Three new books offer a diverse range of genres, from epic fantasy to horror and science fiction. Here are the reviews.
Seek the Traitor's Son by Veronica Roth
Seek the Traitor's Son, the first part of a trilogy by Veronica Roth, is now available (Tor, £22, 432pp). The story is set on an Earth-like planet where two hostile civilisations exist in uneasy stasis. The Cedre are a tech-savvy minority, while the Talusar are the violent majority. When a seer prophesies that the conflict will come down to two women, things become deeply personal. On one side is Elegy Ahn, a soldier thrust into greatness; on the other, the vicious Rava Vidar. Caught between them is the hapless Theren, blessed and cursed with beauty, muscles, and the ability to sense the Truth. With a huge emotional range, vivid characters, and great world-building, this is a proper epic of love and hate, treachery and loyalty. Bring it on!
Sarafina by Philip Fracassi
Sarafina by Philip Fracassi (Black Crow Books, £10.99, 354pp) presents a horror that does not erupt into normal life but rather continues its miseries. Three American brothers, born into 19th-century hardship, escape from the civil war only to encounter an evil far more elemental than human violence. Starving, injured, and on the run, they find refuge in a rural paradise of fruit trees and meadows, all overseen by the beautiful and seductive Sarafina. While readers may scream 'Get out now!', they will understand exactly why the brothers stay. This deft and brilliant blend of myth, fantasy, and good old-fashioned horror is like forbidden fruit: take one bite and you are hooked.
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop
If We Cannot Go at the Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop (Maclehose Press, £14.99, 192pp) is already a celebrated bestseller in South Korea. These stories offer a welcome introduction to Choyeop's brilliant imagination and limpid storytelling. Every technically inspired spring-off point is used to explore the human condition with clarity, charity, and ironic wit. In the title story, a marooned scientist explains how her brilliant work has effectively put galaxies between her and her family. In another, when a high-tech archive of deceased Minds loses a file, a bereaved daughter must come to terms with the bleak realities of her mother's actual life. Meanwhile, a lost-in-space encounter turns into a beautiful meditation on otherness, communication, and reality itself. This is pure sci-fi magic.
