Reissues

Pick of the paperbacks this month: Kim Stanley Robinson’s latest, RED MOON ( , 12 September, Orbit). Set 30 years from now, when the Moon’s been colonised, it’s essentially an odd-couple chase thriller. American technician Fred Fredericks finds himself caught up in a murder plot and on the run with a Chinese dissident. We said: “Grapples with how the wielding of power impacts on ordinary lives… A wise and big-hearted novel.” Brandon Sanderson’s latest, SKYWARD ( , 19 September, Gollancz), sees him switching from fantasy to SF. This Top Gun-in-space tale sees the last remnants of mankind under constant attack from the alien Krell. It follows hot-tempered teen Spensa, whose father was shot down as a deserter (there’s more to it than that, of course…), as she enrols in flight school. We said: “Sanderson is very good at action… the breathless rush of the dogfights is what lingers longest in the mind.” Meanwhile, Ann Leckie, author of space opera Ancillary Justice, has moved from SF to fantasy. THE RAVEN TOWER ( , 3 October, Orbit) weaves together two narratives: the machinations of gods such as rockbound deity The Strength and Patience of the Hill; and a warrior in the service of a young noble who has a claim to be ruler of the kingdom of Iraden. We said: “Requires careful attention... Rewards in the way it offers strange images and the way sexual politics are revealed to be central to the story.”