REISSUES

Our pick of the paperbacks this month: Kate Mayfield’s THE PARENTATIONS ( , 3 January, Point Blank). Stretching from Iceland in 1783 to present-day London, it centres on Elisabet and her family, rendered immortal after drinking from a mysterious pool. This brings them to the attention of a mysterious enemy… We said: “Evokes both the splendour and squalor of London. The prose is occasionally rather florid, but this is a terrific debut from an exciting new talent.” Tessa Gratton’s THE QUEENS OF INNIS LEAR ( , 24 January) is basically a fantasy riff on King Lear, looking at the women around Lear, his wife and his daughters, and how his tragedy is also theirs. We said: “Gratton looks beyond the characters and creates a beautiful world, one where there’s magic in the trees and water, and prophecies come from the stars. This gives the story freshness.” Finally, our reviewer wasn’t impressed by Sam J Miller’s BLACKFISH CITY ( , 24 January, Orbit) – though the likes of The Guardian and The Washington Post were. Set after the climate wars, on Qaanaag, a floating city in the Arctic Circle that’s a melting pot of the displaced, it features an STD that spreads unwanted memories, and nanite tech that allows communication with animals like polar bears! We said: “Packed with potential, but ultimately scuppered by dry, ploddingly episodic plotting and lifeless, navelgazing characters.” But hey, what do we know?