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Fantasy and Science Fiction May 2021
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Klara and the sun
by Kazuo Ishiguro
Waiting to be chosen by a customer, an Artificial Friend programmed with high perception observes the activities of shoppers while exploring fundamental questions about what it means to love. By the Nobel Prize-winning author of Never Let Me Go.
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Orfeia
by Joanne Harris
Embarking on a quest in alternate-world dimensions to save her lost daughter, a heartbroken mother is challenged to give up something precious in exchange, from a song or memory to her own personal freedom. By the award-winning author of Chocolat
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| The Unbroken by C.L. ClarkWhat happens: Lieutenant Touraine of the Balladairan Colonial Brigade returns to the city of El-Wast, her birthplace, where Princess Luca of Ancier tasks her with spying on the Qazāli, her people.
Why you might like it: This opening installment of the Magic of the Lost series tests Touraine's conflicted loyalties by pitting duty against desire.
For fans of: Seth Dickinson's Masquerade series. |
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The Russian cage by Charlaine HarrisA latest entry in the best-selling series finds Lizbeth reluctantly teaming up with her sister and navigating growing Grigori powers to rescue her estranged partner, Prince Eli, from an alternate-world Holy Russian Empire.
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| The House of Styx by Derek KünskenVenus, 2255: an inhospitable world colonized by French Canadians, who live in one of two places: artificial habitats in the upper atmosphere or organic "trawlers" closer to the surface.
What happens: a member of the long-ostracized d'Aquillon family (motto: "family first") makes a discovery that could forever change their fortunes -- if it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
For fans of: the technologically rigorous world-building of Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars trilogy, or the space colony-set dynastic intrigue of Ian McDonald's Luna series. |
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| A River Called Time by Courttia NewlandWhat it's about: In the heart of Dinium, an alternate version of London, is the Ark, an enclosed inner city inhabited by the elite...and infiltrated by Markriss Denny, who uses astral projection to experience the lives of other Dennys in other dimensions.
What sets it apart: Despite its dystopian vibe, the timeline envisioned by novelist and screenwriter Courttia Newland (the films Lover's Rock and Red, White, and Blue) includes neither European colonization nor slavery.
For fans of: Afrocentric alternate histories such as Nisi Shawl's Everfair or Steven Barnes' Lion's Blood. |
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| Master of Poisons by Andrea HairstonStarring: Djola, Master of Poisons, tasked with saving the Arkhysian Empire from the ecological disaster threatening to destroy it; and Awa, a griot-in-training whose ability to navigate the spirit realm of Smokeland puts her in danger from those who would exploit her talent.
Read it for: lush and lyrical prose, detailed world-building inspired by a variety of African cultures
Want a taste? "Too often, the heroes or gods we bow down to become the monsters that stomp our bones and drink our blood." |
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| The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley RobinsonWhat it is: political climate fiction in the vein of the author's Science in the Capitol trilogy (beginning with Forty Signs of Rain).
What sets it apart: Informed by copious research, this plausible future history is told through a wide range of eyewitness accounts, whether human, animal, or elementary particle.
Reviewers say: Kim Stanley Robinson "transforms the existential crisis we face into a modern fairy tale of resilience and redemption" (Rolling Stone). |
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| The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha ShannonWhat it is: a lush epic fantasy saga by the author of The Bone Season.
Why you might like it: In addition to detailed world-building and an intricate plot, this stand-alone saga boasts a predominantly female cast of queens, mages, alchemists, warriors, assassins, and dragon riders.
You might also like: Sofia Samatar's The Winged Histories, another woman-centered fantasy novel told from the perspectives of LGBTQIA characters. |
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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