Gunn debuts with this eerie eldritch story of a grieving family swept into evils out of Appalachian folklore. Rachel Kennan, the chief of police in rural Dahlmouth, Va., struggles in the wake of her journalist husband Finn’s drunk driving accident, which killed their young son. After the townsfolk unearth her old social media accounts and discover photos of her partying hard and kissing women, the scandal leaves her totally isolated. So when she discovers a mutilated body in the woods, there’s no one willing to cooperate with her investigation. Despite Rachel’s vague warnings about danger, her older daughter, Charlie, sneaks out to meet friends who are lured into the woods and come back different. As other kids go missing and their parents turn inexplicably violent, Rachel refuses to consider that something supernatural is going on even amid mounting signs and strange warnings from her younger daughter. The author competently blends mythic horror with a delicate, introspective portrait of a family broken by grief and the self-defeating ways they try to cope. With this intense story, Gunn proves herself an assured new voice in horror. Agent: Logan Harper, Jane Rotrosen Agency. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

Lam’s riveting finale to her Dragon Scales duology (after Dragonfall) combines drama, romance, and high-stakes political intrigue. Magnes, once the last male dragon, has gone insane, murdered a Chancellor, and acquired a dragon claw relic that enhances his power so he can rule all of Lumet. Now a thief named Arcady, who’s been separated from their bonded dragon, Everen, enrolls in the University of Vatra to improve their magical abilities and scour the school’s library for proof that their grandfather, who was scapegoated and put to death, was not actually the detested Plaguebringer. When the university reinstates trials of magic, Arcady is surprised to be competing against their nemesis, Sorin, Magnes’s reluctant spy at the school. Meanwhile, Everen, once imprisoned in the dragon world of Vere Celene, is released to fulfill a murky prophecy: “As above, so below. As what was, so shall become. Whatever you do, remember this: you must not wake the Dreamer.” If the Dreamer, a giant serpent sleeping between worlds, does awaken, it would bring the apocalypse. Lam’s character-driven plotting and intricate dragon lore continue to delight and the stakes ramp up enough to make this a satisfying conclusion. Series fans will not be disappointed. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this tale of friendship pushed to the very limits, Jones (Black Tide) breathes new life into the classic horror trope of a deserted location with unsettling effects on those who venture into it. After Livia’s shattering discovery of her husband’s infidelity, she gets into a serious car accident. Once she’s discharged from the hospital, she hopes to be distracted from “this wildly unexpected detour [her] life had taken” by a trip to an Oregon resort with her closest friends, Ash, Becka, and Morgan. But it’s a literal detour that lands the quartet in danger. To get to their destination more quickly, they turn onto County Road 951, unaware that it was closed off after 15 people died there. They soon realize their mistake, as Livia and then the others have strange visions of a giant, shadowy figure stalking the car and a bat swooping overhead. These sightings, combined with the complete lack of any wildlife sounds, creep the friends out, and they try desperately to escape what they come to believe is some sort of monster. Jones’s gift for crafting realistic characters and the slow buildup of eerie atmospherics makes suspending disbelief easy. Richard Chizmar fans will be pleased. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

Historical mystery writer Hodgson (the Tom Hawkins novels) shifts genres masterfully in this stellar fantasy trilogy kickoff. Emperor Bersun of Orrun intends to step down after 24 years on the throne, abiding by his empire’s strict term limits. His successor will come from one of seven contenders, each representing a separate monastery devoted to one of the animals sacred to the supernatural guardians, who previously saved Orrun seven times but would destroy it should they return again. Bersun’s High Scholar Neema Kraa is content to ignore the competition and focus on her obscure research—but when one of the potential successors is murdered in circumstances that make Neema a prime suspect, she must drop everything to clear her name and crack the case. Neema, a know-it-all with limited social skills, is a flawed but endearing lead; Hodgson’s attention to detail makes the worldbuilding vivid; and her subtle, playful prose enriches the ingeniously constructed narrative. This impressive display of versatility marks Hodgson as an exciting new voice in fantasy. (Apr.)

Reviewed on 01/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

Hunt continues The Kystrom Chronicles series (after The Immortality Thief) with this entertaining planet-hopping quest to find a missing sibling. Smuggler Sean Wren is on the run from both the human Republic and the genetically enhanced Ministers after refusing to hand over the Philosopher Stone, valuable data containing the secret to immortality, to either government. Now Sean receives a message from his sister, Brigid, asking for his help. But he remembers seeing Brigid’s lifeless body after their planet Kystrene was destroyed in a war between the Republic and the Ministers. Is the message really from her, or is it a trick to smoke him out? Despite his doubts, Sean’s devotion to his family spurs him and his traveling companions, former Republic soldier Tamara Gupta and Indigo, a 300-year-old renegade Minister, on a frantic mission to track her down. They must travel under the radar of their many enemies, including the corrupt Senator Todd Ketal, whom Sean is blackmailing, and the dying clone Ministers who need the Philosopher Stone to revive their race. Cuts between the present and past occasionally disrupt the flow, but Sean’s pluck and determination in a world of government bureaucracy and uncooperative technology makes him a worthy hero. This is a rollicking adventure. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

In this riveting high fantasy, Dalglish (Level: Unknown) takes on the familiar trope of squabbling supernatural siblings working secretly to steer human history, but stirs in an exciting mix of reincarnation, politics, and body horror. Faron is one of six immortal siblings who have vowed to stay out of mortal affairs. When he completes his most recent reincarnation, however, he comes back to find his brother Eder breaking this promise and encouraging humans to worship him. To stop him, Faron forms an uneasy alliance with his most unpredictable brother, Sabriel, and the pair take up the cause of Princess Isabelle, a human who claims divine approval and exhibits powers that the brothers believed were limited to their family . Tensions ramp up as Eder plots to revive ancient technology and smash the interdimensional barrier that prevents the siblings from directly contacting their creator. Dalglish makes the familial relationship wonderfully multilayered while illustrating the distinct personalities of each sibling. Readers will need a tolerance for gore to get through some of the reincarnation scenes but will be rewarded with a solid saga full of loneliness and longing. It’s an exciting start to the series. Agent: Michael Carr, Veritas Literary. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

Following on the heels of 2024’s Aftermarket Afterlife, the deeply satisfying 14th installment of McGuire’s InCryptid series finds ghostly babysitter Mary Dunlavey attempting to redefine her purpose, powers, and relationship to the family she’s protected for so long. With the destruction of the mystical crossroads that both employed and controlled her, Mary is finally able to focus on her favorite job: watching over the Price-Healy family as they wage war against the monster-slaying Covenant of St. Georg. But now the anima mundi, the living spirit of the Earth itself, has an assignment for Mary: Covenant agents are capturing, torturing, and destroying ghosts, and Mary must stop them at all costs. She recruits Elsie and Arthur Harrington—extended members of the Price-Healy clan who are both grieving their mother’s recent death and grappling with identity and family issues—to help. The trio head to Boston where the stakes ramp up as they try to protect the local ghosts before it’s too late. Throughout, McGuire delves into themes of grief and trauma, both through her mortal protagonists and the assorted ghosts they encounter. This entry does an excellent job of further developing both Mary’s story and the larger conflict between the Covenant and the Price-Healys. Series fans will not be disappointed. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/17/2025 | Details & Permalink

Nebula award winner Mohamed (The Butcher of the Forest) delivers more science-infused, dystopian speculative fiction in this hard-hitting collection of four interlinked stories. All are set in the Treotan Empire, a kingdom intent on colonizing everything it can reach. Mohamed offers a range of perspectives that, taken together, give a sense of what life is like for many vastly different kinds of people as they struggle to survive and do what they believe is right under the empire’s oppressive reign. The title story follows Major Lyell Tzajos, an ineffective leader bent on following the rules, and part of the colonizing army in Eastern Seudast. In “The Weight of What Is Hollow,” readers meet 17-year-old Taya, an apprentice in her family’s business: building gallows out of human bones for public hangings. “Forsaking All Others” braids the story of army deserter Rostyn with the history of his revolutionary grandmother. In “The General’s Turn,” an unnamed emcee narrates a barbaric game show in which a captured prisoner must compete. Mohamed delivers an effective if somewhat on-the-nose critique of war and colonialism without sacrificing storytelling. This one is tough to shake. (Feb.)

Reviewed on 01/03/2025 | Details & Permalink

Dysfunctional family dynamics find a potent natural outlet in Nislow’s eerie and lush body-horror debut. A group of nine young cousins are brought together by a family vacation to the Lake House, a mysterious property managed by their grandfather in the middle of a dense forest. The idyllic trip is punctuated by mysterious visions and surreal happenings that it seems only the children—who are referred to entirely by epithets like The Oldest, The Secret Keeper, and The Liar—can see. After The Baby briefly disappears, the children believe the version of her that comes back is in fact a body double made of fungus and begin to fear there’s something in the woods that plans to claim them for its own mysterious purposes. Nislow does an impressive job of balancing the deeply human with the fantastical, keeping readers uncertain if the supernatural creatures in the woods or the adults in the Lake House are the true monsters. The writing is elegant and focused as it delineates a large and complex cast, and the grimy rot that underlies the story pays off with several enjoyably nasty scenes and images that will haunt readers. Dense, atmospheric, and creepy, this marks Nislow as a writer to watch. (Mar.)

Reviewed on 01/03/2025 | Details & Permalink

Bujold’s 13th Penric and Desdemona fantasy (after Penric’s Labors) takes the series in a more introspective direction as, for the first time, she places her two leads in conflict with each other. Temple sorcerer Pen and Des, the chaos demon with whom he shares a body, are called to help when an apparently possessed young girl, Otta, washes ashore in a nearby fishing village. After Pen, Des, and Pen’s wife, Nikys, determine that the child is indeed hosting a very young demon, they face a multipronged quandary. It’s unknown whether anyone else on Otta’s father’s ship survived and, if so, whether they’ll claim a child with a demon. Temple policy is to bring uncontrolled demons before a Temple saint, who will decide whether to remove it or leave it with the host. While Pen and Nikys grow fond of Otta, Des begins to care for the young demon, putting them at odds. “You think you’re taking an adopted child to be cured of a disease,” Des argues, “but I would be taking an adopted child to be executed.” Seeing these two at cross-purposes puts a fresh twist on Bujold’s formula, allowing her to reveal new sides to each character. This works well as a quiet interlude between the action of previous volumes and the adventures that await. (Jan.)

Reviewed on 01/03/2025 | Details & Permalink