Category: Swords and Spaceships

Orpheus, Eurydice, and the Social Media Panopticon

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 30, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with your last new releases for May (how is it the end of May?) and more books from those authors because I adore them both. I hope everyone had an excellent weekend; I did a yard sale with a friend, which meant I got to see some of my old books go to new homes! I always love looking through books at yard sales. (And at used book stores. And at new book stores. And…) Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O’Neal explores the wide bookish world with interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books. Subscribe to First Edition on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

an image of an Orpheus and Eurydice tote bag with the text "See you in hell"

Orpheus and Eurydice Tote Bag by BrainNudes

I was thinking Orpheus and Eurydice because of one of the books this week and I found this tote bag. It made me utter such a cackle so I am sharing it with all of you. $20

New Releases

More Perfect by Temi Oh

In a near future London where people can use technological implants to connect directly to the Panopticon for the ultimate social media experience of the minds and dreams of others, Moremi had hopes this technology would save her from her depression. Instead, she meets Orpheus, a man raised by a Neo-luddite to question everything, including the government’s promise that the Panopticon will end human suffering. Together, they uncover the dark side of the technology. (This has been pitched to me as a sci-fi story that jumps off from the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, and I am fascinated.)

Witch King by Martha Wells

Kai has been dead for a long time; being murdered and having his consciousness imprisoned in the timeless space of a water trap was merely a pause for him, however. When a lesser mage wakes him by trying to steal his power, Kai takes his opportunity to investigate his own death and imprisonment.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

I’m SO EXCITED that we’re getting a new book from Temi Oh and a new book from Martha Wells, all in the same week. So I’m going to take this opportunity to advertise a second book for each of them!

Do You Dream of Terra-Two? by Temi Oh

It’s been a hundred years since an astronomer discovered an earth-like planet near — in the grand scale of space — ours. It will take a mission 23 years to reach this new world, but at last it’s happening. Ten veteran astronauts and six teenagers are being sent to this new world to build the first outpost — but first they have to get there.

The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells

Moon is an orphan who has been adopted by the tribes of the river valley, but only because he’s tried very hard to hide his nature as a shapeshifter — a decision that’s kept him nominally safe and fed, but also meant the skies are forbidden to him since he must hide his wings. But when he’s once again cast out, he meets another shapeshifter who seems to know who he is…but doesn’t bother to tell Moon that his lineage heralds a shift in the balance of power and that his people face extinction.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Frankenstein, Restitched

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 25, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got a couple of new books from this month for you to check out and some Frankenstein-inspired recommendations. Looking through all the Frankenstein-related stuff also makes me want to watch Young Frankenstein — that was one of my dad’s favorite movies, and it’s still funny as heck thanks to Gene Wilder’s gleeful gnawing of the scenery. We’re heading into a long weekend in the U.S., so I hope you have a good and relaxing one! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

a photo of Frankenstein's Student ID Card

Frankenstein’s Student ID Card by LiteraryCraftParlour

This is advertised as a bookmark, which you could definitely use it as, but honestly it’s just a cool little cosplay object or decoration. The attention to detail on it is just fantastic. $4

New Releases

Cover of Allah's Spacious Earth by Omar Sayfo

Allah’s Spacious Earth by Omar Sayfo translated by Paul Olchávry

In a future where anti-Muslim sentiment has become so poisonous that Muslims have been isolated from the world in enclaves like the Zone, a young man named Nasim struggles with the restrictions placed on him from without and the expectations placed on him from within.

Our Hideous Progeny by C.E. McGill

The 1850s in London are a wild time of science and debate, when the dinosaur sculptures have just wowed the world from their installation in the Crystal Palace. Mary, the great-niece of Victor Frankenstein, wants to make her own mark in the scientific milieu. She’s making no headway until she discovers the truth behind her great uncle’s past and disappearance. This truth takes her and her geologist husband, Henry, on a wild, gothic adventure into the wilds of Scotland, all while someone pursues them, intent on acquiring these scientific secrets for themself.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Mary Shelley’s work has been an inspiration for a lot of authors! Here’s a couple more to consider if Our Hideous Progeny above piqued your interest.

cover of unwieldy creatures of addie tsai

Unwieldy Creatures by Addie Tsai

Plum is a queer, biracial Chinese intern at an embryology lab; she runs away from home with the intention of being with her girlfriend and finds herself alone instead. Dr. Frank is a queer, biracial, Indonesian scientist whose ambition is to achieve procreation without needing sperm or egg. But the nonbinary being she creates is quickly abandoned due to complications at birth. Dr. Frank recruits Plum for her next project, but it soon becomes a question of what all of them are willing to risk.

This Dark Endeavor by Kenneth Oppel

Written as a prequel to Mary Shelley’s novel, this story follows the adventures of 16-year-old Victor Frankenstein who is determined to save the life of his ill twin, Konrad. With no ideas, he sets his sights on the Elixir of Life and takes his cousin Elizabeth and his best friend Henry on a dangerous adventure to search for the ingredients that will hopefully cure his brother.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Modern Arthurian Retellings

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 22, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’m coming at you with your new releases for the day and some modern (and gritty) Arthurian retellings. We just had a big thunderstorm here and man, there is really nothing like the smell you get in a garden after a storm. It’s an invitation to sit by an open window, listen to the windchimes, and maybe read a book (or do the crossword, I’m not your boss). I hope everyone had a great weekend. We’re going to kick this week’s butt. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

BookRiot.com co-founder Jeff O’Neal explores the wide bookish world. Interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books. Subscribe to First Edition on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

Merlin and Arthur Earrings by BellBookAndScandal

These earrings are made from snippets of recycled book pages, naming an excellent combo of characters. The seller has a lot of similar earrings but for different book couples! $12.

New Releases

Perilous Times by Thomas D. Lee

Sir Kay, brother of King Arthur, has been reborn again and again as an immortal defender of the realm, and after clawing his way up from the grave one too many times, he’s not terribly excited about it. Particularly not in this new, modern Britain he finds himself in, where a simple war would be welcome because at least it would have an easy solution. Instead, he’s faced with a realm that’s wracked by climate change, privatization, and a truly awful government…and no idea how to handle any of it.

No One Will Come Back for Us by Premee Mohamed

Premee Mohamed’s debut short story collection, you will get stories of cosmic horror and dark fantasy, and so many monsters — from deep space, from the abyss of the ocean, and hiding in plain sight while dressed in human skin.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

One Arthurian re-imagining deserves another!

King Maker by Maurice Broaddus

In Indianapolis, a street hustler named King tries to unite drug dealers and other criminals as rival gangs gear up for war. A unique reimagining of the Arthurian legend that mixes the myth into modernity with a distinct edge and Maurice’s trademark rich prose.

Blackheart Knights by Laure Eve

In a dark city where magic is illegal yet practiced everywhere, knights are celebrities who joust on motorcycles and fight for the entertainment of the masses. A magic-touched bastard named Mordred rises, shockingly, to be a king — and a sets her path to become a knight to gain not fame, but vengeance.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

The OTHER Three Laws of Robotics

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 18, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! Greetings from beautiful Boise, where the weather has been lovely and the jumping spiders are both large and shockingly friendly. This is Alex, and I’ve got your second set of new releases for the week, and a couple of recommendations for reads about AI, since we’re looking at friendly(ish) AI who aren’t there to be used as tools by greedy capitalists to render artists obsolete. I hope you all have a lovely weekend! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

The OTHER Three Laws of Robotics Mug by SnarkyTeesAndMugs

In going with our little AI theme, here’s a mug with the three Laws of Robotics that the robots really don’t want us to know about. $20

New Releases

Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic edited by g. haron davis

This anthology of 14 short stories showcases tales where magic and adventure is for everyone, but especially for characters who experience and express their gender in a wide range of ways. Includes stories from Sonora Reyes, Ayida Shonibar, and Cam Montgomery.

Dual Memory by Sue Burke

Pirates have taken everything from Antonio Moro and left him isolated in a city on an Arctic island, where he tries to realize his dreams as an artist while continuing the fight against piracy. But he makes an unlikely ally — Par Augustus, his new and not-entirely-legal AI personal assistant, who is insolent, extroverted, moody, and also not a fan of pirates. Together, they will recruit like-minded people to fight both capitalist pirates and ideological pirates who share the common evil of utter, violent entitlement.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Inspired by our new release with a major character who is an AI, here’s a couple more novels that center characters who were made, rather than born!

“The Lifecycle of Software Objects” in Exhalation by Ted Chiang

This entire collection is filled with lovely stories by Ted Chiang, but “The Lifecycle of Software Objects” fits our theme in particular, since it’s about a former zookeeper who is hired by a software company to help “raise” and train digital creatures who have a learning capacity similar to human children.

Rupetta by N.A. Sulway

Rupetta is a rather steampunk version of AI, where in an alternate 1619, a woman named Eloise builds another woman from brass, leather, and wood and raises her to consciousness. Over 400 years, the automaton Rupetta develops her identity as a person and explores her relationships with her Wynders, who keep her alive by winding her clockwork heart.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Moms Saving the World

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 15, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with your next round of new releases (a novel and a short story collection) and recommendations that are two of my mom’s favorite SFF books. Because my mom has truly awesome taste. I wish a happy belated Mother’s Day to the equally awesome moms out there! (And to those with more complicated and fraught relationships, I see you, and I’m sending you love.) Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

a photo of a tee shirt with the text mom, librarian, book wizard, legends

Book Wizard Mom T-shirt by nfiniti

For the book-loving mom out there (whether in possession of a library science degree or not; are we not all librarians of our own collection?) who is also a legend. Lots of styles and colors to choose from! $14

New Releases

Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo

Three teens are drawn together in the Vermont town of Saint Juniper, by the strange, haunted house hidden in its woods — Saint Juniper’s Folly. Jaime, after years in foster care, disappears into the house and becomes trapped. Theo, worried about being stuck in the claustrophobic small town, is the one who finds him. And Taylor, a young witch forbidden by her father from practicing magic after the death of her mother, is the one with a chance to free him.

Girl Country by Jacqueline Vogtman

This is a collection of new short fiction that centers working class women, ranging from fantasy towards science fiction, from medieval Belgium to the near future midwest. Jacqueline Vogtman tackles themes of motherhood, family, and environment.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Hey, since it was just Mother’s Day in the U.S. (and I’m actually writing this on Mother’s Day, in my mom’s house), I figured I’d recommend two of my mom’s favorite SFF books! She has good taste, as you can see.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

This is the start of the Broken Earth trilogy, which is an utter modern classic if you’ve somehow missed mention of it before now. In a world racked by occasional, deadly “fifth seasons” that herald disaster and massive death, a woman searches for her missing children while hiding her secret magic that is somehow connected to the disaster.

The Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

This history of the future imagines how deadly, climate-change-driven disasters could push global politics into a direction of addressing environmental disaster and trying to find a way to a more just world in which we can survive and thrive. It’s a difficult but hope-filled book.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Portals and Plot Twists

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 11, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got two more new releases for you and a couple of portal fantasy recommendations, just because that’s the kind of mood I’m in as we head into the weekend. I’ll be traveling for a bit (though I will still be writing the newsletters, you won’t be rid of me that easily!) and boy, that makes me grateful that I can carry around a lot of my library on my phone or my iPad. Though one of my big airport traditions is to hit the little Tattered Cover at DIA and grab an actual paper book to start reading on the airplane. I’m excited to see what will call to me from the shelves. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I will see you on Tuesday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

a photo of a Keyhole Wall Decal showing a fantasy world with mushrooms through the keyhole

Keyhole 3D Wall Decal by DecalBaby

Maybe it’s just me, but I think this would be a hecka cool decoration for a library that’s already filled with SFF. The seller’s got a lot of options to go in these decal frames, all of them magical and whimsical. (Also, grade school age me would have killed for this.) $20

New Releases

If Tomorrow Doesn’t Come by Jen St. Jude

(TW: suicidal ideation)

Avery is a woman burdened with being secretly in love with her best friend Cass. She also has undiagnosed clinical depression, which has led her to plan to drown herself in the river near her college campus. But that morning, news breaks that an asteroid is going to collide with Earth and everyone only has nine days left to live. Not wanting to cause her nearest and dearest extra grief, Avery shelves her plan and tries to make it through the next nine days. As doom approaches, Avery finds something unexpected in the impending disaster: hope.

A Shadow Crown by Melissa Blair

In this sequel to A Broken Blade, Keera the king’s Blade, a spy and assassin. But in secret, she’s plotting to kill a tyrant king with Prince Killian and Riven, his shadow. However good her intentions may be now, Keera cannot escape the crimes of her past, and she becomes suspect number one when it’s revealed there is a tratior in their midst.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

For no reason whatsoever (truly, no reason, I just feel like it!) here’s a couple of portal fantasy books that cannot be recommended enough. Because who doesn’t love a bit of portal fantasy?

Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones

Liesl grew up on stories of the dangerous — and beautiful — Goblin King. At 18, it’s time for her to help run her family’s inn and give up her dreams of composing music and her childhood fantasies…until the Goblin King takes her own sister. Liesl has no choice but to journey to his kingdom in the Underground on a rescue mission, where she must find her sister — and herself.

Magonia by Maria Dahvana Headley

Aza has suffered from a mysterious lung disease since her infancy, which makes it increasingly difficult for her to speak and breathe, until now she feels like she’s drowning in air. One day, she spots a ship in the sky; her family dismisses it as a side effect of her medication, but she heard someone on the ship call her name. But when she falls through a portal into the world of these magical trading ships, Magonia, she discovers a place where she is no longer dying, where she can breathe and actually has immense power. But there is a war coming between Magonia and Earth, and she will have to decide which world will have her loyalty.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

It’s Just You and Your Dragon Against the World

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 8, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates! It’s Alex, and I’ve got a fresh wave of new releases for you this day — and more dragon-themed offerings because one of the new releases is so inspiring I cannot help myself. (I am so excited for this book, you have no idea.) Dragon lovers are eating well this May! My poor old cat, Loki, had to have some dental work done at the end of last week, so we’ve been having a time of it in my house, with him bonking into furniture with the Cone of Shame while on the good painkillers. It’s afforded me a lot of time to sit on the couch with him and get some reading done, that’s for sure. (And don’t worry, he’s bouncing back quickly.) I hope you had a weekend filled with much less cat drool than I did! Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

Dragonscale Fidget Ring by JoyOasis

Since I’m on another dragon theme kind of day, I found this fun piece of jewelry. I love a fidget ring to play with while I’m reading, and the texture on this one looks quite nice (and the reviews say it’s quiet!). $18

New Releases

To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

Masquapaug is a remote island where dragons haven’t lived in generations…until the day 15-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg. When the egg hatches and the hatchling bonds with her, Anequs is celebrated by her people as a Nampeshiweisit; they remember when dragons lived on the island and danced the autumn storms away. But the Anglish colonizers have their own ideas about how dragons should be raised and what their use is. Anequs is “allowed” to enroll in an Anglish dragon school on the mainland, on the understanding that if she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed. To save them both, Anequs must learn quickly — but the most important lesson she takes in is that the world needs changing, and that she and her dragon may just have the power to do it.

The Book That Wouldn’t Burn by Mark Lawrence

A boy and a girl who have never met find themselves connected across a vast distance of space and time. The boy lives, trapped, in a library that is larger than most cities and older than any empire. The girl lives in a tiny, dangerous settlement called Dust, where no one goes because it is the territory of nightmares. And it is the books that bring them together…

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Look, I know I took my shot on throwing dragon books at you last week, but did you read the summary for To Shape a Dragon’s Breath? I can’t help but be inspired! Here’s a couple of fun indie books about dragon riders.

Dragon Kin by Derik Fung

Dragons once ruled the world of Falraesia using the power of the Voice. But their own greed and corruption lead to the Dragon Wars, and caused the First Ones to strip them of their powers and leave them helpless in the face of the rise of the humans. Five centuries after these events, a young green dragon named Bryzsal knows only a world where the Voice is forbidden and humans are the enemy. But when he befriends a young human boy named Gaelion, he begins to question all he has known…and when circumstances force them apart, he finds himself in a position to not only save Gaelion, but also dragon society.

Dragon Orb by Shanlynn Walker

The last of the dragonriders live on the floating island of Daegonlot, hoping that the rest of the world will forget them and leave them in peace. Sixteen-year-old Daxon is far too old to be chosen as a dragonrider, but that hope stirs in him again when the largest dragon he’s ever seen leaves an egg in his care. But when the egg hatches, that event comes at the same time as news all the dragons on Daegonlot may be held in thrall by a mystical orb. He must find a way off Daegonlot if he’s to protect his hatchling from the same fate.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Mermaids Have Teeth

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 4, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! We’re through the first week of May, and I’ve got a double dose of new releases for you, because I just could not make myself choose. (Sometimes you just have to recommend…even more new books.) As I write this to you, there’s some feline drama happening in my house. My old man baby is going in to have his teeth cleaned tomorrow, and he has now been without food for two entire hours. He hopes someone will contact the authorities on his behalf, because never before has a cat suffered like he is right now. (There, Loki, I told all the nice people your plight, please stop yelling at me now.) Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Tuesday if the cat doesn’t smother me in my sleep!

Book Riot has a new podcast for you to check out if you’re looking for more bookish content in your life. First Edition will include interviews, lists, rankings, retrospectives, recommendations, and much more, featuring people who know and love books. You can subscribe to First Edition on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your podcatcher of choice.

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

a photo of a tumbler and stickers with tarot card like illustrations of a flying saucer and the text Sci-Fi Romance

Sci-Fi Romance Tumbler by CalypsoBelleBoutique

This store’s got a bunch of fun reader “tarot” cards (my favorite is “The Reader: Enemies to Lovers”) that you can get on vacuum-sealed tumblers, as coasters or stickers, and so on. $36

New Releases

We Don’t Swim Here by Vincent Tirado

When Bronwyn’s grandmother goes into hospice, she travels to rural Hillwoods with her father; the idea is they’ll be in this backwater for only a year, enough time to get grandma’s affairs in order and make a few last memories with her before she passes. But an already depressing situation is made worse by the standoffishness of Hillwood’s people — and the strange interdiction on swimming, whether it’s in the gorgeous lake nearby or the pool at the abandoned rec center. One resident, Anais, has learned to hide from Hillwood — and she’ll protect Bronwyn, if she’ll let her.

The Marriage Act by John Marrs

In near-future Britain, the right-wing government has put the Sanctity of Marriage Act in place, which punishes those who choose to remain single and empowers the surveillance state to make that misery a true reality. Four couples soon learn how difficult relationships become when they are being watched over and enforced.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

I honestly couldn’t whittle down the new releases for this week any further, so you’re getting a double dose today!

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

The mermaid came to shore and married the prince, yes, but the story ends without mentioning that mermaids have teeth. After her daughters devour the kingdom, the mermaid goes on the run with a mysterious plague doctor as her companion. And if they wish to survive, they’ll have to embrace the cruelest parts of their true selves.

Spring’s Arcana by Lilith Saintcrow

Nat Drozdova is on a mission, to save her mother from the cancer consuming her — but her mother says there’s only one hope of a cure, and it’s in the form of a pitiless winter goddess who lives in a skyscraper in Manhattan. And the cure can be Nat’s, if she finds a stolen object of great power. It’s a quest that sends her across America and puts her up against hungry divinities and even more arcane dangers.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Dragon Books Galore

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date May 1, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Tuesday, shipmates. And look at that — Tra la, it’s May! (The lovely month when everyone goes blissfully astray, if memory serves.) It’s Alex, and I’ve got your first couple of new releases for the month, and…hey, new month, time to return to the happy theme of dragon books. Here’s hoping this month brings us all great weather for planting our gardens and enjoying a book or two outside with a cold drink of our choosing. Stay safe out there, space pirates, and I’ll see you on Friday!

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

Book Dragon Canvas Basket by missbohemia

If you, like me, have run out of shelf space or just want a nice storage solution for your stack of books you keep by the couch, this cute little canvas basket is perfect. And it calls out the books as part of your hoard, besides…$20.

New Releases

Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

America’s private prison industry is becoming ever more dominant, and now it’s profiting even more with a controversial yet popular, new version of gladiators: Criminal Action Penal Entertainment, AKA CAPE. In CAPE, prisoners fight in death matches for the chance of a freedom those who run the prisons have no intention of ever truly allowing them.

The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros

Violet Sorrengail, small and brittle-boned, was destined for a life as a scribe, living quietly among the books. But her mother, the commanding general, decrees instead she will take her chances at becoming a dragon rider. But while the dragons themselves are dangerous, her fellow cadets are even more so — many would happily kill her (or see to an “accident”) to better their own chances of bonding to a dragon. If Violet can survive the dragons and her peers, there’s still an ever-worsening war to face — one she is beginning to suspect leadership is lying to them all about.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

Did one of those summaries say “dragon riders”? I will take any excuse to recommend more books about dragons! In this case, it’s dragons disguising themselves as humans…

Talon by Julie Kagawa

Ember Hill is a dragon hatchling, though she’s ready to take her rightful place in the Talon organization — if she can prove that she can blend in with humans and hide her draconic nature. But her adventure as a “human” teenager is cut short when she meets up with a young dragonslayer from the secret Order of St. George, whose assignment is quite specifically hunting her down.

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman

There is nominally peace between humans and dragons in the kingdom of Goredd; the dragons, mathematical geniuses who can also burn down the cities if they feel like it, walk among humans, looking just like them, as tensions simmer below the surface. But the newest member of the court, a musician named Seraphina, has a secret of her own that she guards with her life — a secret that becomes increasingly difficult to hide as she’s drawn into the investigation of a brutal murder of a member of the royal family.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.

Swords and Spaceships

Thought-Provoking Fantasy Books by Māori Authors

Post author By Alex Acks
Post date April 27, 2023

Sponsored by

Happy Friday, shipmates! It’s Alex, with a couple more new releases for you this week, and then two fantasy books written by Māori authors to check out. It’s been a cold and rainy week in Colorado (unofficial state motto: “We need the moisture.”) but that’s been a good opportunity for reading — or in my case particularly, listening to audiobooks! This week, I’ve finished The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri and Loki’s Ring by Stina Leicht, both of which are EXCELLENT. Thank you, Denver Public Library, for having a giant audiobook collection to choose from. Have a great weekend, space pirates! Stay safe, and I’ll see you on Tuesday!

What’s the secret behind Colleen Hoover’s explosive popularity? What’s the best reading tracker for power readers? And do you really *need* to read more this year? Check out these thoughts and more from experts in the world of books and reading by subscribing to Book Riot’s newest newsletter, The Deep Dive. Subscribe and choose your membership level today at bookriot.substack.com

Let’s make the world a better place, together. Here’s somewhere to start: NDN Collective and Jane’s Due Process.

Bookish Goods

I Want to Believe Cross Stitch Pattern by AlitonEmbroidery

I used to cross stitch (though I haven’t lately, since I’ve been more of a crochet person) but I still love a cute cross stitch pattern. And this person has a lot of great nerdy, SFF patterns in their shop, too! $3

New Releases

Tauhou by Kōtuku Titihuia Nuttall

A hybrid novel that combines fables, poems, and autobiography to explore a shared past between the Coast Salish and Māori cultures, in a world in which Vancouver Island and Aotearoa sit side-by-side in the ocean. The two sides of the family that occupy these lands must work together to find forgiveness and understanding to heal the wounds done to them by colonialism.

Red Team Blues by Cory Doctorow

In this technothriller, Martin Hench is a 67-year-old forensic accountant who wanders California in a tour bus he bought from a washed-up rock star. He’s not famous…except to the people who matter, those who are desperate to hide their money — or equally determined to find money that’s been hidden. But now he’s been roped into the most dangerous job of his storied career, and it’s going to take every ounce of skill and cleverness he has to finish the job — let alone make it out alive.

For a more comprehensive list of new releases, check out our New Books newsletter.

Riot Recommendations

To celebrate the publication of Tauhou, here are two more novels by Māori writers!

Hine and the Tohunga Portal by Ataria Sharman

Hine and her brother Hōhepa step through a portal, as children often do, and discover themselves in an ancient realm populated by Kea bird tribes, patupaiarehe (fairies), moa, giant gears, and the atua Māori (the Māori deities) themselves. But this fantastic world needs their help thanks to the threat of the evil sorcerer Kae, who has made a cursed army and will rule the world if no one stops him. It’s up to Hine to find the medicine to break the curse on the sorcerer’s soldiers, gain the support of the Kea and the patupaiarehe, and learn long-forgotten knowledge from the goddesses Hinteiwaiwa and Mahuika.

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

Kerewin Holmes is an asexual, aromantic artist currently estranged from her art, a woman exiled from her family and in conflict with her Māori and European heritage. Her solitude in her tower by the sea is interrupted by the arrival of a silent boy named Simon, who was rescued from a shipwreck and adopted by a Māori foster father. Kerewin succumbs to Simon’s charm and the lure of his foster father, and together they weave a story of deep-seated magic, brutality, and wonder.

See you, space pirates. If you’d like to know more about my secret plans to dominate the seas and skies, you can catch me over at my personal site.