Featuring: Robert Jackson Bennett, Tobias Buckell & Dave Klecha, Christopher Buehlman, John Fram, Elaine Gallagher, Sarah Langan, Ellery Lloyd, Ram Murali, David Nicholls, Jim Sciutto, Natalie Sue, Django Wexler
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Robert Jackson Bennett, THE TAINTED CUP (Del Rey)
In Daretana’s greatest mansion, a high imperial officer lies dead — killed, to all appearances, when a tree erupted from his body. Even here at the Empire’s borders, where contagions abound and the blood of the leviathans works strange magical changes, it’s a death both terrifying and impossible.
Assigned to investigate is Ana Dolabra, a detective whose reputation for brilliance is matched only by her eccentricities. Rumor has it that she wears a blindfold at all times, and that she can solve impossible cases without even stepping outside the walls of her home.
At her side is her new assistant, Dinios Kol, magically altered in ways that make him the perfect aide to Ana’s brilliance. Din is at turns scandalized, perplexed, and utterly infuriated by his new superior — but as the case unfolds and he watches Ana’s mind leap from one startling deduction to the next, he must admit that she is, indeed, the Empire’s greatest detective.
As the two close in on a mastermind and uncover a scheme that threatens the Empire itself, Din realizes he’s barely begun to assemble the puzzle that is Ana Dolabra — and wonders how long he’ll be able to keep his own secrets safe from her piercing intellect.
The first book in Shadow of the Leviathan, a new fantasy/crime series from Robert Jackson Bennett. I’ve been a fan of Bennett’s books for a long time — The Company Man was the first of his that I read. This has been high on my must-read list ever since it was announced. The Tainted Cup is due to be published by Del Rey in North America and Hodderscape in the UK.
Also on CR: Interview with Robert Jackson Bennett (2012); Guest Post on “City of Stairs and the Super Tropey Fantasy Checklist”; Excerpts from City of Stairs and Locklands; Reviews of The Company Man, City of Stairs, and Vigilance
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky
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Tobias Buckell & Dave Klecha, RUNES OF ENGAGEMENT (Tachyon)
No one could have been prepared for the day when orcs, trolls, and dragons fell from portals in the sky. But the world fought back against the invaders as best it could, with soldiers, tactical weapons, and even some rudimentary magic.
Now a tough but not-quite-prepared platoon of Marines is trapped on the wrong side of the portals. The enchanting landscape looks like Middle Earth but — to the dismay of the nerdiest soldiers — is nothing like it. While the Marines fend off dangerous, improbable, and very rude assailants, their mission is to escort a VIP (Very Important Princess) who could broker a strategic alliance between worlds.
“The Lord of the Rings meets Slaughterhouse-Five by way of World of Warcraft” — who wouldn’t be interested in that pitch? Really looking forward to reading this. Runes of Engagement is due to be published by Tachyon Publications in North America and in the UK, on June 4th.
Follow the Author (Buckell): Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Follow the Author (Klecha): Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received from publisher
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Christopher Buehlman, THE DAUGHTER’S WAR (Tor Books)
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.
This is a prequel to Buehlman’s very well-received previous novel, The Blacktongue Thief. I haven’t yet managed to get to that one, but now I’m wondering if I should read this first…? We’ll see. The Daughter’s War is due to be published by Tor Books in North America (June 25th) and Gollancz in the UK (June 27th).
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Review copy received via NetGalley
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John Fram, NO ROAD HOME (Atria Books)
A young father must clear his name and protect his queer son when his wealthy new wife’s televangelist grandfather is found murdered in this unputdownable locked-room thriller from the acclaimed author of The Bright Lands — perfect for fans of Ruth Ware, Paul Tremblay, and Alex North.
For years, single father Toby Tucker has done his best to keep his sensitive young son, Luca, safe from the bigotry of the world. But when Toby marries Alyssa Wright — the granddaughter of a famed televangelist known for his grandiose, Old Testament preaching — he can’t imagine the world of religion, wealth, and hate that he and Luca are about to enter.
A trip to the Wright family’s compound in sun-scorched Texas soon turns hellish when Toby realizes that Alyssa and the rest of her brood might have some very strange plans for Toby and his son. The situation only grows worse when a freak storm cuts off the roads and the family patriarch is found murdered, stabbed through the heart on the roof of the family’s mansion.
Suspicion immediately turns to Toby, but when his son starts describing a spectral figure in a black suit lurking around the house with unfinished business in mind, Toby realizes this family has more than murder to be afraid of. And as the Wrights close in on Luca, no one is prepared for the lengths Toby will go in the fight to clear his name and protect his son
When I first saw Fram’s second novel, on Edelweiss, what caught my attention was S. A. Cosby’s blurb: “A grand gothic story as enthralling as it is terrifying. John Fram swings for the fences and doesn’t miss.” Cosby is one of my favourite authors, so his endorsement went a long way to making me check out the synopsis. Which, as it happens, sounds very intriguing. Very much looking forward to reading this as soon as I can. (When the publisher offered this for review, it made me check out the author’s debut, The Bright Lands, which reminded me that I also want to read that.) No Road Home is due to be published by Atria Books in North America and in the UK.
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Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Elaine Gallagher, UNEXPLODED REMNANTS (TorDotCom)
An A.I. wages war on a future it doesn’t understand.
Alice is the last human. Street-smart and bad-ass.
After discovering what appears to be an A.I. personality in an antique data core, Alice decides to locate its home somewhere in the stargate network. At the very least she wants to lay him to rest because, as it turns out, she’s stumbled upon the sentient control unit of a deadly ancient weapon system.
Convincing the ghost of a raging warrior that the war is over is about as hard as it sounds, which is to say, it’s near-impossible. But, if Alice fails and the control unit falls into the wrong hands, the balance of power her side of the Milky Way could fall apart. As Alice ports throughout the known universe seeking answers and aid she will be faced with impossible choice after impossible choice, and the growing might of an unstoppable foe.
It seems like “AI” is everywhere, now. While I dislike its incursion into far too many aspects of life and work, I nevertheless think it’s an interesting topic/feature of science fiction. Therefore, I was quite intrigued by the premise of this new novel(la). Unexplored Remnants is due to be published by TorDotCom in North America and in the UK, on June 25th.
Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received via NetGalley
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Sarah Langan, A BETTER WORLD (Atria Books)
A cunning, outside-the-box satirical thriller about a family’s odyssey into an exclusive enclave for the wealthy that might not be as ideal as it seems.
You’ll be safe here. That’s what the tour guide tells the Farmer-Bowens when they visit Plymouth Valley, a walled-off company town with clean air, pantries that never go empty, and blue-ribbon schools. On a very trial basis, the company offers to hire Linda Farmer’s husband, Russell, a numbers genius, and relocate her whole family to this bucolic paradise for the .0001 percent. Though Linda will have to sacrifice her medical career back home, the family jumps at the opportunity. They’d be crazy not to take it. With the outside world falling apart, this might be the Farmer-Bowens’ last chance.
But fitting in takes work. The pampered locals distrust outsiders, snubbing Linda, Russell, and their teen twins. And the residents fervently adhere to a group of customs and beliefs called Hollow…but what exactly is Hollow?
It’s Linda who brokers acceptance, by volunteering her medical skills to the most influential people in town through their pet charity, ActHollow. In the months afterward, everything seems fine. Sure, Russell starts hyperventilating through a paper bag in the middle of the night, and the kids have become secretive, but living in Plymouth Valley is worth sacrificing their family’s closeness, isn’t it? At least they’ll survive. The trouble is, the locals never say what they think. They seem scared. And Hollow’s ominous culminating event, the Plymouth Valley Winter Festival, is coming.
Linda is warned by her husband and her powerful new friends to stop asking questions. But the more she learns, the more frightened she becomes. Should the Farmer-Bowens be fighting to stay, or fighting to get out?
Sarah Langan’s latest novel, A Better World, is gleefully ruthless in its dissection of wealth, power, and privilege, timely in its depiction of a self-destructing world—and it is a prescient warning to us all
The latest novel from the author of Good Neighbors. Really looking forward to reading this, as soon as I can. A Better World is due to be published by Atria Books in North America and Titan Books in the UK (July 2nd).
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Ellery Lloyd, THE FINAL ACT OF JULIETTE WILLOUGHBY(Harper)
A twisty mystery involving a cursed wealthy family and a Surrealist painting which holds the key to three suspicious deaths over the course of a century.
Some women won’t be painted out of history…
Everybody knows that in 1938, runaway heiress artist Juliette Willoughby perished in an accidental studio fire in Paris, alongside her masterpiece Self Portrait As Sphinx.
Fifty years later, two Cambridge art history students are confounded when they stumble across proof that the fire was no accident but something more sinister. What they uncover threatens the very foundation of Juliette’s aristocratic family and revives rumors of the infamous curse that has haunted the Willoughbys for generations.
But what does their discovery mean? And how is it connected to a brutal murder in present-day Dubai?
A tale of love and madness, obsession and revenge, The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby unravels the riddle posed by a Sphinx who refuses to reveal her secrets…
Each of husband-wife writing team Ellery Lloyd’s novels has had an intriguing and contemporary premise. This is the first, I think, that doesn’t hew to a hot-button topic of the moment. Looking forward to giving it a try. The Final Act of Juliette Willoughby is due to be published by Harper in North America (June 11th) and Macmillan in the UK (June 20th).
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Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Ram Murali, DEATH IN THE AIR (Harper)
Ro Krishna is the American son of Indian parents, educated at the finest institutions, equally at home in London’s poshest clubs and on the squash court, but unmoored after he is dramatically forced to leave a high-profile job under mysterious circumstances. He decides it’s time to check in for some much-needed R&R at Samsara, a world-class spa for the global cosmopolitan elite nestled in the foothills of the Indian Himalayas. A person could be spiritually reborn in a place like this. Even a very rich person.
But a person — or several — could also die there. Samsara is the Sanskrit word for the karmic cycle of death and rebirth, after all. And as it turns out, the colorful cast of characters Ro meets — including a misanthropic politician; an American movie star preparing for his Bollywood crossover debut; a beautiful heiress to a family jewel fortune that barely survived Partition; and a bumbling white yogi inexplicably there to teach meditation — harbors a murderer among them. Maybe more than one.
As the death toll rises, Ro, a lawyer by training and a sleuth by circumstance, becomes embroiled in a vicious world under a gilded surface, where nothing is quite what it seems… including Ro himself. Death in the Air is a brilliant, teasing mystery from a remarkable new talent.
The pitch for Ram Murail’s debut novel promises quite a lot: “The White Lotus meets Knives Out meets Crazy Rich Asians… a sophisticated locked-room mystery in the tradition of Agatha Christie, and a provocative literary whodunit for the twenty-first century.” All of which sounds rather fun! I’ll be reading this as soon as I can. Death in the Air is due to be published by Harper in North America (June 18th) and Atlantic Books in the UK (June 20th).
Follow the Author: Goodreads
Review copy received via Edelweiss
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David Nicholls, YOU ARE HERE (Harper)
Sometimes you need to get lost to find your way…
Michael is coming undone. Adrift after his wife’s departure, he has begun taking himself on long, solitary walks across the English countryside. Becoming ever more reclusive, he’ll do anything to avoid his empty house.
Marnie, on the other hand, is stuck. Hiding alone in her London flat, she avoids old friends and any reminders of her rotten, selfish ex-husband. Curled up with a good book, she’s battling the long afternoons of a life that feels like it’s passing her by.
When a persistent mutual friend and some very unpredictable weather conspire to toss Michael and Marnie together on the most epic of ten-day hikes, neither of them can think of anything worse. Until, of course, they discover exactly what they’ve been looking for.
Michael and Marnie are on the precipice of a bright future… if they can survive the journey.
I was pleasantly surprised to see this was available for review. Strangely, I’ve seen more adaptations of Nicholls’s books than I have read his novels. Anyway, this sounds quite interesting, and I hope to get to it very soon. You Are Here is due to be published by Harper in North America and Sceptre in the UK (April 23rd).
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Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Jim Sciutto, THE RETURN OF GREAT POWERS (Dutton)
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 dawned what Francis Fukuyama called “The End of History.” Three decades later, Jim Sciutto said on CNN’s air as the Ukraine war began, that we are living in a “1939 moment.” History never ended — it barely paused — and the global order as we long have known it is now gone. Powerful nations are determined to assert dominance on the world stage. And as their push for power escalates, a new order will affect everyone across the globe. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a part of it, but in reality, this power struggle impacts every corner of our world — from Helsinki to Beijing, from Australia to the North Pole. This is a battle with many fronts: in the Arctic, in the oceans and across the skies, on man-made islands and redrawn maps, and in tech and cyberspace.
Through globe-spanning, exclusive interviews with dozens of political, military, and intelligence leaders, Sciutto defines our times as a return of great power conflict, “a definitive break between the post-Cold War era and an entirely new and uncertain one.” With savvy, thorough, in-person reporting, he follows-up his 2019 bestseller, The Shadow War: Inside Russia’s and China’s Secret Operations to Defeat America, which focused on the covert tactics of a hidden conflict.
The Return of Great Powers analyzes a historic and visible shift in real time. It details the realities of this new post-post-Cold War era, the increasingly aligned Russian and Chinese governments, and the flashpoint of a new, global nuclear arms race. And it poses a question: As we consider uncertain, even terrifying, outcomes, will it be possible for the West and Russia and China to prevent a new World War?
Always on the look-out for new books about international relations. I’m not familiar with Sciutto’s journalism, but nevertheless interested to read his take on the current international environment/climate. I’m hoping to read this relatively soon. The Return of Great Powers is due to be published by Dutton Books in North America and in the UK, on March 12th.
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Review copy received via Edelweiss
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Natalie Sue, I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL (Borough Press)
Would you want to know what your colleagues say behind your back?
Jolene certainly doesn’t.
She’s riddled with anxiety, depressed, and hates her coworkers. The less she knows about them, the better.
So when a catastrophic IT f*ck up grants her access to all of their emails and private messages, she’s initially horrified. The last thing she wants is to be privy to their sad discussions about dying desk plants and marital troubles.
That’s until, with job cuts looming, she realises the power this new-found knowledge gives her.
But as she digs deeper and deeper into the private lives of her colleagues, Jolene uncovers a lot more than she bargained for… And the walls she’d so carefully built start crumbling down.
This novel has been getting a lot of attention on social media, generating an increasingly-loud buzz. So, when I saw it available for request, I thought I’d give it a try. I Hope This Finds You Well is due to be published by Borough Press in the UK, and William Morrow in North America.
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Review copy received via NetGalley
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Django Wexler, HOW TO BECOME THE DARK LORD AND DIE TRYING (Orbit)
A fantasy tale about a young woman who, tired of defending humanity from the Dark Lord, decides to become the Dark Lord herself.
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.
This is the first in a proposed series, Dark Lord Davi. The premise and synopsis are certainly intriguing, and promises something a little bit tongue-in-cheek and, well maybe not light, but not overly heavy. It’s pitched as “Groundhog Day meets Guardians of the Galaxy“. Looking forward to trying it. How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying is due to be published by Orbit Books in North America and in the UK, on May 21st.
Also on CR: Interviews with Django Wexler — 2013, 2017, 2020; Guest Post “Appreciation: Terry Pratchett”; Review of The Thousand Names
Follow the Author: Website, Goodreads, Instagram, BlueSky, Twitter
Review copy received via NetGalley
Civilian Reader 