Addictive sci-fi and fantasy novels
New titles are drenched with grief and loss, writes Charlie Jane Anders, but they offer the possibility of healing.
1 Ours Phillip B. Williams
This book took my breath away. In the 1830s, a mysterious woman named Saint uses magic to free enslaved people and help them build a magically hidden town near St. Louis named Ours. An award-winning poet, Williams sets out to tell the story of a whole community: The narration spans decades and veers from omniscient to deeply immersed. The prose alternates between achingly poetic and crisply formal.
2 The Butcher of the Forest Premee Mohamed
Fairies have starred in some terrific books of late, but in Mohamed's novella they pack a lot more menace. In The Butcher of the Forest, the children of a despot known only as the Tyrant wander into an enchanted forest from which nobody has ever emerged, except a woman named Veris. Naturally, the Tyrant forces Veris to go rescue his kids, using her nimbleness to evade the snares and dangers in the woods, while grappling with the ethics of saving the children of a monster. Mohamed excels at telling the stories of ordinary people trapped by dark forces, and she infuses these characters with astounding tenderness and compassion.
3 The Fox Wife Yangsze Choo
The acclaimed author of The Night Tiger turns her attention to fox spirits, tricksters who loom large in Chinese folklore. At first, The Fox Wife appears to be a story of revenge and punishment: A beautiful fox named Snow hunts for the man who harmed her family, while a mystically gifted detective named Bao searches for her. But like the foxes themselves, Choo's narrative is full of tricks, slowly unveiling a more wistful story about lost love and second chances. Choo's foxes prey on the weakness of humans, who become unhealthily obsessed with these seductive creatures — desiring them but also fearing them. But these spirits are vulnerable, and their numbers dwindle, even as they seem unable to avoid getting drawn into human intrigues.
4 The Tainted Cup Robert Jackson Bennett
Great fantasy detective stories are too rare, but Bennett — another rising star of fantasy — more than delivers in The Tainted Cup. In a world where giant sea walls protect an empire from sea monsters, an engineer is gruesomely murdered when a tree sprouts out of his body. Enter detective Ana Dolabra — who seldom leaves her office and wears a blindfold when speaking to people — along with her long-suffering assistant Din, who has an eidetic memory. Ana and Din have a dynamic that's very much inspired by Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin. As with Rex Stout's classics, a lot of the fun of The Tainted Cup comes from watching Ana outwit people who think they're untouchable.
5 The Blueprint Rae Giana Rashad
In an alternate timeline, the civil rights era of the 1950s led to a second civil war, and in the 21st century, Black women are implanted with tracking devices and controlled via algorithm. Solenne is luckier than most: She's the concubine to a white government official named Bastien, who treats her well. But Solenne dreams of a freedom that Bastien will never allow her.