11 new SF/F books to check out this November
Hidden secrets, uninhabitable planets, secret worlds, and quite a bit more to check out
November is somehow drawing to a close, and that means that we've got another stack of books hitting bookstores to check out, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday (or if you're elsewhere in the world, Thursday.)
The holiday shopping season is about to arrive, and if you're been starting to think about gifts for the holiday season, these lists should be a good guide for you! You can see prior installments via the book lists tag, and if you missed the first list for November, you can find that here:
Andrew Liptak
Okay, here are 11 new SF/F titles that you should check out.
The King Must Die by Kemi Ashing-Giwa (November 4th)
The planet Newearth is collapsing: gifted by advanced aliens, the terraforming has failed to take hold, and it's slowly becoming uninhabitable. Fen, a mercenary and bodyguard to a local magistrate, has seen her life intertwined with politics, and when her fathers are killed by the Sovereign, she realizes that she's next.
She escapes and sets off on a quest to try and find the remaining rebels and the movement that her parents were a part of, only to find that they might be even more dangerous. There, she meets the Sovereign's heir, a brutal man named Alekhai, who might be the world's only hope for survival.
Kirkus Reviews awarded the book a starred review, saying that it's "a bold and refreshing new SF adventure from one of this generation’s writers to watch."
Exo by Colin Brush (November 18th)
Humanity has been ejected from Earth, and those survivors have been exiled to a network of lunar colonies and space stations, hoping to return someday. Earth has been rendered uninhabitable, its oceans transformed into a strange, liquid entity called the Caul, which entices living beings into it, consuming them.
Scientists have been working to try and figure out the nature of the Caul, including Mae Jameson, a former Service agent who had returned to Earth to try and track down her missing partner. She after she encounters a mute girl named Siofra, they discover that her father has been murdered, and that he left a trail of journals and notes behind about his research, prompting Mae to pick up where he left off, and to try and figure out why someone would want to murder him.
Publishers Weekly says "Brush keeps the pages turning with twisty conspiracy theories and exciting scenes of Mae wielding her survival skills with cinematic flourish, surrounded by the Caul’s “inter-dimensional” quantum foam."
Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey (November 18th)
Set in the distant future, we follow an outlaw named Bess and the sentient gun she carried, Wakeful Slim. She's a canine-human hybrid who escaped a life of luxury and headed for the frontier where she found work as a teacher. When her partner Martha is killed, she takes her gun and heads off on a mission of vengeance.
Publishers Weekly says: "told in a twangy voice and studded with wild worldbuilding details, this cinematic saga has nary a dull moment."
God’s Junk Drawer by Peter Clines (November 11th)
Four decades ago, the entire Gather family vanished on a whitewater rafting trip. Five years later, one of the children, Billy, returned, recounting how the family hadn't tied, but had come across a valley that was loaded with impossible creatures: dinosaurs, aliens, robots, and so forth. Ridiculed for his story, he vanished from public life and restarted as Noah Barnes, an astronomy professor.
When he takes his group of graduate students on an expedition into the mountains, they end up finding the valley, and he thinks that he knows how to get everyone home. But the valley holds some other secrets, and they might not be able to make it home alive.
Publishers Weekly says "Clines maintains a light tone and brisk pace through all the zany chaos and smuggles in some real heart. It’s a twisty and satisfying epic."
Creating Worlds: The Disney and 20th Century Studios Cinematic Art of Dylan Cole by Dylan Cole (November 18th)
I've followed concept artist Dylan Cole on Instagram for a while now, and I've always really loved the work that he's posted, images that eventually became Avatar: The Way of Water, Lord of the Rings, and quite a few more. This book brings together his work for Disney, where he's overseeing the art for the Avatar franchise (James Cameron provides a foreword), as well as films like Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, and a whole bunch of others. I like art books like these: they provide a really good window into how a scene, world, and film come together.
Back to the Drawing Board - The Art of Kenner Toy Design by Tim Effler (November 28th)
This could be an excellent gift for the toy collector that you might have in your life: a coffee table book by Kenner designer Tim Effler, who looks over his contributions to the toy lines for franchises like Star Wars, Ghostbusters, Jurassic Park, and quite a few more. It looks like it'll be an excellent look at how Kenner became a huge toy company in the 1970s-1980s, and it's chalk full of photographs and illustrations.
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This Is How You Lose the Time War (Deluxe Edition) by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (November 18th)
This Is How You Lose the Time War was a runaway hit when it was first released back in 2019. It's now getting the special edition treatment with a new cover, three-color stenciled edges, endpapers, and a snazzy slipcase.
The Tower of the Tyrant by J.T. Greathouse (November 6th)
Fola is exiled from the City of the Wise, and sets out on a quest of her own: figuring out the barriers between life, death, and undeath. It's a subject that's fascinated her for years, and when she learns the kingdom of Parwys has been dealing with spirits and hauntings, she heads out to figure out what's going on.
The city is dealing with rumors that their king has been driven mad, and when Fola arrives, she has to figure out the dealings and royal court rivalries, all of which is being complicated by the threat of an invasion.
The Villa, Once Beloved by Victor Manibo (November 25th)
When the patriarch of Villa Sepulveda, a historic colonial manor in the Philippines, dies, his family is recalled to the home. Adrian brings along his girlfriend Sophie, who's interested in learning about her own Filipino heritage, and while there, finds that there's more to the family that meets the eye. They're grieving, but also dealing with a curse on the family that their elders remain stubbornly silent about. When they're trapped in the villa, secrets going back to the country's colonization and history begin to reveal themselves, threatening to tear the family apart.
Slow Gods by Claire North (November 18th)
In this standalone space opera, we follow Mawukana na-Vdnaze a worker in an oppressive society who is arrested and thrown into a labor camp amidst a planetary crisis: a messenger from space has arrived at the planet to warn its inhabitants that they have a century before a deadly supernova arrives and wipes out everything. Maw decides to volunteer for a risky job as a ship pilot. Interfacing with the ship often kills the pilot, and when a jump goes bad, everyone onboard but Maw is killed, but he's changed: he's a copy of himself, and transformed, he decides to try and change all of their fates.
Kirkus Reviews says that it's "The best kind of science fiction: mind-blowing and wildly thought-provoking."
Daredevil: An Illustrated History by Alex Segura (November 4th)
I've long been a casual fan of the Daredevil comics: something about the character just clicks for me. I've been excited to see that Marvel has released a new guide to the character, written by comics author and novelist Alex Segura (whose book Secret Identity I really dug), which digs into the character's eight decades in comic books, featuring interviews, art, and quite a bit more. It'll be a good a good tee-up to Segura's next novel, Daredevil: Enemy of My Enemy, which is out next year.
As always, let me know in the comments what catches your eye and what you've got on your TBR!