Speculative Fiction

Nine Goblins

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by T. Kingfisher
First sentence: “It was gruel again for breakfast.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: January 20, 2026 (unless you want it in e-book; it’s available now)
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Content: There is some violence, including a huge (kind of gory) massacre. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Look: goblins aren’t really made for war. It’s unfortunate that they found themselves in such a state – well, it’s not really their fault – that they are in a constant war with the humans and elves. Mostly, what goblins want to do is complain. Which, they suppose, war is good for. And the members of the Whining Nines (ha!) are really good at that. And their sergeant, Nessilka, doesn’t really want to be in charge, but since the rest of the goblins in her unit are really kind of useless, she supposes being in charge is what she has to do. That is, until they accidentally end up in the forest on the elf/human side. Where there is something decidedly… not right.

Okay, I don’t read e-books. I don’t like e-books. But, this one was spoken highly enough by several coworkers, and because it’s T. Kingfisher, I was willing to read an e-book. And I was not disappointed. Seriously. This one made me laugh out loud. It made me delighted the whole way through. There was enough of a plot to keep me going, but mostly it was the characters that just charmed the socks off me. I loved them all. And I would happily join them for more adventures if Kingfisher wanted to write them.

I don’t think I’ve read a bad Kingfisher book yet.

There is No Antimemetics Division

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by qntm
First sentence: “‘Do anything nice over Christmas?'”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Review copy provided by the publisher.
Release date: November 11, 2025
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and some violence that is gross at times. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Oh, this one is going to be hard to sum up. Possibly impossible. Perhaps the best thing to know is that there is an Organization out there, one that is fighting against various memetics – some harmless, some ancient, others… not so much – to keep humanity, well, functioning. Except there is one memetic that has been released that is so powerful. And the problem is that if you remember it, you can’t combat it. How do you kill an idea that you don’t remember, and that won’t die?

It’s possibly the best bit of mind-blowing crazy train weirdness that I’ve read since the Locked Tomb series. It’s SO hard to explain, and yet, I was riveted: I couldn’t put the book down. Both of my co-workers said when they finished it, they immediately started it over again, and I get that: there is so much here that it’s impossible to catch it all in one reading. It’s really that good.

And I was blown away by it.

Brigands & Breadknives

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by Travis Baldree
First sentence: “‘Fuck!’ creid Fern, ducking back inside the carriage a whisker before a clawed and scaled hand sailed past.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: November 11, 2025.
Others in the series: Legends & Lattes, Bookshops & Bonedust
Review copy pilfered off the ARC shelves at work.
Content: It is very sweary. Like VERY sweary. (I like a book that tells you what it is with the first word.) And there’s some fantasy violence. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Fern (the bookshop owner from the last book) has decided to relocate, after 20 years, to Thune, where the orc Viv is. Mostly to be near her friend, but also because Fern has lost the love of bookselling and needs a Change. Once in Thune, though, she realizes that she just can’t sell books anymore, and on a drunken whim, climbs into the carriage of the famous (legendary, even) one-eared Elf, Astryx. She doesn’t quite know what she’s thinking, but when Astryx finally discovers her, it’s too far for Fern to walk back. So, she stays. And she and Astryx – and a weird little (hilarious) goblin named Zyll, that Astryx is nominally returning for bounty – go on a journey.

Like Baldree’s other books, the premise is super simple. The joy, however, is in all the little things. It was Fern learning how to be on the road, growing into her own over the journey. (It was also Fern’s creative swearing.) It was the “diminished Elder Blade” knife that was just silly. It was the growing friendship and respect between Astryx and Fern. It was all their silly little side quests.

I listened to the other two on audio (Baldree is a fantastic narrator), and I wondered if this would hold up in print. It absolutely does. I loved being back in this world, I really enjoyed Fern as a main character, and I’d be happy to follow them all on any more silly adventures that Baldree dreams up.

In the Serpent’s Wake

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by Rachel Hartman
First sentence: “Once there was a girl named Tess, Who’d got herself in a wretched mess.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Seraphina, Shadow Scale, Tess of the Road
Content: There is violence towards others, including colonizer violence, and talk of rape. It’s in the Young Adult Science Fiction section of the bookstore.

Tess has promised her quigutl friend, Pathka, that she will take him to the Sea World Serpent, especially after she was inadvertently responsible for the death of the Continental World Serpent. However, even though she’s on a voyage with noted scientist Countess Margarethe and her brother-in-law (of sorts) Jacomo, this task isn’t as easy as it seems. First: there’s the competing dragon expedition, headed by Spiro, whom Tess has had (unfortunate) dealings with. And then there’s the repeated warnings that the serpent is not for her- and other Deadlanders, as the island peoples call them – and she will not be allowed near.

It’s a simple story at it’s heart, but Hartman, because she’s a brilliant writer, has managed to weave in so much. The consequences of not saying anything in the face of injustice. The assumptions that class and privilege afford you. The choices we all make, for good or ill, and the fallout of those. And, most of all, reparations for those choices, especially when they’ve done ill (whether you’ve meant it or not). I marveled just how much Hartman was able to pack into this simple voyage story, and how satisfying it was, even if Tess didn’t succeed at her quest.

I’m not sure I’ll continue with the new one, at least not yet. But, if you haven’t had the pleasure of reading one of Hartman’s books, I’d highly suggest remedying that.

Audiobook: System Collapse

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by Martha Wells
Read by Kevin R. Free
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Others in the series: All Systems Red, Artificial Condition, Rogue Protocol, Exit Strategy, Network Effect
Content: Like all Murderbot books, there is a lot of violence and swearing (Wells is a master of the artfully placed f-bomb). It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

I don’t have much to say about this that I didn’t already say two years ago. I finally convinced my husband to read this series (thanks to the TV show on Apple+) and this was the last one he had to read, so we listened to it on audio on a recent long drive. I didn’t mind revisiting Murderbot and its world, and I had heard that the audio was really good.

The audio is really good. Free does a fantastic job with the narration, with capturing Murderbot’s personality, with the book in general. He kept my interest, and it’s one of those books you don’t want to turn off and get out of the car.

And an additional bonus: K, who was in the car with us, ended up listening as well, and she’s plowed through half of the series since we got back.

I call that a win.

Into the Riverlands

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by Nghi Vo
First sentence: “The barber paused, flicking water droplets from his razor with a brisk snap of his wrist.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Content: There is some violence and evidence of a murder. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

We scheduled an event with Vo, and the marketing person at work is super excited about this, so she decided to pass out Vo’s books to staff to get them excited, too. This was the one she thought I would like.

I’m not quite sure of the plot. There’s a monk – but they’re not religious – and their talking? sentient? bird named Absolutely Beautiful and they’re on a journey… somewhere? They meet up with people who go with them. Stories are told, a dead body is found. Maybe other stuff happens? I am honestly not sure.

Which is really my reaction to this. I have no idea what I read. I’m not a “good” enough, close enough, critical enough reader to actually get what happened in this short book (is it a long short story or a short book?). I can see how people like this; it was well written, and the language is beautiful, but personally. I don’t get it.

Exiles

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by Mason Coile
First sentence: “The beeping won’t stop.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: September 16, 2025
Review copy thrust on me by a co-worker who loved it. Spoiler: he was right.
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, and two very grisly murders. It will be in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

It’s the near future, and humanity has decided to colonize Mars. They’ve sent some bots ahead to build a base, and three humans – Beck, Kang, and Gold – have been chosen to start a base there. But, when they come out of suspended animation (it’s a long seven-month trip, why stay awake?), the bots that were supposed to greet them aren’t responding. That’s the first clue that something… unusual… has happened. As the humans get to the base, they find parts of it destroyed, and some irregularities with the bots. And, as the mystery unfolds, they realize that the problem is larger than they could have ever imagined.

Oh, wow, this was intense. It’s being billed as gothic horror in space, but I felt like it was less horror and just good, straight-up science fiction. It’s a tight book, coming in at just over 200 pages, and it’s pretty flawless. The twists were genuinely surprising (well, I’m also not the closest reader), and it’s a clever look at what might happen on Mars (spoiler: it’s not good). Anyone who loved Murderbot will love this one as well.

Remarkably well done. (Maybe I should read William?)

Witchkiller

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by Ashlee Latimer
First sentence: “Hansel Henoth had not thought much or often about his death, but he was determined it not happen at the hands of a witch.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Release date: October 7, 2025
Review copy provided by the publisher
Content: There is domestic violence – both Gretel’s father and brother abuse her. It will be in the YA Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

The world for Gretel after the witch died (did she kill her?) is not a good one. Sure, it’s a grand one: her brother, Hansel, stole the witch’s treasure, and he and their father bought a title so they have clothes and a home and servants. But Gretel lives in fear of the tempers of the men in her life. The best way out, she determines, is a good marriage. So, when Prince Wilfried offers his hand in marriage, she takes it. Except it doesn’t feel right. And then, one night, she stumbles on the witches in the woods, and suddenly feels… home. Will she have the courage to defy her family and follow her heart?

I was excited to read this one – I love a good feminist retelling of a fairy tale, one in which the main character finds her way to something new, something outside of the box. And this one seemed to have all the elements: gaslighting by the men, witches who lived outside of the patriarchial norm, a main character who slowly gains confidence in herself. And while this one had all those elements, it still didn’t quite land for me. Maybe it’s because I didn’t believe the Wilfried really fell in love with Gretel? Maybe I wasn’t convinced by Gretel’s decision in the end? Maybe it was too much Ansel and Hansel being cruel and not enough of Gretel standing up (she snuck around, more like)? I think, in the end, it just wasn’t enough of what I wanted. It’s not that it’s a bad book – it’s not! It’s a very good “what happens after” tale.

It’s just that I wanted more.

Audiobook: The Knight and the Moth

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by Rachel Gillig
Read by Samantha Hydeson
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Or listen at Libro.fm
Content: There’s violence, including violence towards women; swearing, including multiple f-bombs; and some on-page sex scenes. It’s in the Romance section of the bookstore.

Six is a diviner for the Abbess of Ashling in the country of Traum. Which means, people come to her, paying her in blood and the Abbess in money, and she drowns in the spring water and divines their futures for them. It’s all she’s ever known, and while she doesn’t love doing it (um, I would wonder if she did), she is very good. What she and her sister diviners (creatively: one through five) really want is for their ten year term to be up and for them to move on with their lives.

Except, over the course of a few nights, Six’s sister diviners go missing. Thankfully, the king and his knights are passing through, and Six escapes with them (well, with the one devilishly handsome, and yet not very nice – the use of the word “ignoble” happened more than once) to go visit each of the omens and to find out what happened to the only things (okay, they’re not “things”) she cared about.

I wanted to like this one much more than I actually did. I had issues with the world (why would you get six diviners at once, and have them all leave at the same time? Why would you NOT stagger their times of service?) and eventually, with the romance. Sure, the knight was all considerate and whatever, but when I finally got to the first sex scene, it was kind of… silly. There was absolutely no chemistry there, and I kept rolling my eyes at it all. And then the twist at the end? I’m not sure it made me mad because it was out of left field (there were clues, but not great ones), or because it was just stupid.

I finished the book (it was a book group book), but I didn’t love it, and I have no intention of reading the sequel.

Faithbreaker

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by Hannah Kaner
First sentence: “Hestra, god of hearths, felt the flame of Hseth’s coming.”
Support your local independent bookstore: buy it there!
Others in the series: Godkiller, Sunbringer
Content: There is swearing, including multiple f-bombs, off-screen sex, and lots and lots of violence. It’s in the Science Fiction/Fantasy section of the bookstore.

Spoilers for the other two, obviously.

Things aren’t going well for Middren – the rebellion against the king failed (he’s not quite as bad though), and the neighboring country of Talicia is using their newfound power through the god Hseth to conquer (though it’s more like, burn, kill, rape, and pillage) their way through MIddren. The only thing Middren can do is rally its forces – King Aren convinces Elo to be the head of the army and Aren’s right-hand man – and ask for aid from neighboring countries, and possibly the gods themselves. Kissen, Inara, and Inara’s mother are sent off to do that. Of course, if that were all, the book would be 75 pages and we’d be done.

But, Kaner is a better writer than that. She takes us on a journey, both in terms of distance and politics, as well as personally. There is so much growth in this book, it’s incredible. Kaner’s playing with ideas of religion, of forgiveness and reconciliation, of faith and what that can mean. It’s incredible.

I do have to admit that it took me a while to get into this one, mostly because it has been a year since I read Sunbringer and I needed to adjust myself back to Kaner’s writing and her world. But the trilogy is all out, so you can just plow through them one right after another, which is how this world should be experienced, I think.

Such a good series.