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Fantasy and Science Fiction July 2017
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| City of Miracles: A Novel by Robert Jackson BennettFantasy. This concluding volume of the Divine Cities trilogy focuses on supporting character Sigrud je Harkvaldsson, who sets out on a quest and discovers a conspiracy. To say more would give away too much, but series fans will enjoy discovering the aging (but still lethal) warrior's hidden depths. To experience the full effect of this series' well-drawn characters, complex plot, and meticulous world-building, start with City of Stairs, followed by City of Blades. |
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The rise and fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal StephensonA discreet translation assignment enmeshes a linguistics expert and a military intelligence operator in the world-shattering revelation that magic was once widely practiced and can be reactivated if they travel back in time to make historical changes that are complicated by human treachery.
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The Massacre of Mankind
by Stephen Baxter
A sequel to H. G. Wells' classic, The War of the Worlds, takes place 14 years after the Martian invasion, where a more technologically prepared Earth is nevertheless overcome by a second invasion that is documented by Walker Jenkins' sister-in-law, who would help humanity organize a desperate last effort to survive
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Beren and Lúthien by J. R. R. TolkienAn important chapter in the saga of The Silmarillion, first conceived by Tolkien at the end of his service in World War I, follows the romance between an immortal elf and a mortal whose worthiness is put to an impossible test.
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| All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries by Martha WellsSF. "As a heartless killing machine, I was a terrible failure," confesses the AI narrator of this fast-paced SF adventure. After hacking its own governor module and overriding its programming, security droid "Murderbot" ends up saving lives instead of ending them -- but only because letting all the humans die would interfere with its favorite activity: binge-watching some 35,000 hours' worth of entertainment media. All Systems Red's snarky protagonist and suspenseful, action-packed plot should have readers eagerly anticipating future installments of the Murderbot Diaries. |
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| The Bees: A Novel by Laline PaullDystopian Fiction. The rules are simple: "Accept, Obey, and Serve." But worker bee Flora 717 is destined to put that motto to the test. As she rises through the colony's ranks -- from sanitation worker to nurse, from forager to Queen's handmaid -- Flora observes, questions, and challenges the hive's strict laws, and neither the brainwashing effects of honey nor the all-consuming pheromonal power of Queen's Love can stop her. But honeybee colonies are super-organisms whose survival depends on the suppression of individual desires in service of the common good. Will Flora prove to be the savior of her hive, or the agent of its destruction? |
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| Mort(e): A Novel by Robert RepinoDystopian SF. Transformed by the Change, a pheromone-based biological attack by ant queen Hymenoptera, former house cat Sebastian becomes the bipedal, English-speaking, but still unmistakably feline warrior Mort(e), fighting to exterminate all humans. Between missions, he searches for Sheba, the dog who was his best friend before his metamorphosis. Fans of George Orwell's Animal Farm or Richard Adams' The Plague Dogs should appreciate this allegorical tale of love and war. |
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| Empire in Black and Gold by Adrian TchaikovskyEpic Fantasy. This opening volume of Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt series depicts a unique world in which humans have developed insect-like powers and organized themselves into tribes, or Kinden, that reflect these abilities. Now one group, the Wasp Empire, threatens to conquer and enslave the others. Only Stenwald Maker, an artisan of the Beetle Kinden, perceives the danger and recruits a band of resistance fighters. Will it be enough? Fans of role-playing games will enjoy the depiction of the various Kinden, while readers who enjoy sprawling fantasy sagas can look forward to the rest of this ten-volume series. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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Harford County Public Library 1221-A Brass Mill Rd Belcamp, Maryland 21017 410-273-5600hcplonline.org |
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