The Midnight LibraryMatt Haig is well-known for his nonfiction and self-help books. New to his repertoire is fiction, this time in the form of the international bestseller The Midnight Library. This standalone novel is a cross-section of contemporary fiction, fantasy, self-help, and multiple world line theory.
Hope IslandTim Major’s novel Hope Island is a slow-burning, introspective horror novel with elements of gothic literature. The story follows Nina Scaife and her daughter Laurie. Nina’s husband, Rob, has recently walked out on her, and the pair have just arrived at Hope Island to visit his parents. However, the island isn’t all it seems. The children are eerily silent, the islanders act oddly, a newly discovered archaeological site is drawing attention, and to top it off, a body is found lying on the beach.
LacunaIf author J.M. Coetzee’s award-winning novel Disgrace is mentioned in a room full of people, it will certainly become the topic of hot debate, despite it being released several decades ago. Literary responses to this work aren’t short in number, but standing out among them is Fiona Snyckers’s novel Lacuna.
If Cats Disappeared from the WorldGenki Kawamura’s first novel, If Cats Disappeared from the World, has sold over two million copies worldwide, and it isn’t difficult to see why. A storyteller in all forms, Kawamura isn’t simply a novelist. He has also produced movies such as the famed Your Name as well as done work as a screenwriter and showrunner. All of these myriad of storytelling techniques leak into the novel, if not in method it was crafted, then in our nameless main character, his hobbies, and his loves.
The 2084 Report: An Oral History of the Great WarmingJames Lawrence Powell is no stranger to penning books, but The 2084 Report: An Oral History of The Great Warming is his foray into fiction. The majority of his books are nonfiction titles touching on the subjects he’s spent his life teaching and researching at various universities around the country—namely geology and climate science.
The Woman in the Purple SkirtNatsuko Imamura’s debut English novel is a story that is at once a slow-burning character study and a tale of obsession and psychological intrigue. The Woman in the Purple Skirt has already won the prestigious Akutagawa Prize in Japan, which Imamura was previously nominated for twice before.
DownfallWhere do you go after you finish the greatest work of your life? What lies past the completion of your life’s work? How do you find it? How do you live up to the world’s expectations, let alone your own? These are the questions poised within Downfall by Inio Asano, the Eisner nominated author of the series Solanin and Goodnight Punpun. This is a single-volume manga as opposed to the much more common series length manga works.
EdenA brand new eco-thriller hit shelves earlier this month. Eden is the latest novel by Tim Lebbon, winner of three British Fantasy Awards, the Bram Stoker Award, the Shocker, and a finalist for both the International Horror Guild and World Fantasy Award. His latest novel combines horror, near future sci-fi, and ecological thriller genres into one unforgettable story.
Last Ones Left AliveDebut author Sarah Davis-Goff brings us a standalone novel titled Last Ones Left Alive, a unique take on what happens when a sheltered young woman has to suddenly face the post-apocalypse alone. This novel is set in a post-apocalyptic Ireland, a place filled with zombie-like creatures called skrake. Orpen’s early life was sheltered, having been raised by her mother and Maeve on an uninfested island off the Irish coast. But now her mother’s gone, and Maeve is gravely ill. Determined, angry, and searching for her identity in the remnants of the world, Orpen takes Maeve to Ireland on a journey to find a rumored city and the banshees—the all-women fighting force that’s fought the skrake for generations.
The Missing SeasonGillian French’s newest novel, The Missing Season, is a novel that straddles several genres—mystery, horror, and thriller. The author is no stranger to the genre, her novel Grit being nominated for an Edgar Award. This novel, too, is a great example of a young adult book that falls within that liminal space between thriller and horror.
Welcome to Looking Glass Reads! We review speculative fiction novels as well as manga, light novels, and graphic novels.
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