Councilor

Modesitt's smart second Grand Illusion political thriller (after Isolate), set in a world of steam-powered cars and empaths who can remotely sense emotions, turns a microscope on the parliamentary process. Steffan Dekkard and Avraal Ysella-Dekkard, two former security agents for Premier Axel Obreduur, marry and strike out on their own. Steffan is appointed to the governing Council of Sixty-Six, while Avraal takes a job with a well-connected security firm. To head off the unrest fomented by the reformist New Meritorists, Steffan introduces a bill to dismantle the corrupt and out-of-control Ministry of Security. As his fellow councilors barter for compromises on the bill, Steffan is targeted by both rogue Security special agents and more radical Meritorists. He and Avraal investigate, suspecting a connection between the two groups, possibly mediated by a corporate political operative looking to increase the Meritorist threat while keeping the special police available for corporate dirty tricks. Modesitt drills deeply into the day-to-day minutiae of his world's government (including hearings on the regulation of milled sand dust and the problem of "melon misrepresentation"), perhaps to a level past the interest of most science fantasy readers. Still, his protagonists, both outsiders with integrity, will win readers over, even when they indulge in some murderous tricks to tie up loose ends. This keeps the series going strong. (Aug.)

In Dean's big, intriguingly premised debut, Devon is part of a venerable clan belonging to The Book Eaters--instead of food, they munch thrillers, romance, and, when they misbehave, dusty dictionaries--and she's terrified to learn that her son is born hungering not for paper, printing, and binding but human minds (150,000-copy first printing). In The Women Could Fly, a dystopian work from Rumpus features editor Giddings, the mother of a young Black woman named Josephine is long vanished--was she a witch? Was she murdered?--and if Josephine doesn't marry soon, she will be forced to enroll in a registry that will effectively blot out her freedom (75,000-copy first printing). In Harris's The Serpent in Heaven, a sequel to The Russian Cage, Felicia is set upon by her estranged family of Mexican wizards and discovers that she is the most powerful witch of her generation (75,000-copy first printing). In Don't Fear the Reaper, Jones's follow-up to the LJ best-booked My Heart Is a Chainsaw, an exonerated Jade Daniels returns home from prison just as convicted serial killer Dark Mill South arrives to avenge 38 Dakota men hanged in 1862 (100,000-copy first printing). In this latest from the multi-award-nominated Kuang, a Chinese boy orphaned in 1828 Canton (now Guangzhou) is brought to London and eventually enters Oxford's Royal Institute of Translation--called Babel--which doubles as a center for magic and compels him to work in support of Britain's imperial ambitions in China (125,000-copy first printing). Modesitt continues his newly launched "Grand Illusion" series with Steffan Dekkard joining the Council of Sixty-Six as Councilor--the first to be an Isolate, which makes him impervious to emotional manipulation but could lead to his assassination (100,000-copy first printing). Author of the Slate best-booked Quick, Owens has Kate planning to hold her wedding at a church called Small Angels in the town where she once found shelter with the Gonne sisters, little realizing that they've been tasked with keeping a marauding ghost from invading the village--and they're falling down on the job. Winner of a BCALA Self-Publishing EBook Award for Song of Blood and Stone, one ofTime's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time, Penelope returns with The Monsters We Defy, whose heroine pays off a debt to the Empress ruling the spirit world by agreeing to steal a wealthy woman's ring in 1925 Washington, DC (25,000-copy first printing). From Valdes, author of the LJ best-booked Chilling Effects, Fault Tolerance brings back Capt. Eva Innocente and the raucous crew of La Sirena Negra to counter an anonymous threat that could lead to the death of billions (50,000-copy first printing). Dragon/Nebula finalist Virdi launches a new series with The First Binding, featuring an Immortal disguised as a storyteller--and he's here to relate how he unleashed the First Evil on the world (175,000-copy first printing). The MMU Novella Award-winning West goes full length with Face, set in a genetically engineered society where the perfect profile buys fame, wealth, and power but not happiness for Schuyler and Madeleine Burroughs (60,000-copy first printing).