Speculative Fiction

Rising Thunder

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by Neal Shusterman
First sentence: “The Mona Lisa was dead.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: December 1, 2026
Others in the series: Scythe, Thunderhead, The Toll
Content: There is talk of assisted suicide and of murder – including mass events. There is also some mild swearing. It will be in the YA section of the bookstore.

In this prequel to the Scythe series, we follow a diverse group of (mostly) young people in the world as it struggles to figure things out. There’s Aziz, who programs a couple of AIs that are given competing directives (not by Aziz). There’s Renz, who was an eco-nihilist until he destroyed the Mona Lisa. There’s Lizzie, who has taken it upon herself to release people who are put into stasis (there’s a place called Twi-Life where, when someone gets too close to death, they can choose to go there to “wait” for a cure) against their will. There are a lot more characters – almost too many – to relate here. The book takes place over several years, as the world comes closer to immortality, and this group of people – who don’t know that they are the ones in this online message board (for lack of a better term) talking about the problems of immortality – becomes more and more invested in what the future will hold.

Much like the Scythe series, in this one Shusterman tackles the ethics of immortality and curing all disease, as well as the ethics of creating AI. I know in those books, the Thunderhead is an all-knowing, wise creation, but in this one, the competing AI – Overcast and Securis – are not that. And I found it fascinating to see the process of how the Thunderhead became what it is in the books. In fact, this is one of those prequels that’s best if you read the original series first. It gives background and worldbuilding that deepens and expands the story, which is always a good thing. I’m pretty sure this is going to be at least a duology (if not a trilogy), because the story doesn’t end; it just stops, which is a little frustrating. That said, this is as good as any in the original series, and I’m happy to be back in this fascinating world.

Audiobook: Carmilla

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by Sheridan Le Fanu
Read by Katherine Press
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There’s not much, though there is talk of death by vampires. It’s in the Horror section of the bookstore.

In Austria in the late 1800s, Laura leads a solitary life with only her father for company. That is, until a stranger happens upon their isolated schloss and needs her daughter to stay with them to recover from her illness. This daughter, Carmilla, becomes Laura’s closest companion, her bosom friend (as Anne of Green Gables would put it). The problem is that deaths among the peasants from a mysterious disease start happening, and then Laura starts succumbing to it as well. The thing is: Carmilla is a vampire.

The tagline on the book is “the story that inspired Dracula”. I’m not sure if that’s the case, but it’s definitely a vampire story in the vein of Dracula. It’s all insinuation (it’s very sapphic – Carmilla doesn’t just want Laura for her blood, but also for herself) and conjecture. Its narration is in the form a recollection by Laura after the fact, so you know going in that she survives. It’s not gory or graphic. But it is compelling. I think that helps because of Press’s narration: she is very good at what she does. She gave the text an ominousness that helped with the vibe, and kept me interested in listening to it.

It’s also short, which is kind of what I want right now. Even though I don’t think I’m much of a vampire person (or werewolf, really), I did like this one.

Audiobook: Eric

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by Terry Pratchett
Read by Colin Morgan, Peter Serafinowicz & Bill Nighy
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: It’s in Discworld, and the fourth in the Unseen University series. But, like all of Discworld, you can read it out of order.
Content: It’s Sir Terry. There’s nothing objectionable. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Eric is your typical demon summoner, except that he’s 14 and not very good at it. He’s attempted to summon a demon to grant him three wishes, and all he got was Rincewind, who isn’t a very good wizard at the best of times. And, in attempting to grant Eric’s wishes, they unravel time and space back to the beginning. Before ending up in hell, of course.

There’s really not much to say about this, mostly because it’s Terry Pratchett. It’s funny, it’s sweet, the footnotes (read by Bill Nighy!) are hilarious, and it’s an utterly pleasant way to spend 4 hours on a road trip. Highly recommended, especially if you’re driving somewhere.

Audiobook: Moon Called

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by Patricia Briggs
Read by Lorelei King
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, including multiple f-bombs, as well as violence with a pretty high body count. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, but she was raised by werewolves, so she knows a lot about them. And so when a newly changed wolf shows up at her garage in the Tri-Cities, Washington, she knows there’s going to be trouble. And she’s right. She teams up with the Alpha of the Columbia Basin Wolfpack, Adam, but when he’s severely injured, she returns home to Montana and her first love, Samuel, for help.

First off: this is much more world-building than actual story. There was a lot of explaining (no, please: sum up!) about wolf habits, wolf law, and pack politics. (The words “I’m not pack” were uttered more times than I cared to hear.) It was a decent mystery: who was at the heart of kidnapping kids and turning them into wolves, and how they were developing tranquilizers that worked on werewolves, was interesting. But, it wasn’t a romance. Not really. Sure, there were hints of a love triangle between Mercy, Adam, and Samuel, but it didn’t really go anywhere (yet). I liked Mercy as a character – she was smart and resourceful and didn’t let the men push her around. So, there’s that. But will I read more? Probably not. It was fine, but not exactly something I really want to spend a lot of time with.

Victorious

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by V. E. Schwab
First sentence: “Victor stood before the metal door.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 6, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher
Others in the series: Vicious, Victorious
Content: It is very violent, with a super high body count, and some of the deaths are quite violent. It’s also swearing, with multiple f-bombs. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the other two, obviously.

EON is still after Victor, though the solution he found isn’t working as well. Sydney and Mitch went on the run from them, separate from Victor, and EON has (yet) to track them down. It’s been three years since the night in Merit when everything went down, and they still don’t feel safe. And now, there’s a new director of EON, an ExtraOrdinary with a pretty scary ability, and whose single-minded focus will probably bring destruction on them all. How is it going to play out?

I am still surprised how much I like this series, even with the morally gray characters – no one is “good” in this universe – and the super-high body count. So many dead people, so little regret. And yet, I find myself captivated by this world of Schwab’s making, pulled into the questions it asks about what is good, and who gets to make decisions, and about grief and loss and vengeance. It’s a remarkably thoughtful series, for all its violence, and this is an absolutely perfect ending for it.

If you haven’t read the series, now is a good time to start.

Audio book: Kill All Wizards

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by Jedediah Berry
Read by Raphael Corkhill
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is some swearing, including a few f-bombs, and a lot of fantasy violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

A barbarian – Gotchamus (not sure of that spelling, since I listened to it) – and a thief – Huxley – walked into a dining establishment, meeting up to do an exchange. What comes out of it, is the barbarian’s tale of loss and revenge, of how he came to lose his eye, and how he’s going to get his revenge on the wizards in this town. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but this is a short book, so there doesn’t need to be a lot.

What it has, though, is humor in spades. It got me early on when there was a whole bit about how the publisher should code the gory parts in red so people would know to skip them but then there would be people who would only read the gory parts, and no one wanted to encourage that behavior, and I was hooked. it’s a weird little place that Berry has created, but I adored the characters, I adored the tone fo the book, and Corkhill was superb as a narrator. It definitely can stand on its own, but if there’s going to be a series, I am 100% there for it.

So much fun.

Hometown

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by Shaun Tan
First sentence: “Here I am.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: September 15, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There’s really nothing. The publisher says it’s for ages 10-14, but the text is a bit simple for that. This one might be difficult to find the right audience.

This is the story of a human-looking girl who lives on a planet of non-human creatures. She’s fine with this; they are her family and her friends. She doesn’t even question her existence as being “different” until an outsider – another human – comes and tells her she’s different and that she doesn’t belong.

It’s a simple story; there isn’t a lot of text. But the art. Oh my gosh, the art. It’s breathtaking. It’s funny at times. It’s telling so much story. THIS is why I love Tan’s books. He tells so much in art, so much story with so little. It’s telling a story of belonging, of found family, of colonialism, of exploration. And I adored it.

The question is, however, will it be able to find its audience? Because it definitely deserves to.

Wondrous

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by Heather Fawcett
First sentence: “I was late running away, of course.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 6, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There are some intense moments that may be scary for younger readers. It will be in the Young Adult Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Alice has been wanting to get back to Wonderland ever since she went there as a young teen. Now she’s 18, and her parents are threatening to marry her off to an older baron, and she wants none of it. So she runs off to Wonderland for good. Once there, she discovers that there are holes – hollows – in the world and the Queen of Hearts has gathered all the Alices from across time and the world to kill the mock dragons and heal Wonderland. Whoever does so will be considered The Alice and everyone else will be banished. So, Alice decides that what she needs to do is just that: become The Alice.

In any less capable hands, this story would have been trite and silly. But Fawcett brings a depth and charm to it that makes it work for me. It’s not a retelling – Fawcett makes references to both Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass – but an expansion of the story. And I thought it was clever and fun. It wasn’t deep, though Alice learns about the wider Upland – and how her situation is quite privledged compared to some of the other Alices. It gives the story a depth and makes it stand on its own. There is a small romance, of sorts, but it’s really not worth mentioning. This is Alice’s story, and she figures out how to make friends, solve problems, and be her own person.

It was a delight to read.

Audiobook: The Starling House

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by Alix E. Harrow
Read by Natalie Naudus
Support your local independent bookstore: Buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There is violence of the demon kind and abuse of the human kind. There is also swearing, including several f-bombs. It’s in the Science Fiction-Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Opal’s mom died when she was 15, and she was left to raise her younger brother. Twelve years later, she’s dropped out of high school, working, and barely scraping by with her brother. Who she wants to get out of this cursed town of Eden, Kentucky. To help her do that, she takes a job cleaning the Starling House, the creepy house in town that Opal is inexplicably drawn to. Once in there, her life gets complicated. She’s not supposed to like Arthur, the current Starling at the house, and some people are trying to get information about the house from her. Not to mention the weirdness of the house itself, and the dreams that aren’t going away. It’s a lot to deal with, especially since all she wants is to feel like she belongs.

I had no idea what this was about when I started it, and maybe that was the best way to do it. Every twist and turn of the story was a surprise, and in Harrow’s capable hands, it kept me wondering what would come next. Naudus’s narration added to that; she’s an exceptional narrator, one that I will gladly listen to more of. I had no idea how the book would resolve, and yet the ending was everything I wanted. It’s a creepy story, yes, but it’s also a story of finding home and forgiveness and being true to oneself.

Remarkable.

Licorice

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by Kara LaReau
First sentence: “Sometimes I dream about the house at 5 Manderley Lane, dreams that make my legs kick and my whiskers twitch.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: Oct 20, 2026
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There are some unsettling moments and talk of a pet’s death. It will be in the Middle Grade (grades 3-5) section of the bookstore.

Kitty is a feral cat that lost her family and has been rescued and placed at a shelter. It’s there that Max finds her and decides to adopt her, even though his previous cat, Licorice, just tragically died months before. Kitty – because she’s anxious and shy and getting used to being inside — has a hard time adjusting, something which is made exponentially more difficult by the bird in the house, Duchess. Duchess, who says that Licorice was perfect. That Max loved Licorice best. That Kitty could never replace Licorice.

I didn’t do a fantastic job explaining it, but this is Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca, but with pets and for middle graders.

Which is kind of weird, if you think about it. How many kids are going to know the source material? Or even seek it out afterward? LaReau did a great job – all the beats of the book/movie are there, and it’s clever in the way she made the story work. It was slow to start – which is its own problem – but I found that it was quite compelling as it went along. I just wonder how many kids are going to want to read this. Or, to be fair, how to handsell it. Because “Rebecca but with pets” isn’t going to cut it.

I need an actual kid who knows nothing about Rebecca to read this and see if it works, because I think it’s clever.