17 fantasy and science fiction books to read in September 2023
By Daniel Roman
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After another banger of a month for new books in August, it’s time to start getting ready for fall with a new batch of fantasy and science fiction books! I know we say this every month, but September is actually so stacked with new releases that you might need a whole new shelf just to fit them all.
From shiny new re-releases of older titles to space operas, fantasy sagas, historical epics and cyberpunk dystopias, there’s quite a lot of reading material to choose from in September. We’ve even got some LitRPG books on the list for the first time here at WinterIsComing!
Without further adieu, let’s get into the new fantasy and science fiction books coming in September, starting with…
CITY OF BONES by Martha Wells — September 5
Martha Wells is the author of the beloved Murderbot Diaries sci-fi series, but she’s having a hell of a year outside of Murderbot in 2023. Back in May we got a brand new fantasy story from Wells, Witch King. In September we’ll be getting a re-release of one of the author’s earlier fantasy novels, City of Bones, which was originally printed back in 1995, long before Wells’ breakout Murderbot series. City of Bones: Updated and Revised Edition brings that story to life with a new coat of polish, making it widely available once more for fans of the author’s work.
The city of Charisat, a tiered monolith of the Ancients’ design, sits on the edge of the vast desert known as the Waste. Khat, a member of a humanoid race created by the Ancients to survive in the Waste, and Sagai, his human partner, are relic dealers working in the bottom tiers of society, trying to stay one step ahead of the Trade Inspectors.
When Khat is hired by the all-powerful Warders to find relics believed to be part of one of the Ancients’ arcane engines, he, and his party, begin unravelling the mysteries of an age-old technology.
This they expected.
They soon find themselves as the last line of defense between the suffering masses of Charisat and a fanatical cult, bent on unleashing an evil upon the city with an undying thirst for bone.
That, they did not expect.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
OTHER MINDS by Eliane Booey — September 5
Other Minds is the debut book from Chinese Singaporean writer Eliane Boey. It actually consists of two novellas, Carrier and Signal\Tracer, which are set in the same cyberpunk world decades apart. As Boey notes in the book’s introduction, that means Other Minds isn’t two completely separate works, but rather “a world in two novellas, which broach the same question, in different ways.”
Boey’s approach in these novellas has been compared to that of William Gibson, so if you’ve been going through a bit of a withdrawal in the wake of The Peripheral being canceled, this could be a great option to scratch that cyberpunk itch.
What wouldn’t we build; if loss was impermanent, happiness could be constructed, and our limits were boundless?
Administration agent Xi regulates an immersive nostalgic mirror of her decaying capital city, until she finds avatars controlled by dead users, and digging only raises questions about the system she serves, and the friendships she thought were real.
Disgraced aerospace engineer Ming Wen, launches her intelligent luxury orbiter, and a chance at redemption, with her daughter onboard. But when the ship seems to know things she’s long forgotten, the only way out is within.
From a cyberpunk mystery that threatens to break the violet skies of a beautiful dream, to the quiet terror of facing corrupted love, and reckoning, in deep space, OTHER MINDS will immerse you in a near-future world where anything can be built, except what we need.