Release Week: 27 February 2024
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Release Week: 27 February 2024
Posted on 2024-02-27 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
Wandering Stars: A Novel by Tommy Orange, read by Shaun Taylor-Corbett for Books on Tape -- "Colorado, 1864. Star, a young survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre, is brought to the Fort Marion prison castle,where he is forced to learn English and practice Christianity by Richard Henry Pratt, an evangelical prison guard who will go on to found the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, an institution dedicated to the eradication of Native history, culture, and identity. A generation later, Star’s son, Charles, is sent to the school, where he is brutalized by the man who was once his father’s jailer. Under Pratt’s harsh treatment, Charles clings to moments he shares with a young fellow student, Opal Viola, as the two envision a future away from the institutional violence that follows their bloodlines."
In Ascension By: Martin MacInnes, read by Freya Miller for Audible -- "Longlisted for the 2023 Booker Prize. An astonishing novel about a young microbiologist investigating an unfathomable deep vent in the ocean floor, leading her on a journey that will encompass the full trajectory of the cosmos and the passage of a single human life."
The Other Valley: A Novel By: Scott Alexander Howard, read by Cindy Kay for Simon and Schuster -- "For fans of Never Let Me Go and The Giver, an elegant and exhilarating literary speculative novel about an isolated town neighbored by its own past and future, and a young girl who spots two elderly visitors from across the border: the grieving parents of the boy she loves."
King Nyx: A Novel By: Kirsten Bakis, read by Bahni Turpin for Recorded Books -- "nna Fort wants to be a supportive wife, even if that means accompanying her husband for the winter of 1918 to a remote, frozen island estate so he can finish his book as the guest of an eccentric millionaire. When she learns three girls are missing from a school run by their host, Anna realizes finding them is up to her—even if that means risking her husband’s career, and possibly her life. Her husband’s masterpiece-in-progress features strange meteorological anomalies along with wild speculations about “facts” he believes scientists hide from the public. Most people think Charles Fort is a crackpot. That’s about to change now that wealthy Claude Arkel is his patron. Yet Anna is sure something’s not right on Prosper Island, though the alarming return of her “troubles” makes her question her own sanity. Is the figure in the woods really the ghost of her long-lost friend Mary, or a product of her disturbed imagination? Accompanied reluctantly by a fellow guest, the elegant and troubled Stella Bixby, Anna embarks on a dangerous quest to find the missing girls before Arkel finds her—or her own mind unravels."
Fathomfolk: Drowned World, Book 1 By: Eliza Chan, read by Emily Woo Zeller for Orbit -- "Welcome to Tiankawi—shining pearl of human civilization and a safe haven for those fleeing civil unrest. Or at least, that’s how it first appears. But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on top: peering down from skyscrapers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolk—sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas—who live in the polluted waters below. And the fathomfolk are tired of it. When a water-dragon and a half siren join forces, the path to equality is filled with violence, secrets, and political intrigue. And they both must decide if the cost of change is worth it, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown."
The Lady in Glass and Other Stories By: Anne Bishop, read by Alexandra Harris and Gary Littman for Penguin -- "A magical collection of stories new and old spanning across all of Anne Bishop’s most beloved fantasy worlds."
TIE-IN WATCH:
Halo: Epitaph By: Kelly Gay, read by Keith Szarabajka for Simon and Schuster -- "Stripped of armor, might, and memory, the legendary Forerunner warrior known as the Didact was torn from the physical world following his destructive confrontation with the Master Chief and sent reeling into the mysterious depths of a seemingly endless desert wasteland. This once powerful and terrifying figure is now a shadow of his former self—gaunt, broken, desiccated, and alone. But this wasteland is not as barren as it seems. A blue light glints from a thin spire in the far distance."
Star Trek: Picard: Firewall By: David Mack, read by January LaVoy for Simon and Schuster -- "Two years after the USS Voyager’s return from the Delta Quadrant, Seven of Nine finds herself rejected for a position in Starfleet…and instead finds a new home with the interstellar rogue law enforcement corps known as the Fenris Rangers. The Rangers seem like an ideal fit for Seven—but to embrace this new destiny, she must leave behind all she’s ever known, and risk losing the most important thing in her life: her friendship with Admiral Kathryn Janeway."
BACKLIST WATCH:
- The Moon and the Desert By: Robert E. Hampson (2023), read by Roman Howell for Tantor -- "Glenn Armstrong Shepard had his sights set on going to Mars as a flight surgeon, but a training accident on the Moon left him crippled. Now he has a new plan: to be fitted with bionic prosthetics and come back even stronger. Fate and the Space Force have other plans, and Glenn is grounded. Another doctor—his ex-fiancee—takes his place, and Glenn will have to fight to prove he can be an astronaut once more."
SERIES WATCH:
- Moon of the Turning Leaves: Moon, Book 2 By: Waubgeshig Rice, read by Billy Merasty for Harper -- "In this gripping stand-alone literary thriller set in the world of the award-winning post-apocalyptic novel Moon of the Crusted Snow, a scouting party led by Evan Whitesky ventures into unknown and dangerous territory to find a new home for their close-knit Northern Ontario Indigenous community more than a decade after a world-ending blackout."
INDIE WATCH:
- Shaking Hands with Elvis By: Paul Carroll, read by Samuel James -- "Assisted dying is legalized after the NHS sell-off. Where does the killing stop? The sick and old are no longer a societal burden, healthcare costs plummet, and inventive end-of-life options emerge. Geraldine, Dawn, Jeffrey, and Woody each book their final journey at Go Gently's Charon House clinic. What they find doesn't match the brochure. As their hour nears, will it be the end for these four, or is there life in them yet?"
MOST MISSING:
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed (Tordotcom) -- "At the northern edge of a land ruled by a merciless foreign tyrant lies a wild, forbidden forest ruled by powerful magic. Veris Thorn—the only one to ever enter the forest and survive—is forced to go back inside to retrieve the tyrant's missing children. Inside await traps and trickery, ancient monsters, and hauntings of the past. One day is all Veris is afforded. One misstep will cost everything."
Eynhallow by Tim McGregor (Raw Dog Screaming Press) -- "ORKNEY ISLANDS, 1797 – Agnes Tulloch feels a little cheated. This windswept place is not the island paradise her husband promised it to be when they wed. Now with four young children, she struggles to provide for her family while her husband grows increasingly distant. When a stranger comes ashore to rent an abandoned cottage, Agnes and the other islanders are abuzz with curiosity. Who is this wealthy foreigner and why on earth would he come to Eynhallow? Her curiosity is soon replaced with vexation when her husband hires her out as cook and washerwoman, leaving Agnes with no say in the matter. Agnes begrudgingly befriends this aristocrat-in-exile; a mercurial scientist who toils night and day on some secret pursuit. Despite herself, she’s drawn to his dark, brooding charm. And who is this Byronic stranger sweeping Agnes off her feet? His name is Frankenstein and he’s come to this remote isle to fulfill a monstrous obligation."