Glenda Larke, The Tangled Lands, Wizard's Tower Press, 2023.

The Tangled Lands is a very entertaining portal fantasy novel in two secondary worlds with endearing characters, lively prose and mysteries at its heart.

Andrew Knighton, Ashes of the Ancestors, Luna Press Publishing, 2023.

Ashes of the Ancestors is a novella that begins as a deceptive cosy fantasy with a great world building and turns into a very topical story that makes it a must-read.

Samit Basu, The City Inside, tordotcom, 2022.

The City Inside is a near-future dystopia set in Delhi, very much inspired by Indian politics and with a thoughtful take on action when faced by fascism.

Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Mexican Gothic, Jo Fletcher Books, 2020.
Audiobook available.

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is a modern masterpiece of supernal gothic, full of tension and deliciously creepy.

Simon Jimenez, The Spear Cuts Through Water, Random House, 2022.
Audiobook available.

Let's be honest: I enjoyed The Spear Cuts Through Water less than I enjoyed Jimenez previous novel, The Vanished Birds. Nonetheless, it's a remarkable and ambitious fantasy novel, erring on the literary side, in which I found much to admire.

Stark Holborn, Ten Low, Titan, 2022.
Audiobook available.

Ten Low borrows from the western genre but this very entertaining scifi novel also has a twist of its own that sets it apart.

E. J. Swift, The Coral Bones, Unsung Stories, 2022.

In this scifi novel, three strands mingle to tell the story of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, in the past, in the present, and in the future.

Lavanya Lakshminarayan, The Ten Percent Thief, Rebellion Publishing, 2023

The Ten Percent Thief is a fascinating polyphonic scifi novel presenting a sharp social and political satire through slices of life.

R.B. Lemberg, The Unbalancing, Tachyon Publications, 2022.

With sublime prose, The Unbalancing is a fantasy novel telling magnificently a story of love, exile, and persistance.

Naseem Jamnia, The Bruising of Qilwa, Tachyon Publications, 2022.

The Bruising of Qilwa is an intricate secondary-world Persian-inspired fantasy novella.

Juliet McKenna, The Green Man's Gift, Wizard's Tower Press, 2022.
Audiobook available.

Dan Mackmain is back for the fifth adventure in this contemporary rural fantasy series.

Adrian Tchaikovsky, Ogres, Rebellion Publishing, 2022.
Audiobook available.

It is no mystery that I often enjoy Tchaikovsky's stories and this very topical scifi novella is another one I was very happy to read.

Lorraine Wilson, The Way the Light Bends, Luna Press, 2022.
Audiobook available.

The Way the Light Bends hovers delicately on the fragile definition of speculative fiction by telling you the story of three siblings in contemporary Scotland.

Gigi Ganguly, One Arm Shorter Than the Other, Atthis Arts, 2022.

The scifi novella One Arm Shorter Than the Other joyfully blurs genre lines with, at its heart, the city of Delhi and a thoughtful take about humanity.

T. L . Huchu, The Library of the Dead, Tor, 2021.
Audiobook available.

The Library of the Dead blends skillfully a post-cataclysm world and magic, with a main character you'll enjoy following.

Stewart Hotston, The Entropy of Loss, NewCon Press, 2022.

In this scifi novella, Hotston explores with delicacy the themes of grief and first contact.

Catriona Silvey, Meet Me in Another Life, Harper Voyager, 2021.
Audiobook available.

So, you want a scifi story that will be part cute, part bitter-sweet, part devastating, part elating, and that'll have you theorising instead of sleeping? I've got what you need.

Below the review, you'll find a Q&A with Catriona Silvey. Although the review is as usual entirely spoiler free, the Q&A discusses what happens in the book. A large red banner will warn you that you enter spoiler territory.

Adrian Tchaikovsky, Shards of Earth, Tor, 2021.

Shards of Earth is the first volume in a series of epic space opera novels, and the perfect read for an adventure with subtle satire.

Khadija Abdalla Bajaber, The House of Rust, 2021, Graywolf Press.

This delightful magical realism novel follows Aisha, a young woman whose father has disappeared and who will embarked on a boat made of bones to find him.

Tiffany Jimenez, The Moment You Remember You Forget, Luna Press, 2022.

The Moment You Remember You Forget is a maze in the form of a novella about family, siblings, memory, grief and life.