Hot off the Press! New SFF Releases for January 31, 2017

Curious what new books are releasing? I am highlighting the new releases that caught my eye for this week. Let me know if you see anything new, interesting or any must reads! I am sure I missed some worthy books as well, so please feel free the share!

 

FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION

 

FANTASY

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The Hanging Tree by Ben Aaronovitch
Published by DAW on January 31st 2017
Pages: 336

   

The Sixth book in the the Rivers of London series featuring the young law officer Peter Grant—who must deal with both crime and magic.
Where the Marble Arch stands today in London was once the Tyburn gallows - or The Hanging Tree. The walk toward those gallows, along Oxford Street and past the Mayfair mansions, has a bloody and haunted history as the last trip of the condemned. Some things never change. Blood and ghosts have returned to those mansions of the super-rich. Peter Grant’s put on the job, as England’s last wizard and the Metropolitan Police’s reluctant investigator of all things supernatural…

 

Caraval (Caraval, #1) by Stephanie Garber
Published by Flatiron Books on January 31st 2017
Pages: 416

   

Whatever you've heard about Caraval, it doesn't compare to the reality. It's more than just a game or a performance. It's the closest you'll ever find to magic in this world . . .
Welcome, welcome to Caraval―Stephanie Garber’s sweeping tale of two sisters who escape their ruthless father when they enter the dangerous intrigue of a legendary game.
Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.
But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.

 

Crossroads of Canopy (Titan's Forest, #1) by Thoraiya Dyer
Published by Tor Books on January 31st 2017
Pages: 336

   

At the highest level of a giant forest, thirteen kingdoms fit seamlessly together to form the great city of Canopy. Thirteen goddesses and gods rule this realm and are continuously reincarnated into human bodies. Canopy’s position in the sun, however, is not without its dark side. The nation’s opulence comes from the labor of slaves, and below its fruitful boughs are two other realms: Understorey and Floor, whose deprived citizens yearn for Canopy’s splendor.
Unar, a determined but destitute young woman, escapes her parents’ plot to sell her into slavery by being selected to serve in the Garden under the goddess Audblayin, ruler of growth and fertility. As a Gardener, she yearns to become Audblayin’s next Bodyguard while also growing sympathetic towards Canopy's slaves.
When Audblayin dies, Unar sees her opportunity for glory – at the risk of descending into the unknown dangers of Understorey to look for a newborn god. In its depths, she discovers new forms of magic, lost family connections, and murmurs of a revolution that could cost Unar her chance…or grant it by destroying the home she loves.

 

URBAN FANTASY

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The Ghoul Vendetta (SPI Files, #4) by Lisa Shearin
Published by Ace Books on January 31st 2017
Pages: 304

   

Men in Black meets Janet Evanovich s Stephanie Plum in the fourth urban fantasy novel in the series starring seer Makenna Fraser and her fellow agents at Supernatural Protection & Investigation. The agents of Supernatural Protection & Investigations (SPI) are paid to keep the peace. But that s not so easy when an endless evil threatens to tear that peace to pieces... A vampire gangster s nephew is abducted off his yacht by a bunch of low-rent Creatures from the Black Lagoon. A slew of banks are knocked over by what looks like the cast of Night of the Living Dead. All of this may seem like the movies, but, I promise you, it s not. I m Makenna Fraser, seer for SPI, and I know the culprits aren t wearing disguises or makeup. They re real. Deadly real. Especially their leader an ancient shapeshifter who leaves a trail of chaos and blood in his wake. Now, he s taken my partner, Ian and his intentions aren t pretty. The worst part? This is only the beginning... The beginning of the end of the human race."

 

SCIENCE FICTION

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Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty
Also by this author: Six Wakes
Published by Orbit on January 31st 2017
Pages: 400

   

A space adventure set on a lone ship where the murdered crew are resurrected through cloning to discover who their killer was -- and the secret to their mission.
It was not common to awaken in a cloning vat streaked with drying blood.
At least, Marie Shea iv had never experienced it. She had no memory of how she died. That was also new; before, when she had awakened as a new clone, her first memory was of how she died, from illness once and from injury once...
Maria's vat was in the front of six vats, each one holding the clone of a crew member of the starship Pituitary, each clone waiting for its previous incarnation to die so it could awaken. Apparently Maria wasn't the only one to die recently.

 

Home (Binti #2) by Nnedi Okorafor
Also by this author: Binti
Published by Tor.com on January 31st 2017

   

The thrilling sequel to the Nebula-nominated Binti.
It’s been a year since Binti and Okwu enrolled at Oomza University. A year since Binti was declared a hero for uniting two warring planets. A year since she left her family to pursue her dream.
And now she must return home to her people, with her friend Okwu by her side, to face her family and face her elders.
But Okwu will be the first of his race to set foot on Earth in over a hundred years, and the first ever to come in peace.
After generations of conflict can human and Meduse ever learn to truly live in harmony?
Praise for Nnedi Okorafor:
"Binti is a supreme read about a sexy, edgy Afropolitan in space! It's a wondrous combination of extra-terrestrial adventure and age-old African diplomacy. Unforgettable!" - Wanuri Kahiu, award winning Kenyan film director of Pumzi and From a Whisper
"A perfect dove-tailing of tribal and futuristic, of sentient space ships and ancient cultural traditions, Binti was a beautiful story to read.” – Little Red Reviewer
“Binti is a wonderful and memorable coming of age story which, to paraphrase Lord of the Rings, shows that one girl can change the course of the galaxy.” – Geek Syndicate
“Binti packs a punch because it is such a rich, complex tale of identity, both personal and cultural… and like all of Nnedi Okorafor’s works, this one is also highly, highly recommended.” – Kirkus Reviews
"There's more vivid imagination in a page of Nnedi Okorafor's work than in whole volumes of ordinary fantasy epics." -Ursula Le Guin
"Okorafor's impressive inventiveness never flags." - Gary K. Wolfe on Lagoon
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

 

 

 

FANTASY          URBAN FANTASY           SCIENCE FICTION

 

The Hanging Tree	Ben Aaronovitch	1/31/2017
The Ghoul Vendetta	Lisa Shearin	1/31/2017
Six Wakes	Mur Lafferty	1/31/2017
Binti: Home	Nnedi Okorafor	1/31/2017
Caraval	Stephanie Garber	1/31/2017
Crossroads of Canopy	Thoraiya Dyer	1/31/2017