Here are 16 new sci-fi and fantasy books to read this June

Somehow, we're at the halfway mark for the year. I'm always surprised at how quickly this seems to come up: it feels like this spring just flashed by us. I've been working on the never-ending task of catching up to my to-read list, made all the more difficult by the arrival of a new one: Swedish Machines: Sunset at Zero Point by Simon Stålenhag. I backed the Kickstarter for this last year, and was thrilled to get the finished copy in hand. It's really excellent so far.

There are lots of other books coming out in the meantime to add to the TBR. Here are 16 books hitting stores in the first half of June! (As always, you can see prior lists through the Book List tag.)

A Song of Legends Lost by M. H. Ayinde (June 3rd)

A millennia ago, the Nine Lands belonged to the Scathed people, only to have their greyblood servants rose up against them. King Ahiki and his allies defeated the would-be rebels and drove them out to the Feverlands. In the centuries since, the invoker clans – made up of noble warriors – have fended off any attacks from those enemies, and now the time has come for the war to come to an end completely by taking the war to the greybloods.

When a woman named Temi accidentally summons a spirit, she thinks that it can help end the war, only to find that some of those spirits are far more dangerous than anyone can handle.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying "Ayinde juggles a sprawling cast and multiple plotlines skillfully," and that "the result is a rich and wonderfully complex world that readers will be eager to revisit."

Star Wars: Rogue Planet by Greg Bear (June 3rd)

One of the stranger books from the Star Wars Expanded Universe is getting the Essential Legends treatment: Greg Bear's Rogue Planet. It's set after the events of The Phantom Menace after Obi-Wan Kenobi takes on Anakin Skywalker as an apprentice. The pair head off to a mysterious planet called Zonama Sekot, which is known for building the galaxy's fastest starships, and end up in the midst of a plot between the Trade Federation, shipbuilder Raith Sienar, and some deeply-held secrets about the planet that could change the galaxy.

Condition of War: Central Corps: Dissolution by Elizabeth Bonesteel (June 3rd)

After a number of years away, Elizabeth Bonesteel is returning to her Central Corps series with a fourth installment: Dissolution. The series (made up of The Cold Between, Remnants of Trust, and Breach of Containment) follows Central Corps chief engineer Commander Elena Shaw as she deals with a series of crises that threaten her ship and fellow crewmembers.

In this new installment, a Central Corps warship appears far from where it's supposed to be and threatens a civilian space station, prompting Shaw and her crew of the Galileo to intervene, only to destroy the ship. The Corps is not thrilled at her actions, and in order to clear their names, the Galileo has to trace back the rogue ship's path and figure out what really happened, uncovering some dangerous secrets as they do so.

King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby (June 10th)

S.A. Cosby blew me away with books like Blacktop Wasteland, Razorblade Tears, and All The Sinners Bleed and I'm really looking forward to his next, King of Ashes.

In this new crime thriller, Roman Carruthers is called home after his father is involved in a car accident, only to discover that his brother Dante is in debt to criminals and his sister barely holding everything together. He discovers that the crash was no accident and that Dante's troubles have brought their family into danger, and it's up to Roman to try and get his brother out of the deal. As he begins to figure out a way forward, those criminals soon realize that he's not the pushover they think he is, and that he'll do anything to protect his loved ones. If this is anything like his prior novels, Cosby has a real treat for us.

Library Journal gave the book a starred review and says "Reminiscent of the great tragedies, this is Cosby at his best."

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott (June 10th)

Shortly after an arrogant prince and his close circle arrive at Orledder Halt, they do something ill-advised: enter the haunted Spires, where they get stuck. The prince and company have found themselves in the kingdom because of some political machinations, and it's now up to Elen, a former child slave and now courier who's tasked with guiding them to safety. When he re-emerges, he's a changed man, leading to a fraught journey afterwards

Library Journal gave the book a starred review, saying it's a "fantastic first in a new duology is filled with rich worldbuilding, political intrigue, and themes of class and family secrets. Readers will anxiously await the second book in the series, [The Nameless Lands] which arrives later this year."

Realms of the Round Table by John Matthews and illustrated by John Howe (June 3rd)

John Matthews is one of the best-known scholars of Arthurian legend, and has brought together a new collection of forgotten stories of the heroic king, and retold for a new audience, and includes a mix of magic and lore, and stories of Lancelot, Gawain, and many others.

As a bonus? It comes illustrated by artist John Howe, best known for his work on Lord of the Rings. I've been paging through it and it looks pretty cool.

Collisions: A Physicist's Journey from Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs by Alec Nevala-Lee (June 10th)

I'm a huge fan of Alec Nevala-Lee's history of science fiction, Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction, and I think it's one of the better books out there to understand the genre's formative years. (He also blurbed my own book, Cosplay: A History). I'm really looking forward to his latest biography, about scientist Luis W. Alvarez.

Alvarez is someone you might not have heard of, but he played a huge role in the history of science: he took part in the Manhattan project during World War II, made some interesting theories, developed techniques to study pyramids using X-Rays, and helped to demonstrate that a massive asteroid impact was responsible for the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Kirkus Reviews says that it's "a thoroughly researched biography of an audacious scientist—and a new window into the history of high-energy physics."

The Two Lies of Faven Sythe by Megan O‘Keefe (June 3rd)

A starship called the Black Celeste was once a legendary craft, but it's now rotting away in a cosmic graveyard called the Clutch. It's a dangerous place, and a pirate named Bitter Amandine is the one who knows it best, and she's resolved never to enter it again.

When Raven Sythe, the member of a humanoid species that's been charting starpaths across the galaxy finds that her mentor has gone missing – with their path ending in the Clutch, Amandine is the only person who can help her find answers. The two will eventually find a conspiracy that will uncover more than they want to know about the place, and other cosmic secrets that everyone would rather keep buried.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review and says "Nuanced characterization and a clever mystery keep the pages flying. It’s a thrilling standalone adventure that James S.A. Corey fans will relish."

The Potency of Ungovernable Impulses by Malka Older (June 10th)

Malka Older continues her Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti series (The Mimicking of Known Successes and The Imposition of Unnecessary Obstacles) with a third installment, in which investigator Pleiti is roped into a favor: help a former classmate's cousin clear their name after being accused of plagiarism when they're up for a prestigious academic post.

It's a job that's suddenly more than just running down a smear job as she finds that there are huge consequences, and she'll have to go it alone with her partner Mossa's sudden change in demeanor and isolation.

Writing in Locus Magazine, Alexandra Pierce says "In this outing, Older draws out yet more details about the realities of life there – especially having to deal with the ever-present threat of the gasses outside ending up inside – with finesse, tying them neatly into plot points. These systemic concerns are balanced by professional and personal ones."

Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire by Steve Perry (June 3rd)

Probably one of the more interesting installments of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Shadows of the Empire was something of a test-run to kick the Lucasfilm merchandising arm back into gear ahead of the Special Editions and The Phantom Menace, and was designed to promote a not-movie to fans through a series of connected tie-in products like a video game, merchandise, comic book series, action figures, and a novel, written by Steve Perry. The book is set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and introduced some big characters like Dash Rendar and Prince Xizor.

Lucasfilm is now re-releasing the book (along with a new audiobook) as part of its Essential Legends Collection series, and if you're looking for a fun romp, this is a good one.

Six Wild Crowns by Holly Race (June 10th)

This is Race's debut novel, and in it, King Henry of Elben has to marry six queens and magically bind them to six palaces arrayed around the kingdom. Otherwise, his kingdom will fall. One queen, Boleyn, is determined to become his favorite, and is adept at court games and intrigue. Seymour never planned on marrying the king, but instead ended up in his court. The two will become unlikely allies as the balance of power in the kingdom begins to shift.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying "Race skillfully weaves real history and wholly original worldbuilding into an enthralling fantasy replete with magical power plays, political intrigue, and some dragons for good measure."

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab (June 10th)

V.E. Schwab has released a string of excellent fantasy novels recent years, such as A Darker Shade of Magic (and its sequels) and The Invisible Life of Addie Larue. Her next looks like a compelling (if somewhat cryptic) read, following three young women living in Santo Domingo de la Calzada in 1532, London in 1837, and Boston in 2019.

Kirkus Reviews gave the book a starred review, saying "A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop."

Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky (June 3rd)

Adrian Tchaikovsky has a new book about aliens and first contact, something that he's well-versed at by this point. An expedition arrives at a distant solar system, where it finds a moon humming with radio activity. It isn't habitable to humans: its gravity is too high and atmosphere is toxic for us, but it seems like a promising world for exploration. When an accident forces two members of the expedition's crew, Juna Ceelander and Mai Ste Etienne, down in an escape vehicle, they have to make their way across the hostile environment to escape, learning about the world's unnerving alien species as they do so.

Russell Letson reviewed the book for Locus Magazine and said "Tchaikovsky continues to examine what it’s like to live or work at the bottom of a totalizing authori­tarian pyramid, along with the ways in which the larger, wonder-filled universe (whether science fictional-materialist or fantastical-magical) con­spire against the ideological constraints of merely human social constructions."

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove (June 3rd)

A ship called Demeter is content shuttling people to and from Earth and Alpha Centauri, and on her latest voyage, her passengers have begun dying. Her medical systems say that they're from equipment failures, but these seem to be of a paranormal origin: there's a vampire onboard.

Demeter has to join up with some monsters of her own: a werewolf, an undead engineer, another vampires, some spider-drones and others, to keep from getting decommissioned.

Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review, saying "Demeter’s computer logic becomes a welcome counterpoint to this B-movie extravaganza as Truelove packs in the drama and thrill of near misses, close encounters, and even a couple slow-burning love stories. Meanwhile, Truelove’s obvious expertise in tech and coding comes through in the voice of her utterly believable AI narrator."

The Wretched And The Damned by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (June 1st)

I've really enjoyed Yudhanjaya Wijeratne's books, and his latest sounds fascinating. In 2022, he earned the Gratiaen Prize (best work written in English from a Sri Lankan writer), and it's now being published.

A war is brewing in the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka, pushed along by decades of corruption, politics and social stratification, leading to the Kodithuwakku's ironclad rule. There are efforts to resist: the Karaawa have set plans into motion – financed by the mysterious Thanthri – and have used their knowledge of technology and financial levers to work to overthrow the government with the hopes of rebuilding from what tumbles down.

Galaxy Grifter by A. Zaykova (June 3rd)

Levi is a con artist with no rules: he loves his ship, the Caerus, and is heartbroken when he has to put it up as collateral for a loan from the sector's most dangerous criminal gang. To get it back, he steals a valuable blueprint for a high-tech anti-matter device, and hires a coder, Vera to decrypt the document.

Vera has motives of her own – she's been trapped on an asteroid with debts of her own, and plans to steal the blueprints for her own freedom. The two will have to figure out how to work together when they learn the technology's true intentions, and survive when they realize that they people they stole it from will stop at nothing to get them back.