14 fantasy and science fiction books to read in June 2023
By Daniel Roman
THE FIRST BRIGHT THING by J.R. Dawson — June 13
The First Bright Thing is J.R. Dawson’s debut novel. It’s a tale of magical circuses, time travel, sapphic romance, and found family that has been compared to Erin Morgenstern’s The Night Circus. It takes place across multiple timelines and is a great choice if you’re looking for a story centering LGBTQ+ characters to read this Pride Month.
Ringmaster — Rin, to those who know her best — can jump to different moments in time as easily as her wife, Odette, soars from bar to bar on the trapeze. And the circus they lead is a rare home and safe haven for magical misfits and outcasts, known as Sparks.
With the world still reeling from World War I, Rin and her troupe — the Circus of the Fantasticals — travel the midwest, offering a single night of enchantment and respite to all who step into their Big Top.
But threats come at Rin from all sides. The future holds an impending war that the Sparks can see barrelling toward their show and everyone in it. And Rin’s past creeps closer every day, a malevolent shadow she can’t fully escape.
It takes the form of another circus, with tents as black as midnight and a ringmaster who rules over his troupe with a dangerous power. Rin’s circus has something he wants, and he won’t stop until it’s his.
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SAVAGE CROWNS by Matt Wallace (Savage Rebellion #3) — June 13
Stepping back into the realm of epic fantasy, Hugo Award-winning author Matt Wallace is finishing out his Savage Rebellion trilogy this month with Savage Crowns. Characters like Evie have come a long way since the first novel, Savage Legion, introduced us to an empire which conscripted its poor and abandoned citizens as expendable soldiers. We saw how those so-called Savages eventually forged their own bloody path.
Things have now come full circle for the trilogy’s explosive final chapter, which sees Evie and the Savages face their deadliest challenge yet: finding a way to stop the fighting before it consumes them all.
The final war for the nation of Crache has begun.
At the helm of the people’s rebellion is Evie, the Sparrow General. She has been captured by the Skrian, Crache’s vicious army, and is being brought back to the Capitol for punishment. But reinforcements are coming for her.
Dyeawan, who has climbed from street urchin to Crache’s highest seat of power through clever schemes and ruthless bloodshed, finds trouble on every front once she arrives. The rebellion approaches, and there are whispers of a martyr within the city who holds enough sway to stage a coup. If she doesn’t act quickly, her rule will be short-lived.
As the women who hold the nation’s future meet each other from different sides of the battlefield, will they be able to find a shared vision of Crache, or will they destroy each other first?