February Is Here With an Avalanche of New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books

February Is Here With an Avalanche of New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books
Contributor: Cheryl Eddy

February may be the shortest month, but the book gods are not holding back whatsoever with this flood of sweet new releases. Read on for forest monsters, space explorers, princesses with dark fates, unwitting inter-dimensional travellers, and so much more!

The Planetbreaker’s Son by Nick Mamatas

This volume includes the title novella about interstellar travellers, plus short stories and an interview with the author. (February 1)

All the Tides of Fate by Adalyn Grace

The sequel to All the Stars and Teeth finds Amora Montara finally on her rightful throne, but her position is precarious and she’s still keeping her lost magic a closely guarded secret. A mysterious artefact could be the key to setting things right — but at what price? (February 2)

And Then She Vanished by Nick Jones

A man whose sister disappeared when they were children realises he has the ability to time travel — but slipping into the past to save her proves both complicated and dangerous. (February 2)

Beneath the Keep by Erika Johansen

In a troubled kingdom, a princess must decide between staying loyal to her royal family or joining a rebellion that could ultimately help save her people. (February 2)

The Best of R.A. Lafferty by R.A. Lafferty

Celebrate the late lifetime achievement World Fantasy Award winner with this collection of 22 stories, including the Hugo-winning “Eurema’s Dam.” This volume also includes an introduction by Neil Gaiman and notes and afterwords by Samuel R. Delaney, John Scalzi, Patton Oswalt, and others. (February 2)

Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age by Annalee Newitz

The Gizmodo co-founder’s latest release is a nonfiction exploration of lost cities throughout history (including sites in Turkey, Italy, Cambodia, and the U.S.) and an investigation into why they were abandoned. (February 2)

This Golden Flame by Emily Victoria

In a country ruled by scribes, an enslaved orphan sets out to find her long-lost brother — but along the way, she accidentally discovers an intelligent automaton who may hold the key to upending the balance of power. (February 2)

A History of What Comes Next by Sylvain Neuvel

This satirical, alt-history look at the space race is about a woman tasked with bringing Wernher Von Braun from Nazi Germany to the U.S., with a dark threat looming behind the scenes that’ll do anything to stop her. (February 2)

On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu

In this magical realist debut, a girl who retreats into her imaginative fantasy worlds to escape her fears moves with her family from war-torn Afghanistan to Australia seeking a peaceful new home — but the journey is rocky and the destination not entirely welcoming. (February 2)

Star Wars the High Republic: Into the Dark by Claudia Grey

Follow the High Republic adventures of Padawan Reath Silas as he heads from Coruscant to the frontiers of space, where sudden disaster strikes. (February 2)

A Summoning of Demons by Cate Glass

The Chimera trilogy concludes as the crew of misfit magicians — dwelling in a world that shuns magicians — come together to fight an ancient monster that’s devastated their city with earthquakes. (February 2)

This Is Not the Jess Show by Anna Carey

In this comedic thriller set in 1998, a teenage girl’s ordinary life turns upside down when she notices that the fabric of reality is starting to tear all around her. (February 2)

What Big Teeth by Rose Szabo

In this debut gothic fantasy, a girl leaves boarding school to reunite with her estranged family — all of whom happen to be monsters. (February 2)

Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell

When a prince is commanded to marry a royal widower from a nearby planet, he’s soon drawn into the mystery surrounding the suspicious death of his new husband’s former partner. (February 2)

The Children of D’Hara by Terry Goodkind

This volume collects the first five episodes of the late fantasy author’s post-Sword of Truth series: The Scribbly Man, Hateful Things, Wasteland, Witch’s Oath, and Into Darkness. (February 4)

Amid the Crowd of Stars by Stephen Leigh

This sci-fi tale addresses the ethical quandaries of space travel, examining an extraordinary dilemma — a human colony stranded on another world — from the points of view of the rescue party, the colonists, and the native alien life that surrounds them. (February 9)

City of the Uncommon Thief by Lynne Bertrand

In a city walled off from the rest of the world with mile-high towers, a teenage boy finds himself caught up in the chaos when a potentially devastating weapon goes missing. (February 9)

The Electric Kingdom by David Arnold

Described as “Station Eleven meets The Fifth Wave,” this post-apocalyptic tale follows the survivors of a deadly, fly-borne global pandemic as they try to find love and purpose in a devastated world. (February 9)

Engines of Oblivion by Karen Osborne

In this sequel to Architects of Memory, Natalie finally has her corporate citizenship, but those in charge will stop at nothing to seize her missing memories of an alien civilisation. (February 9)

Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

In this romantic fantasy, a princess has an uneasy reunion with her first love, and then must decide the path that will best serve her and her country. (February 9)

The Future Is Yours by Dan Frey

When two friends invent a computer that can connect to the internet one year in the future, they find riches and instant success. But it turns out the price of knowing what lies ahead is deeply destructive — and may even usher in the end of the world. (February 9)

Game Changer by Neal Shusterman

After taking a tough hit in during a football game, a young man awakes in another dimension — and then continues on a strange journey through other realities that feel like his but aren’t quite right. Can he make it back to the correct timeline before it’s too late? (February 9)

The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

In order to be accepted in her village, a teenage girl must undergo a blood ritual — but when the ceremony reveals a shocking truth about her, she’s given the opportunity to join an army of warrior women instead. (February 9)

Monkey King: Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en, edited, translated by Julia Lovell

One of the most legendary fantasy novels — described as “the Chinese Lord of the Rings” — gets a brand-new translation. (February 9)

The Moonsteel Crown by Stephen Deas

After their emperor is murdered, a trio of young crooks — who’re really just focused on doing whatever they need to survive — unwittingly get caught up in a scheme that ties directly into the fate of their country. (February 9)

Glow by Tim Jordan

The title of this futuristic thriller refers to a nano-tech drug that steals identities and can leap from host to host. As you can imagine, that’s not a good thing for the human race in general — but it’s especially harmful to those who are addicted to it. (February 9)

Rafael by Laurell K. Hamilton

In this latest tale of Anita Blake, vampire hunter, a fierce battle erupts between America’s wererats and vampires to determine one supernatural ruler — and Anita finds herself caught dangerously in the middle. (February 9)

Skeleton Key by Piers Anthony

The author’s 38th (yes, 38th) Xanth book is here, for more fantasy adventures with Squid the alien cuttlefish, and her friends and siblings. (February 9)

A Song With Teeth by T. Frohock

The Los Nefilim historical fantasy series concludes as humanity continues to fight each other in World War II — while in the shadows, the daimons are starting to get the upper hand in their parallel war with the angels. (February 9)

Stormbreak by Natalie C. Parker

The Seafire fantasy trilogy concludes as Captain Caledonia Styx and her all-female crew set out to secure control of the Bullet Seas once and for all.(February 9)

The Velocity of Revolution by Marshall Ryan Maresca

This steampunk saga is set in a capital city that’s pulling itself back together after years of war, both magical and mechanised. When a city patrol officer is tasked with going undercover in a cycle gang to infiltrate a growing rebellion, he finds himself torn between duty and conscience. (February 9)

The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

This creative take on Norse mythology tells the story of a witch in exile who unexpectedly falls in love with Loki, the trickster god. (February 9)

A Court of Silver Flames by Sarah J. Maas

A reluctant High Fae and the warrior she loves and hates in equal measure must join together to both face their troubled pasts and fight a new threat, if there’s any hope of keeping the peace in their realm. (February 16)

The Echo Wife by Sarah Gailey

When a cheating husband dies, his scientist wife and the clone of his scientist wife (who just so happens to be who he was having an affair with) must figure out what to do next. (February 16)

Fairhaven Rising by L.E. Modesitt, Jr.

The epic Saga of Recluce series continues with this 22nd volume, as a young mage uncovers a plot that threatens her people and resolves to fight back. (February 16)

The Galaxy, and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

The Wayfarers series continues with this Galactic Commons tale of an intergalactic truck stop on the planet of Gora — a place where everybody usually just passes on through, until all traffic is grounded and a gaggle of would-be travellers are forced to wait it out together. (February 16)

The Jade Bones by Lani Forbes

In this sequel to the Mesoamerican mythology-inspired The Seventh Sun, Mayana and Ahkin struggle to escape the underworld, and Yemania resists being pressed into royal service while fighting her attraction to a man who’s supposed to be her enemy. (February 16)

The Mask Falling by Samantha Shannon

The author returns to the world of Scion to follow Paige Mahoney, a dreamwalker caught between political factions who’s determined to use her position as a way to advance her own dreams of rebellion. (February 16)

The Memory Theatre by Karin Tidbeck

In a parallel world where the elite don’t age, a pair of teens take a fanciful trip through time and space in search of freedom and encounter a magical theatre group that can manipulate reality. (February 16)

The Minders by John Marrs

With dangerous government secrets at stake, five people are chosen to have genetic code containing sensitive information implanted in their brains for safekeeping. What could possibly go wrong? (February 16)

No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood

When a social media influencer becomes overly consumed by the internet, she has trouble separating what goes on solely online and what’s happening in real life. (February 16)

Silence of the Soleri by Michael Johnston

This sequel to Soleri returns to the author’s epic fantasy world, a place full of military conflict that’s inspired by “ancient Egyptian history and King Lear.” (February 16)

Sons of War 3: Sinners by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

The Sons of War series continues as police and criminal gangs fight it out for control of futuristic Los Angeles. (February 16)

Soulstar by C.L. Polk

The Kingston Cycle (which began with Witchmark) comes to an action-packed conclusion as a revolution of witches rises, and Robin Thorpe must come out of hiding at last to face the brewing chaos, deadly storms, and her haunted past. (February 16)

The Swimmers by Marian Womack

This “dystopian reimagining of Wide Sargasso Sea” is set on an Earth that’s been transformed into a jungle planet. The last of humanity lives either on the surface or aboard an orbiting space station, and the story follows an arranged marriage between an Earth woman and a “starborn” man. (February 16)

The Unfinished Land by Greg Bear

In this seafaring tale, a fisherman’s apprentice cultivates his wanderlust until a tragedy propels him into a sea battle — and then to an uncharted island where humankind is at odds with the gods. (February 16)

Wild Sun: Unbound by Ehsan Ahmad and Shakil Ahmad

When a woman forced to toil in a mine manages to escape back to her forest home, she finds her enemies aren’t going to let her, or any of the other slaves she’s met while seeking sanctuary, dwell in peace. (February 16)

Appendix N: The Eldritch Roots of Dungeons & Dragons edited by Peter Bebergal

Dive into the influences that helped shape Dungeons & Dragons with this anthology that draws upon vintage magazines, literary works, and other sources to contextualise how the game came into being. (February 23)

Calculated Risks by Seanan McGuire

The latest InCryptid adventure following the Price family of cryptozoologists focuses on Sarah, an adopted cousin who’s kidnapped by her birth family and is forced to undergo a procedure that enhances her hidden powers. (February 23)

The Desolations of Devil’s Acre by Ransom Riggs

The author’s Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children series concludes with this sixth fantastical adventure. (February 23)

Escaping Exodus: Symbiosis by Nicky Drayden

In a deep-space colony where resources are dwindling, a young woman who’s just starting to come to terms with humankind’s hopeless fate is unexpectedly called upon to lead — if her sister doesn’t overthrow her first. (February 23)

Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap

This debut short story collection focuses on “spells and stories, urban legends and immigrant tales.” (February 23)

The Russian Cage by Charlaine Harris

The latest Gunnie Rose alt-history tale takes its magical protagonist on a daring rescue mission into the Holy Russian Empire. (February 23)

The Shadow War by Lindsay Smith

This World War II tale described as “Inglourious Basterds meets Stranger Things” follows five teens who team up as they grapple with real-world Nazis and inter-dimensional portals filled with monsters. (February 23)

Sun-Daughters, Sea-Daughters by Aimee Ogden

This space-set riff on The Little Mermaid imagines a sea-dwelling woman’s journey into the stars to try and save her dying land-dwelling husband. (February 23) 


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