20 sci-fi and fantasy books we can’t wait to dig into this summer
The other summer blockbuster season is when we. Some of the biggest science fiction and fantasy books of the year will hit shelves over the next four months, including new titles by Ken Liu, Holly Black, and Ruthanna Emrys. Plus, renowned genre writers like Akil Kumarasamy, Megan Giddings and Georgi Gospodinov are back with fresh work alongside a host of new debuts.
Whether you’re looking for a quick fix to devour over a weekend or an epic book to mull over for months, here are the 20 best sci-fi and fantasy books that will come out. your eyes in May, June, July and August 2022.
Elektra by Jennifer Saint (May 3)
Madeline Miller’s fans Circe and Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad will be captivated by this re-imagining Iliad enlarge Helen of Troy’s niece, Elektra. It’s another gripping historical fantasy in the vein of Saint’s debut novel, Ariadnebut this time she expanded the focus to include two additional women: Elektra’s mother, Clytemnestra, and her father’s mistress Agamemnon, Cassandra.
Not many former Wall Street Journal tech reporters have written a sci-fi novel, but Vauhini Vara does just that with this gorgeous, nuanced book about memory, capitalism, and transformation. climate. It’s the story of a South Indian kid who grows up to be the most powerful man in the world – first the CEO of a technology company, then the leader of an international civilian regime. economy – and gives her daughter access to her memories in a desperate attempt to save the planet.
Co-author of The Spiderwick Chronicles is back with her first adult novel, a dark fantasy set in a world that could be our own without “dark magic” and “shadow pursuers.” dark” study it. When a 28-year-old thief named Charlie Hall finds a dead man with his shadow shredded, she sets out on an adventure to find a missing magical text – The Night Book .
Time Shelter by Georgi Gospordinov, translated by Angela Rodel (May 10)
This Ballardian novel, Gospodinov’s third translation from Bulgarian to English, is about a Swiss health clinic for Alzheimer’s patients, where each floor is designed to recreate a different decade from the century. 20. Things start to get wild when entire countries decide to start “living” in a particular decade relative to the past. (Of course, France chose the 80s).
This modern spin on Rotation direction of the screw tells the story of a sober new nanny, Mallory Quinn, who takes the job of looking after a 5-year-old boy. At first, the child seems sweet (not always?), until he paints a picture of a man dragging a dead woman through the woods. As his drawings become increasingly lifelike, Mallory wonders if he is conveying something supernatural – something that could help solve a cold case.
Loulie al-Nazari, a criminal of magic smuggling with the enviable alias “Midnight Trader”, teams up with her jinn guardian, a prince and a thief in an adventure. Save this fast-paced fantasy inspired by many stories from One thousand and one nights. Fans of SA Chakraborty’s Daevabad trilogy will enjoy al-Nazari’s race to find an artifact with the power to destroy every jinn in the world.
Traumatized women begin to grow thick, dark hair along the spines in this debut novel by Sally Oliver. Marianne, grieving the death of her sister, joins other grieving women at an experimental treatment center in the Welsh wilderness, where her past and present begin to overlap – and where her mind began to fall apart.
A gritty historical fantasy set in Victorian-era London and Meiji-era Tokyo, Normal monster tells the story of an English detective tasked with keeping two children with supernatural powers safe from a man made of smoke. Nearly 700 pages long, it is a doorstop with a maze story and a large cast of characters.
In the near future, the metaverse is moderated by Reality Controllers like Joey, who oversees the live streams of South Asian celebrities. When she hires an assistant named Rudra, the estranged son of a wealthy Delhi family, they uncover a corporate conspiracy that could disrupt everything they thought they knew.
Ken Liu is back with the fourth and final book in the Dandelion Dynasty series, best known for establishing the “silkpunk” genre with 2015. Grace of Kings. This time, Pékyu Takval and Princess Théra must navigate two wars to resolve the fate of the Seven Dara Islands.
Pull out the knife meeting Hitchhiker Galaxy’s Guide In this locked room mystery set in the near future, where the translator for an alien diplomat is caught up in a murder investigation. Eddie Robson writes for British sitcoms and Which doctor? spinoffs, so expect some dry humor.
Kingfisher’s retelling of “The Fall of Usher’s House” by Edgar Allan Poe is a great way to familiarize yourself with the story of the past. Mike Flanagan’s Upcoming Netflix Adaptation of the original text. This version involves mushrooms, “possessed wildlife” and a variety of ghosts that may not actually be ghosts.
Emrys’ first novel since the Innsmouth Legacy series is a climate change-driven first exposure story. At the end of the 21st century, when aliens land in the Chesapeake Bay and offer humanity an escape from what they see as a dooming Earth, we humans must decide whether to leave home or stay.
People who do not sleep by Victor Manibo (August 2)
What if you never need to sleep again? It sounds great, but it’s not so stellar in Manibo’s debut novel. A “sleepless” journalist named Jamie Vega is ensnared in a murder investigation, and the worst part is that he can’t remember anything about the night of the crime. After starting his own investigation, he discovers the truth behind insomnia, and it couldn’t be better.
The title is not a metaphor; This novel is about people who eat books. They call themselves Family, they live on the Yorkshire Moors, and they punish children by making them eat dictionaries. Turns out, they really do exist stories that have in books, becomes a problem when one of them enjoys the best storyline – the human brain.
40 by Alan Heathcock (August 2)
A civil war between the US government and a group of revolutionary fundamentalists is the setting of Heathcock’s daring and eerie novel about faith, family, and the future. When a young soldier named Mazzy Goodwin wakes up in a crater to find wings sprouting from her back, she’s not sure if it’s a miracle or a biology experiment, but it gives her the chance to become one a wartime leader and find his missing sister.
Face to face by Joma West (August 2)
Skin color is a choice in Joma West’s debut novel, which is supported by some Gattaca-level genetic technology that allows everyone (who can afford it) to design their own “perfect” face. At the same time, all skin-to-skin contact is considered obscene, and a wealthy family’s quest for happiness turns into an incredible nightmare. Black mirror episode.
Excellent author of Lakewood imagines a dystopian setting where witchcraft is real – a fact the Authoritarian State uses to criminalize celibacy after the age of 30 and put Black women on trial for their crimes. the slightest doubt. When Josephine Thomas goes on a mission to honor her mother’s last wish, she discovers a community that lives by very different rules.
First binding is an epic fantasy film inspired by South Asia compared to Patrick Rothfuss’ The name of the wind, and for good reason: this is an 800-page first-person narration told in the first person by a legendary warrior, sharp-edged, who wields magic. A gorgeous cover photo doesn’t hurt either!
Novel defies the genre by the author of the 2018 short story collection Half of the Gods is about an AI trainer in the near future, Ada, who in her spare time translates a manuscript in Tamil written by a group of female medical students in the 1990s. The story alternates between encounters. of Ada with futuristic technology and medical students putting in as much effort as possible to understand their patients.