Release Week: 29 July 2025
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Release Week: 29 July 2025
Posted on 2025-07-29 at 12:00 by Samuel Montgomery-Blinn
PICKS:
An Oral History of Atlantis: Stories by Ed Park, read by a full cast for Random House -- "Gilt-edged stories that slice clean through the mundanity of modern life, from the author of Same Bed Different Dreams, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize."
The Memory Hunters: The Consecrated, Book 1 By: Mia Tsai, read by Channie Waites for Recorded Books -- "Inception meets Indiana Jones in this cinematic, slow burn, romantic fantasy following a headstrong academic and her equally stubborn bodyguard as they unearth an ancient secret that rocks the foundations of their society … and challenges their unspoken love for one another. A sapphic, dark academia-adjacent, climate dystopia—with mushrooms."
Silvercloak By: L. K. Steven, read by Saffron Coomber for Random House -- "In this addictive new fantasy series set in a world where magic is fueled by pleasure and pain, an obsessive detective infiltrates a brutal gang of dark mages—knowing that one wrong move will get her killed."
Birth of a Dynasty: A Novel By: Chinaza Bado, read by Adenrele Ojo for Harper -- "Combining the political intrigue of She Who Became the Sun with the gorgeous world-building of Children of Blood and Bone, Birth of a Dynasty is the start of a thrilling epic fantasy trilogy centered around three families’ fight for power in Ahkebulin, a land where magic is feared, giants are real, and prophecy holds sway."
The Entirely True Story of the Fantastical Mesmerist Nora Grey By: Kathleen Kaufman, read by Mhairi Morrison for Highbridge -- "As spiritualism reaches its fevered pitch at the dawn of the twentieth century, a Scottish girl crosses the veil to unlock a powerful connection within an infamous asylum in this thrillingly atmospheric, exquisitely evocative exploration of feminine rage and agency."
The Lighthouse at the Edge of the World By: J.R. Dawson, read by Lindsey Dorcus and Mara Wilson for Macmillan -- "At the edge of Chicago, nestled on the shores of Lake Michigan, there is a waystation for the dead. Every night, the newly-departed travel through the city to the Station, guided by its lighthouse. There, they reckon with their lives, before stepping aboard a boat to go beyond. Nera has spent decades watching her father—the ferryman of the dead—sail across the lake, each night just like the last. But tonight, something is wrong. The Station's lighthouse has started to flicker out. The terrifying, ghostly Haunts have multiplied in the city. And now a person—a living person—has found her way onto the boat. Her name is Charlie. She followed a song. And she is searching for someone she lost."
Beasts of Carnaval By: Rosália Rodrigo, read by Inés del Castillo for Harlequin -- "Within the shores of Isla Bestia, guests from around the world discover a utopia of ever-changing performances, sumptuous feasts and beautiful monsters. Many enter, but few ever leave—the wine is simply too sweet, the music too fine and the revelry endless. Sofía, a freedwoman from a nearby colonized island, cares little for this revelry. Born an enslaved mestiza on a tobacco plantation, she has neither wealth nor title, only a scholarly pragmatism and a hunger for answers. She travels to el Carnaval de Bestias in search of her twin brother, who disappeared five years ago. There’s a world of wonder waiting for her on the shores of this legendary island, one wherein conquerors profit from Sofia’s ancestral lands and her people’s labor. But surrounded by her former enslavers, she finds something familiar in the performances—whispers of the island’s native tongue, music and stories from her Taike’ri ancestors…a culture long hidden in the shadows, thrust into the light."
The Final Chapter By: January Gilchrist, read by Elizabeth Brennan and Oriana Morris-Johnson for Harper -- "Desley Barron is ready to prove her doubters, and herself, wrong about her flagging writing career. She's won a spot at an exclusive writing retreat in the Blue Mountains. Only instead of feeling creative, Desley finds her insecurity increases while the ghost stories about the house have her jumping at shadows. This reclusive house is the last place anyone will think to look for high-profile author Colette Halifax, which is perfect as she hides from a looming scandal. Unfortunately, someone here is threatening to ruin the one part of her life that isn't already a shambles."
The Lies They Told By: Ellen Marie Wiseman, read by Elisabeth Rodgers for Recorded Books -- "In rural 1930s Virginia, a young immigrant mother fights for her dignity and those she loves against America’s rising eugenics movement—when widespread support for policies of prejudice drove imprisonment and forced sterilizations based on class, race, disability, education, and country of origin."
The Alchemy of Flowers: A Novel By: Laura Resau, read by Cassandra Campbell for Harper Muse -- "A broken woman. A mysterious job ad. A chance to heal in French castle gardens—but strange things are growing behind the ancient stone walls. This debut adult novel is an enchanting, modern-day take on The Secret Garden, sprinkled with magic."
BACKLIST WATCH:
Dinner at Deviant's Palace By: Tim Powers (1985), read by Justin Price for Tantor -- "In the twenty-second century, the City of Angels is a tragic shell of its former self, having long ago been ruined and reshaped by nuclear disaster. Before he was in a band in Ellay, Gregorio Rivas was a redeemer, rescuing lost souls trapped in the Jaybirds cult of the powerful maniac Norton Jaybush. Rivas had hoped those days were behind him, but a desperate entreaty from a powerful official is pulling him back into the game. The rewards will be plentiful if he can wrest Urania, the official's daughter and Gregorio's first love, from Jaybush's sinister clutches. To do so, the redeemer reborn must face blood-sucking hemogoblins and other monstrosities on his way to discovering the ultimate secrets of this neo-Californian civilization."
World Made by Hand (2009) and The Witch of Hebron (2010) by James Howard Kunstler, read by Jim Meskimen for Simon and Schuster -- "For the townspeople of Union Grove, New York, the future is nothing like they thought it would be. Following a cascading set of catastrophes—the end of oil, climate change, resource wars, and global pandemics—they are doing whatever they can to get by. The outside world is largely unknown. There may be a president, and he may be in Minneapolis now, but people aren’t sure. The townspeople’s challenges play out in a dazzling, fully realized world of abandoned highways and empty houses, horses working the fields, and rivers—no longer polluted—replenished with fish."
Fruits of the Gods By: William C. Tracy (2023), read by Lynn Norris for Tantor -- "Sisters Kisare and Belili uproot an ancient box in their owner's orchard and find a miracle inside: a fifth godfruit in a society that knows only four. It is punishable by death for non-nobles to eat godfruit, so the sisters hide the discovery and plot to escape servitude for good. With the power represented in the box, they could live as nobles themselves. But Kisare finds her new freedom more difficult than she imagined, and Belili has many secrets she strives to keep hidden."
TIE-IN WATCH:
- Dungeons & Dragons: The Fallbacks: Dealing with Dragons By: Jaleigh Johnson, read by Lauren Fortgang for Random House -- "When the day is threatened by tyrannical foes or monstrous fiends, the people of Faerûn place their trust in the realm’s mighty heroes. When the mighty heroes don’t show up, they get the Fallbacks."
MOST MISSING:
The Dagger in Vichy by Alastair Reynolds (Subterranean Press) -- "In a deep medieval future, a band of players travels across France to perform the same old tales in the same old towns. When passing soldiers entrust them with a mysterious box that they say must be delivered to the Imperator, old playwright Master Guillaume and young escaped thief Rufus puzzle at what the box might contain. When Rufus overhears strange conversations between his Master Guillaume and the thing in the box, he must choose between his loyalty to the man who saved him from the noose and fear of the ancient intelligence working in their midst."
Bloody Bones by Garrett Boatman (Cemetery Dance) -- "Thirty years ago, the stranger came to the sleepy southern town of Farnsworth and the killings began. Wearing a black suit and passing himself off as a traveling preacher, the Dark Man targeted children. But when he took the daughter of the local hoodoo woman, she exacted a terrible revenge."
Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins by Colleen Anderson (Raw Dog Screaming Press) -- "Complex emotions and experiences are woven into the architecture of Vellum Leaves and Lettered Skins, where the reader is both captured and freed by meditations on perseverance and survival. While fables and mythology tower over our literary landscape casting a long shadow, Anderson uses electrifying retellings in verse to illuminate new meaning in well-known tales."