Top Speculative Fiction Recommended by Wine, Books More

Wine, Books & More would seem to be the book group to join for fans of speculative fiction, if January’s get-together was anything to go by.  But as a genre, there are just so many different sub-genres, as this sampling would suggest. Even if you don’t think you would like spec fic as a rule, there’s bound to be something here to prick your curiosity.

We heard about the popular Deborah Harkness fantasy series, All Souls, which begins with A Discovery of Witches. This book tells the story of a witch, a centuries old vampire plus a mysterious manuscript, which somehow unleashes a fantastical world of demons, witches and sorcery. The series is a thrilling blend of magic, history, suspense and romance.

More fantasy-romance included Daughter of Shadows and Ash by Ember Johnson which is set in a war-torn kingdom where Alora becomes an assassin intent on revenge. Unintentionally she becomes a symbol of hope for her people.

And we also heard about The Zodiac Academy series by Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti. In The Awakening an heir to a throne discovers she’s Fae. Studying at an academy for all kinds of dark magical beings, she’s on a steep learning curve at a school where your star sign defines your destiny.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by Victoria E Schwab is a paranormal story set in 1714 France. The Addie of the title makes a Faustian bargain to live forever, but the price she has to pay is that she will be forgotten by everyone she meets. Well, almost that is. When she meets a young man in a bookshop who remembers her name, things are set to change.

How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K Eason is a blend of genres involving fantasy and sci-fi, with the flavour of a reinvented fairytale. Our heroine has been given at birth some fairy blessings, gifts she can use either to change or destroy the multiverse.

A very different type of fantasy novel is Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman, an alien invasion story with a televised apocalypse. Our hero is a coast-guard vet trying to survive at the end of the world while he’s stuck with his ex’s show cat, Princess Donut. As you might expect, there’s a fair bit of humour involved.

And then there was Starter Villain, by John Scalzi, another madcap adventure with cats. This time our hero is not a happy man, living alone with his cat, when he inherits his uncle’s supervillain business, an opportunity to step out of his rut. But there are rival enemies to deal with, so no plain sailing.

There was more black humour in Mal Goes to War by Edward Ashton, a science fiction story featuring Mal, a free A.I. who becomes trapped in the body of a cyborg mercenary. Described as ‘a dark comedy wrapped in a techno thriller’s skin’, this one looks a blast.

Which brings us to a classic sci-fi novel by Isaac Asimov: The Robots of Dawn. This is a kind of “whodunit” sci-fi novel following Detective Elijah Baley, tasked with investigating the destruction of a humanoid robot’s mind on the Spacer world of Aurora. This novel was first published in 1983, part of Asimov’s Robot series.

Fans of literary fiction may also like to try Prophet Song by Paul Lynch, which won the 2023 Booker Prize. This is a 1984-esque dystopian novel, which is set in an Ireland that has been taken over by a totalitarian government. Secret police have arrested Eilish’s husband, leaving her to make the difficult decision of how far she is willing to go to save her family.

It wasn’t all spec fic at Wine, Books & More. The group also reported on a wide selection of other types of reading – mysteries and thrillers, some romance, quite a good selection of non-fiction. There was even a western in the mix. Wine, Books & More meets on the third Tuesday evening of the month at Hastings War Memorial Library.

4 February 2025

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