Freya Marske, author of A Marvellous Light, is one of the co-hosts of Be the Serpent, a Hugo Award-nominated podcast about SFF, fandom, and literary tropes, and her work has sold to Analog and been shortlisted for Best Fantasy Short Story in the Aurealis Awards.
You Should Be So Lucky (2024) Cat Sebastian "Cat Sebastian writes about love in all its forms with the care, warmth and effortless mastery of someone putting a homecooked meal in front of you. I don't know how she keeps getting better, or how she managed to make me care so much about a sport I know literally nothing about, but this one is--again!--the best yet. A truly wonderful and heart-healing romance about community, grief, perseverance, New York bakeries--and baseball."
A Letter to the Luminous Deep (2024) (Sunken Archive, book 1) Sylvie Cathrall "This book is not shaped like a book, and I mean that as a compliment. It is instead an underwater treasure-chest to be slowly unpacked, full of things I adore: nosy and loving families, epistolary romance, gorgeous worldbuilding, and anxious scholars doing their best to meet the world with kindness and curiosity. Take a deep breath and dive in."
The Death I Gave Him (2023) Em X Liu "This is both a locked-room mystery with some pointed things to say about science, hubris and mortality, and one of the best versions of Hamlet I've ever come across. Smart, wildly propulsive, and tense as a muscle held at the snapping point. After this, I'll read anything Liu cares to put in front of me."
Our Hideous Progeny (2023) C E McGill "A fantastic read: I felt everything about Mary, her simmering anger and her intellectual delight, so very clearly."
Solomon's Crown (2023) Natasha Siegel "Solomon's Crown has the mixture of sweeping scope and lush sensory detail that makes for the best historical fiction. I turned the last page and immediately itched to read it again, more slowly, so that I could roll around in the aching romance and assured prose. This is a joyful debut from a remarkable talent."
The Mimicking of Known Successes (2023) (Investigations of Mossa and Pleiti, book 1) Malka Older "Older has created a wonderfully sci-fi take on the gaslamp mystery. Add in the wry depiction of academia and the warmly authentic portrayal of a relationship in the process of rekindling, and this is exactly my kind of story!"
One Night in Hartswood (2023) (14th Century Oxfordshire, book 1) Emma Denny "Road trips and dagger fights and secret identities, oh my! Denny's debut is a beautifully thoughtful and deliciously sweet romance about getting lost in order to find oneself. I loved every moment I spent in the forest and on the road with Penn and Raff."
Gwen & Art Are Not in Love (2023) Lex Croucher "This book does a flirty tango with the Arthurian legends while also sticking a KICK ME sign on their back: it contains enough sword fights and banter to keep the pages flying, but it's also a sharp and compassionate look at the terrifying wonder of being a queer young person coming to terms with yourself. Gwen and Art Are Not in Love is a work of hilarious and heart-mending genius. I read it in a joyous rush and I can't wait to buy it for literally everyone I know."
Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia of Faeries (2023) (Emily Wilde, book 1) Heather Fawcett "Forget dark academia: give me instead this kind of winter-sunshined, sharp-tongued and footnoted academia, full of field trips and grumpy romance and malevolent faeries. Emily Wilde is a narrator I won't forget in a hurry, and this book was an invigorating balm for my heart and mind."
Notorious Sorcerer (2022) (Burnished City, book 1) Davinia Evans "A delightful and fast-paced ride full of flashy swordplay, high society, and thrilling magic. . . Sheer, glorious fun!"
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy (2022) (Hart and Mercy, book 1) Megan Bannen "If Lewis Carroll and Nora Ephron teamed up to write a magical Western, this would be the result. An unabashedly offbeat adventure full of dead gods and mostly-dead zombies, family drama, swoon-worthy love letters, and a Very Good Dog, The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy oozes romantic fun like a corpse oozes dubious fluids."
A Taste of Gold and Iron (2022) (Taste of Gold and Iron, book 1) Alexandra Rowland "This book gleams and sparkles with emotion and sensory detail, showcasing the richness of Rowland's created world. It's a hugely satisfying blend of economic intrigue, vivid characters, and slow-burn romance - and it's also, frequently, funny as hell."
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance (2022) (Tithenai Chronicles, book 1) Foz Meadows "I flew through this book and enjoyed every page of the journey...I loved that this was a gripping political fantasy, but I loved even more that it was wrapped around a stubbornly kindhearted romance."
More recommendations
Books containing stories by Freya Marske
Silk & Steel (2020) A Queer Speculative Adventure Anthology edited by Janine A Southard
