10 Canadian sci-fi and fantasy books to check out this summer
If you can't get enough sci-fi and fantasy, these books will be right up your alley. Here are 10 sci-fi and fantasy books written by Canadians to check out this summer.
Radicalized by Cory Doctorow
Radicalized is a collection of four novellas that explore the quandaries — social, economic and technological — of contemporary America. Cory Doctorow's characters deal with issues around immigration, corrupt police forces, dark web uprisings and more.
Doctorow is a bestselling sci-fi novelist whose past books include Little Brother and Walkaway.
A Brightness Long Ago by Guy Gavriel Kay
Guy Gavriel Kay's most recent novel, A Brightness Long Ago, is set in a world evoking early Renaissance Italy with themes of destiny, love and power. As the son of a tailor, Danio Cerra rose through the ranks of society with his incredible intelligence. He's unhappily employed at the court of a count whose nickname is "the Beast," but fate throws him a bone in the form of Adria Ripoli, an assassin who traded her family's wealth for freedom.
Kay is a bestselling sci-fi and fantasy novelist, whose books includeTigana and Children of Earth and Sky.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
This Is How You Lose the Time War is a debut fantasy novel co-written by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone. When two time-travelling agents from warring factions begin a clandestine correspondence, they're each determined to make sure their side has the best hope for the future. But when they fall in love, their secret may have deadly consequences.
El-Mohtar's short story Seasons of Glass and Iron won Hugo, Nebula and Locus awards. Gladstone is the author of the Hugo-nominated series Craft Sequence.
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
When an ancient Mayan god is accidentally freed in Silvia Moreno-Garcia's Gods of Jade and Shadow, chaos ensues. Casiopea is a young woman living in a small Mexican town, dreaming of a better life. But when she finds a strange wooden box in her grandfather's room, she opens it, freeing the spirit of the Mayan god of death. Casiopea ends up on a journey across Mexico to help recover the throne from his evil brother.
Moreno-Garcia's debut novel, Signal to Noise, won the 2016 Copper Cylinder Award, which recognizes works of speculative fiction.
The Walking Boy by Lydia Kwa
The Walking Boy by Lydia Kwa is set in 8th-century China, where a dying hermit named Harelip sends his disciple Baoshi on a quest to find his former lover Ardhanari. Burdened with a secret only his Master knows about, Baoshi sets off on a long pilgrimage and encounters a series of characters that help ease pains of the past.
Kwa's previous books include the novel Oracle Bone and the poetry collection sinuous.
Fate of Flames by Sarah Raughley
In Fate of Flames, the first book of Sarah Raughley's Effigies series, four girls with the power to control the elements must come together and save the world from a terrible evil. But when one of the effigies dies, Maia is forced to step into the spotlight and become her replacement.
Fate of Flames has two sequels: Siege of Shadows and Legacy of Light.
The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
In Evan Winter's fantasy debut, a world is caught in an eternal war and Tau is his people's only hope for survival. Described as a mix of Game of Thrones and Gladiator, The Rage of Dragons follows Tau as he attempts to get revenge and become the greatest swordsman to ever live.
The Rage of Dragons was originally self-published before it was acquired by Orbit Books. It is the first book in a planned series.
Lent by Jo Walton
In Lent, Jo Walton reimagines the life of Girolamo Savonarola — the man who remade 15th century Florence — and this time around, there's magic involved. And when Savonarola discovers the truth about himself, it's only just the beginning.
Walton has published several novels, including The Just City and won a Hugo Award in 2012 for her novel Among Others.
War by Michelle West
In the final novel in Michelle West's House of War series, Jewel ATerafin faces the ultimate test. When the Sleepers wake, she must travel to the court of the Winter Queen and beg for her help. The fate of her kind, her House and all she cares about hangs in the balance.
West is an author and bookseller who lives in Toronto. She's best known for three interconnected series: the Sacred Hunt duology, the Sun Sword trilogy and the House War novels.
The Burning Stone by Jack Whyte
The Burning Stone by Jack Whyte is set in 4th-century London and follows a young Roman aristocrat on a quest to discover the truth about what happened to his family. Quintus Varrus's entire family — except one uncle — is massacred. He moves to England to look for answers, but he doesn't know who killed his family or who to trust.
Whyte is a Scottish-born Canadian novelist. His work includes the Arthurian-rooted A Dream of Eagles series and the Templars trilogy.