★ 04/25/2016
YA author Skovron builds on his strengths in his first book for adults, diving deep into the lives of two, gruesomely orphaned children in an Earthsea-like island realm. The land is ruled by a degenerate imperium whose amoral face is the biomancers—part scientist and part sorcerer—who operate with utter impunity for ends of their own. Bleak Hope is the sole survivor of a village destroyed by a biomancer. She’s raised by the leader of a sect of warrior monks who give her all the skills she will need to wreak vengeance. Red, son of a chemical-addicted artist and a prostitute, hitches his star to Sadie the Goat, who mentors him into becoming the greatest thief in the stews of New Laven. When the adolescents emerge from their apprenticeships, they launch their adult voyages. Skovron’s eye for characterization and situations is exceptional, raising this from a fun ninja and pirate mash-up to a compelling coming-of-age yarn that genuinely merits a multivolume treatment. Agent: Jill Grinberg, Jill Grinberg Literary. (June)
We’ve already told you our picks for the year’s best science fiction and fantasy books. Then we figured, why not see what books their authors are reading. After all, who would know better what works in the genre are worthy of celebrating than those who know exactly how much work goes in to creating one […]
For nearly two decades, Jim Killen has served as the science fiction and fantasy book buyer for Barnes & Noble. Every month on the B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog and Tor.com, Jim shares his curated list of the month’s best new science fiction and fantasy releases.
June’s pace of outstanding new science fiction and fantasy books doesn’t let up for a even a week, with (at least) eight more new books you don’t want to miss. At least you’ll have plenty to read over the holiday weekend.
Jon Skovron’s debut fantasy Hope and Red is the story of Hope, a girl who survives a massacre and trains as an assassin, determined to enact her vengeance. It is the story of Red, an orphan adopted by the matriarch of a crime syndicate who becomes a master con artist. It is about Hope and […]
Last week, we revealed the 42 sci-fi and fantasy books we can’t wait to read in 2016. Now, we’re giving the editors and publishers their say. We reached out to over a dozen SF/F imprints and asked them what books they can’t wait to show you in the new year. Get ready to update your wish list […]