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.