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Fantasy and Science Fiction October 2020
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| Piranesi by Susanna ClarkeThe only people in the world: "Piranesi," the narrator, and his mysterious mentor, known as "the Other," who dwell in the House, a surreal labyrinthine building full of impossible things.
Why you might like it: This long-awaited novel by the author of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell offers a puzzle box of a plot and metafictional magical realism wrapped up in lyrical prose.
Reviewers say: "a tenebrous study in solitude" (The Guardian). |
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| The Memory of Souls by Jenn LyonsWhat it is: the 3rd installment of the Chorus of Dragons series, after The Ruin of Kings and The Name of All Things.
What's at stake: the wards that confine Vol Karoth, king of demons, are weakening and that's bad news.
Read it for: inventive world-building, an intricately plotted story that unfolds from multiple perspectives, and a genderfluid trio of leads whose will-they-won't-they relationship evolves throughout the series. |
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Chosen Ones
by Veronica Roth
What it's about: A decade after five Chicago teens defeated the Dark One and saved the world, these former "Chosen Ones" are struggling, individually and collectively, with fame and trauma.
Reviewers say: This latest novel by the author of the Divergent series is a "thoughtful, well-crafted twist on a genre staple" (Publishers Weekly).
Want a taste? "Something bobs to the surface next to me. It looks like a piece of plastic at first, but when I pick it up, it’s soft and slippery. I scream, dropping it when I realize it’s skin."
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The Constant Rabbit
by Jasper Fforde
What it's about: In an England populated with anthropomorphic rabbits and humans, one hare family moves into a cozy little village that does not want them there and are defended by two human neighbors who take a stand against prejudice.
Why you should read it: "Every book of Fforde's seems to be a cause for celebration." -- Charles Yu, The New York Times Book Review.
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Alice
by Christina Henry
What it is: A mind-bending novel inspired by the twisted and wondrous works of Lewis Carroll.
The setting: In a warren of crumbling buildings and desperate people called the Old City, there stands a hospital with cinderblock walls which echo the screams of the poor souls inside. In the hospital, there is a woman. Her hair, once blond, hangs in tangles down her back. She doesn't remember why she's in such a terrible place. Just a tea party long ago, and long ears, and blood...
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| Lovecraft Country: A Novel by Matt RuffChicago, 1954: Black army veteran Atticus Turner sets out on a road trip across the segregated United States to find his missing father, encountering both racism and eldritch horrors along the way.
Media buzz: Lovecraft Country is now a critically acclaimed HBO series.
For fans of: dark fantasy that employs Lovecraftian themes to examine racism, such as Victor LaValle's The Ballad of Black Tom, Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Mexican Gothic, or N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became. |
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The Water's Lovely : A Novel
by Ruth Rendell
What it's about: A decade after the killing of her stepfather, Ismay is still haunted by nightmares of his murder and of seeing his naked body floating in the bathtub and her sister, Heather, standing over him.
Read it for: potent imagery, exquisite plotting, and the twists of the knife of suspense in a wonderfully excruciating way.
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| Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeerWhat happens: A biologist, a psychologist, a surveyor, and an anthropologist set out on a scientific expedition to Area X, a quarantined zone that defies all attempts to map its terrain. Eleven previous missions have failed; is the 12th time the charm?
Read it for: the palpable sense of menace that permeates the dreamlike narrative; embedded homages to works of classic SF (such as the Strugatsky Brothers' Roadside Picnic).
Series alert: This Nebula and Shirley Jackson Award winner kicks of the Southern Reach trilogy, followed by Authority and Acceptance. |
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Contact your library for more great books!
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