Smith (The Skeleton Melodies) delivers an ambitious southern gothic that braids folklore, faulty memory, and family trauma. The plot toggles between the present day and a troubled summer that Cecil Mears spent at his family’s lakeside cabin in the 1990s. Interspersed throughout are stories and visions of the Great Depression, when notorious gangster John Dillinger used the same location to dump the bodies of his victims. To Cecil, this gory history lingers in the air, and his sinister father adds his own layer, telling tall tales of lagoon creatures rising from the watery depths. Cecil’s perception of the world is scarred by a concussion sustained a few years prior and his slippery grasp on time is reflected in the novel’s structure. The story plays out as a collection of fragments, with layered memories, hallucinations, and nested, Russian-doll-like recollections. At one point, Cecil experiences a flashback of Dillinger experiencing his own memories, producing a dizzying vision-within-a-vision effect. The setting itself is the novel’s most arresting element, thick with muck, dead fish, and submerged histories. As events unfold, the reader begins to sense that the lake’s true horror may be the emotional rot passed between generations. Readers seeking atmospheric horror are sure to be sucked in. (May)

Reviewed on 03/27/2026 | Details & Permalink

Politics, magic, and romance infuse Le Fay’s solid fantasy debut. In the land of Inra, Serae Cavendaffe mourns the presumed death of her elder brother, Bale, at the hands of the brutal Rihtlonders. Her life changes when former ally Volaach declares war on Inra, and Inra must ally with Rihtlond. Serae’s father, Lord Tychon, declares that she will be betrothed to the ruler of Rihtlond’s heir, Eldreth, to solidify this alliance. She will travel to Rihtlond, learn their customs, and root out their military weaknesses through espionage. Before she can marry, however, she must pass Rihtlond’s Sun Trials to prove her worth. As she prepares for this dangerous challenge, she is drawn into forbidden love with Wep, the weaponsmaster. Then, as part of the trials, she enters the cave of the Great Dragon of Life, one of the Seven Dragons that created the world, and unexpectedly becomes dragonbound, a dragon’s human champion. Now, Serae must navigate her role as spy, her affair with Wep, and the Great Dragon’s quest to restore balance between the realms. Serae is a strong protagonist who faces her missions with confidence and bravery, but readers hoping for action will be disappointed by the extremely slow buildup. Still, the world is colorful, and intrigue, magic, and sex are all treated with equal gusto. Romantasy fans will be pleased. (May)

Reviewed on 03/27/2026 | Details & Permalink

Bestseller Patel (Kaikeyi) uses fascinating fantastical elements to augment a stirring and timely tale about the progressively volatile status of reproductive rights in the United States. Nisha, who once dreamt of becoming a lawyer, now fights depression and burnout while working at an abortion clinic. While taking a breather in the Chicago Art Institute’s South Asian art section, she touches the hand of a statue of Nataraja, the demon of ignorance. She wakes up on the floor, having fainted, and departs disoriented—after which odd things begin to happen. Strangers approach her with threats and warnings; she sees demons scattered among the people on the street; and a man who calls himself Muya tells her she has stolen some of his power and he would like it back. The incorporation of demons into the throng of anti-abortion protestors outside the clinic is seamless, adding an edge of the supernatural to the very real danger and oppression both workers and patients face. The magic system, drawn from Hindu mythology, feels fresh, and it’s deeply satisfying to witness Nisha learn what she’s truly capable of. It’s a brilliant combination of gripping urban fantasy and urgent social commentary. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency. (May)

Reviewed on 03/27/2026 | Details & Permalink

The lethal but good-hearted security robot that narrates Wells’s Hugo and Nebula award–winning Murderbot Diaries series returns, alongside friends old and new, for its wildly entertaining eighth adventure (after System Collapse). On a high-stakes extraction mission, Murderbot guides fellow SecUnit, Three, to sneak onto a Corporation Rim station and trigger a distraction. Meanwhile, Murderbot, hidden inside a cargo module, slips through the station’s heightened security. To Murderbot’s dismay, successfully played for laughs, the station is built to look like an elaborate planetary landscape, with shops and offices built into man-made cliffs and caves. Despite this rocky terrain, Murderbot reaches the safe house holding Farai, one of Murderbot’s dear friend Dr. Mensah’s two marital partners; their daughter, Sofi; and Farai’s mother, Naja. There, Murderbot encounters another unexpected obstacle: Supervisor Leonide, a higher-up in the Corporation Rim, who convinces the reluctant robot to help her family, sending it on a long and dangerous quest to rescue five more humans. This spectacular journey, punctuated with satisfying combat scenes, takes on an epic flavor grounded by Murderbot’s sardonic voice and Well’s exploration of mental health and physical well-being. Equal parts action packed, humorous, and heartfelt, this proves the series shows no signs of slowing down. Agent: Jennifer Jackson, Donald Maass Agency. (May)

Reviewed on 03/27/2026 | Details & Permalink

This dense and poetic novel of first contact from Morrison (Falling Hour) submerges readers in a future that is both collective and fractured. Forty-four years after a worldwide revolution established money-free communes, large alien ovoids descend and transport random people to other worlds. Many explanations are floated: perhaps they intend to give humanity a new home, or perhaps, like ravens, they simply like to play with shiny objects. Government agents tail the abductees upon their return to Earth even as their bizarre extraterrestrial experiences produce a new sense of community, including the ability to understand each other’s disparate languages. Morrison peppers his nuanced narrative with song lyrics, typewritten manifestos, and excerpts from mysteriously mobile notebooks, and it can be challenging to keep track of the connections between the large cast and their individual dreams. Still, readers who stick with it will be rewarded with much food for thought. (May)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Tang’s atmospheric but shakily plotted debut weaves a rich tapestry of folklore, Filipino culture, and the complex dynamics of deceit and longing within a troubled marriage. First generation Filipino Canadian Avery reluctantly relocates from Canada to Manila with her husband, Carlos, at the request of his family, who need a mysterious, unnamed favor. They move into Carlos’s childhood home and, from the start, Avery senses something evil haunting them. When Avery’s fierce desire for motherhood and Carlos’s mounting recklessness clash, a near-tragedy intensifies the malevolent aura in the house and Avery must fight supernatural forces for both their lives. The fascinating extended family dynamics will have readers primarily rooting for the strong side characters, who often outshine the less developed leads. Tang’s lush imagery and description shines, but her portrayal of the couple runs a bit short on substance and nuance, and some plot points feel frustratingly underexplored. Readers who come purely for the spooky vibes may be satisfied, but others can skip this. (May)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Rex’s debut collection takes its name from AI-powered drones, but the 14 connected sci-fi tales within prove deeply human. The opener, “Squawker and Dolphin Swimming Together,” focuses on a scientist using an underwater robot to speak with dolphins while a category six hurricane closes in. It’s the first glimpse of a world wracked by climate catastrophe, where agricultural drones have become sentient and lead the effort to rewild huge portions of land to save Earth. But not every human is willing to cooperate by relocating to drone-created city-states (“A Holdout in the Northern California Designated Wildcraft Zone”). Indeed, even some of the humans who act as enforcer Rangers for the drones begin to rethink what they’ve done (“A Tent Where the Buffalo Roam”), and soon secret communities spring up, protected by hacked drones and creativity (“Fortyounce and the Seabitch of Strip Mall City”). Centuries after the rewilding, a young boy learns more than he ever meant to about the interconnectedness of all living creatures touched by the wildcraft drones (“Davu the Explorer and the Druid Tía Yara”). Full of hard-won hope and bittersweet joy, this is climate fiction with heart. (May)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

A young woman must study the dark magic she never wanted to solve her sister’s murder, in Tagliareni’s tiresome dark academia debut. Viola Corvi has always hated being a Mortemagi, or death mage, so she gladly lets her nonmagical sister, Olivia, take her place at Gorhail Academy. When Olivia is murdered and the Department of the Supernatural rules the death an accident, Viola investigates with help from volatile poison mage Sylas Archyr, whose adoptive brother was recently killed as well. Both murders are part of a chain of relic thefts with connections to the family lines of famous mages, including the terrifying Rafael Grimm and the Department of the Supernatural’s own Alyria Parrish, a Mortemagi officer so formidable that she was dubbed the Deathbringer. The protagonists’ powerful families keep consequences at a safe distance, lowering the stakes and sapping the tension. Meanwhile, little effort is made to comment on Viola and Sylas’s privilege. Their inevitable romance is underdeveloped and, while the plot is frequently bogged down by repetitive exposition, the worldbuilding still feels underbaked and often contradictory. This familiar formula will bore those looking for something new and disappoint avid romantasy fans. Agent: Ginger Clark, Ginger Clark Literary. (May)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

The entertaining debut novel from memoirist Glynn (Out East) puts a queer spin on Arthurian legend. It follows the eponymous knight from his youth on the Isle of Women to his adulthood as a member of King Arthur’s court. Glynn’s Lancelot is a curious and mischievous child whose life changes when knight-to-be Galehaut, along with his giantess mother, Bagotta, arrives on the isle to begin Lancelot’s training in knighthood. As he matures, he becomes a gifted swordsman who, at times, overflows with rage and grief that he must learn to channel. Occasionally anachronistic dialogue notwithstanding (“ ‘You are the worst,’ I said), Glynn makes Arthurian England vivid and immersive, complete with the expected dragons and quests alongside more surprising queer characters and relationships that blend wonderfully with the romance integral to the chivalric tale. The author clearly knows his stuff, drawing from a vast array of sources to create a fresh, fun take on a classic that will as readily appeal to longtime Camelot fans as those with only passing familiarity with this world. Agent: Kiele Raymond, Meg Thompson, Thompson Literary. (May)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink

Viel (Listen To Your Sister) skewers the racist stereotype of the “welfare queen” in this delightfully gruesome, larvae-infested tale. In 1974, Lottie Turner makes her way in life through petty welfare fraud and kidnapping very young children on behalf of wealthy clients looking to adopt. Her only soft spot is her best friend, Filly, who struggles to raise her two children with a deadbeat husband and chronic illness, and whose house Lottie hides in after her plans go awry. In 1994, Bless Stewart commits a string of burglaries with her crew, with a particular devotion to their leader, Sasha. Their latest job is supposed to have a massive payout, but requires waiting five days in the home of their mark, a dying old woman. The plans of both criminals run up against a nightmare infestation of flies and ghosts that they’ll have to confront to survive. It’s greatly satisfying to see how the timelines converge and, in Viel’s skillful hands, Lottie and Bless prove horrifying and sympathetic in equal measures. Readers will find these antiheroines’ fierceness and determination to survive in a world that hates them impossible to look away from. Agent: Sharon Pelletier, Dystel, Goderich & Bourret. (May)

Reviewed on 03/20/2026 | Details & Permalink