The 5 SFF Books I Plan To Read Next…Probably

A princess considered to have a useless magical talent is sent on quests by her evil stepmother, and the quests always end in her almost death. During her most recent misadventure, while on her way to meet her husband-to-be, she is rescued by twelve masked men. Then comes the talking lion, more assassination attempts, and a growing attraction to her betrothed’s sister. What is a princess to do? This is a retelling of The Twelve Huntsman, a Brothers Grimm fairy tale…that I have never read. Now the question is, should I read the fairy tale before I read the novel, or nah? Also, we don’t learn what her useless magical talent is from the jacket description, so I need to find that out too.

This one is also set in a kingdom, but instead of a princess, the main character is an assassin. Anji is a laundress at the castle, working for a horrible king. He’s so awful that one day, when she gets the chance, she kills him. Forced to flee after she kills the king, Anji is pursued by a band of mercenaries. But when one finally catches her, he would rather keep her alive and collect the reward for himself. Now they must run from the other mercenaries in his group in the hopes of making it through their ordeal alive.

A young girl decides to quit her job on a small desert moon in this sci-fi novella. August is unhappy with the direction her life is going, so she decides to take a job in the hanging gardens. Here she makes new friends, reorients her life, and receives a surprise visitor from her past. I know I added this novella to my TBR list not that long ago, but I have already forgotten who recommended it to me. It sounds great!

A young Black nerd in Boston in the 1970s struggles with the lack of representation of Black people in his favorite genre, science fiction. His mother has always claimed to be from outer space, but he never believed it to be true until strange men started watching him and his parents, former members of a Black power group during the Civil Rights era. (This may turn out to be sci-fi adjacent, but it sounds wonderful and I say it counts.)

And finally, I’m planning to read this YA start to a fantasy duology about a young girl in California who saves another student from drowning and opens up their world. When Jolie Lam rescues Huong Pham, their connection unlocks abilities the girls didn’t know they had, including telepathy and premonitions. These mystic powers show them they have ties to powerful figures from ancient Vietnam. To understand their visions and powers, they will have to traverse dreams and portals before they are discovered and struck down by ancient enemies.