Fiction
In an absent dream
Seanan McGuire
SCIENCE FICTION Mcguire Seanan
Fiction, Fantasy
"Every Heart a Doorway racked up comparisons to C. S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll, and the Wayward Children series has delighted and mesmerized readers. This fourth entry tells the origin story of Lundy, a very serious young girl who would rather study and dream than become a respectable housewife and live up to the expectations of the world around her. As well she should. When she finds a doorway to a world founded on logic and reason, riddles and lies, she thinks she's found her paradise. Alas, everything costs at the goblin market, and when her time there is drawing to a close, she makes the kind of bargain that never plays out well. For anyone . . ."--
The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin
OverDrive Audiobook
Fiction, Fantasy, Diverse Characters
At the end of the world, a woman must hide her secret power and find her kidnapped daughter in this "intricate and extraordinary" Hugo Award winning novel of power, oppression, and revolution. (The New York Times) This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy. Read the first book in the critically acclaimed, three-time Hugo award-winning trilogy by NYT bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.
The Fifth Season is a braided coming of age story, a wonderful character study that is beautifully narrated by Robin Miles. This series does not flinch away from difficult topics, and explores the effects of racism, colonialism, and other oppressive power structures in stark detail. -Chelsea
Light from uncommon stars
Ryka Aoki
SCIENCE FICTION Aoki Ryka
Fiction, Science Fiction
"Good Omens meets The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet in Ryka Aoki's Light From Uncommon Stars, a defiantly joyful adventure set in California's San Gabriel Valley, with cursed violins, Faustian bargains, and queer alien courtship over fresh-made donuts. Shizuka Satomi made a deal with the devil: to escape damnation, she must entice seven other violin prodigies to trade their souls for success. She has already delivered six. When Katrina Nguyen, a young transgender runaway, catches Shizuka's ear with her wild talent, Shizuka can almost feel the curse lifting. She's found her final candidate. But in a donut shop off a bustling highway in the San Gabriel Valley, Shizuka meets Lan Tran, retired starship captain, interstellar refugee, and mother of four. Shizuka doesn't have time for crushes or coffee dates, what with her very soul on the line, but Lan's kind smile and eyes like stars might just redefine a soul's worth. And maybe something as small as a warm donut is powerful enough to break a curse as vast as the California coastline. As the lives of these three women become entangled by chance and fate, a story of magic, identity, curses, and hope begins, and a family worth crossing the universe for is found"--
At turns lyrical and ridiculous, this book made me laugh, it made me cry, and it made me laugh while crying. The characters are wonderfully imperfect, and it is a delight to see how they fit their broken edges together. Best enjoyed with doughnuts. -Chelsea
One last stop
Casey McQuiston
FICTION McQuiston, Casey
Fiction, LGBTQ+
"From the New York Times bestselling author of Red, White & Royal Blue comes a new romantic comedy that will stop readers in their tracks... "Dreamy, other worldly, smart, swoony, thoughtful, hilarious - all in all, exactly what you'd expect from Casey McQuiston!" - Jasmine Guillory, New York Times bestselling author of The Proposal and Party for Two Cynical twenty-three-year old August doesn't believe in much. She doesn't believe in psychics, or easily forged friendships, or finding the kind of love they make movies about. And she certainly doesn't believe her ragtag band of new roommates, her night shifts at a 24-hour pancake diner, or her daily subway commute full of electrical outages are going to change that. But then, there's Jane. Beautiful, impossible Jane. All hard edges with a soft smile and swoopy hair and saving August's day when she needed it most. The person August looks forward to seeing on the train every day. The one who makes her forget about the cities she lived in that never seemed to fit, and her fear of what happens when she finally graduates, and even her cold-case obsessed mother who won't quite let her go. And when August realizes her subway crush is impossible in more ways than one-namely, displaced in time from the 1970s-she thinks maybe it's time to start believing. Casey McQuiston's One Last Stop is a sexy, big-hearted romance where the impossible becomes possible as August does everything in her power to save the girl lost in time"--
The characters in this book feel like family, like a big group of friends that lives in the apartment above you causing good-natured chaos. Jane is one of my favorite characters. I love her hard edges and her drive to fight for her community, and I love that with August, she finally gets to have someone fight for her. -Chelsea
Good omens : the nice and accurate prophecies of Agnes Nutter, witch
Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett
SCIENCE FICTION Gaiman, Neil
Fiction, Fantasy
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter - the world's only totally reliable guide to the future - the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea... People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. This time though, the armies of Good and Evil really do appear to be massing. The four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons – well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel – would quite like the Rapture not to happen. And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist…
This book never fails to make me laugh, and it is unflinchingly in love with humanity. A good jumping off point for both Pratchett and Gaiman. To the world! -Chelsea
The bear and the nightingale : a novel
Katherine Arden
SCIENCE FICTION Arden, Katherine
Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction
"In a village at the edge of the wilderness of northern Russia, where the winds blow cold and the snow falls many months of the year, a stranger with piercing blue eyes presents a new father with a gift - a precious jewel on a delicate chain, intended for his young daughter. Uncertain of its meaning, Pytor hides the gift away and Vasya grows up a wild, willful girl, to the chagrin of her family. But when mysterious forces threaten the happiness of their village, Vasya discovers that, armed only with the necklace, she may be the only one who can keep the darkness at bay"--
The Winternight Trilogy is fantasy with a heavy historical influence. The detail Arden uses to describe medival Russia really grounds the more fantastic elements of the story, and the world is alive with characters from Russian folklore. Vasya is a very empowering protagonist because she only ever becomes more herself. She refuses to let the world change her, and the series follows her as she carves out a place for herself in spite of the conventions that would cage her. -Chelsea
The books of Earthsea : the complete illustrated edition
Ursula K. Le Guin
SCIENCE FICTION Leguin Ursula
Fiction, Fantasy
"Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the timeless and beloved A Wizard of Earthsea --"...reads like the retelling of a tale first told centuries ago," (David Mitchell)--comes this complete omnibus edition of the entire Earthsea chronicles, including over fifty illustrations illuminating Le Guin's vision of her classic saga. Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea novels are some of the most acclaimed and awarded works in literature--they have received prestigious accolades such as the National Book Award, a Newbery Honor, the Nebula Award, and many more honors, commemorating their enduring place in the hearts and minds of readers and the literary world alike. Now for the first time ever, they're all together in one volume--including the early short stories, Le Guin's "Earthsea Revisioned" Oxford lecture, and a new Earthsea story, never before printed. With a new introduction by Le Guin herself, this essential edition will also include fifty illustrations by renowned artist Charles Vess, specially commissioned and selected by Le Guin, to bring her refined vision of Earthsea and its people to life in a totally new way. [Stories include: "A Wizard of Earthsea", "The Tombs of Atuan", "The Farthest Shore", "Tehanu", "Tales From Earthsea", "The Other Wind", "The Rule of Names", "The Word of Unbinding", "The Daughter of Odren", and "Earthsea Revisioned: A Lecture at Oxford University".] With stories as perennial and universally beloved as The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of The Rings--but also unlike anything but themselves--this edition is perfect for those new to the world of Earthsea, as well as those who are well-acquainted with its enchanting magic: to know Earthsea is to love it"--
The Earthsea books are about becoming, but not in a hyperempowered-YA-protagonist way. They are about growing up and maturing and finding your place in the world and learning the truth of yourself, but they are also about accepting responsibility and guilt and all of the messy awful things that come with being human. -Chelsea
Gideon the ninth
Tamsyn Muir
SCIENCE FICTION Muir Tamsyn
Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction
Muir's Gideon the Ninth unveils a solar system of swordplay, cutthroat politics, and lesbian necromancers. Her characters leap off the page, as skillfully animated as arcane revenants. The result is a heart-pounding epic science fantasy.
This book is dense, and it can be difficult to get into, but it is very much worth the effort, and is particularly rewarding to reread. The characters are wonderfully flawed, and the world they inhabit is broken and horrifyingly familiar. Muir's humor will sneak up on you when you're least expecting it. -Chelsea
A darker shade of magic
Victoria Schwab
SCIENCE FICTION Schwab Victoria
Fiction, Fantasy
"From V.E. Schwab, the critically acclaimed author of Vicious, comes a new universe of daring adventure, thrilling power, and parallel Londons, beginning with A Darker Shade of Magic. Kell is one of the last Travelers--magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel universes--as such, he can choose where he lands. There's Grey London, dirty and boring, without any magic, ruled by a mad King George. Then there's Red London, where life and magic are revered, and the Maresh Dynasty presides over a flourishing empire. White London, ruled by whoever has murdered their way to the throne--a place where people fight to control magic, and the magic fights back, draining the city to its very bones. And once upon a time, there was Black London...but no one speaks of that now. Officially, Kell is the Red Traveler, personal ambassador and adopted Prince of Red London, carrying the monthly correspondences between the royals of each London. Unofficially, Kell is a smuggler, servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they'll never see--a dangerous hobby, and one that has set him up for accidental treason. Fleeing into Grey London, Kell runs afoul of Delilah Bard, a cut-purse with lofty aspirations, first robs him, then saves him from a dangerous enemy, and then forces him to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure. But perilous magic is afoot, and treachery lurks at every turn. To save all of the worlds, Kell and Lila will first need to stay alive--and that is proving trickier than they hoped. "--
Incredible world building, interesting magic system, excellent characters; the whole series is one of my all time favorites and I look forward to its continuation. -Chelsea
Stardust
Neil Gaiman
SCIENCE FICTION Gaiman, Neil
Fiction, Fantasy
Young Tristran Thorn will do anything to win the cold heart of beautiful Victoria—even fetch her the star they watch fall from the night sky. But to do so, he must enter the unexplored lands on the other side of the ancient wall that gives their tiny village its name. Beyond that old stone wall, Tristran learns, lies Faerie—where nothing not even a fallen star, is what he imagined.
A lovely lyrical fantasy that i read again and again. It never fails to transport me to another world for a few hours. -Chelsea
I see myself in Lundy. I love her attention to detail and the way she uses her cleverness to find loopholes and make the rules work to her advantage. I enjoy all of the Wayward Children books, but there's something special about In an Absent Dream. It contains the sort of heartbreak that cuts to the core of me. -Chelsea