Just because they want to kill her is no reason to forget her manners.
The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin is the second book of the Broken Earth Trilogy, the fantasy epic that began with the Hugo Award-winning The Fifth Season. The Obelisk Gate is a finalist for the 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel. The last book of this trilogy is going to be released in August, so it’s really a perfect time to get on board with the series.
“When we say “the world has ended,” it’s usually a lie, because the planet is just fine. But this is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. For the last time.”
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin is a fantasy novel that won the Hugo Award last year. It is the first book of a planned trilogy.
Whether or not you should read this book is going to depend on how much you appreciate creative worldbuilding. When most people think of fantasy, they think of dragons, princesses, knights, goblins, elves, and such, in a land populated entirely by straight white medieval-ish English-ish people. This book isn’t like that. Its setting is unique, and the book does not rely on traditional fantasy tropes. The pleasure (and narrative focus) of this novel is in unraveling the mysteries of its world.
In the time in which I write this, 1851, magic is waning. The research that DODO paid me to perform indicates that magic will cease to exist at the end of this month (July 28). When that happens, I will be trapped here in a post-magic world for the rest of my days. The only way anyone will ever know what became of me is through this deposition. While I have managed to land myself in comfortable (by 1851 standards) quarters with access to pen, ink, leisure time, and privacy, it has been at the expense of my freedom; my hosts would not consider allowing me out of the house for an evening constitutional, let alone to seek out witches who might help me.
The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. by Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland is about a U.S. government agency that uses witches to time travel.
“He wouldn’t let me stay over. He looked so sorry and miserable as he pushed me out the door. It stung. It always stings when there’s this whole story going on and you’re really just a B-plot walk-on who only got a look at three pages of the script.”
The Refrigerator Monologues by Catherynne M. Valente takes place in a superhero universe, but it is not a comic book nor does it primarily focus on superheroes. Rather, the main characters of The Refrigerator Monologues are analogues of female Marvel and DC characters that are famous for dying or having their power taken away. This book is a reaction to a trope in superhero comics known as “Women in Refrigerators,” a plot device in which female characters die or suffer in order to inspire, motivate, or provide gravitas to the main male hero. The Refrigerator Monologues aims to give those female characters a voice and make them the center of their own story.
“‘A bad fairy tale has some simple goddamn moral. A great fairy tale tells the truth.'”
The Changeling by Victor LaValle is a self-described (dark) fairy tale set in present-day New York City. I have always loved fairy tales — Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm, Mother Goose, Neil Gaiman, the comic book Fables — so I snatched this book up when it was released.