its hero is a dab hand at the titular MMO, and finds himself recruited to the military after discovering that it’s actually a training sim for a forthcoming war with an alien race. We said: “Sometimes the geek references get wearing, but Cline’s strength is his thriller- like plotting, which is the rigid spine under the in- joke froth.” Finally, DOCTOR WHO: CITY OF DEATH ( , 11 February, BBC Books) is another hugely belated adaptation of one of the stories penned by Hitchhiker’s creator Douglas Adams. Set in Paris, this 1979 adventure concerns a squid- faced alien fractured in time, and is widely considered to be one of the classic series’ best adventures. Author James Goss draws on the original scripts to insert extra little scraps of Adams. We said: “A damn sight better than the novelisation we’d have got in the ’ 70s … certainly does the story justice.”