The New York Times: It’s so rare to love every single book in a trilogy, to admire the aim, precision and storytelling stamina of an author this much. The fatal flaws of trilogies are plentiful: an explosive but overpromising beginning, a sagging middle, an insufficient end; characters whose arcs aren’t sustained; dropped threads, rushed acts. There’s none of that here — just the sense of a careful, experienced hand at the rudder, navigating the story home.
Booklist: Marino draws readers in quickly, creating sympathy for the characters, unveiling the necessary details to immerse them in a world of art, siblings, deadly intrigue, and a centuries-long nefarious quest. Dread is present from the start, but it quickly escalates into a disorienting cosmic terror that touches everyone. Booktalk it to readers as The Twisted Ones, by T. Kingfisher (2019) meets Slade House, by David Mitchell (2015) with a touch of Lovecraft Country, by Matt Ruff (2016).
Library Journal: Nona feels she has a pretty good life: she loves her family, works with alot of people her age, gets to be around a nice dog almost every day, and hopes to celebrate her birthday with a party on the beach. Of course, all of this is overshadowed by the facts that her city—and the entire planet—is under threat of destruction; that the Emperor Undying may be coming; and that Pyrrha, Camilla, and Palamedes may care about her, but Nona is actually an intruder in someone else’s body. Everyone seems to think Nona can save them from the Nine Houses, but she knows that to do that may mean she has to give up everything, including her own existence. This uniquely poignant arc of a young woman’s search for an ordinary life within a very extraordinary world is both stunning in its simpler moments and shocking in its reveals. Readers get lost in the story lines, but Muir’s clever prose always provides a path to the end.
VERDICT Muir’s third entry in “The Locked Tomb” series (after Harrow the Ninth) is as immersive and original as its predecessors.
Premee Mohamed’s THE BUTCHER OF THE FOREST, in which a world-weary woman races against the clock to rescue the children of a wrathful tyrant from a dangerous, otherworldly forest, to Emily Goldman at Tordotcom Publishing, with Jonathan Strahan editing, for publication in 2024, by Michael Curry.
Shelf Awareness: A Taiwanese American teen stumbles through the confusions of choosing a college, interpreting sexual interest from young men and asserting her desires in this refreshingly sex-positive coming-of-age YA novel.
Photo credit: Sue Grubman
Authors of THE ROUGHEST DRAFT Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka’s THE BREAK-UP TOUR, pitched as a Taylor Swift-inspired romance about a singer whose breakout album is about all of her ex-boyfriends, including the one from college she never got over, and who is now joining her on tour, to Kristine Swartz at Berkley, in a two-book deal, for publication in spring 2024, by Katie Shea Boutillier.
Best Novella
Best Horror Novel (The August Derleth Award)
Audio rights to N.S. Perkins’s THE INFINITY BETWEEN US, to Cassie Hanjian at Podium Audio, by Katie Shea Boutillier.
Bulgarian rights to New York Times bestselling author Tamsyn Muir’s GIDEON THE NINTH, the first book in The Locked Tomb series, to Ciela Norma, by Maša Ivanović at Prava i prevodi in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
Czech rights to Robert Jackson Bennett’s LOCKLANDS, to Host, by Milena Kaplarevic at Prava I Prevodi, on behalf of Katie Shea Boutillier for Cameron McClure.
German rights to New York Times bestselling author Jim Butcher’s DEAD BEAT, PROVEN GUILTY, WHITE KNIGHT, SMALL FAVOR, and TURN COAT, books 7-12 in the Dresden Files series, to Blanvalet, by Sarah Knofius at the Thomas Schlueck Agency in association with Michael Curry for Jennifer Jackson.
