Goodreads’ Greatest Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books for September 2023

It’s that time of the month. Goodreads has released the list of books its members are most excited about for the next month. Each title in the list below falls into the science fiction and fantasy categories. If I had to judge a book by its cover, I would choose The death I gave him Of Em X. Liu. Meanwhile, if I go by the synopsis, I’d have to choose Initial bad Of John Scalzi. What are you looking forward to reading this September?

• The fragile threads of power

  • Author: VE Schwab

  • Published 26 September

Once upon a time there were four worlds, nestled like the pages of a book, each pulsing with fantastic power and connected by a single city: London. Until the magic grew too fast and forced the worlds to seal the doors to each other in a desperate game to protect their own. The few wizards who could still open the gates became increasingly rare as time went on and now only three Antari are known in recent memory: Kell Maresh of Red London, Delilah Bard of Gray London and Holland Vosijk, of White London.

But in the past seven years, barely a glimpse of it has been seen… and a new Antari named Kosika has appeared in White London, taking the throne in Holland’s absence. The young queen is willing to feed her city with her blood, including her own, but her growing religious fervor has the potential to drown them instead.

And in Red London, King Rhy Maresh is threatened by a growing rebellion, determined to correct the balance of power by razing the throne completely.

Amidst this fresco of old friends and new foes, a girl with an unusual magical ability comes into possession of a device that could change the fate of all four worlds.

Her name is Tes and she is the only one who can bring them together or reveal everything.

• Godslay

  • Author: Hannah Kaner

  • Published 12 September

Gods are forbidden in the realm of Middren. Formed by human desires and fueled by their worship, there are countless gods in the world, but after a great war, the new king has outlawed them and now pays “godslayers” to destroy anyone who tries to emerge from the shadows.

As a child, Kissen saw her family murdered by a fire god. She now she makes a living by killing them and enjoys it. But all that changes when Kissen is tasked with helping a young noblewoman with a problem with God. The little girl’s soul is bound to a little god of white lies, and Kissen can’t kill him without also ending the girl’s life.

Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, the unlikely group must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the savage gods dwell, to ask each for a favor. Pursued by assassins and demons, and in the midst of a growing civil war, they will all face a showdown. Something is rotting at the heart of their world and they are the only ones who can stop it.

• The unfortunate side effects of heartbreak and magic

  • Author: Breanne Randall

  • Published 19 September

Sadie Revelare has always believed that the Curse of Four Heartbreaks that accompanies her magic was worth the price. But when her grandmother is diagnosed with cancer and has only weeks to live, and her first heartbreaker, Jake McNealy, returns to town in ten years, her carefully structured life begins to unravel.

With news of Gran’s impending death, Sadie’s twin brother Seth returns to town, bringing with him deeply buried family secrets that threaten to tear Sadie’s world apart. Their grandmother has been the backbone of the family for generations, and with her passing, Sadie isn’t sure she has the strength to keep the family and her magic together.

As feelings for Jake begin to rekindle and her grandmother gets sick by the day, Sadie faces the latest of her heartbreaks and must decide: is love more important than magic?

• Initial bad

  • Author: Giovanni Scalzi

  • Published 19 September

Inheriting your mysterious uncle’s super-villain business is more complicated than you might imagine.

Of course, there are the things you would expect. The burrows of the submarine volcano. The servants. The plots to take over the world. The international networks of rivals who want you dead.

Much harder to get used to… are sentient, language-using, computer-savvy cats.

And the fact that throughout the organization they are executives…

• Land of milk and honey

  • Author: C Pam Zhang

  • Published 26 September

A smog has spread. Food crops are rapidly disappearing. A chef flees her dying career in a seedy city to take a job in a decaying mountaintop colony seemingly free from the world’s problems.

There the sky is clear again. Rare ingredients abound. His enigmatic employer and his visionary daughter have built a lush new life for the global elite, which awakens the chef to the pleasures of taste, touch and his own body.

In this atmosphere of hidden wonders and cold, seductive violence, the boundaries of the chef undergo an electrifying erosion. He soon finds himself at the center of an astonishing attempt to reshape the world beyond the plate.

• The death I gave him

  • Author: Em X. Liu

  • Published 12 September

Hayden Lichfield’s life is turned upside down when she discovers her father was murdered in their laboratory and the camera records erased. The killer may have been after only one thing: the Sisyphus Formula the two of them developed, which may one day reverse death itself. Hoping to lure the killer out into the open, Hayden steals the research. In the process, he discovers a recording made by his father in the days before his death, and one last wish: Avenge me…

With the lab locked down, Hayden is trapped with four other people: his uncle Charles, lab technician Gabriel Rasmussen, research intern Felicia Xia, and their head of security, Felicia’s father Paul, one of whom must be there. ‘murderer. His only reliable ally is the laboratory’s resident artificial intelligence, Horatio, who has been his close friend and companion since his creation. With his world collapsing, Hayden must explore the building’s secrets, uncover his father’s lies, and push the limits of sanity in the pursuit of revenge.

• The Pomegranate Gate

  • Author: Ariel Kaplan

  • Published 12 September

Toba Peres can speak, but not shout; he can walk, but not run. He can write with both hands, in several languages, but has had no formal education. The only treasure Toba has dared to keep is a precious star sapphire, set in a necklace that he must never take off.

Naftaly Cresques sees things that aren’t real and dreams of things that are. He’s an expert but mediocre tailor, and he’s risking his life to smuggle in a strange family heirloom: an age-old book he must never read and must never lose.

The Queen of the Sepharad ordered all Jews to convert or be exiled with nothing. Toba, Naftaly and thousands of others are forced to flee their homes. Toba, accidentally separated from their caravan of refugees, stumbles through a strange grove of pomegranate trees into the magical realm of the Maziks: mythical and terrible beings with immense power. There she discovers latent abilities that put her in the sights of bloodthirsty immortals, but which may hold the key to her survival. On the other side of the gate, Naftaly, intent on rescuing Toba, discovers that his new comrades harbor dangerous secrets.

Now, hunted by an Inquisition on both worlds, Toba and Naftaly must unravel ancient stories and ancient magic to understand the bond between the two kingdoms. More than their own lives may be at stake.

• herc

  • Author: Phenicia Rogerson

  • Published 5th September

This should be the story of Hercules: his twelve labours, his endless adventures…everyone’s favorite hero, right?

Well it’s not.

This is everyone else’s story:

Alcmene: Herc’s mother (has knives everywhere)

Hylas: Herc’s first friend (they were more than friends)

Megara: Herc’s wife (will tell you about their marriage)

Eurystheus – supervised Herc’s labors (definitely not hiding in a jar)

His friends, his enemies, his wives, his children, his mistresses, his rivals, his gods, his victims.

It’s time to hear their stories.

Told with humor and heart, Herc gives voice to silenced characters, in this strange (and sometimes shocking) feminist retelling of the classic myth of Hercules.

• The land of lost things

  • Author: John Connolly

  • Published 19 September

“Twice, because that’s how some stories are supposed to go…”

Phoebe, an eight-year-old girl, lies in a coma following a car accident: a body without a spirit. Her Ceres, her mother, can only sit by her bed and read aloud the fairy tales Phoebe loves in the hope that they will call her back to this world.

But an old house on the hospital grounds, a property connected to a book written by a deceased author, calls Ceres. Something wants her to enter, travel to a land colored by childhood memories and by the folklore of her loved by her father: a land of witches and dryads, giants and mandrakes; a land where old enemies watch and wait…

The land of lost things.

• The move of salvation

  • Author: Emily Skrutskie

  • Published 26 September

Murdock has always believed in Hark, the woman who transformed her from petty thief and low-level hacker into an up-and-coming con artist. Hark is everything Murdock aspires to be, from his keen sense of fashion to his unerring ability to plan under pressure. Along with Bea, a fearless driver who never backs away from a bet, and Fitz, Murdock’s maddeningly mercurial rival who can get the galaxy to revolve around his finger, they form a foursome with a reputation for daring heists. , huge profits and… never ever get caught.

Well, until now.

Getting caught is one thing. Tithing on a sentient warship that has billed itself as a punishing god is a problem this team has never faced before. Aboard Justice is a world cobbled together by the sinners of the galaxy: some struggle for survival, some struggle to build a civilized society, and still others sacrifice everything to worship the artificial intelligence at the ship’s heart.

The all-seeing eyes of Justice are fixed on her most recent acquisitions, on Murdock in particular. He can be useful to a hacker, if he can extract her devotion to Hark. And Murdock’s faith is already fractured. To escape Justice’s madness, they need a plan, and Hark may not be up to the task.

If Hark, the brilliant and unflappable Hark, can’t find a way out, Murdock will have to use every last trick he has learned to outwit Justice, resist her temptation, and get his team out alive.