The Nameless City trilogy, by Faith Erin Hicks: Good for kids, also for adults. Themes of war, friendship, and preservation of what’s important.
A Hero Born, by Jin Yong, translated by Anna Holmwood: It’s like a wuxia serial, but in novel form. 90% discussion of honor and extreme martial arts; 10% plot.
Null Set, by S.L. Huang: Sequel to Zero Sum Game; math supergenius assassin may be going crazy but is she going to ask for help? Never.
The Old Woman With the Knife, by Gu Byeong-mo, translated by Chi-Young Kim: a grandma assassin! Contemplative but still stabby.
Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy’s Guide to the Constitution, by Elie Mystal: Mystal’s take on the Constitution of the United States is essentially this: it was written by white male supremacists interested in codifying white male supremacy; any subsequent attempts to undo this have been undercut by more supremacists; the fight goes on.
Dandelion, by Jamie Chai Yun Liew: Really interesting exploration of citizenship, family, and both social and private pressures.
The Secret History, by Donna Tartt: Ridiculously lush and gothic “creepy academia” novel. Come for the language, stay despite the fact that every single character is annoying.
The Siren Depths, by Martha Wells: Book 3 of the Raksura novels would not have been able to hit its emotional notes so perfectly without the grounding of the first 2 books. Absolutely stuck the landing.
Golden Age and Other Stories, by Naomi Novik: Essentially this is Temeraire fan fiction, except it’s by the author, so it’s naturally very good and possibly even canon.
The King of Attolia, by Megan Whalen Turner: The most amazing thing about the way Turner writes about Eugenides, former Queen’s Thief and newly crowned King, is how he constantly fools everyone into underestimating him, including readers who should know better considering this is the third book. Absolutely stunning.
The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, by Becky Chambers: Follows A Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, but only insofar as one of the characters is reused, and the other characters are briefly referenced. A group of misfits come together in support and friendship. It’s like a warm sci-fi hug.
Love-in-a-Mist, by Victoria Goddard: Book 5 of the Greenwing and Dart series finds our heroes forced to take shelter from the storm in a creepy old mansion, where the family of the local lord have gathered to compete for the inheritance, excuse me, I mean, prove their affection for their aging relative, except there’s also magic and class differences and a murder. Very cute.
Stay and Fight, by Madeline ffitch: A modern, queer take on an unconventional Appalachian family. Touches on politics, pipelines, class tensions, materialism, and how the government punishes poverty, but at its heart is about how what makes a family is one’s desire to stay and fight for it.
Siren Queen, by Nghi Vo: In the gilded age of cinema, as beautiful men and women make sacrifices to the occult powers that control Hollywood in a bid for literal stardom, a young Chinese-American girl yearns for fame, but on her own terms. Creepy and beautiful.
Counting Descent, by Clint Smith: A beautiful, biting collection of poems reflecting Smith’s experience as a black man growing up in a society determined to distrust black men.
A Study in Scarlet Women, by Sherry Thomas: Feminist take on the Sherlock story in which a brilliant woman has to use a male persona to get any respect. Despite that brilliant start, though, the plot felt very contrived.
Word by Word: the Secret Life of Dictionaries, by Kory Stamper: A linguistics nerd takes you behind the scenes of dictionary creation. Super fun.