all about diverse, debut, and indie sci-fi & fantasy books written by women and nonbinary authors

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January 2026: Most Anticipated Fantasy, Sci-Fi, and Horror Book Releases

These are my most anticipated book releases by category. Of course, these aren’t all of the books coming out this month, only the ones I am most interested in.

I have read ARCs of some of these releases so check out the links below to longer reviews.

There are quite a number of releases that topically I am interested in but have content and trigger warnings that I avoid. You won’t find these on this list either!

Fantasy

January 6 – The Swan’s Daughter by Roshani Chokshi

I was pleasantly surprised to be approved for the audio ARC or the ALC rather last minute on NetGalley. This audiobook was AMAZING.

Demelza escapes her abusive home situation and tries to hide in the only place her father can’t get to her. It just so happens to be a kingdom and palace where there is a prince trying to find a bride through an unorthodox way, a competition. Demelza bargains with the prince to let her stay and she’ll help him find out which contenders secretly want to kill him or not. In order to do this, she has to compete in the competition herself…

Some of the content bothered me a bit, especially when it came to the end, but read my full review here for more details! It’s absurd, funny, and beautifully written.

Roshani Chokshi is the author of commercial and critically acclaimed books for middle grade and young adult readers that draw on world mythology and folklore. Her work has been nominated for the Locus and Nebula awards, and has frequently appeared on Best of The Year lists from Barnes and Noble, Forbes, Buzzfeed and more. Her New York Times bestselling series include The Star-Touched Queen duology, The Gilded Wolves, and Aru Shah and The End of Time, which has been optioned for film by Paramount Pictures.

January 6 (US), 8 (UK) – Tidespeaker by Sadie Turner

A girl with the power to command the tides has her life changed when she secures a job serving a wealthy noble family–only to learn upon arrival that the last person to fill her post mysteriously died, and her new employers are hiding dark secrets–in this haunting and lush debut fantasy.

I might pick this one up unless my library has it soon!

Sadie Turner grew up in the Welsh Borders and now lives in Hampshire, not far from the former home of one of her biggest inspirations: Jane Austen. She is a copywriter, mother of two, and author of gloomy, romantic, neurodiverse YA Fantasy. When she can find the time, she loves reading, cooking, and classic CRPGs, and is rarely seen without a cup of tea on hand. She is the author of the Tidespeaker duology.

January 13 – The Age of Calamities by Senaa Ahmad

I read an eARC of The Age of Calamities and LOVED it. Highly recommend if you are looking for a short story collection that is as absurd as it is imaginative and beautiful. Senaa applies her creativity to historical figures and events for a whirlwind of plots and characters as we’ve never thought of them before.

See my full review here.

Senaa Ahmad’s short fiction has appeared in The Paris Review, McSweeney’s, Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy, Best Canadian Stories, and elsewhere. She has received the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Toronto Arts Council, the Speculative Literature Foundation, and the Carl Brandon Society’s Octavia Butler Scholarship. Her work was also the recipient of a Pushcart Prize and the Sunburst Award and a finalist for the National Magazine Award for Fiction. The Age of Calamities is her first book.

January 13 – Fire Sword & Sea by Vanessa Riley

This one had me at pirates…and I’ve just ordered myself a copy!

In addition to being a novelist, Vanessa Riley holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering from Stanford University and both a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Penn State. She currently juggles mothering an architect, baking her Trinidadian grandmother’s desserts, hugging her retired military husband, and speaking at women’s and STEM events. You can often find her writing from the comfort of her Georgia porch, tea or latte in hand. – Bookshop.org

January 20 – A Wild Radiance by Maria Ingrande Mora

A searing and romantic fantasy adventure about an oligarchic state on the verge of a magical industrial revolution—perfect for fans of Arcane, Wicked, and Iron Widow!

I wasn’t sure about the romantic part of this but the comp to Iron Widow means I am REQUIRED to try it.

Maria Ingrande Mora (they/she) is the acclaimed author of Fragile Remedy, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, the Ranger Academy series, and The Immeasurable Depth of You, an Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award finalist, which earned three starred reviews, with Kirkus Reviews calling it “raw and compassionate.” A queer, AuDHD single parent, Mora lives in Florida with their two teenagers and three cats. Instagram: @MariaMoraWrites.

Click to unhide Community Content Warnings per StoryGraph (Potential Spoilers Warning!):

Click here to see content warnings
Graphic – Death, Violence, Fire/Fire injury; Moderate – Death of parent, Child abuse, Injury/Injury detail; Minor – Sexual assault, Sexual harassment

January 27 – To Ride A Rising Storm by Moniquill Blackgoose

I read this one as an eARC – read my review here! It’s a great series with fantastic characters; my only complaint is info-dumping.

This is a series about a young indigenous woman and the baby dragon that choses her. She is forced by threat of violence and death to attend an Anglish (colonizers/imperialists/invaders) academy to teaches future dragon riders.

Book 1 – To Shape A Dragon’s Breath is the first year or semester of school and focuses a lot of the differences in cultures. Book 2 is the second and more of a fight for independence.

Moniquill Blackgoose is the bestselling author of To Shape a Dragon’s Breath, which has won both the Nebula and Lodestar Awards. She began writing science fiction and fantasy when she was twelve and hasn’t stopped writing since. She is an enrolled member of the Seaconke Wampanoag Tribe and a lineal descendant of Ousamequin Massasoit. She is an avid costumer and an active member of the steampunk community. She has blogged, essayed, and discussed extensively across many platforms the depictions of Indigenous and Indigenous-coded characters in sci-fi and fantasy.

January 27 – A Spell for Drowning by Rebecca Ferrier

A stunning historical fantasy debut steeped in the salt and superstition of the Cornish coast. Perfect for readers of Circe and Godkiller.

Forgotten sirens, mischievous sea gods, and the lore from days long since passed weave an irresistible tale.

Sounds right up my alley so I think I will be grabbing a copy of this especially since it is releasing paperback at the same time, YAY.

Rebecca Ferrier is an award-winning writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Her speculative fiction reveals her obsessions with class, power, and death. She teaches creative writing and is a PhD student at Northumbria University. A Spell for Drowning is her debut novel. Since writing it, she has been inundated with hagstones, whether they be gifted by loved ones or hurled from the sea.

Sci-Fi

January 6 – Starseekers by Nicole Glover

This was such a fun read! It could also go under Fantasy as well. I read an eARC and would definitely recommend it.

It has so many elements that Glover weaves into the story including mystery, celestial magic, treasure hunting, family, found family, adventure, a dash of romance,

Click here to see my full review.

Nicole Glover is the author of The Conductors and The Undertakers as well as The Improvisers in the Murder and Magic series. When she’s not writing, she’s working as a UX researcher in Virginia where her knowledge about murder and other mysteries is surprisingly useful.

Horror

January 27 – This House Will Feed by Maria Turead

A January Aardvark box pick! Cannot recommend this book box subscription enough. They are active on TikTok (LOVE to see), engaging, and their picks are incredible. They lean more Horror, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Mystery, and Literary, often with early releases.

This story follows a young woman who is taken from a horrible fate during the time of Ireland’s “Famine” by a rich older woman to impersonate her late daughter so that the Lady can continue to receive her widow’s pension and care for her village. Of course, as she moves into the widow’s remote manor house, the horrors don’t stay behind.

Billed as gothic horror and supernatural suspense!

Maria Tureaud is an editor and acclaimed author of middle grade and adult fiction. Born and raised in County Clare on the west coast of Ireland, she now lives with her husband and son in New Jersey and can be found online at AuthorMariaTureaud.com.

Other

January 13 – Is this a Cry for Help? by Emily Austin

I picked this one up slightly early thanks to Aardvark Book Club (highly recommended!! – check it out here).

While a bit outside of what I typically gravitate towards, it sold me on the power of libraries, fighting book banning, queer identity, and coming back from a mental breakdown.

Emily Austin is the author of We Could Be Rats, Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead, Interesting Facts About Space, and the poetry collection Gay Girl Prayers. She was born in Ontario, Canada, and received two writing grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts. She studied English literature and library science at Western University. She currently lives in Ottawa, in the territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation.

The Bookshop.org links above are indeed affiliate so I may make a few pennies if you purchase something following those. It helps me buy more books to review of course! Or potentially offset the costs of this website (which will probably never be enough lol), or fuel my reviews and reading with coffees. Thank you if you do make a purchase through the links!!

Happy reading 🙂

~M

January 14, 2026
ARC Review: AICHA by Soraya Bouazzaoui

AICHA IS rage. A story of rebellion, AICHA by Soraya Bouazzaoui, is brutal, gritty, and depicts life under the rule of violent, horrible invaders. This is the tale of a legend, but it is also one of love, of sacrifice, and of grief.

Word has spread that the Sultan is moving towards their city to retake it from the Portuguese colonizers. Aicha and her family are rebels, operating as much as they can against the settlers. Now that they’ve heard the Sultan and his troops are on the way, they have hope of clearing their home from the oppressive ruling military. However, the Portuguese captain in charge appears intent on seeing the city burn to the ground before fleeing.

Aicha is rage incarnate, and ever since she was a child, she has felt a monstrous presence within her begging to be released to destroy anything in her path. Shadows lurk in the background of this story, and at times, you are screaming for Aicha to release them, anything to rid us of the horrible settlers and see them suffer for their crimes.

There is a forbidden romance that is part of this story, but it remains a subplot for most of the book until Chapter 19 – skip this chapter if spice is not your thing. Please check the content and trigger warnings. There is a heavy amount of violence as the book depicts treatment by the Portuguese settlers, which is gruesome. I really appreciated the author providing content warnings and more context/discussion of the faith practiced by the characters for ARC readers. It would be great if all authors did this.

I HIGHLY recommend this book. Thank you to Orbit for the eARC via NetGalley – all opinions are my own.

December 28, 2025
Audio ARC Review: The Swan’s Daughter by Roshani Chokshi

Pub date: January 6, 2026

A dazzling performance and a beautifully written dark fairytale, sure to enchant readers’ hearts into loving monsters that might plunge a dagger into their hearts after making grand professions of love if they aren’t careful.

The protagonist, Demelza, finds herself swept up in a bachelor-esque competition for the throne (and the prince) after running away from home. To keep herself safe from her sorcerer father, who wants to cut out her heart so he can have immortal life, she makes a bargain with the prince to use her truth song as a ‘veritas swan’ to root out the contestants who might want to kill him. After all, the spell on the kingdom says that whoever holds the heir’s hand and heart in marriage becomes Queen, and it doesn’t specify whether the hand and heart have to be attached to the prince after they are married.

A morbid premise for this grim fairytale that seems to be a mash-up of multiple older stories, The Swan’s Daughter is fabulous, grotesque, and sparkling. Pretty words fill these pages, and performed as it is by Ell Potter (at 1.5x for me), we are very truly transported into a realm of glittering gowns, magical estates, fantastical creatures, and romance that feels like a dream.

What’s more interesting than Demelza’s relationship that forms with the whimsical, kind prince in this story is the friendship that develops amongst the contestants and the confidence that grows with each trial until transformation finds our protagonist in the most beautiful way. As always, I find the side characters that surround the main characters more fascinating and fun, and this book doesn’t let me down.

There is some queer representation which I’m always looking for in stories, but in this one, it’s only in side characters.

A few mixed feelings:

I’m not convinced I like books where “ugly ducklings” are transformed with the help of others into “beauties” and then get the attention or are seen as worthy of being royalty or perceived or treated better… This story walks a fine line between this and the ugly duckling being liked for just being who they are. Jury’s out for me at the moment on how I feel about this for The Swan’s Daughter.

The author walks another fine line between loving a monster and a monster’s love, will they or won’t they harm you ultimately? Can you ever trust them? And by monster, I could substitute the word abuser in here, and it would work the same. The relationship between Demelza and her father (and mother) is grim. Her father loves her, but would ask that she let him cut out her heart for his eternal life. Her father loves her mother but would cage and control her. Her father loves his other daughters but would control and punish them as well if they didn’t go along with his plan. Additionally, the prince’s parents have a toxic relationship involving poison. It’s definitely unhealthy but supposed to be darkly funny?

Another word I’m looking for is contradiction. For example, on one hand, the story begins being about trapping women and using daughters as bargaining chips, but then, at the same time, teaching them to be strong and protect themselves, and telling them how much they are loved. Loved but controlled.

This book feels like a satire to me. Especially in these parts that are so absurd, it has to be satirical, otherwise it would be pretty messed up. Perhaps the author’s reference to the Brothers Grimm tale of the princess with the three gowns in three walnuts is a clue to her knowledge of these messed up tales and is she rolling them in to make commentary or because she was inspired by them? I can’t guess. It is a spin on the Swan Princess but different in so many ways with parallels to other classic stories as well.

The book explores themes of freedom, choice, friendship, honesty, cruelty, destruction, individuality, longing, dreams, vanity, motive, comfort, and betrayal. Overall, it is centered around love and control.

I loved the prose and one of the reasons it took me in so much was that it centers the idea of savoring life and being in awe, giving wonder and awe so much space, and the act of marvel, marveling at beauty or delicious food or smells, savoring everything will all the senses. This is something I try to do and I think people who don’t have long to live or live in chronic pain might find themselves appreciating more of the good things in life because the rest is so shit. So, I enjoyed this aspect of the character of Arris for this reason.

All that being said, this novel is 470 pages, and I think I could have listened to another 500…the rhythm of the writing and the performance of the narrator, Ell Potter, would have kept me listening for another 10 hours.

Content: There is no explicit sexual content aside from kissing and thoughts/mentions of more. Depictions and situations of domestic abuse and abusive relationships. Violence. Poison.

About the Author

About the Publisher

The Swan’s Daughter audiobook is published and produced by Macmillan Audio. Performed by Ell Potter.

December 23, 2025
ARC Review: Intergalactic Feast by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

FEAST continues right where Interstellar MegaChef left off and pushes ahead further into the chaos of politics, food culture, protests, betrayals, and horniness – it’s a guaranteed Ur-drama!

If you haven’t read the first book in this series yet, check out my review of Interstellar MegaChef here.

One of the reasons I enjoyed Book #1 so much is one of the reasons I didn’t enjoy Book #2 as much. The book starts off with an extreme level of horniness from one of our leads, and it was too much for me. It was desperation which aligns well with their character but this isn’t something I like to read that’s constant in the book. I can see how some might find the characters a bit frustrating in this book with their decisions and actions, but again, these are characters and not everyone is every book is meant to be likeable – how boring would that be!

Other than that, this book delves further into the relationships established in the first book, featuring a lot of interpersonal drama. The heat intensifies from all directions, and it feels like Saraswati is in a pressure cooker!

I would recommend this for anyone looking for a Sci-Fi adventure with a queer-normative cast of main characters, an imaginative premise, and action/drama that doesn’t seem to let up from the start!

Thank you to Solaris for the eARC via NetGalley – all opinions are my own.

Pre-order Intergalactic Feast for March 10, 2025 – preferably direct from a local indie bookstore but there’s always bookshop.org here if you don’t have any indie shops near you!

About the Author

Lavanya Lakshminarayan is an award-winning author also known for The Ten Percent Thief (a dystopian sci-fi set in the future of Bangalore). She has also worked in game design building worlds for Zynga Inc.’s FarmVille franchise, Mafia Wars, and others.

About the Publisher

Solaris Books is an imprint of independent publisher Rebellion Publishing based in the UK.

December 18, 2025
Book Review: Interstellar MegaChef by Lavanya Lakshminarayan

One of the most exciting and imaginative sci-fi adventures I’ve read. Please, don’t read this on an empty stomach though…or at least have some snacks ready!

Saraswati Kaveri is a talented chef running away from something on Earth. Serenity Ko is trying to differentiate herself in the corporate world of tech simulations and immersive reality on the planet of Primus. A chance meeting kicks off a series of adventures involving an interstellar chef competition, found family, lots of drama, and a deep exploration into technology and food and what would it mean to integrate the two at the next level. And if it would even be ethical.

We get a serious look at ambition from both the perspective of those with ambition who see the allure of it but also those affected negatively by being close to a person with high ambition. This was one of my favorite pieces of commentary in the book. What is the cost of ambition? What is the cost of isolation as well? And if people stepped up and spoke to their friends about poor behavior, can people recognize it and change?

Additionally, the story dives into what it means to come to a new place as a refugee and exist as an other in a culture that isn’t yours, especially one that considers itself superior to all others in the galaxy and wants to enforce that superiority in all ways.

So, while the cover and synopsis may indicate to some that this book is all fun and no bite, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The author hits many concepts and themes that are quite serious and complex. The book is rich and has great depth to it and I found myself wanting even MORE.

Primus is a world that appears to be LGBTQIAP+ normative which is very welcomed!

The world-building is exquisite, pacing is even, and the layout of scenes and plot points is well-crafted. The author leaves little breadcrumbs and moments later draws up the curtains for the reveals and it’s delightful. The writing/editing is class. Character development is supreme and the mini romantic subplot feels genuine.

I was honestly salivating during several parts of this book, frequently debating whether or not to head straight over to the closest Indian restaurant I could find. It was delicious and I CANNOT WAIT to get started with the ARC of book #2 – Intergalactic Feast (March 2026).

BTW – there is an AUDIOBOOK version of this. Book #2 will have one as well.

About the Author

Lavanya Lakshminarayan is an award-winning author also known for The Ten Percent Thief (a dystopian sci-fi set in the future of Bangalore). She has also worked in game design building worlds for Zynga Inc.’s FarmVille franchise, Mafia Wars, and others.

About the Publisher

Solaris Books is an imprint of independent publisher Rebellion Publishing based in the UK.

December 18, 2025
Book Review: The Library of Fates by Margot Harrison

There are so many things I didn’t like about this book, it’s hard to decide where to start. Maybe with the lack of diversity…unless I missed something (which is possible listening to the audiobook), I didn’t pick up on any characters with any bipoc, lgbtqiap+, neurodivergent, disabled, etc. representation.

Library of Fates centers around two timelines, a group of students, their professor, a magical library, and a magical book. One timeline takes place while they are in college taking a seminar together. The other is 20 something years down the road when some of them reunite to solve a mystery about the magical book and the library it powers.

Without spoilers, the idea of the magic book/crux of the whole story falls short to me. It imagines a promise which the author makes it seem is assumed to be the natural choice for people. However, I found this assumption to be coming from a place of superiority and ego. It’s hard to say this without spoilers but the book assumes people would make a certain choice given the ultimate power of something at the end. That people read books to see only themselvs in as the hero. Yet many do and should read books with others represented as the main to learn about different perspectives and backgrounds and stories. The concept presented in the book assumes people center themselves in everything, and yes many do, but many don’t and given the choice wouldn’t and shouldn’t.

The romance is not believable and superficial at best. It’s also a little messed up. I didn’t know before going in, but the male main character is a “player”. That alone would have made me put the book down. The language used in this book, the terms used, the adjectives, the way the characters speak to each other is reminicent of 90s-2000s rom com american hollywood-speak, bland, crass, unimaginative, and infused with misogyny. Such quotes like “you look sexy when you use the power”…NO THANK YOU.

There’s one comment about American tourists in this book that reeks of a French superiority complex. Not that American tourists aren’t known to have a certain reputation but it added to the already pretentious francophilia of the book.

I wouldn’t recommend this at all.

Perhaps the only part I enjoyed was that it brought back memories of living in Boston and being around the areas mentioned in the book.

About the Author

About the Publisher

Graydon House is part of Harper Collins.

December 10, 2025
Book Review: Snake-Eater by T. Kingfisher

Cosy, hilarious, slighly creepy evil roadrunner god to deal with…

Snake-Eater is written in T. Kingfisher’s easily identifiable style which includes a protagonist in her 30s, a fairytale-esque quest against a villain that is not sympathized, a quirky found family, and animals (most likely chickens somewhere).

Our protagonist with severe anxiety runs away from a toxic relationship to the desert where her aunt lives. Only, her aunt has passed away and no one in town seems to mind her moving into the house. In fact, they seem to want her there. Then, a few strange things start happening and before you know it, she might have some creepy creatures to fend off with her new small-town found family.

Snake-Eater is what some might call a “cosy horror” story. I get nightmares quite easily and tend to stay away from horror but I really enjoyed this book! I’ve been wanting to read more “horror” but make it lighter and cosier and this fit that bill so perfectly.

T. Kingfisher excels at creating quirky found families that make everything feel like it’s going to be alright and you know the dogs aren’t going to die. At least not in this one. I love how she pulls in chickens often into her books (coming from a backyard chicken owner). Anyone who owns and loves their chickens (as opposed to pure livestock) from a backyard perspective has got to have a good sense of humor!

There’s something about Kingfisher’s writing that makes the book from about 40% to 70% feel slow. This happened in Hemlock & Silver, in Nettle & Bone, and in Snake-Eater. I’m not sure why but I do reach a point where the pacing easily disconnects me but once I get closer to the end, it’s a mad dash to the finish line.

Content warnings: For much of this book, the main character is dealing with and working through a high level of anxiety due to childhood trauma from their mother (including religious indoctrination) and current gaslighting from their now-ex partner (since the beginning of the book). If you don’t want to read about a character struggling with their mental health due to an manipulative partner with strong gaslighting techniques, maybe steer away from this one until you are ready.

There is also occasional discussion of religion and beliefs. One of the characters is a Catholic priest but one that not traditional. Even so, this may also be a trigger to some.

I would still recommend Snake-Eater overall though with always a caveat for checking the trigger warnings for any book first. Without giving spoilers away, I will say that the character arc for the protagonist is immensely satisfying.

I wanted to stay in this world in the desert myself in a small house with a backyard garden and hilarious neighbors with chickens that come over with drinks and we can shoot the breeze on the porch. After we’ve cleared all the scorpions out though…

Check your library for a copy or buy direct from a local indie bookstore! This can offset this book being unfortunately published by an Amazon imprint, 47North…something I didn’t realize until after.

Disclaimer: This blog is part of the Bookshop.org affiliate program and I may earn a very small amount for each purchase made.

About the Author

December 8, 2025
ARC Review: Seasons of Glass and Iron by Amal El-Mohtar

Pub date: March 24, 2026

An exquisite collection of short stories written in Amal’s poetic prose that might leave you shedding a few tears or staring at the wall after reading, contemplating life, love, and the many joys and horrors of our world.

If everyone loved women the way this author so dearly loves women, the world would be a more beautiful and safe place for all. The way my heart ached for the women in these stories, for all the evils the world of men has put upon them, for the way they were healed by fellow women, sisters, mothers, friends…the way they were accepted for who they were, not for who others (men) wanted them to shaped like…

My auto-buy author list has one more addition!

A standout story in this collection was the title track, Seasons of Glass and Iron. This was a story of women discovering new possibilities through their relationship with each other after being conditioned by men/systems into harmful beliefs. It was beautiful, and I cried.

Another poignant tale is John Hollowback and the Witch. This perfectly encapsulates the horrible habit men have of seeing something beautiful, wanting to cage it and shape it to their liking, thinking they are doing a wonderful service, demanding to be the hero, the main character in everyone’s story, and completely blind to the reality where they smother someone’s soul so much it shrinks to barely a whisper and it isn’t until this crushed and bruised soul breaks free that the full scope of such a harm is realized…and everyone hates the men for it but they don’t even know because they cannot see themselves in a poor light, it must be everyone else’s fault.

While these two might be the ones I point out in this review, it by no means diminishes the rest. Each piece in this work is as precious as any other. You’ll find stories, perspectives, and representations of queer, Palestinian, and immigrant characters. There are also West Asian supernatural entities such as the Peri and Djinn. In every piece, there is magic.

This book is for everyone; everyone should read this book! Highly recommend!! Preorder below:

Disclaimer: This blog is part of the Bookshop.org affiliate program and I may earn a very small amount for each purchase made.

Thank you to Tor for the eARC copy via NetGalley for review consideration. All my opinions are my own.

About the Author

Find more information about the author and their other works at their website linked here.

About the Publisher

tordotcom is part of the Tor Publishing Group – find more about the company here.

December 6, 2025
Book Review: Red City by Marie Lu

This book is one of the most well-written/edited books I’ve read. Full stop.

It manages to maintain excellent pacing throughout the entire work while still building incredible world/magic systems, but also leading readers through robust character development.

Red City is a violent story of rival criminal syndicates based in L.A. that centers around the practice of alchemy and a drug called Sand. We follow two best friends who find themselves on opposite sides without realizing until it’s too late.

There are horror elements in this urban fantasy, including a serial-killer coworker and body horror tied to alchemical transformations. It gets gritty to say the least.

Please check trigger warnings. I’m really disappointed that one specific content warning was not on the author’s website. This should be standard for any authors/books that contain triggering content, such as (see below). I didn’t see it on Goodreads either. The only warnings I found were on StoryGraph, but since the tags are community-added, it’s hard to know the content level accurately.

While objectively this book is a finely crafted creation, can I say I enjoyed it? Did I enjoy watching two innocent, beautiful souls enter a world of destruction, survival, coercion, retaliation, drugs, crime, violence, etc.? No. But hope always holds out longest, and I devoured this book for glimpses of it.

Order it and support indie book shops here:

Disclaimer: This blog is part of the Bookshop.org affiliate program and I may earn a very small amount for each purchase made.

Trigger warnings detail: SPOILER ALERT!

Click to reveal spoiler
Specific content warnings: There is a side character (Sam’s mother) who’s boss rapes her. It’s off-screen, but what’s on-page is the scene leading up to it, so please bear this in mind. It’s incredibly triggering. She also has flashbacks later on, and the perpetrator shows up in other scenes of the book, so it’s not something that only appears once, but the event and theme pop up again a few times. Additionally, there are scenes with explicit sexual content that I skipped over (because, trauma), but from catching a few words of Sam and Will’s pages, it didn’t sound good. It sounded rough. And I would offer another caution for this as well, for those who may not want their trauma to be triggered. Again, I wish the author had provided content warnings somewhere obvious, like her website or Goodreads.

Of course, there are far more content warnings regarding violence, body horror, and drug use.

About the Author

Marie Lu was born in China but currently lives in L.A. Find more information on the author’s website linked here.

December 2, 2025
December 2025 – Most Anticipated Releases

These are my most anticipated releases for the month of December 2025:

Dawn of the Firebird by Sarah Mughal Rana

Highly recommend! (See my ARC Review here)

Publisher’s Synopsis: For fans of The Poppy War, She Who Became the Sun and The Will of the Many, a breathtaking fantasy novel about the daughter of an overthrown emperor from an exciting new voice Khamilla Zahr-zad’s life has been built on a foundation of violence and vengeance. Every home she’s known has been destroyed by war.

As the daughter of an emperor’s clan, she spent her childhood training to maintain his throne. But when her clansmen are assassinated by another rival empire, plans change. With her heavenly magic of nur, Khamilla is a weapon even enemies would wield—especially those in the magical, scholarly city of Za’skar.

Hiding her identity, Khamilla joins the enemy’s army school full of jinn, magic and martial arts, risking it all to topple her adversaries, avenge her clan and reclaim their throne.

To survive, she studies under cutthroat mystic monks and battles in a series of contests to outmaneuver her fellow soldiers. She must win at all costs, even if it means embracing the darkness lurking inside her. But the more she excels, the more she is faced with history that contradicts her father’s teachings. With a war brewing among the kingdoms and a new twisted magic overtaking the land, Khamilla is torn between two impossible vengeance or salvation.

The Library of Fates by Margot Harrison

Publisher’s Synopsis: When its librarian keeper mysteriously dies, two former classmates must race to locate a rare book from their college years that can foretell your future if you confess a secret from your past—but someone is intent on protecting what’s hidden inside. It can write the story of your future…and hide the secrets of your past.

The Library of Fates was designed to show you who you are—and who you could become. Its rarest book, The Book of Dark Nights, holds a when you write an intimate confession on its pages, you’ll receive a prediction for your future, penned in your own handwriting.

For Eleanor, whose childhood was defined by a senseless tragedy, the library offers a world where everything makes sense. She’s spent most of her life there as an apprentice to the brilliant librarian, showing other people how to find the meaning of their lives in stories.

But when her mentor dies in a freak accident and The Book of Dark Nights goes missing—along with the secrets written inside—Eleanor is pulled out of the library and into a quest to locate it with the last person she the librarian’s estranged son, Daniel, who Eleanor once loved.

Together, as they hunt down clues from Harvard to Paris, Eleanor and Daniel grow closer again, regaining each other’s trust. But little do they know that they’re entangled in a much larger web. Someone else wants the book, and they’ll go to dark lengths to get it…

Canticle by Janet Rich Edwards

Publisher’s Synopsis: Set in thirteenth-century Bruges, this debut novel follows a young woman’s explorations of faith, agency, and love among a community of fiercely independent women.

Aleys is sixteen years old and serious, stubborn, prone to religious visions. She and her only friend, a young scholar, have been learning Latin together in secret—but just as she thinks their connection might become something more, he abandons her for the monastery.

When her family falls on hard financial times, her father promises her in marriage to the unctuous head of the weavers’ guild, and in desperation she runs away from home, eventually finding shelter within a community of religious women who do not answer to the church.Among the hardworking and strong-willed Beguines, Aleys glimpses for the first time the joys of a life of song, friendship, and time spent in the markets and along the canals of Bruges.

But forces both mystical and political are afoot. Illegal translations of scripture, the women’s independence, and a sudden rash of miracles all draw the attention of an ambitious bishop—and bring Aleys and those around her into ever-increasing danger, a danger that will push Aleys to a new understanding of love and sacrifice.

Introducing a spirited, indelible heroine and a major new talent, Canticle is a luminous work of historical fiction, vividly evoking a world on the verge of transformation.

An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole

Publisher’s Synopsis: A modern-day dark academia speculative fantasy with a twist, perfect for fans of Babel and A Deadly Education.

Warren University has long stood amongst the ivy elite, built on the bones—and forbidden magic—of its most prized BIPOC students…hiding the rot of a secret society that will do anything to keep their own powers burning bright, no matter the cost to those lost along the way.

The Once and Future Queen by Paula Lafferty

Publisher’s Synopsis: Vera always knew she didn’t fit in. When she learns that she is meant to be in another time, she leaps at the chance to embrace a new life in a world of valor, intrigue, and unexpected magic in this bold and romantic retelling of Arthurian legend . . .

22-year-old Vera is at a crossroads: waiting tables, grieving her previous relationship, and jogging aimlessly each morning as if toward an uncertain future. Then an odd man shows up at her workplace, insisting that she was once the legendary Queen Guinevere of Camelot, and that her lost memories hold the key to changing both the past and the present.

Somehow, it all feels like the direction she’s been looking for. But when she asks the mysterious man to tell her more about Lancelot, Arthur, and a faithless queen, he can only say that much of what she’s heard about Camelot is wrong. The truth, he claims, is something she must see for herself.

After jumping through a portal in Glastonbury’s historic center, Vera is not prepared for what she finds. Magic is everywhere, but a curse on the kingdom means it dwindles every day. She has no idea how to perform a queen’s duties. Her fast friendship with Lancelot sets gossip flowing, and the stranger she must call “husband” often refuses to meet her eye.

Arthur is a puzzle: cold, forbidding, and, while angry to her face, keeps leaving secret tokens of tenderness in her chambers. Worst of all, Vera’s memories—and the answers locked within them—show no signs of returning. If Vera is truly destined to save Camelot, she’ll have to trust her instincts. And her king will have to trust her . . .

Persephone’s Curse by Katrina Leno

Publisher’s Synopsis: The Hazel Wood meets Laini Taylor in this gorgeous speculative tale of sisterhood, ghosts and old family curses.

Are the four Farthing sisters really descended from Persephone? This is what their aunt has always told that the women in their family can trace their lineage right back to the Goddess of the Dead. And maybe she’s right, because the Farthing girls do have a ghost in the attic of their Manhattan brownstone —a kind and gentle ghost named Henry, who only they can see.

When one of the sisters falls in love with the ghost, and another banishes him to the Underworld, the sisters are faced with even bigger questions about who they are. If they really are related to Persephone, and they really are a bit magic, then perhaps it’s up to them to save Henry, to save the world, and to save each other.

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November 30, 2025