Speculative Fiction

Building 903

Leave a comment

by Lois Lowry
First sentence: “Later — much later, when she was grown — Tessa remembered those weeks when she was fourteen years old.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher
Release date: September 29, 2026
Content: There are some unsettling parts. It will be in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

One day, Tessa’s twin brother Theo just up and disappears. No clue as to where he went, and the government just erases him from the records. It’s a world where the government is run by a fascist dictator, who has outlawed books, music, and pretty much all joy. And then, her next-door neighbor is taken away to Elder Care (she’s 134!) and leaves Tessa with a key that unlocks a secret closet where Miriam’s secret stash of contraband books is.

From there, things get… odd… as Tessa’s parents take over. Her dad’s been working on some sort of secret means of transportation, and the three of them head to Building 903 where all the books are kept, in order to figure out the connection between the books and Theo’s disappearance.

To be honest, once Tessa’s parents got involved, I stopped being interested. I expected more from Lowry, who should know that a middle grade book is where the main character is 11 or 12 (not 14! Though she acted so much younger) and they propel the action, no matter how unbelievable. I was very disappointed at all the exposition (Tessa’s dad goes on for PAGES) and the absolute lack of action from Tessa. What’s the point of having a child as a main character if all the adults do all the work? It’s dumb. I can understand she wanted to write a book about the dangers of book banning and the importance of stories, but this book wasn’t it.

Tragic.

Audiobook: The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest

Leave a comment

by Aubrey Hartman
Read by Marisa Calin
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some intense moments, especially for animal lovers. It’s in the Newbery Medal section of the bookstore.

Clair is the usher of animals’ spirits into the afterlife. He’s comfortable in his life; he enjoys his job; and his undeath keeps him from going to the afterworld he thinks he’s destined for: the realm of Pain. Then one day, a badger (of all animals!) comes through and can’t find her way into the afterlife. Clair tries everything he knows how to do, and nothing works. So he and Gingersnipes (the badger) set out on an adventure to try and figure out what to do.

It’s a simple story, and one I think that if I’d read, I’d not enjoy very much. But, listening to it on audio? It was perfect. Calin did an excellent job with the story, keeping me as a listener engaged. Some production elements helped as well – echoes and different effects, and so on — that helped as well. And as a result, I couldn’t stop listening. It was compelling, entertaining, and yes, touching.

This one would make an excellent read-aloud as well.

Sea of Charms

Leave a comment

by Sarah Beth Durst
First sentence: “Marin was alone on her sailboat, and the sea was singing.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: July 28, 2026
Others in the series: The Spellshop, The Enchanted Greenhouse
Content: There are some tense moments. It will be in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Ever since she found out her ex-fiancé was swindling her and her family, Marin has been at sea. She makes her living as a runner, slowly paying off the debt her parents accrued when the bottom came out of Marin’s relationship. She’s alone, and she likes it that way. Until she picks up a sea serpent, a sentient wax myrtle (Ree!), and finally a musician she rescued from the revolution happening on the capital island. Suddenly, Marin isn’t alone anymore, and maybe, just maybe, she likes it better that way.

This one is going to be billed as a romance, but it’s barely that. It’s going to be billed as fake dating (there is a little bit of that). What it is, rather, is a super cozy fantasy, with a side of romance (just kissing at the very end), about found family. Which is to say: I loved it. This is everything I want in a romantasy: fully developed characters, a heroine that is smart and capable and not pining over someone all the time, a MMC that is smart and capable and interesting. And MOST OF ALL: a fantasy world that makes sense, is thoroughly built up, and is a place I want to spend time.

And (of course) Durst gives me all of that. And a charming sentient plant on top of it.

If you haven’t picked this series up yet, you’re missing out.

Young World

Leave a comment

by Soman Chainani
First sentence: “Dear Miss Escobedo, I know our weekly journals are supposed to be about current events and things that matter in the world, but right now the only thing that matters to me is a girl.”
Review copy provided by the publisher
Content: There’s some swearing (maybe f-bombs? I can’t remember), and violence. It’s in the Young Adult section of the bookstore.

All Benton Young wanted to do was impress a girl. So, he uploaded a video to YouTube with plans for a revolution, with demands that the young people of the world take over and change things. What he didn’t expect was for his video to go viral, for him to be written in as a presidential campaign, and for him – a 17-year-old black kid from St. Louis – to be elected as president. Suddenly, things aren’t quite as easy as he thought it would be. And he still didn’t get the girl.

I was honestly excited about this one. It sounded unique. The book itself is a fascinating mix of journals and “found” documents – graphs, newspaper clippings, etc. I liked the idea of a revolution and even though my husband was skeptical (“How do they get around the Constitution?”), I was game. Until I hit the halfway point. I hate to say it, but Benton isn’t a smart character. Maybe that’s the point, but he kept turning to his friends – both back in St. Louis and one he made in the White House – for information and help. And he never remembered what they said. He couldn’t make decisions – partially because of the way the adults were trying to handicap him, but mostly because he was just Obsessing about The Girl. So, we hit halfway, we find out who the girl was, and then he’s in Sweden for a G-8 conference, and there’s a whole made-up resource of oil and minerals the world is fighting over, and when the polar bear showed up, I bailed. I thought this would be a book for me, and I just didn’t have the patience.

I’m sure there will be readers out there who love it. Maybe they will even find it “empowering” as Chainani hoped. But this wasn’t for me.

Platform Decay

Leave a comment

by Martha Wells
First sentence: “Space was okay to look at but not super fun when you were out in it.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date May 5, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher
Others in the series: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect, Fugitive Telemetry, System Collapse
Content: There is violence, swearing (including many f-bombs) and intense moments. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

One of Dr. Mensah’s marriage partners, their daughter, and her partner’s mother have been captured by some corporation executives, and Murderbot is commissioned to get them out of the torus surrounding a dead planet. It’s a quick in-and-out, with Three’s help, and it’s confident that everything will go wrong. Which it does. Starting with the request (demand?) from B-E corporation executive Leonide (whom I don’t really remember, but no matter) that Murderbot extract her family. Which, of course, sigh, it does. Tasked with keeping so many humans safe while traveling through hostile territory avoiding corporation security is exhausting. Especially when there’s media to watch.

It’s been a while since we’ve spent time with Murderbot… and I’ve missed its voice. It created an Emotion check program, which was constantly, well, checking – which was quite amusing. And it has all the elements of a good Murderbot story: humans in peril, sometimes doing stupid stuff, interesting wolrds – the travels through the sections of the torus were interesting – and Murderbot snark. What more can I ask for out of a Murderbot story?

Nothing. It was perfect.

Heir of Illusion

Leave a comment

by Madeline Taylor
First sentence: “I cradle my lover’s head in my hands, longing to shatter it against the hardwood floor.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: To take from the content advisory at the beginning of the book, there is: violence, strong language, sexual content (on page), PTSD, mentions of self-harm, mentions of grooming, sucidial ideation, suffocation, drowning, emotional and physical abuse, murder, attempted sexual assualt, unwanted touching, abuse of power, and depictions of grief. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Ivy (actually Iverson, which is a stupid name) has spent the last 15 years as the special “pet” of the King of Illusion. She wears a collar that binds her to the king’s will – and if she defies him, he uses the collar to choke her. After 15 years, Ivy is fed up and wants to escape. All she has to do is find the sword that is paired with the collar and cut it off. Which she absolutely can do, except the God of Death, Thorne, has shown up demanding the sword and is in her way. A fractious meeting turns into a tenuous partnership, which turns into a budding romance. Will it hold, though, when the dust settles?

On the one hand, I liked this enough to finish it, which is more than I can say for the last two Romantasies that I read for book group. The world-building was intriguing enough to keep me interested, and I liked that Ivy was pushing and pulling against the “norm” of her world. That said, Taylor isn’t a great writer, and this book could have easily been 100 pages shorter. She repeats herself often, and uses the same descriptive words over and over again. Yes, we know Thorne is often angry and looms. Yes, we know Ivy can turn invisible. Yes, we know the king is a bad man. Do you need to tell us every single chapter?

I don’t know if I’m curious enough to read the sequel, but I didn’t outright hate this one.

The Book Witch

1 Comment

by Meg Shaffer
First sentence: “All stories are love stories if you love stories.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: April 7, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher
Content: There’s some mild swearing, some mild violence, and off-page sex. It will be in the Fiction section of the bookstore.

Rainy March is a Book Witch – she pops into books to save them from the Burners, the people who want to stop the stories from existing. It’s a great job – who wouldn’t want to pop into the worlds that books have created and spend time there? But then Rainy’s grandfather goes missing, and she gets the help of a fictional detective to help find him. That’s the base plot, though it’s winds and weaves more than that. The point of the book is a love of books and reading and the way that books can help people. But it’s also about the joy of stories and reading.

Of course, I loved this one. A bookish book about books that gets meta? I’m totally in. I thought this was fun, the characters were charming and delightful (Duke!), and I’m a sucker for a book where the characters get to physically experience being in books. I did think Shaffer kind of struggled with the ending – it kind of faded away rather than sticking the landing, but that’s a small quibble in an otherwise delightful reading experience.

Audiobook: The Experiment

Leave a comment

by Rebecca Stead
Read by Mark Sanderlin
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There are some intense moments, bullying by an adult, and mention of crushes and dating. It’s in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Nathan has grown up knowing he is different from other kids. See: he’s an alien. His parents are CAST and came here from another planet, intending to see whether they could live among humans without being detected. It means Nathan has to brush his teeth five times a day with pink toothpaste and he mother has to obsessively way his food and track his bowel movements. There are nine other families in other states (Izzy in Illinois, Leo in Louisiana, Annie in Arkansas) that are also trying this experiment. But two things happen to shake Nathan’s world: first, Izzy disappears. And then, Nathan grows a tail. These two events set Nathan on a path that will question everything he has been taught, as he determines to find out the truth of the CAST, his purpose, and the meaning behind it all.

I was truly captivated by this audiobook. A lot of it was the narrator: Sanderlin has a great voice for middle-grade books, and he made this one utterly enjoyable. There were some intense moments when I didn’t know what would happen (justice for Victor! He should have had a larger role.), and I have to admit that the ending was a little pat and somewhat preachy. Perhaps it’s because I’m an adult, but I just felt like Stead couldn’t go through with what the story was demanding of her and pivoted at the end to make a moral out of it. I could be wrong, but that’s the way it felt. That said, the rest of the book is fantastic, and I appreciate a science fiction/aliens book where people are not actually out there battling “bad” aliens. It’s refreshing. And highly recommended.

Magic Library of Waterfall Way

Leave a comment

by Julie Abe
First sentence: “The wind slapped against the windows like invisible hands trying to push the automobile off the road.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher
Release date: August 25, 2026
Content: There are some intense moments and some bullying. It will be in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Lyra Hunt is the first Unremarkable person – someone without magic, or any hope of getting magic – in the history of the Alterran Empire. This means that she hasn’t been accepted into a Guild yet, and if she isn’t by the time she turns 12, she will be banished to the Mist. Thankfully, on the way back to the city, the car she and her guardian are in drives off the road and she discovers the Guild of Scholars. Since she loves books, this is a perfect fit. Except the Guild of Scholars is in rough shape: they’re missing the crystal and the library has recently suffered from an enormous fire. And Lyra’s quest to join the Guild is to find the crystal so the library can be restored. It seems like an impossible task, but Lyra’s determined to find a place to belong.

This was super cozy and charming. The stakes were high, but not impossible – I never really feared for Lyra’s life. I thought the magic system was creative, and I liked the world-building in general. It kept me interested, and I think it will be entertaining for kids who like cozy adventure books.

Recommended!

Dragon Girl and the Awakened Flames

Leave a comment

by Jenny Moore
First sentence: “All the best stories and adventures start with a knock on the door.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: March 3, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There are some abandonment issues (but then, it’s a middle grade book), but that’s it. I’d say it’s for the younger end of the Middle Grade readership. It will be in the Middle Grade section (grades 3-5) of the bookstore.

Emba Oak is an orphan who hatched out of an egg, and has scales for arms, which doesn’t make her a very popular person in town. Thankfully, she lives in a cave with her guardian, Winifred (just call her Fred), and her friend and aspiring hero Odolf. So when Fred is kidnapped by a dark wizard who wants Emba’s half-dragon blood, Emba and Odolf set off to try and rescue her. Along the way, they learn a bit about Emba and the man they’re going up against.

So there’s not much to this one, and yet I found it charming. I’m a sucker for books with silly chapter headings (The Nefarious Note of Nastiness, The Barbed Bottom Bite of Bravery) and for silly asides. (There was a whole thing about ire being short for iron, which was quite amusing.) It’s the perfect speed for an 8- or 9-year-old who wants a low-stakes adventure story. And I quite liked it.