Soma escalates before you know it as you’re thrown into the action! It’s gorgeous from its character design to its use of color. Can this comic book artist, who can’t be bothered, be persuaded to save the world from an alien invasion?
Soma by Fernando Llor, (List Price: $19.99, Oni Press, 9781637156124, February 2025)
Reviewed by Lana Repic, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia
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An absolutely stunning debut that will enthrall literary and sci-fi readers alike. Luminous is set in a future unified Korea filled with robots, but at its heart it is a novel about three fractured siblings: robot personality programmer Morgan, who struggles to make meaningful human connections; robot crimes detective Jun, haunted by his past in the war, and their robot brother Yoyo, forever twelve, who lives in a scrapyard and makes friends with nearby schoolchildren. This novel is a rush to the senses, gorgeous, glorious, luminous.
Luminous by Silvia Park, (List Price: $29.99, Simon & Schuster, 9781668021668, March 2025)
Reviewed by Fisher Nash, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky
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This book was great. I loved the Hunger Games-inspired plot it took me back to reading dystopian YA from when I was a teenager. I loved the characters Reid created and how real they felt. I could not put this book down as I followed Inesa and Mel during the gauntlet. The commentary on climate change and big corporations was equal parts intriguing and terrifying. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who likes a fast-paced story with great characters.
Fable for the End of the World by Ava Reid, (List Price: $19.99, HarperCollins, 9780063211551, March 2025)
Reviewed by Ruth Heckendorf, Pretty Good Books in LaGrange, Georgia
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What should be another routine crossing of the Atlantic for Emery, Neeta, and their ship/home, the S.S. Lark, turns deadly when new management steps in, their intentions…less than good. Perhaps even a little demonic. Robin’s debut graphic novel is enthralling; the artwork in this book alone should catch your eye, every panel crafted with great color sense, expression, emotion, and such dynamic textures.
Hunger’s Bite by Taylor Robin, (List Price: $24.99, Union Square & Co., 9781454950240, February 2025)
Reviewed by Morgan Holub, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah, Georgia
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In a world where the remains of civilization are menaced by enormous, spirit-powered monsters, boys with large spirit-force can become the pilots of the Chrysalises, giant machines that provide humanity’s only defense and the hope to retake the lost provinces. Girls with strong spirit-force can become concubine pilots: the second pilot necessary to power up the Chrysalises, but destined to be used up and die in battle. Wu Zetian’s older sister was sent to be a concubine pilot but when she died outside of battle no pay-out was given to the family. Now the family is sending Wu Zetian, but she’s not planning to go out by herself: she’s going to kill the pilot responsible for her sister’s death first. As Wu Zetian maneuvers through the machinations behind the scenes in both the military and the civilian media, she questions all the country’s received knowledge about the strength and value of women relative to men – and aims herself at a bigger opponent than one single pilot.
Iron Widow (Book 1) by Xiran Jay Zhao, (List Price: $11.99, Tundra Books, 9780735269958, February 2023)
Reviewed by Ginger Kautz, Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, North Carolina
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I was just desperate for a bit of fun. The world is dark and terrible enough as it is. When I wrote the first book, I just wanted to take myself on a fun little adventure where I knew everything was going to be ok in the end….Imagine you’re minding your business as an animal researcher and then out of nowhere you get attacked by a lion. Rude right? Now imagine you and that lion get abducted by aliens and brought onto a ship with a bunch of freaky looking birds trying to poke and prod at you. You manage to fight your way to freedom, steal an escape pod and crash land onto a planet populated by taller, hotter aliens and dinosaurs. Also, the lion talks now. So, there’s that.
― Kimberly Lemming, Interview, Parnassus Books
What booksellers are saying about I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I’m Trapped in a Rom-Com
About Kimberly Lemming
Kimberly Lemming is a USA Today bestselling author who is on an eternal quest to avoid her calling as a main character. She can be found giving the slip to that new werewolf that just blew into town and refusing to make eye contact with a prince of a far-off land. Dodging aliens looking for Earth booty can really take up a girl’s time. But when she’s not running from fate, she can be found writing diverse fantasy romance. Or just shoveling chocolate in her maw until she passes out on the couch.
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I was unsure whether I would truly enjoy this book or have to pretend that I enjoyed it due to its significance and popularity. I am pleased to say that I absolutely loved it – and although quite dark and bleak, this dystopian world does not seem so far away. While I don’t think that it’s something everyone would enjoy, I do think that it’s something everyone should at least try.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, (List Price: $18, Vintage, 9780385490818, March 1998)
Reviewed by Niamh Kenny, E. Shaver Bookseller in Savannah , Georgia
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A detailed and unswerving fable about the impossible choices ahead of us—both as individual people and as a collective species. John Larison’s particular concern is the way that stories of the past can function either as cautionary tales, informing our commitment to a wiser trajectory, or, in the wrong hands, as convenient and exploitative mythology to waylay any doubts that our bright and bountiful future is somehow guaranteed. This book is a testament to the importance of stories that remind us to watch our footing while we climb, and always extend a hand behind us.
The Ancients by John Larison, (List Price: $30, Viking, 9780593831168, October 2024)
Reviewed by Charlie Monroe, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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The perfect compendium for a beloved sci-fi classic, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 25th Anniversary Edition holds five novels that follow the adventures of a British man (Arthur Dent) as he’s whisked away through the galaxy with a strange set of comrades to save the Earth, the Galaxy and themselves. Adams balances humor, wit, and some scientific insight in this series; be amazed to read about sentient dolphins who have their own language and singing abilities, a supercomputer who finally figures out the meaning of life, and many other zany characters.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy 25th Anniversary Edition by Douglas Adams, (List Price: $22, Crown, 9781400052929, August 2004)
Reviewed by Hilton Airall, Carmichael’s Bookstore in Louisville, Kentucky
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This is a rare gem in the YA dystopian genre. Not only have readers been waiting for the return of the genre but this will be a standout with its swoony romance, thrilling plot, and elements that feel too close to current events.
The Dividing Sky by Jill Tew, (List Price: $19.99, Joy Revolution, 9780593710357, October 2024)
Reviewed by Vania Stoyanova, Brave + Kind Bookshop in Decatur, Georgia
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The idea for the book came up a long time ago—in 1987 actually. And that was just the first bits of it, just the idea of a woman stuck in time repeating one day again and again. It took a long time for the idea to actually develop and all the philosophical material to kind of fall into place, because there’s a lot of questions about how this universe is working. So it took a long time and also the person had to develop, the person who ended up being Tara Selter, and also to find out when would it happen and all these little bits and pieces. So, there’s a lot of elements that prolonged the process. Also, there was a film coming out called Groundhog Day, which I didn’t see in the beginning because I thought it was too close. But when I finally saw it, I realized, ah, that’s a lot of nice research for my idea, because I realized it was so different.
― Solvej Balle, National Book Award Interview, Words Without Borders
What booksellers are saying about On the Calculation of Volume (Book I)
About Solvej Balle
Solvej Balle was born in 1962, made her debut in 1986 with Lyrefugl, and she went on to write one of the 1990s’ most acclaimed works of Danish literature, According to the Law: Four Accounts of Mankind (praised by Publishers Weekly for its blend of “sly humor, bleak vision, and terrified sense of the absurd with a tacit intuition that the world has a meaning not yet fathomed”). Since then, she’s published a book on art theory, Det umuliges kunst, 2005, a political memoir Frydendal og andre gidsler, 2008, and two books of short prose Hvis and Så, published simultaneously in 2013. On the Calculation of Volume is Solvej Balle’s major comeback, not just to Danish or Nordic fiction, but—expanding the possibilities of the novel—to all of world literature.
Barbara J. Haveland (born 1951) is a Scottish literary translator, resident in Copenhagen. She translates fiction, poetry and drama from Danish and Norwegian to English. She has translated works by many leading Danish and Norwegian writers, both classic and contemporary, including Henrik Ibsen, Peter Høeg, Linn Ullmann and Carl Frode Tiller.
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The first book in Solvej Balle’s brilliant (and forthcoming in English) septology On the Calculation of Volume is, in a word, stunning. Following the day-to-day minutia of a woman continually reliving the 18th of November, Balle finds the beauty and torment in repetition and recursion and revision. In all honesty, nothing actually happens in this book. But that doesn’t matter. Balle’s writing turns the reader into a balloon hitting a powerline—bright, weightless, fluorescent until the shock comes. An absolutely stunning piece of fiction.
On the Calculation of Volume (Book I) by Solvej Balle, (List Price: $15.95, New Directions, 9780811237253, November 2024)
Reviewed by Charlie Marks, Fountain Bookstore in Richmond, Virginia
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Possibly one of the most delightful picture books I’ve read this year. Adorable and unpredictable, this is perfect for teaching kids in a fun way that we should always try to give people the benefit of the doubt, even if they’re different from us in more ways than one. When the friendly farmer and his wife stumble across some rather odd folk who need help fixing their car, what else can they do but treat them with hospitality? Later down the line these “humans” will remember the kindness of earth and the farmer and his friends will muse that they were definitely NOT human at all.
We Are Definitely Human by X. Fang, (List Price: $18.99, Tundra Books, 9781774882023, August 2024)
Reviewed by Katlin Kerrison, Story on the Square in McDonough, Georgia
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I Am a Candlewick Frequent Blurber! On the shortest day of the year, Max, Susan, Nell, Jean, and Kate tumbled through Mrs Grady’s cobalt blue window. On the other side, things were the same (there were animals, people, and chicken for dinner) but at the same time very very very different. In this mesmerizing new portal fantasy from the author of Zebra Forest, five children learn who they are, discern how they fit into an ancient prophecy, and learn just what they can do when they set their minds to it.
Blue Window by Adina Rishe Gerwirtz, (List Price: $18.99, Candlewick, 9780763660369, April 2018)
Reviewed by Angie Tally, The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, North Carolina
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The Grief Keeper is an incredibly unique and powerful debut novel; my heart is still in my throat even a day after finishing it. Marisol is a wonderful character, and her journey to and in America, as an immigrant and grief keeper will captivate you. I really enjoyed the unique premise of grief keeping and Villasante’s careful but frank investigation of what it truly means for a human being to be illegal.
The Grief Keeper by Alexandra Villasante, (List Price: $19.99, Nancy Paulsen Books, 9780525514022, June 2019)
Reviewed by Cristina Russell, Books & Books in , Florida
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