Chris Pickens

The season's biggest SFF releases include an introduction to a compelling new fantasy world, a story of family and intrigue, and one very cranky dragon.

★ The Unspoken Name

Expansive and compelling, A.K. Larkwood’s The Unspoken Name has everything you’d want in a new fantasy universe. Csorwe, an orc disciple of a dark god known as the Unspoken One, is living on borrowed time. As a priestess, she will have to die as a sacrifice made to the Unspoken One. When a strange wizard saves her and takes her far away, Csorwe finds new purpose, traveling through the multiverse in search of an ancient artifact and finally discovering who she really is. Larkwood constructs her fantasy world with confidence and detail, and Csorwe’s journey from wide-eyed sacrifice to formidable warrior is satisfying and earned.

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Highfire

Eoin Colfer, author of the beloved Artemis Fowl series, makes a hilarious and suspenseful return with the fantasy crime caper Highfire. Squib, a teenage troublemaker from Louisiana, witnesses a murder committed by a malicious crooked cop, Regence Hooke. Desperately trying to escape through the bayou, Squib is hauled out of the swamp by a completely unexpected savior: a dragon. Last of the Highfire line of dragons, Vern spends his days in his lounge chair watching Netflix. With this act of charity, Squib, Vern and Hooke find themselves on a collision course that’s sure to end in fire. Central Louisiana has rarely been as vividly rendered as it is here, as Colfer gleefully piles on the mud and muck from the very first page. Highfire is funny, menacing and unlike anything else I’ve read recently.

The Unwilling

A sharp, simple concept launches a story of family and intrigue in The Unwilling  by Kelly Braffet. Judah, a girl with no noble blood, is linked with Gavin, the heir to the city of Highfall. No one can explain why, but when one of them feels anything, from pain to happiness, the other feels it, too. When Gavin’s marriage and court accession threatens Judah with exile, she must discover how to break the connection and be free at last. Braffet has a real gift for dialogue, and Judah’s quick cleverness is a constant joy. This is especially welcome in the story’s darker moments, which never shy away from examining the most painful ramifications of Judah and Gavin’s magical connection. Readers will fall in love with the contemplative pace, brisk dialogue and rebellious heroine of The Unwilling.

Chris Pickens is a Nashville-based fantasy and sci-fi superfan who loves channeling his enthusiasm into reviews of the best new books the genre has to offer.

Intrepid heroines are a common denominator among this month's best new science fiction and fantasy releases.

★ Deal With the Devil

Kit Rocha’s thrilling, sexy Deal With the Devil is a rollicking good time complete with warrior women, cybernetically enhanced super soldiers and a treasure hunt in a post-democracy United States. Nina leads a group of mercenary librarians who protect content from destruction. Knox leads the Silver Devils, a covert ops team that has defected rather than follow orders to kill. When the two groups join up to recover the digital record of the Library of Congress, more than just sparks will fly. Each of the hyper­capable team members gets ample opportunity to brandish firearms, throw fists and blow stuff up. The dialogue is confident, funny and modern, like something out of an Avengers flick. There’s a good amount of steam here, too, as Rocha’s background in romance is on full display. Deal With the Devil is a solid sci-fi debut with unforgettable characters.

Trouble the Saints

Alaya Dawn Johnson’s Trouble the Saints is a historical fantasy set in the criminal underworld of New York City during World War II. Phyllis Green, a hired killer for silver-toothed Russian mobster Victor, is feared for her skills with throwing knives. When Victor gives her a new target, Phyllis senses a change in her abilities, putting her in mortal danger. What follows is a wild ride as she and her closest friends try to right her past wrongs. Beautiful prose and an omnipresent sense of regret build an intense, dark mood throughout the whole book. Johnson explores the intersection of race, violence and personal identity in this powerful, passionate story.

Savage Legion

Imagine being thrown in jail after a night of carousing, only to discover you’re now a recruit in something called the Savage Legion. In Crache, the lowest of the low can be forced to serve as a human battering ram against the nation’s enemies. A warrior among the doomed in the Savage Legion, Evie will stop at nothing to find her former lover and expose the truth so that no more will suffer. Matt Wallace has written a rich multiperspective fantasy; it’s not every day that a brilliant woman with paraplegia who uses a mecha-magical wheelchair offers her voice to a narrative. This is a big, fun book, and anyone seeking a dose of large-scale epic fantasy with some fresh viewpoints will be right at home.

A clone, a con artist and a girl touched by death grace this month's sci-fi & fantasy column.

★ Remote Control

A beautiful, sad, enthralling novella set in a futuristic Africa, Remote Control is a refreshing oasis of creativity. One day, an object fell from the sky and Fatima forgot her name. The encounter imbued her with terrible, destructive powers, and she gave herself a new name: Sankofa. With a fox companion and a reputation for bringing death to everyone she meets, she searches endlessly for the object in the hope of finding answers to the innumerable questions in her mind. Hugo Award winner Nnedi Okorafor is no stranger to the novella; her Binti trilogy is a laudable (and much lauded) example of how freeing the form can be. Remote Control never includes any detail that isn’t needed, and Okorafor’s word choices have a simple beauty. They’re elegiac, like a translation from a text recently restored to us from the sands of time. I implore you to discover this lovely, captivating story for yourself.

The Mask of Mirrors

Lush, engrossing and full of mystery and dark magic, The Mask of Mirrors by M.A. Carrick is sure to please fantasy readers looking to dial up the intrigue. In this first installment of a new trilogy, Renata Viraudax, a thief and con artist, travels to the city of Nadezra to infiltrate House Traementis, planning to take advantage of their weak position within the aristocracy. But she slowly discovers a sinister magical threat and an underbelly of corruption that threaten the stability of the city. Can she find the right allies in a place where everyone’s running a con of their own? The richness of Nadezra—the class systems, the detail with which things like clothing are rendered—is a joy, but the story itself also brims with intrigue, wonder and real pain. Jump in and get swept away.

The Echo Wife

When I read Sarah Gailey’s Magic for Liars, I was drawn in by their wit and nimble control over their prose. Their new novel, The Echo Wife, delivers a tight, thrilling and funny ride. Evelyn Caldwell, a brilliant pioneer in human cloning technology, isn’t happy. She’s haunted by her divorce from her cheating husband, with whom she shared her research. Martine is a clone of Evelyn, designed to be everything Evelyn is not: gentle, submissive and calm. When Martine calls Evelyn in the dead of night asking for help, the two women are forced to find a way to survive together. Gailey’s writing is controlled, visceral and especially dazzling when Martine and Evelyn are in a room together. Fans of “Big Little Lies,” The Island, Frankenstein and “Killing Eve” will love this gripping, skillfully told firecracker of a book.

These three tales are epic in every sense but never lose sight of the characters at their heart.

★ She Who Became the Sun

The best historical fantasies bring an all-new beauty and mystery to familiar things. Shelly Parker-Chan’s She Who Became the Sun spins a tale based on the founding of China’s Ming dynasty that reads like Mulan crossed with The Once and Future King. In a poverty-stricken village, a girl fights to stay alive. Her brother is supposedly destined for greatness, but she has never been more than an afterthought. After bandits raid her family’s house and she is the only one left alive, she makes a desperate choice. Cloaking herself in her late brother’s name, Zhu Chongba, she conceals her gender and joins a nearby monastery. While there, Zhu learns how to survive, even as the Mongol hordes march on China. Parker-Chan’s gorgeous writing accompanies a vibrantly rendered world full of imperfect, fascinating characters. With every turn of the page, the book offers a new set piece, a new revelation, a new horror. Readers who loved the equally excellent Poppy War trilogy by R.F. Kuang will be right at home here. If you’re a fan of epic fantasy, you can’t miss this one.

★ Shards of Earth

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shards of Earth is one of the most stunning space operas I’ve read this year. Fifty years ago, a man named Idris saved humanity from the Architects, enormous planet-size aliens capable of destroying anything in their path. Now, even as he navigates the galaxy’s backwaters on the junky salvage ship Vulture God, Idris can feel something in the depths of space. When he and his crew make a discovery that could upend the fragile peace among scattered human factions, they must choose who to trust before the Architects return to finish what they started. Tchaikovsky’s world building is on glorious display as he throws all manner of spaceships, creepy aliens and strange technology into a delicious sci-fi soup. It’s dense, it’s funny, it’s exciting, it’s touching and it’s perfect for someone looking for a space opera built on a grand scale.

The Godstone

I like to think I have my own preferences nailed down, and then a totally original book like Violette Malan’s The Godstone comes along and thoroughly delights and surprises me. Fenra Lowens is a Practitioner of magic who serves as healer for the residents of a small rural village. When Fenra’s longtime patient Arlyn Albainil receives a summons to the City to receive the valuable contents of a long-lost relative’s vault, Fenra volunteers to accompany Arlyn on his journey. But Arlyn is more than he seems, and he knows more than he tells. Inside the vault is an object of immense power, and he’s the only one who knows how to stop it from destroying the world. There’s a confident briskness to Malan’s pacing; nothing seems to drag over The Godstone’s 300 or so pages. The momentum is only aided by the superb dialogue throughout. Fenra and Arlyn’s banter is so pleasant, so assured, that it at times reads like classic English literature. Readers would be wise to pick up this exciting start to a new fantasy series.