11 great fantasy & science fiction books to read that came out in April 2022
By Daniel Roman
The Girl and the Moon by Mark Lawrence
Mark Lawrence is a well-established fantasy writer, having put out a couple of really popular trilogies to date including The Broken Empire, which began with Prince of Thorns. Lawrence has lately been hard at work on his latest trilogy The Book of Ice, which features the author’s trademark knack for immersive details and gritty characters set against the backdrop of a vast world covered in ice.
The Girl and the Moon is the final book of the trilogy, and will not only wrap up the story of Yaz the Ice triber and her journey to find the green land of the Corridor, but also tie The Book of Ice even more strongly to Lawrence’s previous trilogy Book of the Ancestor. If you’ve been following the series, no doubt you’re already hyped for this one. If it’s new to you, I challenge you to read the back-of-book description for the first book in the series, The Girl and the Stars, and not become interested.
One Foot in the Fade by Luke Arnold
If you’re a Harry Dresden fan and you’ve never heard of Luke Arnold, you are in for a wonderful surprise. Arnold’s Fetch Phillips novels will feel familiar to any lover of urban fantasy stories even as they twist the genre in some really excellent ways.
For starters, these books are set in an actual fantasy world where a metropolis powered by magic has fallen into a rundown state after the world’s arcane power mysteriously dried up. Into that noir-inspired setting walks Fetch Phillips, private investigator and guy who generally can’t catch a break. Whether he’s helping goblins track down an elusive item or solving murders involving warlocks, elves or succubi, Fetch’s stories are always highly entertaining. A huge part of that is Arnold’s particular voice, which totally sells the adventure.
One Foot in the Fade is the third novel in the series, following The Last Smile in Sunder City and Dead Man in a Ditch. This time around, Fetch is thrown into a new investigation when an angel plummets to its death on the streets of Sunder City. Whenever Fetch is on the case, you know you’re in for a wild ride.