14 fantasy and science fiction books to read in June 2023
By Daniel Roman
TRANSLATION STATE by Ann Leckie — June 6
Translation State is the latest work from The Imperial Radch author Ann Leckie; it’s a standalone novel set in the same world.
The Imperial Radch trilogy began with Ancillary Justice, a novel about a sentient starship trapped in a human body who goes on a quest for revenge. We’re expecting something pretty different this time around; Translation State centers around different characters, but we expect the same sort of mind-bending storytelling that was a trademark of Leckie’s original series.
Qven was created to be a Presger translator. The pride of their Clade, they always had a clear path before them: learn human ways, and eventually, make a match and serve as an intermediary between the dangerous alien Presger and the human worlds. The realization that they might want something else isn’t “optimal behavior”. It’s the type of behavior that results in elimination.
But Qven rebels. And in doing so, their path collides with those of two others. Enae, a reluctant diplomat whose dead grandmaman has left hir an impossible task as an inheritance: hunting down a fugitive who has been missing for over 200 years. And Reet, an adopted mechanic who is increasingly desperate to learn about his genetic roots—or anything that might explain why he operates so differently from those around him.
As a Conclave of the various species approaches—and the long-standing treaty between the humans and the Presger is on the line—the decisions of all three will have ripple effects across the stars.
Masterfully merging space adventure and mystery, and a poignant exploration about relationships and belonging, Translation State is a triumphant new standalone story set in the celebrated Imperial Radch universe.
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THE WOODS OF ARCADY by Michael Moorcock (The Sanctuary of the White Friar #2) — June 6
Things are about to get meta. Michael Moorcock is a speculative fiction author who has been churning out novels for the better part of the last 50 years and editing them for far longer than that. Michael Moorcock is also the main character of his latest novel, The Woods of Arcady, which is the second volume in a series which is part autobiography, part fantasy escapism, and part rumination on literature and its impact on the author’s life.
It’s a pretty heady concept. Moorcock’s work has often been more on the experimental side, but this latest is really pushing the bounds. Read the book summary and see if that’s something you’re into:
In the 1970s, Michael Moorcock, a writer of genre fiction, attempts to save his failing marriage by taking his wife and daughters to Paris. One night in a bar he is amazed to find himself drinking with heroes of story and history. The next day he awakens aboard a sailing ship, kidnapped into another reality by a French highwayman and the four Musketeers, who know Moorcock well from adventures in London’s Alsacia…but that was another Moorcock, from another world.
Soon after they reach Africa, the company is rescued from an ambush by Antara, a poet-adventurer who offers to lead them across the desert and through several realities to the estate of Lord and Lady Blackstone. The trip is full of wonders Moorcock has read, dreamed, or written: an underground civilization of nonhuman creatures; a magical oasis where the lion lies down with the lamb; a lush garden inhabited by miniature dinosaurs.
They are pursued by the notorious Jacob Nixer, who also remembers the Alsacia and is determined to destroy Moorcock and his companions.
The main narrative of The Woods of Arcady is punctuated by episodes from the story of the Blackstones and by spirited, freewheeling appearances by Captain Buggerly Otherly and his companions from the Second Ether. As readers move deeper into Moorcock’s multiverse, it rises up on all sides, ready to astound.
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GHOSTS OF ALDA by Russell Archey (The Obscured Throne #2) — June 6
Ghosts of Alda is the second installment in Russell Archey’s The Obscured Throne trilogy. The first novel, Ashes of Aldyr, was a dark fantasy which followed the rise of a cult known as the Black Gnarl who were trying to help a force of eldritch horror invade the fantasy world of Alda. Elves, dwarves, and humans were all reduced to shadows of their former selves as they sought to survive among the post-apocalyptic wreckage. What horrors await them in Ghosts of Alda?
Secrets have been unveiled and their revelations don’t bode well for the scattered peoples of Alda’s post apocalyptic fantasy world. The Black Gnarl grows in strength. A scant few individuals, protected by the remaining life energies of the world known as the Fifth magic, seek answers to give the world hope. Among their pivotal journeys lie the stories of others caught in the grasp of the Obscured Throne’s eldritch Inheritors, whose true purpose is not yet fully known.