The State of SFF – May 2024

Dina

May 1

Phew, I'm on a roll when it comes to reading and catching up on reviews a bit, but I also suffer from quite a bit of reading-induced stress. What with readathons meeting award voting deadlines meeting my ever changing moods, it's hard to feel like I am getting anything done. Oh yes, and let's not forget library holds that always, always come in at the most inconvenient time.

Quickie News

Hugo Award voting is open! I have a lot of reading to catch up on but I've already filled in the categories as far as I could and hit that save button, because that's just the kind of anxiety-filled, excited person I am.
The Hugo Voter Packet will be out in early May.

It's Wyrd & Wonder, everybody! If you want to join in a fun month-long event that celebrates all things fantasy, than this is for you. Check out imyril's post for explanations on how everything works. There are two readalongs (The Night Circus and Sunbolt) as well as a map (!), prompts, and all sorts of other fun things. I myself will join in super casually, but I look forward to reading everyone's posts.

The third book in Rebecca Yarros's Empyrian series has a title and I like it: Onyx Storm.
Still haven't read the second book yet, so I guess I'll wait for my sister to catch up and then we'll buddy read it.

Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy gets a fourth instalment, titled Absolution. Which reminds me painfully that I have yet to read books two and three. Ahem.
Also, I think I'm finally ready again to re-watch the movie adaptation of Annihilation which I loved but which also terrified the shit out of me with that bear creature. IYKYK.

R. F. Kuang Gets Her Own Headline Today

The announcement of a new book by Rebecca Kuang is already cause for celebration. The announcement of a book called Katabasis with the tagline "to hell with love" is cause for a medium breakdown. In a good way.

Katabasis, noun, Ancient Greek. The story of a hero's descent to the underworld.

Two academic rivals from Cambridge must travel to hell to rescue the soul of their advisor. Getting there was easy. Surviving it – and each other – is another thing entirely.

2025's most unexpected love story is going to be hell in the new novel by Sunday Times Number One Bestseller R.F. Kuang. Coming August 2025.

I will obviously get this book as soon as we have some covers revealed and I know which edition I find prettiest, but I am also hoping Illumicrate will make their own special edition, because they usually have the best ones.

Speaking of special collector's editions:
As someone who has missed out on the - in my opinion - loveliest hardback edition of the Poppy War Trilogy (also from Illumicrate, just google it, it's so gorgeous!), I am thrilled that The Poppy War is getting a new, illustrated (!!!) hardcover edition with artwork approved by R. F. Kuang herself, created by artist JungShan. There will be an illustration in every single chapter and I am honestly so excited, this will make waiting for Katabasis somewhat bearable.

Also, can we all just appreciate what an amazingly prolific person R. F. Kuang is? ❤

Adaptation News

I will always remember listening to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir extra fondly, because that was the only book - audio or print - that I could concentrate on during early pregnancy. I was so damn tired, not even my favorite authors got me out of that particular reading slump. But Andy Weir and narrator Ray Porter did and made me absolutely love this book!
All the more exciting that a movie adaptation is in the making, starring Ryan Gosling as protagonist Ryland Grace. It's set to come out in March 2026. Yay!

One of the myriad planned Game of Thrones spinoffs (and the one I've been looking forward to the most) is the series based on Dunk & Egg, starting with "The Hedge Knight". The show has cast its two protagonists, which seems like a good start. Peter Claffey from Vikings and Dexter Sol Ansell from The Hunger Games prequel will portray Ser Duncan the Tall, and Egg, respectively. We may all have Feelings about A Song of Ice and Fire in general, but I still look forward to this show. And the two main stars really look the part.

Books From the Future (or: Feed Your Wishlist)

One new treat by a favorite author, two completely new-to-me authors, and that makes three books I will just buy the moment they come out.

The City in Glass by Nghi Vo looks and sounds stunning. This standalone about angels and demons will come to us in October 2024.
Metal From Heaven by August Clarke was recommended by Alix E. Harrow, and that's really all I need to know. Also sold as "for fans of The Princess Bride and Gideon the Ninth", if that helps. 🙂 Publishing October 2024.
Lastly, Shoestring Theory by Mariana Costa sounds just up my alley. "A queer, madcap, friends-to-lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers time travel romance" coming out in October, as well. That's going to be a hard month on my wallet...

Exciting May Publications

Spring is here, summer is already knocking, and with it come new books. Books, books, everywhere!

BETHANY BAPTISTE - THE POISONS WE DRINK (May 7th)

One of the books Cait Corrain review-bombed, this has been on my radar for a while. Corrupt underbellies of magical cities are always a win.

In a country divided between humans and witchers, Venus Stoneheart hustles as a brewer making illegal love potions to support her family.

Love potions is a dangerous business. Brewing has painful, debilitating side effects, and getting caught means death or a prison sentence. But what Venus is most afraid of is the dark, sentient magic within her.

Then an enemy's iron bullet kills her mother, Venus's life implodes. Keeping her reckless little sister Janus safe is now her responsibility. When the powerful Grand Witcher, the ruthless head of her coven, offers Venus the chance to punish her mother's killer, she has to pay a steep price for revenge. The cost? Brew poisonous potions to enslave D.C.'s most influential politicians.

As Venus crawls deeper into the corrupt underbelly of her city, the line between magic and power blurs, and it's hard to tell who to trust…Herself included.

NGHI VO - THE BRIDES OF HIGH HILL (May 7th)

A new instalment in Nghi Vo's Singing Hills Cycle. Need I say more?

The Hugo Award-Winning Series returns with its newest standalone entry: a gothic mystery involving a crumbling estate, a mysterious bride, and an extremely murderous teapot.

The Cleric Chih accompanies a beautiful young bride to her wedding to an aging lord at a crumbling estate situated at the crossroads of dead empires. But they're forgetting things they ought to remember, and the lord's mad young son wanders the grounds at night like a hanged ghost.

The Singing Hills Cycle has been shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award, the Locus Award, the Ignyte Award, and has won the Hugo Award and the Crawford Award.

"A remarkable accomplishment of storytelling."―NPR on The Empress of Salt and Fortune

EMMA STERNER-RADLEY - SNOWBLOODED (May 9th)

The comparisons were enough to catch my attention, the names Valour and Petrichor sealed the deal. I need this book.

The Princess Bride meets Six of Crows in this uproarious fantasy debut set in 18th century Scandinavia full of assassins, magic potions, romance and rivalry.

Valour and Petrichor are esteemed members of the Order of Axsten, an assassin's guild tasked with keeping order in the rough city of Vinterstock. Plucked from the streets as children and raised to compete for their guild's approval, Valour uses her brawn to survive, while Petrichor strives to be a gentleman assassin. When they're given their biggest job yet—to kill Brandquist, the mysterious leader of the city's illegal magic trade—it's a recipe for disaster. If they can quell their rivalry long enough, the reward will be enough to settle their debts with the Order and start new lives.

If this job wasn't dangerous enough, Valour is saddled with protecting the aristocrat, Ingrid Rytterdahl. Valour finds her dangerously attractive, but Petrichor can't wait to be rid of them both. He begrudgingly accepts Ingrid's knowledge and connections as they navigate the city's criminal underbelly in pursuit of Brandquist.

As secrets bubble to the surface, the duo must outwit the thugs on their tail, keep Ingrid alive, and—hardest of all—work together without murdering each other.

PETER S. BEAGLE - I'M AFRAID YOU'VE GOT DRAGONS (May 14th)

Beagle's lyrical prose and thoughtful tales don't need me to promote them, but I will anyway. Obviously, this book will come to my home. It sounds like so much fun.

From the New York Times bestselling author of The Last Unicorn comes a new novel with equal amounts of power and whimsy in which a loveable cast of characters trapped within their roles of dragon hunter, princess, and more must come together to take their fates into their own hands.

Dragons are common in the backwater kingdom of Bellemontagne, coming in sizes from mouse-like vermin all the way up to castle-smashing monsters. Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax (who would much rather people call him Robert) has recently inherited his deceased dad's job as a dragon catcher/exterminator, a career he detests with all his heart in part because he likes dragons, feeling a kinship with them, but mainly because his dream has always been the impossible one of transcending his humble origin to someday become a prince's valet. Needless to say, fate has something rather different in mind…

SYDNEY J. SHIELDS - THE HONEY WITCH (May 14th)

This just screams cozy fantasy. I love the cover, the vibes, the promised romance

The Honey Witch of Innisfree can never find true love. That is her curse to bear. But when a young woman who doesn't believe in magic arrives on her island, sparks fly in this deliciously sweet debut novel of magic, hope, and love overcoming all.

Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who've tried to woo her. So when her grandmother whisks her away to the family cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence come with a No one can fall in love with the Honey Witch.

When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn't believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can't resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home—at the risk of losing her magic and her heart.

VERONICA ROTH - WHEN AMONG CROWS (May 14th)

It's the author of Divergent and she's here with what sounds like a pretty epic fantasy. Also, there's Baba Yaga, so I'm sold.

Step into a city where monsters feast on human emotions, knights split their souls to make their weapons, and witches always take more than they give.

Pain is Dymitr's calling. To slay the monsters he's been raised to kill, he had to split his soul in half to make a sword from his own spine. Every time he draws it, he gets blood on his hands.

Pain is Ala's inheritance. When her mother died, a family curse to witness horrors committed by the Holy Order was passed onto her. The curse will claim her life, as it did her mother's, unless she can find a cure.

One fateful night in Chicago, Dymitr comes to Ala with a bargain: her help in finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga in exchange for an enchanted flower that just might cure her. Desperate, and unaware of what Dymitr really is, Ala agrees.

But they only have one day before the flower dies . . . and Ala's hopes of breaking the curse along with it.

VAISHNAVI PATEL - GODDESS OF THE RIVER (May 21st)

I read and enjoyed Kaikeyi by this author, but I'm looking forward to her second book even more.

A powerful reimagining of the story of Ganga, goddess of the river, and her doomed mortal son, from Vaishnavi Patel, author of the instant New York Times bestseller Kaikeyi .

A mother and a son. A goddess and a prince. A curse and an oath. A river whose course will change the fate of the world.

Ganga, joyful goddess of the river, serves as caretaker to the mischievous godlings who roam her banks. But when their antics incur the wrath of a powerful sage, Ganga is cursed to become mortal, bound to her human form until she fulfills the obligations of the curse.

Though she knows nothing of mortal life, Ganga weds King Shantanu and becomes a queen, determined to regain her freedom no matter the cost. But in a cruel turn of fate, just as she is freed of her binding, she is forced to leave her infant son behind.

Her son, prince Devavrata, unwittingly carries the legacy of Ganga's curse. And when he makes an oath that he will never claim his father's throne, he sets in motion a chain of events that will end in a terrible and tragic war.

As the years unfold, Ganga and Devavrata are drawn together again and again, each confluence another step on a path that has been written in the stars, in this deeply moving and masterful tale of duty, destiny, and the unwavering bond between mother and son.

CHARLOTTE BOND - THE FIREBORNE BLADE (May 28th)

I just love this cover so much. This sounds fairly old-timey standard fantasy, but I'm always up for a good dragon story.

Kill the dragon. Find the blade. Reclaim your honor.
It's that, or end up like countless knights before her, as a puddle of gore and molten armor.

Maddileh is a knight. There aren't many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she's a knight, and made of sterner stuff.

A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it's that "die trying" is where to wager your coin.

Maddileh's tale contains a rich history of dragons, ill-fated knights, scheming squires, and sapphic love, with deceptions and double-crosses that will keep you guessing right up to its dramatic conclusion. Ultimately, The Fireborne Blade is about the roles we refuse to accept, and of the place we make for ourselves in the world.

S. T. GIBSON - EVOCATION (May 28th)

I think seven different book boxes are doing this one, which means it's either very good or just hits a lot of buzzy buttons. I haven't read Gibson yet, but I have several of her books already on my TBR. They all sound great, as does this one.

The Devil knows your name, David Aristarkhov.

As a teen, David Aristarkhov was a psychic prodigy, operating under the shadow of his oppressive occultist father. Now, years after his father's death and rapidly approaching his thirtieth birthday, he is content with the high-powered life he's curated as a Boston attorney, moonlighting as a powerful medium for his secret society.

But with power comes a price, and the Devil has come to collect on an ancestral deal. David's days are numbered, and death looms at his door.

Reluctantly, he reaches out to the only person he's ever trusted, his ex-boyfriend and secret Society rival Rhys, for help. However, the only way to get to Rhys is through his wife, Moira. Thrust into each other's care, emotions once buried deep resurface, and the trio race to figure out their feelings for one another before the Devil steals David away for good…

The first book in a spellbinding and vibrant new series from The Sunday Times bestselling author of A Dowry of Blood.

News from the blog

April was a pretty good reading month, which isn't all that surprising. Because April is the Orilium Spring Equinox, a readathon that always motivates me like crazy. Also, the Hugo finalists were announced just in time for me to pounce on some of those finalist novellas. And my library holds came in, which made me read a couple of chonkers as well.

What I read last month:

Arkady Martine - Rose/House (6.5/10)
Nghi Vo - Mammoths at the Gates (8/10)
Kazuo Ishiguro - Klara and the Sun (7.5/10)
Jay Kristoff - Empire of the Damned (6.5/10)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Shards of Honor (6/10)
Lois McMaster Bujold - Barrayar (8/10)
Tochi Onyebuchi - Goliath (7.5/10)
Joan He - Strike the Zither (7/10)
Sarah Gailey - River of Teeth (7/10)
Walter M. Miller - A Canticle for Leibowitz (7.5/10)
Ali Hazelwood - Love, Theoretically (6/10)
Ali Hazelwood - Check & Mate (8/10)

Thanks to Sword & Laser, I finally started the Vorkosigan Saga and with it my first Lois McMaster Bujold book. That feels crazy - like how have I not read Bujold before? I'm glad they picked the omnibus edition, because I don't know that I would have continued the series if I'd only read Shards of Honor. But now I'm hooked and need to read on. Plus, some of the author's fantasy as well.
Ali Hazelwood is a gem and I am so glad my library has all her audiobooks in English. I enjoyed both of those romances immensely.
My review of River of Teeth will be published when I've read the sequel, because I want to just stick them in one post. But I did well, the review is already written. (pats herself on the back)

Currently reading:

Shelley Parker-Chan - He Who Drowned the World
Sen Lin Yu - Manacled
Seanan McGuire - Mislaid in Parts Half-Known

So far, I enjoy Shelley Parker-Chan's second even book more than the first, I just had to pause it for readathon reasons. But now that that's over, I can dive right back in and see how things end for Zhu and Ouyang.
Still chewing on Manacled which lost me when it got boring and repetitive in the middle. I need to find the right mood to just finish those last 20% because I'm sure they will be worth it. But it's Hugo reading season, so I will probably drag it along for a few more months.
And lastly, I'll finish McGuire's latest Wayward Children novella today, because it's short, I'm already halfway through and then that is finally the end of my library holds. Seriously, three holds came in within two days of each other, what is a woman supposed to do?

I will try and focus on Hugo Award reading in the next few months. I might do some of the Lodestar finalists on audio. We'll see what Audible and my library have to offer.

Until next month: Stay safe, stay kind, and keep reading. 🙂