Donald Maass Literary Agency

Library Journal: Recently dumped by her boyfriend and fired, Anna, a Kurdish refugee, already has enough to deal with before her close encounter with the wounded alien on her kitchen floor. Being that he’s an officer in the Joint Special Operations Command, Erik’s life mission is to bring order to chaos, and he’s sorely tested as he investigates what appears to be an alien starship. Clayton schemes in the background, willing to do anything to protect humanity. Hostile first contact brings these characters together, and then it’s a race against the clock to prevent nuclear Armageddon. Violent, vivid, vicious—this is an innovative military, sci-fi thriller that is equal parts action and introspection. It’s conceptually profound and touches upon many ethical and metaphysical subjects, including a peek into Zoroastrianism and a unique interpretation of souls. This doesn’t necessarily make for easy reading, but there’s no denying the intelligence in the writing.

VERDICT This stand-alone story from Dickinson (The Tyrant Baru Cormorant) thrives on the unexpected, and while the characters aren’t necessarily likable, the way they wrestle with doing the right thing versus doing the hard thing is authentic and thought-provoking.

Library Journal: This collection contains Bishop’s (The Queen’s Price) previously published flash fiction and short stories, along with a handful of new tales. Bishop has organized her stories based on theme and provides a short introduction to each section. Her notes about the stories are intimate and often set the scene for the upcoming titles. The stories themselves consist mostly of high fantasy or dystopian science fiction and include much of her early fiction, fairy-tale retellings, and some stand-alone stories. While Bishop includes a few stories set in the worlds of her beloved series (“Black Jewels,” “A Novel of the Others”), readers can also expect a wide variety of new worlds that still contain the familiar themes of feminine power and justice. The book will likely hook her tried-and-true fans with extra stories from her successful series, but this collection’s strength lies in its other tales, with “Friends and Corpses” being the highlight.

VERDICT Recommended for fans who are curious about Bishop’s journey as a writer and are interested in reading about the inspiration and motivation behind her stories.

Bookpage: Dickinson’s obsession with detail greatly enriches the atmosphere of Exordia, which rockets across many points of view and locations as various team members look for clues to unravel the mystery. Dickinson has crafted a number of very human stories in a book ostensibly about aliens. Trauma, morality in the face of disaster, forgiveness, guilt, lost love and the bond between parents and children all find their way to the page.

…there’s no question that it will be many sci-fi fans’ favorite book of the year, especially those willing to surrender to it, and be consumed.

Also, author Seth Dickinson gives a full Q&A in Bookpage regarding EXORDIA that you don’t want to miss!