Constance Verity Saves the World

Martinez’s follow-up to 2016’s The Last Adventure of Constance Verity is just as merry and entertaining. Battling giant cosmic sea creatures, alligator people, evil cheese, and various other baddies is all in a day’s work for Constance “Connie” Verity, adventurer and saver of worlds—but maintaining a long-term romantic relationship while grappling with her mortality is something else entirely. Connie is happy with her (very normal) boyfriend, Byron, and she’s determined to make their relationship work, but then she’s summoned by her childhood friend Larry, aka Lord Peril, whose evil genius mother, Lady Peril, has (maybe, but probably not) died and left him to run her international criminal organization. He has no interest in taking the reins; in fact, Larry wants Connie to help him save the world. When Byron is abducted, Connie will need her friend and sidekick Tia, a little luck, and all of her considerable talents to save him and face her destiny. Martinez has a gift for snark and snappy dialogue, and he lovingly packs every genre trope possible into this witty romp. Genuinely likable characters and imaginative set pieces drive the breathless narrative all the way to a fitting finale. Readers who like a lot of sass with their derring-do will find much to love here. (July)