With so much fantasy and science fiction coming out, it can be hard to know what to pick, or at least what to start with. Here are five excellent new books, from high fantasy to science fiction, that are sure to catch your eye. Some may even draw you into a new series to enjoy!

The Light of All That Falls (The Licanius Trilogy)
By James Islington
Orbit, $29.00, 864 pages

The last book in James Islington’s Licanius Trilogy, The Light of All That Falls is a stunning finale to a complicated, multilayered series. Factions maintain precarious alliances, centuries-old plans come to devastating fruition, and even though the Boundary is whole once more, it may already be too late. The relentless pace and unexpected plot twists make this final installment a thrilling conclusion, and one well worth reading.

 

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse (The Thorne Chronicles #1)
By K. Eason
DAW, $26.00, 368 pages

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse is the first of a duology that takes familiar fairy tale tropes and turns them on their heads. Fairy blessings, treacherous plots, evil regents, and clever rescues abound in this story of resistance and rebellion. Anyone who has ever dreamed of being a princess (fairy tale, space, or otherwise) will be delighted by this clever reimagining of all-too-familiar tropes.
 

War of the Spark: Forsaken
By Greg Weisman
Del Rey, $27.00, 416 pages

Greg Weisman returns to the world of Magic: the Gathering with War of the Spark: Forsaken. The war may be over and the multiverse saved, but that doesn’t mean everyone’s troubles are over. Far from it; the Gatewatch must rebuild, and Liliana Vess is on the run, hunted by her former friends. The political intrigue and plot twists will keep you riveted through the whole book, waiting to see what comes next.
 

salt slow
By Julia Armfield
Flatiron Books, $24.99, 208 pages

Julia Armfield’s debut, salt slow, is an unsettling exploration of what it means to be a woman in today’s world. People’s very bodies become elements of the horror in stories that, though fantastical, feel very true. The tales are shocking and chilling, with imagery you will remember long after you put the book down.
 

The Nobody People: A Novel
By Bob Proehl
Del Rey, $27.00, 496 pages

The first in a new duology, The Nobody People by Bob Proehl is a stunning exploration of social inequality. People with incredible gifts live in ordinary American society, and all they want is to have ordinary lives. Life is never so simple, though, and between violent mobs, discriminatory laws, and terrorist attacks, even the most ordinary of them must take extraordinary action.