The Globe and Mail
Propaganda and its impact on the world is at the forefront of many conversations today. The following seven novels all explore the idea of power and knowledge, who controls it and what happens when the truth comes out.
Where the Dark Stands Still, A. B. Poranek (368 pages, McElderry Books/Simon & Schuster) An astounding debut for Polish Canadian author Ania Poranek with an ending to stop any heartbeat. A fairy tale of a girl at odds with her magic, a tree demon, a not-cat and a not-so-malicious river spirit, living in a semi-sentient house. On Kupala Night – a Polish summer solstice festival – Liska disappears into the monstrous spirit-wood on a mission to separate from her treacherous magic and lead an unremarkable life. Thickly rooted in Slavic folklore and darkly whimsical, this is a tale of doomed love and the witless bargain made with an old god to protect the ignorant and intolerant.
Masters of Death, Olivie Blake (416 pages, Tor Books/Raincoast) Olivie Blake’s Gaiman-esque ability to offer readers the ridiculous and devastatingly profound simultaneously encourages her readers into accepting fantasy as truth. Akin to Sandman, this winding tale features all manner of supernaturals: a ghost and the vampire who can’t get rid of him, a demon, a lovestruck reaper, an unconventional angel, a thieving demi-god and Fox D’Mora, the godson of Death. Summoned to play the game of immortals (where they cannot lose), they gamble for favours, wishes and truths, all for the mastery of Death.
Sunbringer, Hannah Kaner (367 pages, Harper Voyager/HarperCollins) The cost of devotion makes monsters of gods and men in this wildly immersive sequel to Hannah Kaner’s Godkiller. This adventure of epic proportion with an unprecedentedly diverse cast finds retired knight Elogast, 12-year-old Inara and Skediceth, the god of white lies, returning to the city of knowledge to warn its people of the king who would become a god. Meanwhile, Kissen is tasked by the very gods she despises to warn the rebels of a greater threat converging from the north and east.
The City of Stardust, Georgia Summers (352 pages, Redhook/Hachette) Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials meets the Grimm Brothers in Georgia Summers’s dark and wondrous debut. Violet Everly has been kept hidden because her family is under a curse that sees their best and brightest taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers. She dreams of using a key to help unlock alternate worlds and find her mother.
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands, Heather Fawcett (345 pages, Del Rey/Penguin Random House) The sequel to the hugely successful Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by this Canadian author continues on its journey to find the elusive backdoor into Faerie and reinstate its overthrown king. Emily and Wendell, their reputations under fire and hunted by the fair folk, go to the Alps where many scholars before them have disappeared in search of a door opening to multiple dimensions of Faerie.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, Shannon Chakraborty (483 pages, Harper Voyager/HarperCollins) Shannon Chakraborty has written a heroic female adventure across different cultures and faiths. The notorious pirate Amina al-Sirafi, turned mother, is forced from retirement to save the granddaughter of a wealthy woman and the child of a man whose death devastated her crew many years ago. Now she must round up her old family for one last adventure from which they may not all come home. Amina’s journey explores the struggles of reconciling career and motherhood.
A Fate Inked in Blood, Danielle L. Jensen (432 pages, Del Rey/Penguin Random House) Albertan author Danielle Jensen, best known for her Bridge Kingdom series, explores the complexities of love, loyalty and power in this cinematic and violent Norse-inspired tale. Once Freya’s secret is uncovered, she is forced yet again to bind her loyalties to those who would see her obedient or crushed, this time to satisfy the fanaticism of a power-hungry clan leader. Blessed by the goddess Hlin, she is the long-prophesized shield maiden destined to unite all of Skaland under the one king who can control her.