Red Sonja: Consumed

Veteran comics writer Simone’s triumphant debut novel, the title character of which was created by pulp novelist Robert E. Howard and later appeared in Marvel comics, quickly immerses readers in a lush fantasy world. At 10, Sonja is the sole survivor of a brutal attack on her village in the land of Hyrkania. Despite that trauma, she grows up to become a legendary warrior with a lust for life. Now Sonja is on the run from her latest lover, Queen Ysidra, from whom she’s stolen a valuable asp-shaped circlet. The theft puts the queen and her elite guards on Sonja’s trail; it also makes Sonja the quarry of Sylus Temptree, an assassin working for the Falcon, the criminal who ordered her to steal the circlet in the first place. Sonja’s flight coincides with several horrific attacks in her homeland, committed by monsters that drag their victims to their deaths underground, a menace that Sonja eventually must reckon with. Simone leavens the frequent violence with humor and makes her heroine feel simultaneously larger-than-life and deeply human. The result is an exciting new chapter for a cult-favorite character. (Nov.)