RogerBW's Blog

Clockwork Boys, T Kingfisher 15 March 2024

2017 fantasy, first of a pair. A disgraced paladin, an assassin, a forger and a scholar ride out on a suicide mission…

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The Dark Archive, Genevieve Cogman 13 March 2024

2020 alternate-world fantasy, seventh of its series. Irene's trying to train up a new assistant, but someone's attacking them and their allies…

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All is Fair, Emma Newman 02 March 2024

2013 fantasy, third volume of its series. Cathy tries to kick off her project to reform society in the Nether; Max still works for the increasingly erratic sorcerer Ekstrand; Sam is dragged into the Elemental Court.

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Summer Lightning, P. G. Wodehouse 28 February 2024 - 1 comment

1929 comedy. All the couples are at odds, but more importantly, the Empress of Blandings is missing. US vt Fish Preferred.

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The Secret Chapter, Genevieve Cogman 26 February 2024

2019 alternate-world fantasy, sixth of its series. The world where Irene went to school is threatened by chaos, and only a particular book will save it. But that means she's going to have to deal with the Fae…

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The Ships of Air, Martha Wells 16 February 2024

2004 gaslamp fantasy. All the pieces are moving in different directions, across multiple worlds and multiple factions.

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Any Other Name, Emma Newman 09 February 2024

2013 fantasy, second volume of a series. Cat's forced into marriage; Max and the gargoyle investigate a sudden power vacuum; Sam worries about his wife.

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The Mortal Word, Genevieve Cogman 26 January 2024

2018 alternate-world fantasy, fifth of its series. The Fae and the Dragons have been brought to an alternate Paris to negotiate a peace treaty. But one of the negotiators has been assassinated, and not-Sherlock-Holmes Lord Peregrine Vale is the obvious person to solve it.

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The Halcyon Fairy Book, T Kingfisher 19 January 2024 - 3 comments

2017 fantasy anthology in two parts, commentaries on fairy stories and a few original ones.

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Between Two Thorns, Emma Newman 12 January 2024

2013 fantasy, first of a series. There are magical worlds beyond our own… and most of the people who live there are horrible.

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The Lost Plot, Genevieve Cogman 18 December 2023

2017 alternate-world fantasy, fourth of its series. A political struggle leaves Irene dodging everyone from gangsters to dragons in alt-1920s New York.

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Carry On, Celia Lake 13 December 2023

2020 romantic fantasy, first of a new loose series. In the spring of 1915, Major Roland Gospatrick is recovering in hospital, though nobody will tell him what's wrong with him. Elen Morris is assigned as his latest nurse, though he doesn't expect her to last any longer than the others.

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The 13th Warrior 30 November 2023 - 3 comments

1999 pseudo-historical fantasy, dir. John McTiernan*, Antonio Banderas, Vladimir Kulich: IMDb / allmovie. Ahmad ibn Fadlan's diplomatic mission to the Volga Vikings goes further than anyone expected.

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The Wizard Hunters, Martha Wells 27 November 2023

2003 gaslamp fantasy. Ile-Rien is under attack by the mysterious Gardier and their black airships. Tremaine Valiarde doesn't really care about that; she's just looking for a way to die, on her own terms. In another world, Ilias wants to make sure the wizard he killed is still dead.

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Magic Claims, Ilona Andrews 10 November 2023

2023 modern fantasy, continuation of the Kate Daniels series. Kate and Curran are still trying to live in peace, but the effort is still doomed.

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Tavern Rats, Matt Youngmark 03 November 2023 - 3 comments

2022 comic fantasy. Frinzil the sorcery student suddenly has to pay for several years of tuition. Obviously the way to do this is to go adventuring.

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Big Trouble in Little China 24 October 2023 - 2 comments

1986 martial arts fantasy, dir. John Carpenter, Kurt Russell, Kim Cattrall: IMDb / allmovie. Jack Burton doesn't care about immortal sorcerers and demon kings, he just wants his truck back.

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Summer in Orcus, T Kingfisher 11 October 2023

2017 fantasy, first released as a web serial. When Baba Yaga's house walks into Summer's back yard, she sets off on an adventure…

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The Burning Page, Genevieve Cogman 06 October 2023

2016 alternate-world fantasy, third of its series. The Library is under attack!

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Spectred Isle, K J Charles 27 September 2023

2017 fantasy, first of a projected series. It's 1923, and most of England's occultists died during the War. But magical threats haven't gone away…

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Wheel of the Infinite, Martha Wells 22 September 2023

2000 fantasy. Maskelle was a high-ranking priest, but did something bad and has been living in exile. Now she's called back to Duvalpore, because something strange is going on with the Hundred-Year Rite that will reinforce the world…

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Seven Sisters, Celia Lake 18 September 2023

2020 romantic fantasy, seventh and last of its loose series. Vivian Porter's inquiry agency is humming along, so she does a favour for a friend by looking into strange goings-on at a boarding house outside Oxford.

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The Masked City, Genevieve Cogman 25 August 2023

2015 alternate-world fantasy. Irene's apprentice is kidnapped from steampunk Victorian London, and she has to go to an ideal of Venice to rescue him.

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The Hollow Hills, Mary Stewart 18 August 2023 - 3 comments

1973 Arthurian fantasy, second of its series. Merlin watches over Arthur, from his birth to his coronation.

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Conquer the Kingdom, Jennifer Estep 16 August 2023

2023 fantasy, last of its trilogy. Princess Gemma has got her man, but still has other problems to solve, including his murderous brother and their scheming mother.

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The Raven and the Reindeer, T Kingfisher 24 July 2023

2016 fantasy. Gerta's friend Kay is stolen away by the Snow Queen; so off she goes to get him back.

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On the Bias, Celia Lake 19 July 2023

2020 romantic fantasy, sixth of its loose series. Castalia Jones has built up her dressmaking business to the point where she can make choices about what to make, and for whom. Benton is Lord Carillon's valet, factotum, and household manager. They don't particularly like each other…

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The Invisible Library, Genevieve Cogman 12 July 2023 - 6 comments

2014 alternate-world fantasy. The Library connects all libraries; agents are sent out into alternate worlds to collect unique books. Irene is going to a steampunk Victorian London to retrieve a particular edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales, but it's all going to get terribly complicated.

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The Death of the Necromancer, Martha Wells 05 July 2023

1998 gaslamp fantasy. Nicholas Valiarde is a nobleman turned thief, obsessed by his revenge plan against the villainous Count Montesq. But now someone who seems too powerful to be the common con-artist he looks like is interfering with that…

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Bryony and Roses, T Kingfisher 14 June 2023 - 1 comment

2015 fantasy. Bryony is caught in a snowstorm and takes refuge in an abandoned manor house that casually gives her food and drink. But when she tries to take home the cut rose…

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In the Cards, Celia Lake 10 May 2023

2019 romantic fantasy, fifth of its loose series. Lorelei "Laura" Penhallow has been healed of her consumption enough to live a normal life, and that includes being invited for a weekend house party by a family with an eligible son. But we all know what happens at weekend house parties.

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City of Bones, Martha Wells 28 April 2023

1995 post-apocalyptic fantasy. Charisat is the greatest of the cities in the Great Waste, and a centre for the trade of Ancient relics. Khat and Sagai are relic-dealers, as much as they can be when (as non-citizens) it would be illegal for them to use coinage. But a Patrician demands Khat's services as a guide in the Waste…

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Tear Down the Throne, Jennifer Estep 31 March 2023

2022 fantasy, second of its trilogy. Princess Gemma continues to try to work out what the Mortans are up to.

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Sweep With Me, Ilona Andrews 23 March 2023

2022 SF/fantasy novel in the Innkeeper series. In what seems like an obvious trap for Dina and Sean, Sean's mentor is kidnapped and taken to a planet that's almost certainly fatal to get to. Someone else can provide safe transport, but there's a price…

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Alanna: the First Adventure, Tamora Pierce 20 March 2023 - 6 comments

1983 fantasy, first of a tetralogy. Alanna wants to be a knight and have adventures; her twin brother Thom wants to be trained in magic. So they swap roles, and Alanna disguises herself as a boy.

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The Grief of Stones, Katherine Addison 06 March 2023

2022 fantasy. Thara Celehar continues to witness for the dead. But as with any agent of the law, there are people who don't want him doing his job.

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The Seventh Bride, T Kingfisher 04 March 2023

2014 fantasy. Rhea the miller's daughter was expecting that she'd get married some day… but why has Lord Crevan made an offer for her at all, never mind right now?

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Magic Tides, Ilona Andrews 02 March 2023

2023 modern fantasy novella, continuation of the Kate Daniels series. Kate, her husband Lennart and their son Conlan just want to live in peace for a bit. Of course that isn't going to happen.

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Grave Importance, Vivian Shaw 24 February 2023

2019 urban fantasy, third and to date last of its series. Dr Greta Helsing is invited to step in as clinical resident at a spa for mummies. But something very strange is going on…

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Know Your Rites, Andy Redsmith 20 February 2023

2019 comic fantasy, second and to date last of the Inspector Paris series. The invasion from fantasyland has been repelled, but things aren't quite back to normal.

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Wards of the Roses, Celia Lake 13 February 2023

2019 romantic fantasy, fourth of its loose series. Kate Davies is a Guard, one of the magical police force of England. There was more interesting work when the men were off at the Great War, but what's left is better than nothing. Her new assignment is to help out Giles Lefton, mathematics professor and puzzle-solver, as he tries to solve the riddle of a country house that has suddenly appeared, surounded by a mass of roses.

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Dreadful Company, Vivian Shaw 08 February 2023

2018 urban fantasy, second of its series. Dr Greta Helsing is in Paris for a conference on unnatural medicine. But other people are there too.

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Spider's Bite, Jennifer Estep 18 January 2023 - 2 comments

2010 urban fantasy, first of a 19-book series. In a magical world, Gin Blanco is an assassin for hire, until the job goes bad.

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Strange Practice, Vivian Shaw 13 January 2023 - 1 comment

2017 urban fantasy, first of its series. Dr Greta Helsing is a doctor to monsters: vampires, ghouls, mummies, and stranger things. And now a sect of murderous monks is attacking them all…

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Breaking the Lore, Andy Redsmith 30 December 2022

2019 comic fantasy, first of the Inspector Paris series. Paris is a hard-drinking Mancunian detective, but he's not prepared for a beautiful woman crucified in a suburban garden. Or for her to be fifteen centimetres tall.

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Nona the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir 23 December 2022

2022 fantasy, third of what was going to be a trilogy but has now expanded. Nona is a child living in a city at war, but still just about managing to go to school, while Camilla and Pyrrha look after her.

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Nine Goblins, T Kingfisher 19 December 2022 - 3 comments

2013 fantasy novella. Goblins don't make very good soldiers, but there are lots of them. After an incident with a wizard, nine of them find themselves deep behind enemy lines. Fortunately, they run into a veterinarian…

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Magician's Hoard, Celia Lake 14 December 2022

2019 romantic fantasy, third of its loose series. Proserpina Gates, widowed bookseller, is helping a client find a rumoured Roman treasure on her land. Ibis Ward is the scholar she engages to assist with the research…

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Unraveller, Frances Hardinge 05 November 2022

2022 fantasy. In the marsh-woods of Raddith, Things are living. And some of them give people the ability to curse: if you fester a hatred for long enough, you can turn your enemy into bees, or steal their shadow, or just set them on fire…

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Goblin Fruit, Celia Lake 29 October 2022

2019 romantic fantasy, second of its loose series. In a slightly sideways magical 1924, Elspeth Penhallow finds herself looking into the suppliers of an addictive magical drink. As does Lord Geoffrey Carillon…

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Outcrossing, Celia Lake 17 September 2022

2018 romantic fantasy, first of its loose series. In a slightly sideways magical 1922, Rufus tries to find work and keep up his cottage in the New Forest, but everyone despises him as one of the few to have come back unharmed from the War. Feronia, of rather better family but having taken work as a governess to escape from an arranged marriage, is one of the people who might take him seriously…

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Water to Burn, Katharine Kerr 29 August 2022

2011 urban fantasy, second of its series. Nola O'Grady, high-grade psychic, continues to work for no-such-agency tracking down supernatural threats to the people of San Francisco.

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Shadowlands, Violette Malan 26 August 2022

2012 fantasy. The war in Faerie is over. But not everyone will accept the rule of the new Prince, and some of them are causing trouble back on Earth.

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The Element of Fire, Martha Wells 22 August 2022

1993 fantasy. King Roland of Ile-Rien is a weakling controlled by his favourite; only his mother, the ageing Dowager Queen Ravenna, is holding the kingdom together. Meanwhile the sorcerer Urbain Grandier has fled from the Inquisition and kidnapped the one magician left at court. For Thomas Boniface, captain of the Queen's Guard, all it needs is the king's half-fey bastard sister Kade Carrion to be up to her old tricks…

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Morningstar, Liz Williams 20 August 2022

2014 urban fantasy, self-published, sixth of its series. A mysterious Something comes to Singapore Three and makes its home in a largely-disused temple. And the Emperors of Heaven and Hell have both gone missing…

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Capture the Crown, Jennifer Estep 10 August 2022

2021 fantasy, first of a trilogy, linked to the earlier Crown of Shards series. Gemma's public image is of a spoiled princess; so nobody expects her to be working undercover. But it seems that she's not the only one.

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The Mirror Prince, Violette Malan 28 July 2022

Max Ravenhill is a history professor, or so he thinks: but then a strange woman tells him that he's really an exile from the lands of the Fae…

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Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree 17 July 2022

2022 fantasy. Viv the orc settles down after a life of adventuring… to open a coffee shop.

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The Iron Khan, Liz Williams 15 July 2022 - 2 comments

2010 urban fantasy. The Book that created the universe is missing, and may be getting Ideas; Detective Inspector Chen investigates. Meanwhile Zhu Irzh is finding himself drawn to the Great Khan.

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The Language of Power, Rosemary Kirstein 10 July 2022

2004 fantasy/SF, fourth of its series. Rowan the Steerswoman returns to the port town of Donner, to try to learn more about the fallen Guidestar and the wizard who made it fall.

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Happily Never After, Jeaniene Frost 02 July 2022

2008 urban fantasy novella, side story in the Night Huntress (Cat and Bones) series. Isabella Spaga the restaurateur has caught the eye of a minor-league mobster looking to move up in the world, he insists on marrying her, and her ne'er-do-well brother tells her to go along with it then drops out of contact. But help is on the way.

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License to Ensorcell, Katharine Kerr 26 June 2022

2010 urban fantasy. Nola O'Grady works for a government agency that doesn't exist, to preserve Harmony in the face of Order and Chaos. Back in her home town of San Francisco, she's looking into portents of doom. She tries to keep this separate from her family, but, well, many of them have magic talents too…

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The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl, Theodora Goss 22 June 2022

2019 historical fantasy, third and probably last of its series. The various monstrous ladies – Mary Jekyll and Diana Hyde, Beatrice Rappacini, Catherine Moreau, Justine Frankenstein, and Lucinda Van Helsing – return from Budapest to find both Alice their housemaid and Sherlock Holmes missing.

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Crush the King, Jennifer Estep 18 June 2022

2020 fantasy, last of its trilogy. Queen Everleigh Blair decides to take the fight to the enemy: the king of neighbouring Morta, who with his sister orchestrated the massacre that put her on the throne and continues to try to assassinate her.

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Wilkins' Tooth, Diana Wynne Jones 12 June 2022

1973 children's fantasy. It's the summer holidays; Frank and Jess need money after a chair got broken, and set up Own Back Limited, a revenge-for-hire service. But things get far too complicated far too quickly. US vt Witch's Business.

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Path of the Sun, Violette Malan 03 June 2022

2010 fantasy, fourth in the Dhulyn and Parno series. Our mercenary heroes escort a princess to her wedding; but they're also sent to find out what happened to the last two mercenaries sent to that court…

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Knot of Shadows, Lois McMaster Bujold 24 May 2022

2021 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). A corpse found floating in the harbour is not unusual… but this one, while clearly dead, is still moving. Penric digs into what happened, and why.

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The Lost Steersman, Rosemary Kirstein 20 May 2022

2003 fantasy/SF, third of its series. Rowan the Steerswoman comes to the seaside town of Alemeth, searching the Annex for evidence of a wizard who doesn't seem to exist…

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How the White Trash Zombie Got Her Groove Back, Diana Rowland 02 May 2022

2014 urban fantasy, fourth of its series. Angel Crawford is still a zombie (subtype conscious and super-strong, though still cerebrivorous), and things seem to be going all right, but several of her allies get kidnapped by the evil corporation…

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The Shadow Pavilion, Liz Williams 27 April 2022

2008 urban fantasy. Detective Inspector Chen's partner has disappeared, finding himself stalked by tiger-demons. And someone is trying to assassinate the new Emperor of Heaven.

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The Witness for the Dead, Katherine Addison 10 April 2022

2021 fantasy. Thara Celehar is a witness for the dead, a priest who can retrieve some memories of the recently-deceased. Having been of some slight assistance to the emperor, he's moved away as far as he can from the court and politics, and just wants to be able to do his job…

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Leave It to Psmith, P. G. Wodehouse 04 April 2022

1923 comedy. Psmith finds himself at Blandings, impersonating a squalid but trendy Canadian poet.

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The Outskirter's Secret, Rosemary Kirstein 27 February 2022

1992 fantasy/SF, second of its series. Rowan the Steerswoman and Bel the barbarian travel into the Outskirts to try to find the source of the mysterious blue jewels…

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The Storm Witch, Violette Malan 22 February 2022

2009 fantasy, third in the Dhulyn and Parno series. Our mercenary heroes are forced to take a long ocean voyage to mediate between shipbuilding nomads and the land power they trade with; things go comprehensively wrong.

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The Hanging Tree, Ben Aaronovitch 15 February 2022

Contemporary fantasy, sixth in the series. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, is back in London, starting with a magic-related drug overdose and following clues to the Big Bad.

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The Ancients, Nick Marsh 08 February 2022

2011 fantasy. The civil war is over, and Lord Protector Cranmer is in charge… but seems strangely unwilling to go about the business of ruling. Meanwhile the last of the Royal Guard finds a dead woman by the side of the road…

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Firebreak, Nicole Kornher-Stace 28 January 2022

2021 SF. Mallory and Jessa are orphans of the corporate wars, streaming their VR gameplay in the hope of getting more water credits. But the real prize in the game is finding the SecOps NPCs, automated avatars of real-world corporate supersoldiers…

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The Assassins of Thasalon, Lois McMaster Bujold 17 January 2022 - 1 comment

2021 fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Penric's brother-in-law, the former General Arisaydia, is quite happy to ignore the Imperial succession crisis. But one of the factions doesn't trust him to stay out, and sends a new sort of assassin after him. Which generates a theological challenge for Penric…

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White Trash Zombie Apocalypse, Diana Rowland 10 January 2022

2013 urban fantasy, third of its series. Angel Crawford is still a zombie (subtype conscious and super-strong, though still cerebrivorous), and gradually getting her new life together. It doesn't help that nobody tells her anything.

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The Emperor's Edge, Lindsay Buroker 24 December 2021

2010 steampunk fantasy, first of its series. Amaranthe Lokdon is a cop in the Empire's capital city, struggling against sex prejudice. While she's dealing with a robbery, the young Emperor has a chance conversation with her, and next thing she knows the General of the Armies is sending her out alone on a job to kill Sicarius, the most dangerous assassin ever known…

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Precious Dragon, Liz Williams 20 December 2021

2007 urban fantasy. Detective Inspector Chen and his demonic partner Zhu Irzh just want to get on with solving crime. But they're set to escort a celestial diplomat from Heaven on a visit to Hell…

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Masquerade in Lodi, Lois McMaster Bujold 16 December 2021

2019 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). In the not-Venice city of Lodi, Penric's called to look at a madman recovered from the sea. Sure enough, he's got a demon riding him. Then he runs away.

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A Succession of Bad Days, Graydon Saunders 12 December 2021 - 5 comments

2015 military fantasy. In the new Second Commonwealth, five apprentices learn to use their magical power.

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River of Teeth, Sarah Gailey 04 December 2021

2017 alternate-history novella. In the 1850s, President Buchanan approved a plan to import hippopotamoi into the US as livestock – they'd eat the invasive plants and produce plenty of meat. Forty years later, the hippo is both ranched animal and mount… but feral hippos infest the lower Mississippi, until someone comes up with a plan to clear them out.

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Protect the Prince, Jennifer Estep 29 November 2021

2019 fantasy, second of its trilogy. Everleigh Blair killed the usurper and took the throne of Bellona… but her problems are not even slightly over.

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The Fiend Queen, Barbara Ann Wright 22 November 2021

2015 fantasy, last of the Katya and Starbride tetralogy. Katya and Starbride are both fighting to depose the Fiend-possessed usurper Roland, but winning that battle won't be the hardest thing either of them has to do.

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Past Tense, Nick Marsh 19 November 2021

2010 SF/fantasy, sequel to Soul Purpose. Alan Reece has coped with his experiences as the Conduit, a link between this universe and the space outside it, by trying to ignore them. Unfortunately there are things out there that aren't going to ignore him.

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Shadowborn, Alison Sinclair 14 October 2021

2011 fantasy, last of its trilogy. The Shadowborn are attacking, and even if Lightborn and Darkborn work together that may not be enough to stop them…

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Oath Bound, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 20 September 2021

2015 historical fantasy, fifth in the Order of the Air series. Late in 1935, Alma, Lewis and Mitch are showing off the new Catalina at an air show in Palermo, while Jerry is across the Med in Alexandria following magical hints to the lost tomb of Alexander the Great.

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The Steerswoman, Rosemary Kirstein 25 August 2021

1989 fantasy/SF. In a primitive world, Rowan is a Steerswoman, a wandering scholar sworn to answer any question she can. She tries to learn more about strange jewels found in the Outskirts, but it seems that the wizards object…

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Soul Purpose, Nick Marsh 17 August 2021

2006 SF/fantasy. Alan Reece is a vet who hates his job, who's just seen something downright strange on a late night call. Kate is an ex-medium turned physics student whose models of the new particle accelerator show some disturbing possibilities. It's not the end of the world. If we're lucky.

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The Initiate, James L. Cambias 15 August 2021

2020 modern fantasy. If magicians are powerful, why don't they rule the world? Well, they do, but secretly. Two years ago a monster slaughtered Sam's wife and son, and he's quietly been drinking himself to death ever since; but now he meets someone else who knows what's going on, and is willing to help him get his revenge.

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A Kingdom Lost, Barbara Ann Wright 05 August 2021

2014 fantasy, third of a tetralogy. Princess Katya is with the royal family, trying to drum up support for an army to retake the capital and depose the usurper. Her lover Starbride is hiding in the capital, gathering information and building a resistance.

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Latchkey, Nicole Kornher-Stace 19 July 2021

2018 fantasy/SF, sequel to Archivist Wasp. The Catchkeep-priest has been overthrown, and the former acolytes and Archivist are an uneasy part of the post-apocalyptic community of Sweetwater. But bad things are coming…

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The Little White Horse, Elizabeth Goudge 15 July 2021

1946 children's fantasy. In 1842, newly-orphaned Maria Merryweather leaves London to live with her only relative, somewhere in the West Country. Everything seems idyllic, except…

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European Travel for the Monstrous Gentlewoman, Theodora Goss 10 July 2021

2018 historical fantasy, second of a trilogy. The five monstrous daughters/creations of mad scientists have made a life for themselves in London; but their old governess Miss Murray wants their help in Vienna with Lucinda van Helsing and the secretive Société des Alchimistes…

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Lightborn, Alison Sinclair 17 June 2021

2010 fantasy, second of its trilogy. Both Darkborn (burned by light) and Lightborn (dissolved by darkness) are having political upheavals, with assassination only another tool in the kit. Someone seems to be trying to set them at war with each other. But will anyone listen in time?

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The Old Guard 14 June 2021 - 2 comments

2020 fantasy, dir. Gina Prince-Bythewood, Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne: IMDb / allmovie. From the dawn of time they came, moving silently down the centuries…

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Kill the Queen, Jennifer Estep 12 June 2021

2018 fantasy, first of a trilogy. Evie is a very minor member of the royal family, without significant magic or status; even when the Crown Princess carries out a coup against the Queen, she just wants to be ignored. But as the only other survivor of the family, she won't be granted that luxury.

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The Left-Handed Booksellers of London, Garth Nix 07 June 2021

2020 urban fantasy. Susan Arkshaw, brought up in the country by her slightly dippy mother, goes to London to start her art degree and try to find her father. Magic ensues.

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The Pirates in the Deep Green Sea, Eric Linklater 04 June 2021 - 2 comments

1949 children's fantasy. Timothy and Hew live on Popinsay Island with their father, a retired naval captain, and help look for the pirate ship reputed to have been wrecked nearby. But soon they will get involved in larger adventures…

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The Soldier King, Violette Malan 02 June 2021

2008 fantasy, the second in the Dhulyn and Parno series. They're on the winning side of a battle against an aggressive kingdom, and they've captured the crown prince; and that's only the start of their troubles.

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A Book of Tongues, Gemma Files 20 May 2021 - 4 comments

2010 western fantasy, first of a trilogy. It's after the American Civil War, and there are a few magicians out there. Also gods, or at least things that want to claim they are.

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Wind Raker, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 07 May 2021

2015 historical fantasy, fourth in the Order of the Air series. It's 1935, and the Gilchrist Aviation team are in Hawaii testing a new flying-boat – except for Jerry the archaeologist, who's on a dig looking for evidence of Chinese explorers reaching the islands.

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Tales from Outer Suburbia, Shaun Tan 14 April 2021

2008 children's fantasy, illustrated short stories loosely based on suburban life.

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Cultural Artifacts, MaryAnn Johanson 10 April 2021

2021 SF, fantasy and horror anthology, 30 very short stories.

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Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues, Diana Rowland 11 March 2021

2012 urban fantasy, second of its series. Angel Crawford, now a zombie, is finally getting her life sorted out: working at the coroner's, eating spare brains, planning beyond the immediate fun thing. But her life still has ways of getting complicated.

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The Ace of Skulls, Chris Wooding 08 March 2021

2013 steampunk fantasy, fourth and last of its series. Civil war has broken out between the Awakener cult and the government, and it's not entirely Captain Frey's fault.

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Monster Hunter 26 February 2021 - 2 comments

2020 fantasy action, dir. Paul W. S. Anderson, Milla Jovovich, Tony Jaa: IMDb / allmovie. A US Army patrol somewhere in Afghanistan is about to meet something it really didn't expect…

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Foxglove Summer, Ben Aaronovitch 19 February 2021 - 3 comments

2014 contemporary fantasy, fifth in the series. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, goes to Herefordshire to help the local force with the investigation into the disappearance of two girls.

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The Physicians of Vilnoc, Lois McMaster Bujold 15 February 2021

2020 short fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Penric and the demon Desdemona are called on to look at an unusual illness that's struck the barracks near his home town. Which wouldn't be quite as bad if he hadn't sworn off medicine after it nearly killed him.

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Colossal 13 February 2021

2016, dir. Nacho Vigalondo, Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis: IMDb / allmovie. Gloria is a drunken wreck who's gone back to her hometown; and a giant monster is rampaging through Seoul. Spoilers.

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Soul Hunt, Margaret Ronald 12 February 2021

2010 urban fantasy, third of the trilogy. After the events of the previous book, Evie Scelan is getting by, just barely, but things are gradually getting worse. Even her power to track down lost objects seems to be fading.

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Blood Heir, Ilona Andrews 02 February 2021

2021 modern fantasy, first in the Aurelia Ryder series, sequels to Kate Daniels. Eight years after Julie Lennart left post-magic-apocalypse Atlanta, Aurelia Ryder is back, with a new face, a prophecy to subvert and a murder to solve.

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New Cthulhu 2: More Recent Weird, Paula Guran 26 January 2021

2015 fantasy/horror anthology on the theme of modern Lovecraftian stories, sampling stories published between 2010 and 2014.

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The Orphans of Raspay, Lois McMaster Bujold 15 January 2021

2019 short fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). On his way home from a pointless job, Penric's ship is captured by pirates, and he finds himself responsible for two orphaned girls.

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New Cthulhu: The Recent Weird, Paula Guran 10 January 2021

2011 fantasy/horror anthology on the theme of modern Lovecraftian stories.

[more]
The Book of Cthulhu 2, Ross E. Lockhart 08 January 2021 - 1 comment

2012 fantasy/horror anthology, consisting of more stories inspired by Lovecraft.

[more]
The Once and Future Witches, Alix E. Harrow 29 December 2020 - 5 comments

2020 fantasy. In Gilded Age America, there's no such thing as witches: they were burned, and all that sort of thing was stamped out. But there will be witches again.

[more]
For Want of a Fiend, Barbara Ann Wright 26 December 2020

2012 fantasy, second of a tetralogy. Princess Katya and her consort Starbride must deal with opposition on several fronts, even if it does lead back to the same source.

[more]
Iron Jackal, Chris Wooding 30 November 2020

2011 steampunk fantasy. The misfit crew of the Ketty Jay has fame, at least a bit of fortune, and a new and exciting job… oh dear.

[more]
A Pretty Mouth, Molly Tanzer 26 November 2020 - 2 comments

2012 collection of mildly Lovecraftian fantasy/horror stories, loosely connected by reference to the Calipash family.

[more]
The Book of Cthulhu, Ross E. Lockhart 20 November 2020 - 2 comments

2011 fantasy/horror anthology, consisting of stories inspired by Lovecraft.

[more]
The Demon and the City, Liz Williams 29 October 2020

2006 urban fantasy, second in the series set in Singapore Three. With Detective Inspector Chen on vacation, Seneschal Zhu Irzh, his demonic partner, must look into the matter of a murdered socialite…

[more]
Something Fresh, P. G. Wodehouse 13 October 2020

1915 comedy. For reasons too silly to go into, several of the guests at Blandings are out to steal a rare scarab… US vt Something New (with slight alterations).

[more]
The Armor of Light, Melissa Scott and Lisa A. Barnett 08 October 2020

1988 historical fantasy. In 1595, Elizabeth has decided that James of Scotland shall be her heir. But he is beset by witches, and she sends her champion, Sir Philip Sidney, to aid him.

[more]
The Night Shifters, Emily Devenport 27 September 2020

2010 fantasy. Hazel's mother told her never to give up on her dreams… but turns out she didn't quite mean it in the usual way. Hazel is a Grand Champion Dreamer, and when she wakes up in the Night she's going to have to prove it.

[more]
Silver Bullet, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 21 September 2020

2013 historical fantasy, third in the Order of the Air series. In the winter of 1932, planes are crashing in the Rockies, and a Greek medallion being valued in New York may be worth vastly more than it seems.

[more]
The Tiger's Daughter, K. Arsenault Rivera 18 September 2020 - 10 comments

2017 fantasy romance, first of its series. The Hokkaran Empire rules practically everyone, including the Qorin horse nomads whom it conquered half a generation ago. But plagues and demons are rising, and two young warriors will have to save the world.

[more]
The Crystal Cave, Mary Stewart 12 September 2020

1970 Arthurian fantasy, first of its series. The young Myrddin is haunted by portents and visions, and is the plaything of gods.

[more]
The Mysterious Study of Doctor Sex, Tamsyn Muir 04 September 2020 - 2 comments

2020 fantasy novelette, prequel to the rest of the Locked Tomb series. When a study sealed for 400 years is to be opened, the young Palamedes Sextus and Camilla Hect are part of the investigating team. But someone has been in there since it was sealed.

[more]
Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir 31 August 2020

2020 fantasy, second of a trilogy. Harrowhark is now an imperial Lyctor, more or less. Which means she gets to fight an unwinnable battle with profoundly unreliable allies.

[more]
Steel Blues, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 29 August 2020

2013 historical fantasy, second in the Order of the Air series. In 1931, the Great Depression is biting and there's not much work for an air charter company in Colorado. So they enter a cross-country air race.

[more]
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, Susanna Clarke 30 July 2020 - 1 comment

2004 fantasy. In Regency England, magic is much more an historical curiosity than an occupation for gentlemen… until Mr Norrell of Hurtfew Abbey starts actually doing it again.

[more]
After the End of the World, Jonathan L. Howard 26 July 2020 - 2 comments

2017 Lovecraftian horror. Dan Carter, ex-cop, and Emily Lovecraft, librarian with a shotgun, are trying to come to terms with their new world. But threats to reality haven't gone away.

[more]
Airborn, Kenneth Oppel 23 July 2020

2004 young adult steampunk fantasy, first of a trilogy. Matt Cruse is a cabin boy aboard the airship Aurora.

[more]
The Pyramid Waltz, Barbara Ann Wright 19 July 2020

2012 fantasy, first of a tetralogy. As far as the court is concerned, Princess Katya spends her time at (both sorts of) venery; in fact she leads a secret band that hunts magic-using enemies of the king. Starbride is a foreigner sent to court to snare a rich lover, but she'd much rather spend her time studying law…

[more]
Wild Hunt, Margaret Ronald 15 July 2020

2010 urban fantasy. Evie Scelan was a big part of what happened to the previous magical rulers of Boston. Which means that everyone's looking to her to see what she's going to do about the power vacuum that's been left behind.

[more]
My Life as a White Trash Zombie, Diana Rowland 05 July 2020 - 2 comments

2011 urban fantasy, first of a series. Angel Crawford is a pill-popping loser living with her deadbeat alcoholic father in rural Louisiana. Until the night she blacks out and wakes up in hospital, with memories of a car crash but no injuries…

[more]
Darkborn, Alison Sinclair 02 July 2020

2009 fantasy, first of a trilogy. For centuries, humanity has been divided into the Darkborn, to whom light is fatal, and the Lightborn, who cannot live in darkness. Mostly they keep to their own communities, but Minhorne is a city shared uneasily between them. Balthasar Hearne, Darkborn doctor, takes in the pregnant fugitive who turns up on his doorstep just before sunrise… but it seems that her children are born with sight

[more]
In Your Dreams, Tom Holt 28 June 2020 - 2 comments

2004 comic fantasy, second in the J. W. Wells series. Paul Carpenter continues to blunder his way through magical hazards.

[more]
Last First Snow, Max Gladstone 09 June 2020

2015 fantasy. In the city of Dresediel Lex, the run-down area down by the docks is to be redeveloped, and everyone will make a lot of money. Except for the locals, but who cares about them?

[more]
Who Killed Sherlock Holmes?, Paul Cornell 31 May 2020 - 1 comment

2016 urban fantasy, third in the Shadow Police series. In this version of London, people's memories and obsessions bring something like ghosts to life… and now the ghost of Sherlock Holmes has been murdered.

[more]
Luminosity 3, Alicorn 22 May 2020

2012 contemporary fantasy short stories, a "re-imagining" of the Twilight series. Various snippets out of the lives of various characters in the earlier novels.

[more]
Carter & Lovecraft, Jonathan L. Howard 19 May 2020

2015 Lovecraftian horror. Dan Carter was a cop in New York, until his partner shot himself while they were arresting a child kidnapper. Now he's working as a private investigator, but it suddenly turns out that a complete stranger has left him a bookshop in his will…

[more]
Kitty Saves the World, Carrie Vaughn 16 May 2020

2015 urban fantasy, fourteenth and last in the series. Kitty's ready to try to assassinate the master vampire Roman before he can carry out his plan to rule the world. Spoilers.

[more]
Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir 11 May 2020 - 3 comments

2019 young adult fantasy, first of a planned trilogy. In a decaying interplanetary empire powered by necromancy, Gideon is a foundling brought up by the Ninth House, guardians of the Locked Tomb. But the Empire has required all the houses to send their necromancer-heirs, and a necromancer needs a bodyguard…

[more]
Low Midnight, Carrie Vaughn 07 May 2020

2014 urban fantasy, thirteenth in the series. A side story in which Cormac, the mercenary monster hunder turned ally of Kitty Norville, tracks down a historical murder and runs into some old contacts. Spoilers.

[more]
The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow 04 May 2020

2019 young adult fantasy. In Gilded Age America, January Scaller lives in a mansion filled with peculiar treasures, and is something of a peculiar treasure herself. Her father travels for months on end, hunting for artefacts for Mr Locke. But it gradually becomes clear that what really matters is the doors between worlds…

[more]
Deeplight, Frances Hardinge 30 April 2020

2019 fantasy. The islands of the Myriad used to have gods: great and implacable entities living in the sea, feared as much as worshipped. Thirty years ago, for no obvious reason, they turned on each other, fighting until they were all dead. But parts of their bodies make for useful salvage…

[more]
Kitty In the Underworld, Carrie Vaughn 20 April 2020 - 1 comment

2013 urban fantasy, twelfth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, is kidnapped by fanatics.

[more]
A Shield Against the Darkness, Todd Downing 16 April 2020

2012 historical fantasy short novel, first in the Airship Daedalus series. In a somewhat alternate 1925, ace pilot Jack McGraw is going to lead the hunt for Aleister Crowley's agents of chaos. (Released free of charge by the author.)

[more]
Clockwork Secrets: Heavy Fire, Dru Pagliassotti 12 April 2020

2014 steampunk fantasy romance, third in the Clockwork Heart trilogy. Taya and Cristof are on a diplomatic mission to Alzana, trying to prevent a war, when the Alzanan coup is launched, and of course as dubious foreigners they get blamed for the assassination of the royal family…

[more]
2020 Hugo Nominations revisited 11 April 2020

The nomination results are out.

[more]
Swords, Sorcery, & Self-Rescuing Damsels, Lee French and Sarah Craft 10 April 2020

2019 fantasy anthology, on the theme of female characters who solve their own problems rather than waiting for a man to do it for them.

[more]
Kitty Rocks the House, Carrie Vaughn 29 March 2020

2013 urban fantasy, eleventh in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, has multiple problems in Denver.

[more]
Azur Lane 24 March 2020

2019-2020, 12 episodes: AniDB. Schoolgirls with the spirit of WWII Japanese fighting ships take on an alien navy. Hang on, this sounds familiar…

[more]
Kitty Steals the Show, Carrie Vaughn 19 March 2020

2012 urban fantasy, tenth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, goes to London to give the keynote speech at the First International Conference on Paranatural Studies. It will not go smoothly.

[more]
Clockwork Lies: Iron Wind, Dru Pagliassotti 13 March 2020

2014 steampunk fantasy romance, second in the Clockwork Heart trilogy. Taya, an "icarus" flying courier, is now the wife of the Ondinan ambassador to Mareaux. But between the assassination attempts and the more conventional betrayals, her life is rarely boring. vt Iron Wind.

[more]
2020 Hugo Nominations 12 March 2020

I'm not planning to vote in the Hugos this year, but I am eligible to nominate. Nominations close early on Saturday morning, UK time.

[more]
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City, K J Parker 08 March 2020 - 1 comment

2019 fantasy of sorts. The Imperial City has been suddenly besieged, and its defences will be commanded by Orhan, Colonel of Engineers… not by his choice.

[more]
Gods of Jade and Shadow, Silvia Moreno-Garcia 04 March 2020

2019 fantasy. In Jazz Age Mexico, Casiopea Tun is a drudge working in her rich relatives' house. But when she frees a captive Mayan god…

[more]
The Private Life of Elder Things, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Adam Gauntlett and Keris McDonald 02 March 2020 - 1 comment

2016 Lovecraftian fantasy/horror anthology by three authors.

[more]
Kitty's Greatest Hits, Carrie Vaughn 22 February 2020

2011 urban fantasy, short stories in the world of Kitty Norville – which means werewolves, vampires, and other odder things.

[more]
Kitty's Big Trouble, Carrie Vaughn 14 February 2020

2011 urban fantasy, ninth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, goes to San Francisco to help out a friend. Who happens to be a vampire…

[more]
Kitty Goes to War, Carrie Vaughn 02 February 2020

2010 urban fantasy, eighth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, is still post-traumatic from the events of the last book, but has to face two new problems.

[more]
Sweep With Me, Ilona Andrews 28 January 2020

2020 SF novella in the Innkeeper series. During Treaty Stay, an annual holiday, Dina has to cope with yet more potentially-lethal alien guests.

[more]
Kitty's House of Horrors, Carrie Vaughn 18 January 2020

2009 urban fantasy, seventh in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, gets invited onto a reality show: shapeshifters, vampires and psychics put together in a remote house.

[more]
Halfway to the Grave, Jeaniene Frost 12 January 2020

2007 urban fantasy. In modern Ohio, Cat hunts vampires, surprisingly well for a human, but she has some hidden advantages. Bones is an ancient vampire who's tracking down his own kind for his own reasons. Eventually, they make common cause. There is also sex.

[more]
The Mandalorian season 1 05 January 2020 - 3 comments

2019 science fantasy, 8 episodes, Star Wars tie-in. After the fall of the Empire, there's still work for bounty hunters.

[more]
Kitty Raises Hell, Carrie Vaughn 30 December 2019

2009 urban fantasy, sixth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, thought she'd dealt with the problems in Las Vegas. But some of them have followed her home.

[more]
The Raven Tower, Ann Leckie 15 December 2019

2019 fantasy. The god Raven sustains the city of Vastai, via his Lease, a human ruler destined to sacrifice himself to the god. But Mawat the Lease's Heir returns to find that his father is missing and his uncle is the new Lease…

[more]
Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, Carrie Vaughn 27 November 2019

2009 urban fantasy, fifth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, is going to get married… in Las Vegas. So naturally she has to do a live show there too. And that isn't even the problem…

[more]
Dead Reckoning, Mercedes Lackey and Rosemary Edghill 30 October 2019

2012 steampunk western fantasy. In 1867, Jett Gallatin is a gunslinger searching for his brother who went missing after the War; White Horse is a civilian scout attached to the Union Army; and Gibbons is a scientist and inventor. All of them arrive in the town of Alsop, Texas, just as the zombies attack. But who made that happen, and why?

[more]
Kitty and the Silver Bullet, Carrie Vaughn 27 October 2019

2008 urban fantasy, fourth in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, returns to Denver to be with her sick mother; which means that all the problems she's been running away from come back to haunt her, with new ones to join them.

[more]
The Far West, Patricia C. Wrede 08 October 2019

2012 fantasy, third in the trilogy. In a parallel 19th century America, Eff Rothmer travels on an expedition past frontier territory, to where the magical beasts dwell.

[more]
Magic Triumphs, Ilona Andrews 10 September 2019

2018 modern fantasy, tenth and last in the Kate Daniels series. Things haven't got simpler for Kate, with a precocious infant son as well as her other responsibilities. Her father is mustering forces for the final battle. And that may not even be the worst of her problems…

[more]
Iron and Magic, Ilona Andrews 02 September 2019

2018 modern fantasy, first in a planned series spun off from the main Kate Daniels series. Hugh d'Ambray was the warlord of the demigod Roland, but was cast out for failure; he'd be crawling into a bottle, but his men need him. Elara Harper leads an outcast community that needs soldiers, and could offer shelter and employment. But both of them are known for betraying their allies. How can they make this alliance look credible to their enemies?

[more]
Magic Binds, Ilona Andrews 30 August 2019

2016 modern fantasy, ninth in the Kate Daniels series. Kate's father Roland continues to poke at her claim of the city of Atlanta, this time by kidnapping people under her protection. Kate and Curran agree to marry. And then there's the matter of prophecies…

[more]
Sabella, Tanith Lee 27 August 2019 - 1 comment

1980 fantasy with SF elements. On the colony world of Nova Mars, the blood-drinking Sabella lives on her own… but her aunt has just died, and seems in her will to be set on outing her as a vampire.

[more]
Magic Stars, Ilona Andrews 26 August 2019

2015 modern fantasy novella in the Kate Daniels series. Derek, now a vigilante known as the Grey Wolf, and Kate's adopted daughter Julie, deal with a killer and work out what it is the killer's trying to achieve.

[more]
Across the Great Barrier, Patricia C. Wrede 23 August 2019

2011 fantasy. On a parallel American frontier, thirteenth-child Eff Rothmer is a heroine of sorts for working out how to solve the plague of insects that was destroying settlements west of the Great Barrier Spell. But that doesn't help her work out what to do next.

[more]
Magic Shifts, Ilona Andrews 20 August 2019

2015 modern fantasy, eighth in the Kate Daniels series. Kate and Curran have stepped down from leadership of the Pack, and are trying to make new lives for themselves. But supernatural threats to Atlanta don't stop; the ghouls are swarming…

[more]
Magic Breaks, Ilona Andrews 12 August 2019

2014 modern fantasy, seventh in the Kate Daniels series. Kate's summoned to attend the Conclave, the icily polite meeting between Atlanta's vampire lords and shapeshifters. Of course it's a trap. But even the knowledge that it's a trap can be a trap.

[more]
Magic Steals, Ilona Andrews 09 August 2019

2014 modern fantasy novella in the Kate Daniels series. Dali Harimau, myopic vegetarian weretiger sorceress, looks into a missing grandmother.

[more]
Magic Rises, Ilona Andrews 04 August 2019

2013 modern fantasy, sixth in the Kate Daniels series. Curran is called to Abkhazia, ancient Colchis, to mediate in a dispute between three shapeshifter packs. It's obviously a trap. But the bait is really tempting…

[more]
Overlord II 31 July 2019

2017-2018 fantasy, continuing light novel adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB. Momonga, the VR MMORPG player who found himself stuck in the game world when the servers shut down, lives on as a super-powerful lich, and continues to…

[more]
Small Magics, Ilona Andrews 30 July 2019

2015 modern fantasy anthology, short stories in the Kate Daniels universe.

[more]
The Good Place season 3 29 July 2019

2018-2019 fantasy comedy, 13 episodes. The afterlife's experiments with ethics and moral philosophy continue.

[more]
Gunmetal Magic, Ilona Andrews 28 July 2019

2012 modern fantasy, intermediate novel in the Kate Daniels series. Andrea Nash looks into the murders of four shapeshifters… and the possibility that something much, much worse is going on.

[more]
Thirteenth Child, Patricia C. Wrede 15 July 2019

2009 fantasy. In a parallel 19th century America, Eff's twin brother Lan is the seventh son of a seventh son, so that means he's lucky, and he'll probably become a great wizard. But Eff is a thirteenth child, which means that everyone knows that sooner or later she'll turn bad.

[more]
Outbreak, Melissa F. Olson 12 July 2019

2018 modern fantasy novella, third and last in its series. The big bad vampire has broken the others out of prison, and is setting up for the big battle.

[more]
2019 Hugo Awards 08 July 2019

This is my ballot for the 2019 Hugo awards. I've talked about some of it already; see the "Hugo 2019" tag.

[more]
The Black God's Drums, P. Djèlí Clark 28 June 2019

2018 steampunk SF/fantasy novella. The American Civil War ended in a peace treaty, and New Orleans is a neutral city. But in among the airships and steam-powered walkers, someone's planning to deploy the ultimate terror weapon.

[more]
Beneath the Sugar Sky, Seanan McGuire 24 June 2019

2018 Hugo-nominated modern fantasy novella in the Wayward Children series. The Home for Wayward Children has another person to be got back to their right place.

[more]
Spinning Silver, Naomi Novik 20 June 2019

2018 fantasy. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father does a lousy job and so she takes over. Irina is the duke's daughter, given in marriage to the demon-ridden Tsar. Wanda is a peasant girl, beaten by her drunkard father, and looking for anything that might help her survive.

[more]
Magic Gifts, Ilona Andrews 14 June 2019

2011 modern fantasy novella in the Kate Daniels series. Kate's out for a meal with Curran when a fellow diner is handed a necklace… and is promptly strangled by it.

[more]
Magic Tests, Ilona Andrews 10 June 2019

2012 modern fantasy novelette in the Kate Daniels series. Julie, Kate's ward, is living with her in Atlanta after having been thrown out of her last school. Kate takes her to look at a new one… but it turns out that this is also a request for help, because one of the students has gone missing.

[more]
Magic Slays, Ilona Andrews 08 June 2019

2011 modern fantasy, fifth in the Kate Daniels series. Kate's set up as a freelance magical investigator, though she has no clients yet; when she gets a warning about a loose vampire, she'd have taken the job even without the public-safety angle. But that's just the first sign of a new threat.

[more]
Trail of Lightning, Rebecca Roanhorse 02 June 2019

2018 modern fantasy. After the Big Water, with two-thirds of North America flooded, magic has returned to the world. Maggie Hoskie is a hunter of monsters among the Diné (Navajo); she's also a very broken person.

[more]
Magic Dreams, Ilona Andrews 30 May 2019

2011 modern fantasy novella, side story between fourth and fifth in the Kate Daniels series. Dali Harimau, vegetarian weretiger, finds her pack leader (and crush) passed out in her house. A new magical threat needs a competent magician not only to handle it but to work out what's going on.

[more]
A Questionable Client, Ilona Andrews 06 May 2019

2010 modern fantasy novelette, prequel to the Kate Daniels series. Kate the mercenary gets a short-notice, high-paying bodyguard job, for a particularly repulsive client.

[more]
Magic Bleeds, Ilona Andrews 28 April 2019

2010 modern fantasy, fourth in the Kate Daniels series. A bar fight that went a bit strange turns out to have been the first inkling of a deity-level supernatural threat to Atlanta. Just another day at the office.

[more]
Moana 14 April 2019

2016 animated fantasy, dir. Ron Clements and John Musker, Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson; IMDb / allmovie. Moana lives on a Pacific island and has always wanted to see more, but the tribe forbids anyone from venturing beyond the reef; then Ocean chooses her to find the demigod Māui and break an ancient curse.

[more]
Death March kara Hajimaru Isekai Kyousoukyoku 07 April 2019

2018 light novel adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody". After a thirty-hour stint working on two separate computer games, contract programmer Satou sleeps under his desk and wakes up in a fantasy world.

[more]
Magic Mourns, Ilona Andrews 31 March 2019

2009 modern fantasy novella, side story between third and fourth in the Kate Daniels series. While Kate's recuperating from the events of the previous book, her friend and fellow monster-fighter Andrea Nash gets a call… about a shapeshifter being pursued by a house-sized dog.

[more]
Magic Strikes, Ilona Andrews 24 March 2019

2009 modern fantasy, third in the Kate Daniels series. When a shapeshifter gets killed and she's frozen out of the investigation, Kate's annoyed, but they're within their rights. When another shifter, a friend of hers, is deliberately crippled, that's another matter.

[more]
The Stone Sky, N K Jemisin 30 December 2018

2017 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning science-fantasy, third in its trilogy. It seems as though there may after all be a chance to save the world; but is it worth saving, and what will it look like afterwards?

[more]
Magic Burns, Ilona Andrews 30 October 2018

2008 modern fantasy novel, second in the Kate Daniels series. Magic is building up to a once-in-seven-years flare, someone has stolen maps from the local werewolf pack, and gods are going to come into play.

[more]
Mahoutsukai no Yome 21 October 2018

2017-2018 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation, 24 episodes: AniDB. Unwanted orphan Hatori Chise is bought at auction by the monstrous magician Elias Ainsworth, to be his apprentice… and his bride. vt The Ancient Magus' Bride.

[more]
Among Others, Jo Walton 15 October 2018

2011 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning fantasy. Morwenna is a young Welsh SF and fantasy fan; after losing some of her family and becoming crippled, she ends up living with her father and going to a boarding school.

[more]
The Prisoner of Limnos, Lois McMaster Bujold 06 October 2018

2017 short fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). This one follows directly from Penric's Mission and Mira's Last Dance; Penric, and the exiled general Adelis and his widowed sister Nikys whom Penric was escorting, are safely in their new home, but it turns out that Nikys's mother (it's complicated) has been imprisoned in order to get leverage on the general.

[more]
Practical Demonkeeping, Christopher Moore 27 September 2018 - 1 comment

1992 comic fantasy, first of the Pine Cove series. Travis has been living with the demon Catch for nearly ninety years – the immortality and invulnerability aren't bad, but the murders are getting to him. He's finally tracked down a way of ending the pact, but it won't be easy.

[more]
Howl's Moving Castle 26 September 2018

2004 fantasy, novel adaptation: AniDB, vt "Howl no Ugoku Shiro". Sophie is an apprentice hat-maker, until in one busy day she is assisted by a handsome man beset by enemies, then gets cursed with old age. She sets off into the wilderness to see if she can break the curse.

[more]
Tenkū no Shiro Rapyuta 24 September 2018

1986 dieselpunk fantasy: AniDB, vt "Laputa: Castle in the Sky" and "Castle in the Sky". Pazu the engineer's apprentice catches a girl falling from the sky; bad people are after her, and all is not what it seems as various factions hunt for the legendary floating city Laputa.

[more]
Penric's Fox, Lois McMaster Bujold 17 September 2018

2017 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion), third by internal chronology in the Penric sub-series (though published after Penric's Mission). A temple-trained sorcerer is murdered in the woods, and her demon is missing; Locator Oswyl looks for the killer, while Penric looks for the demon.

[more]
Magic Bites, Ilona Andrews 13 September 2018

2007 modern fantasy novel. In a world where magic ebbs and flows unpredictably, Kate Daniels is a mercenary who specialises in magical creatures. But her mentor has been murdered, and someone seems to be trying to start a war between the vampires and werecreatures of Atlanta.

[more]
Mira's Last Dance, Lois McMaster Bujold 02 September 2018

2016 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). This one follows directly from Penric's Mission; the demon-ridden sorcerer tries to get a discredited general and his widowed sister to the safety of a foreign court. But Penric is injured, and the minimal funds they had for their escape have run out.

[more]
Cthulhusattva, Scott R. Jones 22 August 2018

2016 fantasy/horror anthology, Lovecraftian stories that explore the mythos in a positive way – celebrating rather than backing away from the implications of minds greater than human.

[more]
Zoo City, Lauren Beukes 20 July 2018

2010 contemporary fantasy. In a decaying alternate-present Johannesberg, Zinzi December is one of the animalled: people who, for reasons that aren't entirely clear, have acquired an animal companion and magical powers. Of course, that's not entirely a good thing.

[more]
Switchback, Melissa F. Olson 12 July 2018

2017 modern fantasy short novel novella, second in its series. The underdog FBI department that fights vampires gets a case in a small town.

[more]
One Fell Sweep, Ilona Andrews 24 June 2018

2016 modern fantasy. Dina Demille's magical inn will be the site of another meeting: a dying species has hired a group mind to work out where to find their new home world. But there's another species out there which regards slaughtering the first one as a religious obligation. Oh, and Dina's sister has just sent a message, asking for help.

[more]
Paladin of Souls, Lois McMaster Bujold 08 June 2018

2003 fantasy, sequel to The Curse of Chalion and set three years later. Ista, widowed mother of the new queen, feels supernumerary – even without her embarrassing history of madness. But the gods haven't finished with her yet.

[more]
The Anubis Gates, Tim Powers 31 May 2018

1983 fantasy. Brendan Doyle, an expert on nineteenth-century English poets, takes a job as a guide for time-travelling tourists, off to listen to an unrecorded talk by Coleridge. But he soon finds himself stranded in London in 1810, fleeing from sorcerers, a werewolf, and even his employer.

[more]
The Drawing of the Dark, Tim Powers 18 May 2018 - 1 comment

1979 fantasy. Aging mercenary Brian Duffy is recruited by a strange old man to work as a bouncer at a brewery-inn in Vienna. But it's 1529, and the Ottomans are on their way.

[more]
Kitty Takes a Holiday, Carrie Vaughn 16 May 2018

2007 urban fantasy, third in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who has become the world's most famous werewolf, goes to a mountain retreat to work on her book. But, of course, trouble follows her there.

[more]
The Curse of Chalion, Lois McMaster Bujold 14 May 2018 - 1 comment

2001 fantasy, the first set in this world. Lupe dy Cazaril has been a courtier, then a soldier, then a galley slave, and now he just wants to rest. But the gods meddle in the affairs of men, and to do it they need tools.

[more]
American Gods, Neil Gaiman 10 May 2018

2001 Hugo- and Nebula-award-winning modern fantasy. Shadow finishes his time in prison… but learns that his wife has died just before he was due to be released. He goes to work for Mr Wednesday, who's gathering forces for a big fight…

[more]
Sweep in Peace, Ilona Andrews 06 May 2018

2015 modern fantasy short novel, originally published as blog posts on the author's web site; second in the series. Dina Demille's magical inn needs guests; she's offered the chance to host an interstellar peace conference. But only because everyone else has turned it down…

[more]
The Curse of the Giant Hogweed, Charlotte MacLeod 31 March 2018

1985 fantasy, fifth of MacLeod's novels of Professor Peter Shandy. Shandy and two colleagues are in Wales to look into a hogweed infestation, but soon find themselves in a fantastical realm.

[more]
Kitty Goes to Washington, Carrie Vaughn 20 March 2018

2006 urban fantasy, second in the series. Kitty Norville, the late-night DJ who brought werewolves and vampires into the public eye, is summoned to testify before a Senate committee.

[more]
Kitty and the Midnight Hour, Carrie Vaughn 28 February 2018

2005 urban fantasy, first in a series. Kitty Norville is a late-night DJ; one night she gets a call from someone who claims vampires are real, someone else says that werewolves are too, and lots of other people seem to want to talk about them. Which is tricky, because she's been a werewolf herself for three years.

[more]
The Good Place season 2 27 February 2018

2017 fantasy comedy, 13 episodes. Eleanor is still in the afterlife, but things have got much more complicated.

[more]
She Walks in Shadows, Silvia Moreno-Garcia and Paula R. Stiles 12 February 2018

2015 fantasy/horror anthology, consisting of Lovecraftian stories by and about women. Because, as the editors point out, there's a substantial strand of writers of Lovecraftiana who have continued Howard's premise that women just aren't terribly interesting or worthy of notice (both in their stories and in real life), so why not?

[more]
The Black Lung Captain, Chris Wooding 21 December 2017

2010 steampunk fantasy. Darian Frey is still just barely holding the airship Ketty Jay and her crew of misfits together, and once more he's going to get in way over his head.

[more]
The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter, Theodora Goss 13 December 2017

2017 historical fantasy. After the death of her parents, Mary Jekyll – yes, that Jekyll – is left penniless, but with mysteries. There's still a reward for the capture of her father's murderous friend Edward Hyde. But Jekyll is not the only mad scientist to have left a daughter.

[more]
A Skinful of Shadows, Frances Hardinge 06 December 2017

2017 fantasy. Makepeace has a gift, or curse, that she doesn't entirely understand. But she's going to have to learn about it fast, in part because it's 1641 and the tension between Parliament and the King is coming to a head.

[more]
Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o 2 19 November 2017

2017 ongoing comedic fantasy manga adaptation in 10 episodes: Anidb, vt "Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!". Kazuma continues to live in an MMORPG world.

[more]
Penric's Mission, Lois McMaster Bujold 27 October 2017

2016 short fantasy novel in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Some years after the previous books, Penric and the demon Desdemona have been sent on a diplomatic mission, to recruit a disaffected general for Penric's home of Adria. So first he's accused of spying and thrown into a dungeon…

[more]
Clean Sweep, Ilona Andrews 11 October 2017

2012 modern fantasy short novel, originally published as blog posts on the author's web site. Dina Demille keeps a faded bed-and-breakfast in small-town Texas. But it's actually a way station for travellers from other worlds.

[more]
Nightshades, Melissa F. Olson 04 October 2017

2016 modern fantasy novella, first in its series. There are vampires in the world; the FBI is hunting down the bad ones.

[more]
The Devil You Know, K J Parker 23 September 2017 - 2 comments

2016 fantasy novella. The greatest philosopher of all time is offering to sell his soul to the Devil. All he wants is twenty more years to complete his life’s work. But the demon assigned to the task is deeply suspicious. For one thing, it seems like an obviously bad deal for the human. For another, the philosopher asked for him by name.

[more]
The Librarians, season 3 21 September 2017

2016-2017 modern fantasy, 10 episodes; the Librarians, who hunt down magical artefacts, take on a god and a government agency.

[more]
The Good Place season 1 10 August 2017

2016 fantasy comedy, 14 episodes. Eleanor dies, and goes to the afterlife. Not Heaven, exactly, but… The Good Place. Only problem is, she's pretty sure she's not meant to be there, but admitting it would surely make things worse.

[more]
The Lie Tree, Frances Hardinge 23 July 2017

2015 fantasy. In Victorian England, Faith Sunderly has gone with her family to the Isle of Vane as her father the famous naturalist supervises the excavation of fossils, though it gradually becomes apparent that he is under some sort of cloud. Still, there is science to be done… by the men.

[more]
Cuckoo Song, Frances Hardinge 19 July 2017

2014 fantasy. Triss has survived a fall in the river, but she doesn't feel quite right: she's permanently hungry, her memories are fuzzy, and her sister refuses to talk to her.

[more]
A Face Like Glass, Frances Hardinge 15 July 2017 - 2 comments

2012 fantasy. In the underground city of Caverna, Neverfell was found with no memories, aged five, in a cheese-vat. Seven years later, she sets out to catch an escaped rabbit, and ends up finding her place in the world.

[more]
Penric and the Shaman, Lois McMaster Bujold 27 June 2017

2016 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion), second in the Penric sub-series. Now a trained sorcerer, Penric is lent to a detective chasing the murderer of a young nobleman; of course it's more complicated than that.

[more]
Murder of Crows, Annie Bellet 13 June 2017

2014 modern fantasy, second in the series. Jade Crow is training to fight against the big nasty magician, but her father calls for help. You really shouldn't go home again.

[more]
The Obelisk Gate, N K Jemisin 07 June 2017

2016 Hugo-nominated science-fantasy. As the world ends, two orogenes try to protect their little patches of it. Definitely don't try to start the series here.

[more]
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar 31 May 2017

2016 fantasy, light novel adaptation in 12½ episodes: AniDB. Six people find themselves in a monster-bashing fantasy world, without memories or resources. vt Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.

[more]
Flying Witch 21 May 2017

2016 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB. Makoto the trainee witch moves to a rural town in Aomori prefecture to live with her (non-magical) relatives.

[more]
Kyoukai no Rinne season 2 27 April 2017

2016 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation in 25 episodes: AniDB, vt "Circle of Reincarnation". High school student Mamiya Sakura, and Rokudō Rinne the shinigami, continue to have wacky adventures dealing with the spirit world.

[more]
Wynonna Earp season 1 08 April 2017

2016 urban fantasy/horror, 13 episodes. Wynonna Earp, distant descendant of Wyatt, comes back to her home town to learn that her job in life is to send back to hell the revenants of the men who died by Earp's gun "Peacemaker".

[more]
Arslan Senki (2015) season 2 01 April 2017

2016 pseudo-historical fantasy, novel series adaptation in 8 episodes: AniDB, vtt "Arslan Senki Fuujin Ranbu" and "Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance".

[more]
Koutetsujou no Kabaneri 17 March 2017

2016 steampunk action, 12 episodes, anime original: AniDB, vt "Kabaneri of the Iron Fortress". With the shogunate ravaged by zombies (kabane), civilisation survives in great walled "stations" and the armoured steam "fortresses" that travel between them.

[more]
DanMachi 04 February 2017

2015 fantasy, adaptation of a light novel series, 12 episodes: AniDB. In a world where gods dwell among humans, Bell Cranel is a novice adventurer. Full title: Dungeon ni Deai o Motomeru no wa Machigatte Iru Darouka: Familia Myth, or Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?.

[more]
Justice Calling, Annie Bellet 02 February 2017

2014 modern fantasy/romance. Jade Crow runs a comics-and-games shop in Wylde, Idaho, where lots of magical creatures congregate. She's hiding from someone. But she isn't going to be able to stay hidden.

[more]
Twilight Robbery, Frances Hardinge 13 January 2017

2011 non-historical fiction, sequel to Fly By Night. Mosca Mye and Eponymous Clent are still in trouble, and attempting to flee through Toll, the town that controls the only bridge across the big river. But both entering and leaving have their price. US vt Fly Trap.

[more]
Musaigen no Phantom World 07 January 2017

2016 contemporary fantasy novel adaptation in 13 episodes: Anidb, vt "Myriad Colors Phantom World". Phantoms, weird magical creatures created by the human subconscious, are everywhere; Haruhiko and his school friends seal them away when they cause trouble.

[more]
Lost Things, Melissa Scott and Jo Graham 06 January 2017

2012 historical fantasy, first in the Order of the Air series. In 1929, as Lake Nemi is drained in search of its archaeological treasures, an ancient evil is loosed. Only four heroic aviator-magicians will be able to fight it.

[more]
Akagami no Shirayukihime season 2 27 December 2016

2016 fantasy romance, shoujo manga continuation in 12 episodes as well as an OVA that bridges the two series: AniDB, vt "Snow White with the Red Hair". Shirayuki the herbalist continues to develop her low-key romance with Prince Zen.

[more]
Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku o 15 November 2016

2016 comedic fantasy manga adaptation in 10 episodes: Anidb, vt "Konosuba: God's Blessing on This Wonderful World!". Kazuma the shut-in dies in a traffic accident, but a goddess allows him to return to life in another world.

[more]
The Fifth Season, N K Jemisin 11 October 2016

2015 science-fantasy. The world known as the Stillness is wracked by tectonic activity; only the earth-shapers, the orogenes, can hold things together. So naturally they are slaves.

[more]
Retribution Falls, Chris Wooding 10 August 2016

2009 steampunk fantasy. Darian Frey is the captain of the Ketty Jay and her crew of misfits, as they go about doing small-time jobs for small-time people. But they're all about to play for much higher stakes than they were ever expecting.

[more]
Gullstruck Island, Frances Hardinge 05 July 2016

2008 fantasy. The isolated towns and villages of the volcanic Gullstruck Island rely on the Lost, who can project their senses at a distance, to keep them in contact with each other. Arilou is one such Lost, and Hathin is her helper. But it's all going to get vastly more complicated. US vt The Lost Conspiracy.

[more]
K - Return of Kings 03 July 2016

2015 futuristic fantasy, 13 episodes, sequel to 2012's K: AniDB. The Kings, magical masters who can also empower their clansmen, come together for a final battle.

[more]
Jekyll and Hyde 08 June 2016 - 2 comments

2015 fantasy, ten episodes. The grandson of Robert Jekyll fights monsters in 1930s London; some of them are human.

[more]
Spiral Hunt, Margaret Ronald 27 May 2016

2009 urban fantasy. Evie Scelan isn't a magician: she just has a knack for tracking things by scent. But staying out of the way of the magical rulers of Boston isn't as easy as simply keeping her head down.

[more]
Verdigris Deep, Frances Hardinge 21 May 2016

2007 young adult fantasy. Ryan, Chelle and Josh fish some coins out of the old well, to pay for a bus home. Then things get far too complicated, far too fast. US vt Well Witched.

[more]
The Librarians, season 2 19 May 2016

2015 modern fantasy, 10 episodes; the scrappy team of magic-hunting Librarians fights against a resurrected Prospero who's planning to remake the world.

[more]
Taxonomy of the Occult Secret Service 13 May 2016 - 13 comments

John Dallman invented the term Occult Secret Service to describe the Laundry novels of Charles Stross (from 2001) and the Broom Cupboard novels of David Devereux (from 2008). It's become popular in other fiction and in role-playing games. Is it useful to analyse it further?

[more]
The March North, Graydon Saunders 03 May 2016

2014 military fantasy. The unnamed protagonist leads a unit of The Line in repelling an invasion by the Dark Lord in the next country.

[more]
Lost Girl season 5 28 April 2016

2014-2015 urban fantasy, 16 episodes. The succubus Bo faces her biggest challenges yet, as her father tries to use her to take over the world.

[more]
Broken Homes, Ben Aaronovitch 27 April 2016

Contemporary fantasy, fourth in the series. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, looks into a number of cases that seem to be tying back to a Brutalist tower block in Southwark.

[more]
Fly By Night, Frances Hardinge 21 April 2016 - 1 comment

2005 non-historical fiction. Mosca lives in a tiny rural village, but her exiled father taught her to read and to love words. She takes her first opportunity to escape, and finds herself (and Saracen the goose) mixed up in matters that will determine the fate of a great city.

[more]
All the Birds in the Sky, Charlie Jane Anders 19 April 2016

2016 SF and fantasy. Patricia is a witch who can sometimes talk with animals, and Laurence is a budding mad scientist. Having met and split up during their hellish schooldays, they meet again as the world seems to be winding towards its end.

[more]
Overlord 13 April 2016

2015 fantasy, light novel adaptation in 13 episodes: AniDB. Momonga stays on-line as his favourite VR MMORPG Yggdrasil is shut down, and finds himself not kicked out but stuck in the game world. And now the NPCs are acting like people…

[more]
Snake Agent, Liz Williams 21 March 2016

2005 futuristic fantasy. Detective Inspector Chen is a cop in the franchised city Singapore Three, in charge of magical and supernatural investigations. When a missing girl's soul turns up demonstrably in Hell, rather than Heaven where it should be, that's the first thread of a long and political investigation.

[more]
Arslan Senki (2015) season 1 15 March 2016

2015 pseudo-historical fantasy, novel series adaptation in 25 episodes: AniDB, vt "Heroic Legend of Arslan". Prince Arslan of Pars is the weak son of a tough and vicious king. But when the Parsian army is defeated by treachery, he may be the only member of the royal family left…

[more]
The Wallet of Kai Lung, Ernest Bramah 02 March 2016 - 1 comment

1900 collection of funny and fantastic stories of Imperial China.

[more]
All the Way to the Gallows, David Drake 28 February 2016

1996 SF/fantasy short story collection of some of Drake's more humorous short stories.

[more]
Joukamachi no Dandelion 26 February 2016

2015 modern fantasy, 4-koma manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Castle Town Dandelion". The king announces that he'll retire in a year; his children campaign to be elected in his place.

[more]
Kyoukai no Rinne season 1 23 February 2016

2015 modern fantasy, shounen manga adaptation in 25 episodes: AniDB, vt "Circle of Reincarnation". High school student Mamiya Sakura can see spirits. It turns out that her classmate Rokudō Rinne is also working as a shinigami, helping lost spirits reach the wheel of reincarnation. But she's entered a dangerous world…

[more]
Monster Musume no Iru Nichijou 21 February 2016

2015 modern comedic fantasy, manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Everyday Life with Monster Girls". Various fantastic species suddenly exist, and some of them live with host families in Japan.

[more]
Akagami no Shirayukihime season 1 19 February 2016

2015 fantasy romance, shoujo manga adaptation in 12 episodes: AniDB, vt "Snow White with the Red Hair". Shirayuki the herbalist flees the unwelcome attentions of the prince of her country, only to meet Zen, the junior prince of the next realm over.

[more]
Titansgrave season 1 10 February 2016 - 3 comments

2015 fantasy, 10 episodes. In a technomagical world, four heroes will hunt down the resurgent Prophet who was responsible for the last great war.

[more]
Penric's Demon, Lois McMaster Bujold 16 January 2016

2015 fantasy novella in the World of the Five Gods (formerly known as Chalion). Lord Penric, an impoverished nobleman, is on his way to his betrothal when he comes upon a riding accident. Before he knows what's happened, he's inherited a demon, and everyone's looking at him as though he might explode at any moment.

[more]
Guns of the Dawn, Adrian Tchaikovsky 12 January 2016 - 2 comments

2015 military fantasy. As the war between Lascanne and Denland drags on, the gentlewoman Emily Marshwic finds herself fighting on the front.

[more]
Archivist Wasp, Nicole Kornher-Stace 07 January 2016

2015 fantasy/SF. Wasp is an Archivist, hunting, studying and binding ghosts for the goddess Catchkeep and Her priest in a world that has suffered some great catastrophe in the distant past.

[more]
Sorcerer to the Crown, Zen Cho 24 December 2015

2015 Regency fantasy, first of a planned trilogy. "Zacharias Wythe, England's first African Sorcerer Royal, is contending with attempts to depose him, rumours that he murdered his predecessor, and an alarming decline in England's magical stocks. But his troubles are multiplied when he encounters runaway orphan Prunella Gentleman, who has just stumbled upon English magic's greatest discovery in centuries."

[more]
Flex, Ferrett Steinmetz 11 November 2015

2015 modern fantasy. Magic is in the world, but "'mancers" only use it to cause chaos – and it's still true that nothing is free. Flex is a drug, distilled magic, but the mundanes who take it are even less able to deal with the backlash than the 'mancers are. Paul Tsabo, ex-cop and once known as the only mundane to have killed a 'mancer, tries to track down the terrorist who's filling people with Flex and sending them out to destroy themselves and others.

[more]
Voyage of the Basilisk, Marie Brennan 28 October 2015 - 2 comments

2015 fantasy of sorts: third volume of the memoirs of Lady Trent, alternate-Victorian naturalist specialising in dragons. Aboard the Royal Survey Ship Basilisk, Lady Trent travels round the world to study dragons wherever they may be found.

[more]
Radiance, Alicorn 25 August 2015 - 2 comments

2011 contemporary fantasy, a "re-imagining" of the Twilight series. Five years after Luminosity, Elspeth Cullen, daughter of Bella and Edward, tries to stay alive.

[more]
Log Horizon 2 22 August 2015

2014-2015 fantasy, light novel adaptation, 25 episodes: AniDB. Sequel to 2013-2014's Log Horizon. The players of a virtual-reality fantasy game are trapped inside it, and have to learn to live in their new world.

[more]
The Magic City, E. Nesbit 19 August 2015

1910 children's fantasy. Philip, feeling abandoned after his older sister and sole family member marries, builds a model city from things around the house, then finds he has been sucked into it.

[more]
Full Fathom Five, Max Gladstone 06 August 2015 - 2 comments

2014 technological fantasy. On the island of Kavekana, the main business is idols: all the convenience of a god, but none of the commitment or free will of the real thing. One of them has died thanks to a bad financial deal, but the priestess Kai tried to save her, and heard something odd as she did.

[more]
Shadow Ops: Control Point, Myke Cole 30 July 2015 - 3 comments

2012 modern fantasy. For a few years, people have been manifesting magical powers; in the US, the military has taken control of it all. Some powers are allowed, some aren't. Oscar Britton, Army helicopter pilot, is about to develop one of the ones that isn't.

[more]
Clockwork Heart, Dru Pagliassotti 25 July 2015

2008 steampunk fantasy romance. Taya is an icarus, one of the couriers who strap on wings and buoyant metal to carry messages and small packages across the mountainside city of Ondinium. But a mid-air rescue brings her to the attention of the city's leaders.

[more]
Luminosity, Alicorn 19 July 2015 - 2 comments

2010 contemporary fantasy, a "re-imagining" of the Twilight series. Bella Swan is a "rational self-knowledge junkie", so when she meets vampires, she starts thinking about them rather than blindly falling in love.

[more]
My Friend Mr Leakey, J B S Haldane 08 June 2015 - 2 comments

1937 children's fantasy. Six stories of wonder, three of them dealing with the modern magician Mr Leakey.

[more]
The Severed Streets, Paul Cornell 06 June 2015 - 2 comments

2014 urban fantasy, sequel to London Falling. As protests brew into riots during a hot summer, important people are being murdered in a bizarre and impossible way. Fortunately, the Met has four officers who specialise in the impossible.

[more]
The Goblin Emperor, Katherine Addison 10 May 2015 - 2 comments

2014 fantasy. Maia is the fourth son of the emperor of Elfland, exiled to a rural estate and forgotten about. But now the emperor is dead along with his other sons, and Maia becomes the new emperor, thrown headlong into court politics for which he is unprepared.

[more]
Kantai Collection 19 April 2015

2015, 12 episodes: AniDB

Schoolgirls with the spirit of WWII Japanese fighting ships take on an alien navy.

[more]
Wolf in Shadow, John Lambshead 13 April 2015 - 2 comments

2013 urban fantasy. Rhian, a young woman from the valleys with some unusual talents, finds herself in east London, where ancient magics are mixing with modern in a distinctly unpleasant way.

[more]
Trinity Seven 24 March 2015

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

Modern magic. After the sun turns black and Arata's girlfriend disintegrates before his eyes, he now has to go to magician school.

[more]
London Falling, Paul Cornell 18 March 2015 - 3 comments

2012 urban fantasy. The big crime boss is finally arrested, curiously easily, but explodes in a shower of blood while he's being interviewed. In trying to work out what happened, four coppers accidentally step into a much larger world.

[more]
The Librarians, series 1 28 February 2015 - 5 comments

2014-2015; the Library is where all the magical artefacts in the world are stored to keep them (and the world) safe. After three TV movies, the story has been resurrected as a weekly series.

[more]
Amagi Brilliant Park 10 February 2015

2014, 13 episodes: AniDB.

High school boy is asked to be the acting manager of a failing amusement park populated by fantastic creatures.

[more]
The Portable Door, Tom Holt 26 January 2015 - 2 comments

2003 comic fantasy. Paul Carpenter applies for a job as a "junior clerk" at J. W. Wells, not knowing just what it is that they do; but it seems to be something really quite strange. He'd chuck it in if he hadn't fallen for his fellow junior clerk…

[more]
Hitsugi no Chaika Avenging Battle 11 January 2015

2014, 10 episodes: AniDB. Sequel to last spring's Hitsugi no Chaika.

The daughter of the evil mage-emperor is still collecting his remains in order to give him a proper funeral.

[more]
Whispers Under Ground, Ben Aaronovitch 10 January 2015 - 1 comment

Contemporary fantasy. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, investigates the death of a man found stabbed on Baker Street station.

[more]
Libriomancer, Jim C. Hines 06 December 2014

2012: Isaac Vainio used to be a libriomancer, someone who can reach into books and pull out the objects depicted there; but things went bad and now he works at a small town library. Until the vampires show up. Minor spoilers will follow.

[more]
Moon Over Soho, Ben Aaronovitch 21 October 2014

Contemporary fantasy. Peter Grant, Metropolitan Police constable and magician, investigates the sudden deaths of jazz musicians.

[more]
The Sword-Edged Blonde, Alex Bledsoe 11 October 2014

Hard-boiled fantasy. Down the mean streets goes Eddie LaCrosse, a swordsman who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid.

[more]
Circle of the Moon, Barbara Hambly 01 October 2014

Sequel to Sisters of the Raven. The new female wizards, and the king their patron, have to cope with dream-communications of suffering from abroad, a possible magical assassin, some new kind of plague that is wiping out villages, and the king's re-coronation ordeal (which was easier to fake back when magic was reliable).

[more]
Two Serpents Rise, Max Gladstone 20 September 2014 - 2 comments

Technological fantasy. Sixty years after the Aztec-like city-state of Dresediel Lex was "liberated" and its gods killed, someone seems to be trying to break the hold of the company that replaced those gods.

[more]
No Game No Life 15 September 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

Two shut-ins, a brother and sister game-playing team, are arbitrarily transplanted into a magical world where all conflict is resolved by games. They take to it well.

[more]
Rivers of London, Ben Aaronovitch 14 September 2014 - 2 comments

Contemporary fantasy ("urban fantasy" gives the wrong idea now, even if it's much more appropriate to this book than to many published under that banner). New constable Peter Grant is about to be sent off to the paperwork unit, but while he's standing guard over a murder scene in the small hours a ghost starts to talk to him. Then things get stranger.

[more]
The Sleeping God, Violette Malan 12 September 2014

Lightweight but lengthy fantasy, the first in the Dhulyn and Parno series.

[more]
Firebrand, Ankaret Wells 06 September 2014

Self-published industrial fantasy romance. The relict of a bishop inherits her mother's great airship, and tries to avoid becoming the mistress of the Emperor.

[more]
Nobunaga the Fool 03 September 2014

2013-2014, 24 episodes: AniDB

On the Star of the East, Oda Nobunaga fights his local battles against other warlords (with Giant War Armour, of course). But the Star of the West is approaching, and the stakes are about to get vastly higher.

[more]
The Lies of Locke Lamora, Scott Lynch 29 August 2014 - 1 comment

First of a projected seven-book fantasy series. In a decaying imperial city, a thief and con-man just wants to be left alone to get on with his business. But people keep interfering.

[more]
Hitsugi no Chaika 08 August 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

A few years after the big magical war against the evil emperor, a pair of retired soldiers wander the land looking for work. They meet a young sorceress carrying a coffin on her back, and she employs them to help her find the remains of her father so that she can give them a decent burial. Oh, did she mention her father was the evil emperor?

[more]
Three Parts Dead, Max Gladstone 07 August 2014

In a city powered by steam heated by a fire-god, that fire-god has suddenly died. An inexperienced mage looks into what happened. Gladstone is nominated for the John W. Campbell award for Best New Writer.

[more]
Fuuun Ishi Dai Shogun 05 August 2014

2014, 12 episodes: AniDB

In the late Edo period, Perry's black ships were fought off by giant mystical mecha. Twenty years later in Nagasaki, a young yakuza boss has just unified the town under his rule by beating up everyone who objected. But he's got bigger things on the way...

[more]
Hugo 2014: Editor, Short Form 30 July 2014

These are my thoughts on the remaining Hugo packet submissions for Best Editor, Short Form. If you're planning to vote, you may wish not to read these notes until you have done so. There will also be spoilers here.

[more]
Fearsome Journeys 28 July 2014

Fantasy anthology edited by Jonathan Strahan. Twelve new stories that "encompass as wide a range of types of fantasy story as possible". Nominated for Best Editor (Short Form).

[more]
Sisters of the Raven, Barbara Hambly 14 July 2014

As wizards, hitherto exclusively male, gradually lose their magical power, some women discover that they are gaining it.

[more]
Frozen 08 May 2014

2013, dir. Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee, Idina Menzel, Kristin Bell: IMDb / allmovie

The new queen flees from her coronation, plunges the country into winter, and disappears; her sister goes to find her.

[more]
Steadfast, Mercedes Lackey 22 February 2014

The ninth and so far final book in Lackey's Elemental Masters series. This time our heroine is a circus acrobat fleeing from an abusive husband.

[more]
Home from the Sea, Mercedes Lackey 19 February 2014

The eighth book (or, if you believe the publisher, seventh) in Lackey's Elemental Masters series. This time our heroine is a Welsh fisherman's daughter, and as one might expect from the title and that set-up the main supernatural beings are "selch", a variant of selkies.

[more]
Unnatural Issue, Mercedes Lackey 30 January 2014 - 3 comments

The seventh book (or, if you believe the publisher, sixth) in Lackey's Elemental Masters series; for a change, it's not just more of the same.

[more]
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