The Best Books of 2024 – Science Fiction And Fantasy (A Year-End List Aggregation)

Sci-Fi/Fantasy – 2024

“What are the best Science Fiction And Fantasy books released in 2024?” We looked at 209 of the top Science Fiction And Fantasy books, aggregating

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#34
The Spellshop

The Spellshop

AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES, USA TODAY AND INDIE BESTSELLER! A #1 LibraryReads pick! An Indie Next pick! EXCLUSIVE DELUXE EDITION—a gorgeous paperback edition featuring beautiful sprayed edges! The Spellshop is Sarah Beth Durst’s romantasy debut–a lush cottagecore tale full of stolen spellbooks, unexpected friendships, sweet jams, and even sweeter love. Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz—a magically sentient spider plant—have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite. When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy—and very handsome—neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home. In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries. But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop. Like a Hallmark rom-com full of mythical creatures and fueled by cinnamon rolls and magic, The Spellshop will heal your heart and feed your soul.

#83
An Education in Malice

An Education in Malice

Sumptuous and addictive, An Education in Malice is a dark academia tale of blood, secrets and insatiable hungers from S.T. Gibson, author of the cult hit A Dowry of Blood. Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua’s College. Isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold. On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla. But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge. For more from S.T. Gibson, check out A Dowry of Blood.

#85
Asunder

Asunder

"There is no doubt in my mind that Kerstin Hall is one of the great imaginative minds writing fantasy today."—Isabel Cañas, USA Today Bestselling author of Vampires of El Norte "Read this book. Let its deliciously dark world envelop you.... You'll thank me later."—Veronica Roth, New York Times bestselling author of Divergent and Chosen Ones Sabriel meets Witch King in Kerstin Hall's beguiling new Nebula and Locus Award finalist novel. Reactor Reviewer's Choice Best Book of 2024, and a New York Public Library Best-Of Pick We choose our own gods here. Karys Eska is a deathspeaker, locked into an irrevocable compact with Sabaster, a terrifying eldritch being—three-faced, hundred-winged, unforgiving—who has granted her the ability to communicate with the newly departed. She pays the rent by using her abilities to investigate suspicious deaths around the troubled city she calls home. When a job goes sideways and connects her to a dying stranger with some very dangerous secrets, her entire world is upended. Ferain is willing to pay a ludicrous sum of money for her help. To save him, Karys inadvertently binds him to her shadow, an act that may doom them both. If they want to survive, they will need to learn to trust one another. Together, they must journey to the heart of a faded empire, all the while haunted by arcane horrors, and the unquiet ghosts of their pasts. And all too soon, Karys knows her debts will come due. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

#86
Barrowbeck

Barrowbeck

For centuries, the inhabitants of Barrowbeck, a remote valley on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border, have lived uneasily with forces beyond their reckoning. They raise their families, work the land, and do their best to welcome those who come seeking respite. But there is a darkness that runs through the village as persistently as the river. A father fears that his daughter has become possessed by something unholy. A childless couple must make an agonising decision. A widower awaits the return of his wife. A troubled man is haunted by visions of end times. As one generation gives way to the next and ancient land is carved up in the name of progress, darkness gathers. The people of Barrowbeck have forgotten that they are but guests in the valley. Now there is a price to pay. Two thousand years of history is coming to an end. 'Impeccably written . . . tightens like a clammy hand around your throat' Daily Mail on The Loney 'A work of goose-flesh eeriness' The Spectator on Devil's Day 'A tale of suspense that sucks you in and pulls you under' New Statesman on Starve Acre

#96
Dungeon Crawler Carl

Dungeon Crawler Carl

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The apocalypse will be televised! Welcome to the first book in the wildly popular and addictive Dungeon Crawler Carl series—now with bonus material exclusive to this print edition. You know what’s worse than breaking up with your girlfriend? Being stuck with her prize-winning show cat. And you know what’s worse than that? An alien invasion, the destruction of all man-made structures on Earth, and the systematic exploitation of all the survivors for a sadistic intergalactic game show. That’s what. Join Coast Guard vet Carl and his ex-girlfriend’s cat, Princess Donut, as they try to survive the end of the world—or just get to the next level—in a video game–like, trap-filled fantasy dungeon. A dungeon that’s actually the set of a reality television show with countless viewers across the galaxy. Exploding goblins. Magical potions. Deadly, drug-dealing llamas. This ain’t your ordinary game show. Welcome, Crawler. Welcome to the Dungeon. Survival is optional. Keeping the viewers entertained is not. Includes part one of the exclusive bonus story “Backstage at the Pineapple Cabaret.”

#102
Ghost Station

Ghost Station

“Relentlessly creepy and fantastically atmospheric...Ghost Station is space horror at its best.”—The New York Times A crew must try to survive on an ancient, abandoned planet in the latest space horror novel from S.A. Barnes, acclaimed author of Dead Silence. An abandoned planet. A hidden past. A deadly danger. Psychologist Dr. Ophelia Bray has dedicated her life to the study and prevention of Eckhart-Reiser syndrome (ERS)—the most famous case of which resulted in the brutal murders of twenty-nine people. It’s personal to her, and when she’s assigned to a small exploration crew who recently suffered the tragic death of a colleague, she wants to help. But as they begin to establish residency on an abandoned planet, it becomes clear that the crew is hiding something. And Ophelia’s crewmates are far more interested in investigating the eerie, ancient planet and unraveling the mystery behind the previous colonizers’ hasty departure than opening up to her. That is, until their pilot is discovered gruesomely murdered. Is this Ophelia’s worst nightmare starting—a wave of violence and mental deterioration from ERS? Or is it something even more sinister? Terrified that history will repeat itself, Ophelia and the crew must work together to figure out what’s happening. But trust is hard to come by...and the crew members aren’t the only ones keeping secrets. Also by S.A. Barnes: Dead Silence Cold Eternity At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

#107
Heartless Hunter

Heartless Hunter

A dangerously romantic Scarlet Pimpernel-inspired fantasy with post-revolution witches from acclaimed author Kristen Ciccarelli. On the night Rune's life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is. Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe - a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution - who she can't help but find herself falling for. Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune's merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she's the very villain he's been hunting? Kristen Ciccarelli's Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to a romantic fantasy duology where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch...is falling in love.

#111
How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying

Groundhog Day meets Deadpool in Django Wexler’s raunchy, hilarious, blood-splattered fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides to become the Dark Lord herself. "Takes the old saying 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em,' to the next level. A sarcastic, action-packed, intrigue-filled (mis)adventure. One of the funniest books I've read in a long time."--Matt Dinniman, author of Dungeon Crawler Carl Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time. This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side. A humorous western isekai featuring the reincarnation of an antihero female lead. Burningblade & Silvereye Ashes of the Sun Blood of the Chosen Emperor of Ruin

#117
Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions

Jamaica Ginger and Other Concoctions

Caribbean-Canadian author Nalo Hopkinson (Brown Girl in the Ring, The Salt Roads, Falling in Love with Hominids) is an internationally-beloved storyteller. This long-awaited new collection of her deeply imaginative short fiction offers striking journeys to far-flung futures and fantastical landscapes. Hopkinson is at the peak of her powers, ranging effortlessly between art, folklore, science, and magic. Hailed by the Los Angeles Times as having "an imagination that most of us would kill for," Nalo Hopkinson and her Afro-Caribbean, Canadian, and American influences shine in truly unique stories that are gorgeously strange, inventively subversive, and vividly beautiful. In Hopkinson's newest stories since 2015, a woman and her cyborg pig eke a living in a future waterworld; two scientists contemplate the cavernous remains of an alien lifeform; and an artist creates nanotechnology that asserts Blackness where it is least welcome.

#120
King of Dead Things

King of Dead Things

For fans of Legendborn, Neil Gaiman, and Leigh Bardugo, this “electrifying” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) urban young adult fantasy steeped in Afro-Carribbean folklore follows two Black teens searching for a powerful artifact in the hidden magical side of London. Raising the dead is easy. Living is harder. Eli doesn’t know who he is or who he came from. Three years ago, he was found by his now-best friends, Sunny and Max, who gave him a home in a magical sanctuary doubling as a Caribbean restaurant. What Eli does know is that he can heal a wound with just a touch and pluck magic from a soul like a petal from a flower—and there is nothing he wouldn’t do to survive and keep his new family together. Malcolm would do anything to forget where he comes from. Desperate to escape his estranged father’s shadow and plagued with an inherited death magic he doesn’t fully understand, Malcolm has just one priority: save his mother, no matter the cost. Malcolm and Eli’s paths collide when Eli and his friends are sent to track down the fang of the leopard god Osebo, a deadly weapon that can eat magic. In a job filled with enigmatic nine nights and Caribbean legends, the teens must face their own demons as they race through the magical underbelly of London to retrieve the fang…before an ancient and malevolent power comes back to life.

#121
Kinning

Kinning

Kinning, the sequel to Nisi Shawl’s acclaimed debut novel Everfair, continues the stunning alternate history where barkcloth airships soar through the sky, varied peoples build a new society together, and colonies claim their freedom from imperialist tyrants. The Great War is over. Everfair has found peace within its borders. But our heroes’ stories are far from done. Tink and his sister Bee-Lung are traveling the world via aircanoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus. Through these spores, they seek to build bonds between people and help spread revolutionary sentiments of socialism and equality—the very ideals that led to Everfair’s founding. Meanwhile, Everfair’s Princess Mwadi and Prince Ilunga return home from a sojourn in Egypt to vie for their country’s rule following the abdication of their father King Mwenda. But their mother, Queen Josina, manipulates them both from behind the scenes, while also pitting Europe’s influenza-weakened political powers against one another as these countries fight to regain control of their rebellious colonies. Will Everfair continue to serve as a symbol of hope, freedom, and equality to anticolonial movements around the world, or will it fall to forces inside and out?

#123
Lost Ark Dreaming

Lost Ark Dreaming

"Suyi Davies Okungbowa is a scholar of place and a master of worlds—his grasp of how we are shaped by the spaces we occupy makes him one of the most exciting authors writing in SFF."—Olivie Blake, New York Times bestselling author of The Atlas Six A Most Anticipated in 2024 Pick for Goodreads | BookBub | She Reads | Men's Health | FanFiAddict | Screen Rant A Library Journal May 2024 Prepub Alert Pick The brutally engineered class divisions of Snowpiercer meets Rivers Solomon’s The Deep in this high-octane post-climate disaster novella written by Nommo Award-winning author Suyi Davies Okungbowa Off the coast of West Africa, decades after the dangerous rise of the Atlantic Ocean, the region’s survivors live inside five partially submerged, kilometers-high towers originally created as a playground for the wealthy. Now the towers’ most affluent rule from their lofty perch at the top while the rest are crammed into the dark, fetid floors below sea level. There are also those who were left for dead in the Atlantic, only to be reawakened by an ancient power, and who seek vengeance on those who offered them up to the waves. Three lives within the towers are pulled to the fore of this conflict: Yekini, an earnest, mid-level rookie analyst; Tuoyo, an undersea mechanic mourning a tremendous loss; and Ngozi, an egotistical bureaucrat from the highest levels of governance. They will need to work together if there is to be any hope of a future that is worth living—for everyone. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

#128
Mood Swings

Mood Swings

Shortlisted for the 2024 Grand Prix du livre de Montréal Shortlisted for the 2025 Sunburst Award Longlisted for the 2025 Leacock Medal for Humour In a pre-apocalyptic world not unlike our own, a young Instagram poet starts an affair with a California billionaire who’s promised a time machine that will make everything normal again—whatever that means. Everyone knows something’s off, but nobody can agree on just what it is. Maybe it’s the weather; maybe it’s because everyone’s so sensitive these days. Jenlena and Daphne are two aimless humanities grads living in a crumbling Montreal when animals besiege cities and towns across the world, terrorizing their human residents. Though shocking, the threat is quickly neutralized when the animals are killed en masse for the safety of humanity. In the post-fauna world, Jenlena is transformed, shaking off her characteristic passivity to capitalize on other people’s heartbreak and grief by selling plants that have come to replace pets, and impersonating dogs for pay. Meanwhile, Daphne, a once-promising student, flounders in a deep depression, smoking weed and slacking off at work to hang out with her cancelled boyfriend. When Jenlena meets the California billionaire Roderick Maeve, and the two become romantically entangled, she is exposed to a new understanding of wealth, power, and the gender economy—just as the world hurtles toward its alleged salvation. Marked with Frankie Barnet’s poignant intelligence and sly sense of humour, Mood Swings is a stand-out debut.

#130
Ninetails: Nine Tales

Ninetails: Nine Tales

ONE OF THE BEST SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOKS OF 2024 WITH THE WASHINGTON POST, ELLE, AND ELECTRIC LIT “A sumptuous and lively collection, leaping from story to story in much the same way a fox does — surprisingly, gracefully, and with impressive aim. I loved this book.” – Kelly Link, Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Get in Trouble and The Book of Love “What I love most about Ninetails is its fierce allegiance to underdogs of all kinds, its careful and myriad empathy for its characters, but also its pure and artisanal delight in language and fictive possibilities.” —Ocean Vuong, New York Times-bestselling author of On Earth, We're Briefly Gorgeous and Time is a Mother A “lyrical and virtuosic” fabulist debut collection of stories re-imagining the nine-tailed fox spirit of Asian folklore (Gina Chung). A fox spirit avenges a teen girl by seducing her abuser. A shapeshifting woman finds herself chased through the woods by fox hunters; meanwhile, an assassination plot called Operation Fox Hunt unfolds against the last Queen of Korea. Chinese migrants hoping to make new lives as “paper children” in America find their pasts—and their hopes for the future—embodied in the foxes that haunt the harbor in 1900s Angel Island. In the nine tales of Ninetails, acclaimed poet Sally Wen Mao reimagines the fox spirit from Asian folklore—a shapeshifter, shaman, and seductress—as an icon of vengeance, solidarity and liberation. The characters of her stories are varied—from silicone sex dolls who come to life with new purpose, to women whose crushes manifest as stones—but they all reach for a common purpose: to find truth and belonging in a difficult world determined to consider them alien. With the fabulist vibrancy of Carmen Maria Machado, the sinuous world-building of Helen Oyeyemi, and the sensuous feminist rage of Han Kang, Ninetails is both timeless—unearthing a cultural icon whose origins date back over a thousand years—and timely in its contemporary political urgency.

#133
On Vicious Worlds

On Vicious Worlds

ONE OF ESQUIRE'S BEST SCI-FI BOOKS OF 2024 Bethany Jacobs returns with On Vicious Worlds, the electrifying sequel to These Burning Stars, the Philip K. Dick Award–winning space opera novel about revenge, power, and the price of legacy. The Jeveni have found a fragile sense of peace on the ice planet of Capamame, far from the Kindom’s domineering control. There, Jun Ironway and Masar Hawks are tasked with the impossible: protecting their colony from a faceless saboteur who is hell-bent on spreading mayhem and murder through the colony. Meanwhile, stoic Cleric Chono and Six, the wild manipulator responsible for outwitting the Nightfoot family, struggle to stay one step ahead of their enemies. A collision is on the horizon. One that could ignite the spark of revolution. And over it all hangs the cruel legacy of Esek Nightfoot. A legacy that may prove impossible to escape. . . . Praise for These Burning Stars: ★ “An intricate plot for revenge drives this far-future SF political thriller. An exciting start from a fresh talent.”―Kirkus (Starred Review) ★ "Readers who love smart thrillers and explosive science fiction won’t want to miss this book."―Booklist (Starred Review) ★ "A devilishly fun thrill ride ... These Burning Stars is plotted like a chess match, confident and surprising as Jacobs moves each piece thoughtfully across her board."―BookPage (Starred Review)

#143
Remember You Will Die

Remember You Will Die

"A reminder, spelled out in boldface, of the remarkable tenacity of life." —Wall Street Journal "Kaleidoscopic...a fascinating and fresh reading experience." —Chicago Reader "Moving and grand." —Esquire (Best Sci-Fi Books of 2024) Can the absence of words tell a story? Like a pattern in lace, the holes as important as the threads? A search. A puzzle. Sixty protagonists—all of whom are dead. Told entirely through obituaries and ricocheting through time, Remember You Will Die is an innovative, genre-bending epic about the messy tapestry of human history and the threads that connect us, told through the eyes of Peregrine, an AI mother grappling with the unexpected death of her human daughter, Poppy. And from the newspaper clippings of individual lives emerges something else unexpected: generations entwined through blood and art and the consequences of their actions, betrayals and redemptions that traverse our dying world and beyond. Spanning continents, centuries, planets, and genres, and centering a diverse mix of human experiences, Remember You Will Die is a provocative exploration of who we are and what we could be.

#144
Return to the DallerGut Dream Department Store

Return to the DallerGut Dream Department Store

Readers can't get enough of this enchanting story' The Sun 'A delightful journey into a fantasy realm where dreams make everything better' Daily Mail 'Hugely inventive and wise, we adored this heart-lifting adventure' Heat Magazine || THE NO.1 KOREAN BESTSELLER WITH OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD || It has been a year since Penny first walked through the doors of DallerGut Dream Department Store, and surviving a year at the store means one thing . . . She is now an official employee of the dream industry! She can finally take the express commuter train to the Company District, where all the dream production companies are located and discover how all raw dream materials and testing equipment are produced. But the Company District is not quite what she expected, it hides the darker underbelly of the magical industry that Penny thought she was a part of. Penny discovers the Civil Complaint Center, full of people filing complaints about their dreams. She also learns about the regular customers who have stopped coming to the store. As she gets to the bottom of each complaint, she begins to expand her horizons, transforming from just selling dreams to understanding what lies in the hearts of their lost regulars. Return to the DallerGut Dream Department Store delves deeper into the dream industry and its customers. Why do some of them buy a dream and never return? Will Penny and her colleagues be able to bring their regulars back? Readers are OBSESSED with this dreamy duology: 'I was delighted to discover how Penny had developed' 'Deliciously, quirkily, bonkers... And brilliant!' 'Just as charming and joyful as the first' 'The concept, lore & worldbuilding are so unique and well-realised'

#149
Space Oddity

Space Oddity

"The Metagalactic Grand Prix--part gladiatorial contest, part beauty pageant, part concert extravaganza, and part continuation of the wars of the past returns and the fate of the Earth is once again threatened. The civilizations opposed to humanity have been plotting and want to take down the upstarts. Can humanity rise again in this sequel to the beloved Hugo Award-nominated national bestselling Space Opera?"--

#151
Spin of Fate

Spin of Fate

In a world inspired by karma, three teens encounter magnificent beasts, unforgiving magic, and epic battles in this propulsive and wholly original young adult fantasy. “Evocative of Sanderson, Pullman, and Fullmetal Alchemist, yet at the same time shockingly original.” —Rosaria Munda, author of Fireborne Aina’s world is governed by Toranic Law, a force that segregates people into upper and lower realms. It’s said that if the sinful lowers commit themselves to kindness and charity, their souls will lighten, allowing them into the peaceful upper realms. But Aina, one of the few lowers to ever ascend, just wants to go back home. Aina is desperate to reunite with her mother, hoping she’s survived the beasts and wars of her homeland alone. After failing to weigh down her soul with petty crimes, Aina joins a rebel group defying the authorities and bringing aid to those condemned to a life of suffering in the lower realms. Alongside Aina are two new recruits: Meizan, a ruthless fighter trying to save his clan from extinction, and Aranel, a spoiled noble spying for the powers that be. Before long, the rebels find themselves in the middle of a brewing war. On one side, a violent king of a lower realm is bent on destroying Toranic Law; on the other, the authorities of the upper realms will do anything to stay on top. Now the young rebels must face both sides head-on if they want to stop a conflict that could break not only Toranic Law—but the universe itself. Fans of epic, propulsive fantasies like Six of Crows and innovative world-building like Avatar: The Last Airbender will delight in A. A. Vora's ambitious, unmissable debut.

#167
The Daughters’ War

The Daughters’ War

An instant USA Today bestseller! Enter the fray in this luminous new adventure from Christopher Buehlman, set during the war-torn, goblin-infested years just before The Blacktongue Thief. The goblins have killed all of our horses and most of our men. They have enslaved our cities, burned our fields, and still they wage war. Now, our daughters take up arms. Galva — Galvicha to her three brothers, two of whom the goblins will kill — has defied her family’s wishes and joined the army’s untested new unit, the Raven Knights. They march toward a once-beautiful city overrun by the goblin horde, accompanied by scores of giant war corvids. Made with the darkest magics, these fearsome black birds may hold the key to stopping the goblins in their war to make cattle of mankind. The road to victory is bloody, and goblins are clever and merciless. The Raven Knights can take nothing for granted — not the bonds of family, nor the wisdom of their leaders, nor their own safety against the dangerous war birds at their side. But some hopes are worth any risk. Also by Christopher Buehlman The Blacktongue Thief At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

#175
The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles

The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles

Named a Best Sci-Fi Book of 2024 by Esquire Investigator Mossa and Scholar Pleiti reunite to solve a new mystery in the follow-up to the cozy space-opera detective mystery The Mimicking of Known Successes, which Hugo Award-winning author Charlie Jane Anders called “an utter triumph.” Mossa has returned to Valdegeld on a missing person’s case, for which she’ll once again need Pleiti’s insight. Seventeen students and staff members have disappeared from Valdegeld University—yet no one has noticed. The answers to this case may lie on the moon of Io—Mossa’s home—and the history of Jupiter’s original settlements during humanity's exodus from Earth. But Pleiti’s faith in her life’s work as a scholar of the past has grown precarious, and this new case threatens to further destabilize her dreams for humanity’s future, as well as her own. The Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti The Mimicking of Known Successes The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles The Centenal Cycle Infomocracy Null States State Tectonics At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

#176
The Jinn Daughter

The Jinn Daughter

FINALIST FOR THE NEXT GENERATION INDIE BOOK AWARD BEST SCIENCE FICTION & FANTASY: AN AMAZON EDITORS' PICK A stunning debut novel and an impressive feat of storytelling that pulls together mythology, magic, and ancient legend in the gripping story of a mother's struggle to save her only daughter Nadine is a jinn tasked with one job: telling the stories of the dead. She rises every morning to gather pomegranate seeds—the souls of the dead—that have fallen during the night. With her daughter Layala at her side, she eats the seeds and tells their stories. Only then can the departed pass through the final gate of death. But when the seeds stop falling, Nadine knows something is terribly wrong. All her worst fears are confirmed when she is visited by Kamuna, Death herself and ruler of the underworld, who reveals her desire for someone to replace her: it is Layala she wants. Nadine will do whatever it takes to keep her daughter safe, but Kamuna has little patience and a ruthless drive to get what she has come for. Layala’s fate, meanwhile, hangs in the balance. Rooted in Middle Eastern mythology, Rania Hanna deftly weaves subtle, yet breathtaking, magic through this vivid and compelling story that has at its heart the universal human desire to, somehow, outmaneuver death.

#185
The Prisoner’s Throne

The Prisoner’s Throne

An Instant #1 New York Times Bestseller! An Instant #1 Indie Bestseller! Return to the opulent world of Elfhame, filled with intrigue, betrayal, and dangerous desires, with this second book of a captivating duology from the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black. An imprisoned prince. A vengeful queen. And a battle that will determine the future of Elfhame. Prince Oak is paying for his betrayal. Imprisoned in the icy north and bound to the will of a monstrous new queen, he must rely on charm and calculation to survive. With High King Cardan and High Queen Jude willing to use any means necessary to retrieve their stolen heir, Oak will have to decide whether to attempt regaining the trust of the girl he’s always loved or to remain loyal to Elfhame and hand over the means to end her reign—even if it means ending Wren, too. With a new war looming on the horizon and treachery lurking in every corner, neither Oak’s guile nor his wit will be enough to keep everyone he loves alive. It’s just a question of whom he will doom. From the #1 New York Times bestselling author Holly Black comes the stunning blood-soaked conclusion to the Stolen Heir duology.

#187
The Ragpicker

The Ragpicker

The Ragpicker wanders the lush, deserted Earth, haunted by failing avatars and fragmented texts. He's searching for traces of his long-dead husband but his journey is interrupted by a girl, Ysmeny, fleeing her remote village. Together they cross the flourishing, treacherous landscape towards sanctuary. Yet the signals and static of the previous age echo in the Ragpicker's mind and whisper in the girl's dreams, drawing them toward the gap between map and territory-- while offering precious hope.

#190
The Storm Beneath the World

The Storm Beneath the World

"The insectile ashkaro live on flying islands travelling the eternal River of Days while a hellish firestorm devours the world below. Collected into queendoms, the higher caste brights live in the luxurious windward rain-forest while the servile dulls scrape out a desperate existence in the leeward desert. Conflicts escalate between two neighbouring queendoms. Where Nysh embraces modern ideals of equality and independence, Yil honours the Fallen Goddess by enslaving their neighbours and maintaining traditional castes. In preparation for the imminent war, Nysh sends ashkaro youths with dangerous Talents to secret schools, training them as assassins and spies. Joh, a dull male with a Talent for suggestion, and Ahk, a bright female with a Talent for stealth, are torn from their families and thrown into the academy. The two naively believe that the biggest threat comes from the other students, not realizing the war has already begun. United in purpose, divided by caste, they can only save the island from the Mad Queen by working together."--Amazon.com

#193
The Wings Upon Her Back

The Wings Upon Her Back

A loyal warrior in a crisis of faith must fight to regain her place and begin her life again while questioning the events of her past. This gripping science-fantasy novel from a Nebula and Locus Award-winning debut author is a complex, action-packed exploration of the costs of zealous faith, brutal war, and unquestioning loyalty. Five gods lie mysteriously sleeping above the city of Radezhda. Five gods who once bestowed great technologies and wisdom, each inspiring the devotion of their own sect. When the gods turned away from humanity, their followers built towers to the heavens to find out why. But when no answer was given, the collective grief of the sects turned to desperation, and eventually to war. Zenya was a teenager when she ran away from home to join the mechanically-modified warrior sect. She was determined to earn mechanized wings and protect the people and city she loved. Under the strict tutelage of a mercurial, charismatic leader, Zenya became Winged Zemolai. But after twenty-six years of service, Zemolai is disillusioned with her role as an enforcer in an increasingly fascist state. After one tragic act of mercy, she is cast out, and loses everything she worked for. As Zemolai fights for her life, she begins to understand the true nature of her sect, her leader, and the gods themselves.

#194
These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart

These Fragile Graces, This Fugitive Heart

In a queer, noir technothriller of fractured identity and corporate intrigue, a trans woman faces her fear of losing her community as her past chases after her. This bold, thought-provoking debut science-fiction novella from a Lambda Award finalist is an exciting and unpredictable look at the fluid nature of our former and present selves. In mid-21st-century Kansas City, Dora hasn't been back to her old commune in years. But when Dora's ex-girlfriend Kay is killed, and everyone at the commune is a potential suspect, Dora knows she's the only person who can solve the murder. As Dora is dragged back into her old community and begins her investigations, she discovers that Kay's death is only one of several terrible incidents. A strange new drug is circulating. People are disappearing. And Dora is being attacked by assailants from her pre-transition past. Meanwhile, It seems like a war between two nefarious corporations is looming, and Dora's old neighborhood is their battleground. Now she must uncover a twisted conspiracy, all while navigating a deeply meaningful new relationship.

#199
Time’s Agent

Time’s Agent

"All at once a meditation on motherhood, grief, war, environmental collapse, dread, and the nature of memory and time. I ate it up."—Lauren Groff, New York Times bestselling author A multiverse story of love, loss, time travel, and final-stage capitalism from award-winning author Brenda Peynado. Pocket World—a geographically small, hidden offshoot of our own reality, sped up or slowed down by time. Following humanity’s discovery of pocket worlds, teams of academics embarked on groundbreaking exploratory missions, eager to study this new technology and harness the potential of a seemingly limitless horizon. “What would you do, given another universe, a do-over?” Archeologist Raquel and her wife, Marlena, once dreamed the pocket worlds held the key to solving the universe’s mysteries. But forty years later, pocket worlds are now controlled by corporations squeezing every penny out of all colonizable space and time, Raquel herself is in disgrace, and Marlena lives in her own pocket universe (that Raquel wears around her neck) and refuses to speak to her. Standing in the ruins of her dream and her failed ideals, Raquel seizes one last chance to redeem herself and confront what it means to save something—or someone—from time. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

#205
Womb City

Womb City

This genre-bending Africanfuturist horror novel blends The Handmaid’s Tale with Get Out in an adrenaline-packed, cyberpunk body-hopping ghost story exploring motherhood, memory, and a woman’s right to her own body. Nelah seems to have it all: fame, wealth, and a long-awaited daughter growing in a government lab. But, trapped in a loveless marriage to a policeman who uses a microchip to monitor her every move, Nelah’s perfect life is precarious. After a drug-fueled evening culminates in an eerie car accident, Nelah commits a desperate crime and buries the body, daring to hope that she can keep one last secret. The truth claws its way into Nelah’s life from the grave. As the ghost of her victim viciously hunts down the people Nelah holds dear, she is thrust into a race against the clock: in order to save any of her remaining loved ones, Nelah must unravel the political conspiracy her victim was on the verge of exposing—or risk losing everyone. Set in a cruel futuristic surveillance state where bodies are a government-issued resource, this harrowing story is a twisty, nail-biting commentary on power, monstrosity, and bodily autonomy. In sickeningly evocative prose, Womb City interrogates how patriarchy pits women against each other as unwitting collaborators in their own oppression. In this devastatingly timely debut novel, acclaimed short fiction writer Tlotlo Tsamaase brings a searing intelligence and Botswana’s cultural sensibility to the question: just how far must a woman go to bring the whole system crashing down?