*Ninth House* is a popular modern era magical realism series that features a woman who is learning about secret societies and supernatural forces within an ivy-league collegiate environment.
*Ten Thousand Doors of January* is an excellent book about a young girl who is trying to track down her parents who have disappeared into another dimension.
*The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle* by Stuart Turton is filled with manipulative characters and nothing is quite what it seems. A man wakes up without memories and is trying to not only piece together his identity, but also solve a murder in the process! Do yourself a favor and don’t read spoilers on this, just dive in.
*Wilder Girls* by Rory Power is dubbed as a “Lord Of The Flies for girls” and features a boarding school whose students are plagued by mysterious disease. The writing and clever use of descriptive language shines here.
*No Gods, No Monsters* by Cadwell Turnbull is bizarre and unique, about the paths crossed in stranger’s lives when “monsters” are shown to be a reality. Manages to skillfully blend creepy moments with allegorical political commentary, and features very well written characters.
*The Women Could Fly* by Megan Giddings is a dystopian world where
witches are a real thing and treated like a political fear by politicians. So we still have witch burnings and women who aren’t married at a certain age are “monitored” for witchcraft. A bit “on the nose” for today’s political climate, but extremely fascinating at the same time.
*Atlas Six* is a sneaky Dark Academia book. You get comfortable that it’s filled with the standard tropes only to have it reveal itself as a carefully planned trap. For a book I wanted so desperately to hate, this one might end up as one of my favorite “20-somethings with powers” series.
*The Bone Shard Daughter* by Andrea Stewart features a cool fantasy setting inspired by Polynesian Islands/Asian mythology, interesting plot twists and cliffhanger chapter endings, and some very kick ass (but imperfect) characters. I really thought the magic system and looming dread of the setting was very satisfying.
*Black Sun* by Rebecca Roanhorse is a thrilling adventure book featuring a multi-cultural inspired dark and brutal fantasy world. One of the main characters is a young man who is believed to be a reincarnation of a god and needs to travel to a far away festival to reveal himself. Some excellent characters which all have dark secrets.
*The Library at Mount Char* by Scott Hawkins is a wild horror book that is about a group of young kids raised by a god-like figurehead. They grow up and he disappears. The kids need to figure out what happened to him, deal with each other, and the humans that don’t understand the powers they control. Gets pretty trippy by the end.
*The Passage* is an excellent horror series that deals with life before and after a world altering cataclysm. Has some grounded characters and some interesting relationships. Jumps from pre-event to post-event and connects some cool dots by doing this.
*The Gone World* by Tom Sweterlitsch – A time traveling government worker finds the end of the world, and goes back in time to try and figure out how to stop it.
*Girl With All The Gifts* is fantastic, and there is a recent movie out that’s a decent retelling. I prefer the book by a mile however.
*The Power* by Naomi Alderman. It’s like a reverse Handmaid’s Tale. It’s dark but gripping. What happens to society when girls are granted a power to kill at puberty. Multiple viewpoints make this one a great read.
*How High We Go in the Dark* by Sequoia Nagamatsu Is a collection of tales set within the same universe. The book wraps around the past/present/future of a global pandemic that wipes out a large chunk of human life. Each tale presented is a study of grief and death and how individuals deal with these very human feelings of loss. Some stories are sad and hit very hard, others fit squarely into weird fiction, but in the end with the final tale everything comes together in an unusual and extremely clever way.
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*Ninth House* is a popular modern era magical realism series that features a woman who is learning about secret societies and supernatural forces within an ivy-league collegiate environment.
*Ten Thousand Doors of January* is an excellent book about a young girl who is trying to track down her parents who have disappeared into another dimension.
*The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle* by Stuart Turton is filled with manipulative characters and nothing is quite what it seems. A man wakes up without memories and is trying to not only piece together his identity, but also solve a murder in the process! Do yourself a favor and don’t read spoilers on this, just dive in.
*Wilder Girls* by Rory Power is dubbed as a “Lord Of The Flies for girls” and features a boarding school whose students are plagued by mysterious disease. The writing and clever use of descriptive language shines here.
*No Gods, No Monsters* by Cadwell Turnbull is bizarre and unique, about the paths crossed in stranger’s lives when “monsters” are shown to be a reality. Manages to skillfully blend creepy moments with allegorical political commentary, and features very well written characters.
*The Women Could Fly* by Megan Giddings is a dystopian world where
witches are a real thing and treated like a political fear by politicians. So we still have witch burnings and women who aren’t married at a certain age are “monitored” for witchcraft. A bit “on the nose” for today’s political climate, but extremely fascinating at the same time.
*Atlas Six* is a sneaky Dark Academia book. You get comfortable that it’s filled with the standard tropes only to have it reveal itself as a carefully planned trap. For a book I wanted so desperately to hate, this one might end up as one of my favorite “20-somethings with powers” series.
*The Bone Shard Daughter* by Andrea Stewart features a cool fantasy setting inspired by Polynesian Islands/Asian mythology, interesting plot twists and cliffhanger chapter endings, and some very kick ass (but imperfect) characters. I really thought the magic system and looming dread of the setting was very satisfying.
*Black Sun* by Rebecca Roanhorse is a thrilling adventure book featuring a multi-cultural inspired dark and brutal fantasy world. One of the main characters is a young man who is believed to be a reincarnation of a god and needs to travel to a far away festival to reveal himself. Some excellent characters which all have dark secrets.
*The Library at Mount Char* by Scott Hawkins is a wild horror book that is about a group of young kids raised by a god-like figurehead. They grow up and he disappears. The kids need to figure out what happened to him, deal with each other, and the humans that don’t understand the powers they control. Gets pretty trippy by the end.
*The Passage* is an excellent horror series that deals with life before and after a world altering cataclysm. Has some grounded characters and some interesting relationships. Jumps from pre-event to post-event and connects some cool dots by doing this.
*The Gone World* by Tom Sweterlitsch – A time traveling government worker finds the end of the world, and goes back in time to try and figure out how to stop it.
*Girl With All The Gifts* is fantastic, and there is a recent movie out that’s a decent retelling. I prefer the book by a mile however.
*The Power* by Naomi Alderman. It’s like a reverse Handmaid’s Tale. It’s dark but gripping. What happens to society when girls are granted a power to kill at puberty. Multiple viewpoints make this one a great read.
*How High We Go in the Dark* by Sequoia Nagamatsu Is a collection of tales set within the same universe. The book wraps around the past/present/future of a global pandemic that wipes out a large chunk of human life. Each tale presented is a study of grief and death and how individuals deal with these very human feelings of loss. Some stories are sad and hit very hard, others fit squarely into weird fiction, but in the end with the final tale everything comes together in an unusual and extremely clever way.