There’s so much to look forward to in our speculative fiction future. Here are some of the fantasy books we’re most excited about and/or are currently consuming…
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Top New Fantasy Books in February 2020
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey
Type: Novella
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Publisher: Tor/Forge/Tor.com
Release date: 2/4/20
Den of Geek says: Slangy prose and a unique “weird West” conceit elevate this novel from River of Teeth author Sarah Gailey.
Publisher’s summary: In Upright Women Wanted, award-winning author Sarah Gailey reinvents the pulp Western with an explicitly antifascist, near-future story of queer identity.
“That girl’s got more wrong notions than a barn owl’s got mean looks.”
Esther is a stowaway. She’s hidden herself away in the Librarian’s book wagon in an attempt to escape the marriage her father has arranged for her—a marriage to the man who was previously engaged to her best friend. Her best friend who she was in love with. Her best friend who was just executed for possession of resistance propaganda.
The future American Southwest is full of bandits, fascists, and queer librarian spies on horseback trying to do the right thing.
Buy Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey.
Mazes of Power by Juliette Wade
Type: Novel
Publisher: DAW
Release date: 2/4/20
Den of Geek says: The claustrophobic setting looks like it will dovetail perfectly with the tension of this plot.
Publisher’s summary: This debut work of sociological science fiction follows a deadly battle for succession, where brother is pitted against brother in a singular chance to win power and influence for their family.
The cavern city of Pelismara has stood for a thousand years. The Great Families of the nobility cling to the myths of their golden age while the city’s technology wanes.
When a fever strikes, and the Eminence dies, seventeen-year-old Tagaret is pushed to represent his Family in the competition for Heir to the Throne. To win would give him the power to rescue his mother from his abusive father, and marry the girl he loves.
But the struggle for power distorts everything in this highly stratified society, and the fever is still loose among the inbred, susceptible nobles. Tagaret’s sociopathic younger brother, Nekantor, is obsessed with their family’s success. Nekantor is willing to exploit Tagaret, his mother, and her new servant Aloran to defeat their opponents.
Can he be stopped? Should he be stopped? And will they recognize themselves after the struggle has changed them?
Buy Mazes of Power by Juliette Wade
Imaginary Numbers (InCryptid) by Seanan McGuire
Type: Novel
Publisher: DAW
Release date: 2/25/20
Den of Geek says: Seanan McGuire charms with dark, fairy tale-inspired fantasy, and the latest in her long-running InCryptid looks like it will continue to do just that.
Publisher’s Summary: The ninth book in the fast-paced InCryptid urban fantasy series returns to the mishaps of the Price family, eccentric cryptozoologists who safeguard the world of magical creatures living in secret among humans.
Sarah Zellaby has always been in an interesting position. Adopted into the Price family at a young age, she’s never been able to escape the biological reality of her origins: she’s a cuckoo, a telepathic ambush predator closer akin to a parasitic wasp than a human being. Friend, cousin, mathematician; it’s never been enough to dispel the fear that one day, nature will win out over nurture, and everything will change.
Maybe that time has finally come.
After spending the last several years recuperating in Ohio with her adoptive parents, Sarah is ready to return to the world–and most importantly, to her cousin Artie, with whom she has been head-over-heels in love since childhood. But there are cuckoos everywhere, and when the question of her own survival is weighed against the survival of her family, Sarah’s choices all add up to one inescapable conclusion.
Buy Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire
What new speculative fiction books are on your radar? Let us know in the comments below or over at the Den of Geek Book Club!
Megan Crouse writes about Star Wars and pop culture for StarWars.com, Star Wars Insider, and Den of Geek. Read more of her work here. Find her on Twitter @blogfullofwords.