Mage Against the Machine by Shaun Barger

In Mage Against the Machine, Shaun Barger creates a post-apocalyptic dystopia like no other.  The story centers around two main characters who live in the same world, only not really.  A wizard and a bionic woman take a rough and wild journey to find the truth.  And to save humanity and mage-kind.  A cunning blend of magic and technology, and while it takes a bit of time to set up the two narratives, nothing is like you’d expect.  There are plenty of stories that follow a specific pattern, to the point that a lot of folks who read often can anticipate the structure of any given novel.  Barger ignores any pattern or expectation.  It’s an engrossing read.  The split between the two realities is super trippy, exciting, and witty. 
There’s no gratuitous love narrative.  The two main characters don’t fall in love.  In fact the female character, Jem, is in love with a woman.  This story crosses many thin lines of what’s acceptable in fiction and what’s acceptable in society in general.  I love that norms are blown away.  I can’t wait to read more.

The Tangled Lands

In this new fantasy by Paolo Bacigalupi and Tobias Buckell, a world is being strangled by bramble.  The strange branches are created by an overuse of magic, and in the empire before, they had abused the power to their destruction.  This book is a collection of four stories from the city of Khaim, The Blue City, the last true city at the edge of the bramble growth.
I found these tales engrossing and full of so much potential for deeper insight into the world, language, history.  I was disappointed there wasn’t a map, or any references for what is clearly a developed world.  I look forward to more from the fallen empire of Jhandpara and the last free city of Khaim.

Heartsone by Elle Katharine White

The introduction to what is bound to be a fantastic first person epic, Heartstone puts a reluctant love story in a world of dragons.  Although it is eerily like the love story from Pride and Prejudice, Daired being Darcy, the fantasy world takes it securely and adapts it to a mythical saga.  Mythical creatures, historic battles and a will they/ won’t they love story combine to make a memorable start to this new fantasy epic series.

Breath of Air by Beth Cato

This is the first I’ve read of Beth Cato, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised.  Breath of Earth is a historical fantasy about a young woman, Ingrid, who has a power she does not understand.  A power generally only inherited by men. 
Set in San Francisco in the early 20th century, Breath of Earth is a fast-paced steampunk ride through the world of geomancy.  The immersion and pace of Ingrid’s story feeds fully into the development of a series. I look forward to reading more from Beth Cato.

The Book Of Lost Things

This is the first I have ever read of John Connolly, and I must say I’m sad I didn’t discover him sooner.  Connolly, like all of us who read, has created his own world to escape into.  He chose to share it with the world in poetic style like any fairy tale you’ve read.  I think we all have our own version of Narnia, and this was his.
The Book Of Lost Things is a coming of age fairy tale adventure in the vein of C.S. Lewis.  Connolly used a minimalist, poetic style and classic fairy tale structure to take the reader to the other world while allowing freedom to see it in their own way.
This story is fantasy at its roots.  Very well done.

The Tattooist of Auschwitz

This story could not have come at a more important time.  Given current politics, it is important to remember our history.  It is important to not repeat our actions in wars past.
Heather Morris takes this story and weaves it in a heart wrenching way.  This is the only book outside of The Diary of Anne Frank that reminds us that real people were affected by this.  That real people died.  And continue to do so as a result of a modern crusade.  This book is important because we need to put names on tragedies to understand them.  We need to see faces to understand death.
Lale is a man who may have been hated for cooperating.  He was trying to survive, to ensure his lover survived.  That strength of love, the power in love that grew under the worst possible circumstances saved them both.
Brilliantly told adaptation by Morris.

Clockwork Angels

This is the first time I’ve ever read a novelization of a music album, and it does not disappoint.  Neil Peart of the band Rush wrote the album Clockwork Angels with each track being a characterization or expression of an idea or experience in this steampunk world.  It’s told in third person in the perspective of Owen, a young man who dreams and imagines.  He’s tired of his small town life and jumps a train to adventure.  He falls in love, travels, explores, and learns about the world and his place in it.  While he thought it was all for the best and didn’t have a design for himself, the leader of Utopian Albion, the Watchmaker and his rival, the Anarchist were manipulating him to their own ends.
The story told is written by Owen as a grandfather, telling his family about all of his adventures, and watching over his own piece of paradise far away from the Watchmaker or the Anarchist.

Clockwork Lives

In this steampunk adaptation of The Canterbury Tales, Kevin J. Anderson and Neil Peart create a world rich with character and adventure.
While the primary narration is told in the third person following Merinda Peake’s journey to fill her book with stories, the individual tales are told in the first person.  This is an unusual, but intelligent way to let the stories grow.  The characters become more real.  It’s not a book you can easily put down.
While this is the second book in the Clockwork Angels series, it does stand alone easily supported by the depth of characters whose stories are collected.  Thoroughly enjoyable.  Left me wanting more.

The Accidental War by Walter Jon Williams

In this first Novel of the Praxis, Walter Jon Williams beautifully builds the society, characters, family structure without sinking too far into significant “info dumps” that often lose a reader.  This story falls comfortably into the genre of science fiction epic, stylistically reminiscent of Star Wars.  While it’s a bit more linear than Tolkien, The Accidental War can sit proudly next to the Epics of Middle Earth as well.
While this is not the first book in this world created by Williams, it’s my first reading of his work.  Williams utilizes third person limited POV to weave a tale of political intrigue, action, and privilege.
He establishes his main characters early, building the society and politics around them and their relationships with each other and with the minor characters rather than planting them in an established world.  The growth when done this way, is more organic and centered on characters more than thematic and genre elements.  This is what will make The Accidental War stand out from other sci-fi.

Isle of Blood and Stone by Makiia Lucier

In this third person epic fantasy novel, Isle of Blood and Stone, Lucier speaks to a reader’s sense of wanderlust and curiosity.  It’s unique in that while Elias is an adventurer, geographer, and mapmaker, the actual story takes place in his home, St. John del Mar. 
Elias returns from a months long journey to find himself thrust into a mystery with personal and political repercussions.  The author sticks to Elias in her narration which is perfect for the story told, and until more than half way through the book, leaves romance out of the story entirely.  The way she gets the romance in is entirely organic and works for this story without weakening or altering the original goals of the characters.
I truly enjoyed this fun other-world mystery and look forward to more by Lucier in future.

Birthmarked by Caragh O'Brien

This is the third book I’ve read by Caragh O’Brien and the start of a dystopia trilogy.  It’s definitely in a different vein from her Vault of Dreamers books, but still has an addictive story and amazing protagonist.  Written in third person, this character driven story is a steady jog into the future.
What sets this apart from most other dystopias is the ambiguity of the conflicting groups.  The reader can easily side with the protagonist or the institution she’s trying to escape, to a certain degree.  It’s completely addictive and I can’t wait to read more.

The Invisible Library

The Invisible Library is Genevieve Cogman’s debut and the opening of a new series in fantasy.  Told in the third person with a focus on Irene, a Junior Librarian sent to retrieve a specific iteration of Grimm’s fairy tales.
Shuttling between alternate dimensions, Irene and other Librarians are bound to protect individual works of fiction by collecting them to a secret library that rests between all the dimensions available.  This work reeled me in almost immediately, as it would for any bibliophile or fantasy aficionado.  Cogman uses distinct and intelligent language without putting comprehension beyond the reader’s grasp.
Evocative of Sherlock Holmes, James Bond, and The Dresden Files stylistically, The Invisible Library is adventurous, magical, and fun.  I sincerely look forward to the next book in the series.

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

Red Rising is a first person dystopic adventure reminiscent of Ender’s Game, Legend, and The Hunger Games series.  This type of story has been in vogue for about a decade, but still Brown managed to hook me in on page one.
Darrow was a Helldiver.  A Red.  A miner of precious minerals needed for humanity's expansion into the space.  What he finds out after the death of his father, his wife, and himself is that he’s a slave of the lowest rank.
Under the wings of those who helped him die, the Sons of Ares, he becomes Gold and infiltrates their most prestigious academy.  Brown has set up the academy like trials that can end in glory, shame, or death.  This faux war changes Darrow, draws his mind into a dark place.  When he is reminded of his purpose, of his wife and his family, he makes an unprecedented move against the administrators.
This is the making of Darrow.  He’s a Red Rising.

War of the Cards

Dinah wants to be queen.  She NEEDS to be queen, but In order to get her crown from the tyrant she thought was her father, she must fight everyone, including herself. 
In this conclusion to The Queen of Hearts trilogy, I was not disappointed.  Colleen Oakes has further outdone herself with the continuing magic that created Wonderland and the characters that occupy it.  I started this book and could not put it down until I was finished.
Dinah’s internal struggles, her conquest of her puppet masters, and her stepping into her true place are things many young women can identify with.  Though it is a fantasy novel, its ability to connect with readers through Dinah holds it above YA realism with similar themes.

Carve the Mark by Veronica Roth

Veronica Roth does it again with the first book in her newest series, Carve the Mark.  Set a long time ago in a galaxy far far away (though she never uses that phrase), the author of Divergent sets her sights on a deeper world building goal.  As far as I’m concerned she pretty much nails it, as expected.
Told in alternating POV between Akos and Cyra two children of rival nations, Carve the Mark introduces new cultures organically through the protagonists.  Cyra’s part of the story is told in first person, much like Triss in Divergent.  Akos is a third person narration.
While the POV shift in part one didn’t seem to make much sense at first, the transition opens up new story and deeper character development especially with Akos.  The science fiction naming conventions Roth uses are a little confusing, but it doesn’t take away from the story at any point.
I loved it I can’t wait to read more.

Little Girl Lost by Wendy Corsi Staub

What do a cult, a cop, and a foundling have in common?  This is the question I spent the hours I read Wendy Corsi Staub’s newest novel, Little Girl Lost.
Staub writes in a limited third person POV which definitely works for this type of thriller, though I would have preferred fewer and deeper characters.  In the first few chapters, the plot leaps are somewhat nonsequetous, but once the three main conflicting stories are introduced, it evens out nicely.
This is the type of book I may have to read more than once to catch everything.  It’s intelligent, edgy, and twisted in that special way thrillers often are.  Any mystery or thriller fans will love this book.  Personally, I’m going to look into some more work by Staub, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter

A Victorian romp with all your favorite horror stories.  Daughters of Jekyll and Hyde, Frankenstein, one of Dr. Moreau’s experiments, Sherlock Homes, Dracula’s servant, and more make this a fun ride, while somewhat nostalgic.
I’ll admit every time the characters interrupted the story to provide commentary, I laughed.  Having written and read these types of books, I can identify with Catherine, the writer, and her audience reading over her shoulder.  It is a unique stylistic choice and I had so much fun with this aspect as well as the runaway nature of the story, I look forward to the next book.

Akata Witch

I will admit that ancient African magic and mythology is not something I’m familiar or even remotely acquainted to, so I found this book very interesting from the start.
Based on the prologue, I thought it would be told in the first person, but Okorafor shifted away from that for her narrative.  In a way, it works well in third person because it allows a group focus, but I really think a first person POV from Sunny’s perspective would have had a lot more weight.
That being said, this was a well rounded story until the climax.  There wasn’t really a decline period which would have helped introduce the next book in the series.  It’s an interesting read and I look forward to more of this story, however.

Incarceron

Finn was born in the prison, of the prison.  Claudia was made to be queen.  Their worlds collide in a tangle of scandal, conspiracy, and espionage.  Combining technology and era styles like I’ve never read before, Fisher draws the reader into Incarceron.  She uses a third person limited POV switching between the prison and the world outside it. 
Two people trying to escape the circumstances of their lives, separated by miles and inches at once.  This tale is not a romance.  This is a science fiction, fantasy, and steampunk adventure packaged neatly into just over 400 pages.  I am completely blown away by this and cannot wait to read more by Catherine Fisher.

The Tethered Mage

Written in first person narrative, Tethered Mage follows patrician daughter, Amalia, on her unlikely path as a Falconer and diplomat.  

In the empire of Raverra, Falcons are mages of one kind or another, and Falconers are the humans who tie them and their powers to the empire.  After a fluke that binds her to a fire warlock, Amalia is forced to play among Falconer ranks, despite her patrician status.  This upset causes rifts among the ruling councils and cities of the empire.

Amalia takes her training as a future diplomat of Raverra to task in her attempts to save the city of Ardence from war and certain destruction.  But nothing is ever easy, especially for a Cornaro, and Amalia and her Falcon, Zaira have their work cut out for them.

In a fast paced narrative, Caruso takes the reader on a wild ride, not leaving any worldbuilding holes.  It’s a page turner you won’t be able to put down.  I look forward to the continuation of the story.