Jennifer Jackson – Literary Agent

Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear

“Ancestral Night’s tropes are the basic building blocks of genre—galaxy-spanning mysteries, pirates and rogues, long-lost alien tech, hyperspace travel, harrowing space combat—but Bear deploys them with expert precision. Imagine James S.A. Corey at his snarkiest, plus the bold sci-fi invention of Peter F. Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn trilogy, topped off with the rich characterization of Lois McMaster Bujold. The result is both familiar and wholly unique, managing a precarious balance between huge SFnal ideas—just wait until you find out about the Ativahika, an alien species whose abilities and appearance will boggle your mind—and an imminently approachable style, thanks to Haimey’s roguish narrative voice.

Bear’s first sci-fi novel in more than a decade has everything going for it: big space battles, thrilling action, a scrappy crew, and huge mysteries with galaxy-wide implications. Ancestral Night is space opera at its best and boldest, making you think hard even as it gets your blood pumping and your imagination flowing.” — B&N SFF

Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee

“Dragon Pearl, by Yoon Ha Lee, the most recent book from Rick Riordan Presents, takes Korean mythology on a wild adventure in space, and it’s tremendously fun!

Min may not be a role model for principled rule following, but her brash fearlessness drives this story beautifully! As more and more tangles to her brother’s story emerge, and the stakes get higher, she starts to rely less on her magic and more on her intelligence, and her friends, in a nice bit of character growth. Her fox magic, and the magic of other supernatural types of persons, both living and dead, drawn from the rich well of Korean mythology, are seamlessly interwoven with the science fiction story of danger on board a spaceship in a vast network of planets, making this a truly delightful read for fans of every age!” — B&N Kids

The Red-Stained Wings by Elizabeth Bear

“Truly, as a whole, The Red-Stained Wings is exactly the sort of fare I expect from Bear at top form: a tight, engaging, richly-described novel that maneuvers with precision through a broad cast of characters spread over an even broader field of action, rife with mythos and intrigue. And it’s got a bit of humor to it, too. While it’s impossible to sketch out the twists and complexities of the developing plot in this space, suffice to say that it’s executed with skill from first page to last.

As with the first book, the part-two-of-three structure of The Red-Stained Wings leaves me grasping for more story at the last page. Bear’s pacing and plotting are superb; the characters are engaging, witty, flawed. It’s impossible not to feel drawn along with the tight flow of the narrative from one person to the next or one immense vista to another, such as the dragon’s dead city or the volcano-and-sorcery ravaged Ansh-Sahal. Grandiose second-world fantasies in this vein are rarely done so well and so accessibly. I’d recommend reading The Stone in the Skull and The Red-Stained Wings one after another for the greatest possible effect—and I’ll probably reread them again before the last book, too, to gulp it down as one big, breathtaking tale.” — Tor.com

TIME Magazine for Kids has included Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha Lee in its Top 10 Summer Reads!

Perfunctory Affection by Kim Harrison

“Meg knows her therapist means well, but any scrutiny is hard to handle when coping with overwhelming anxiety. Even driving a car or going out in public too often is stressful. Luckily, her boyfriend Austin is a help, even though he wears his scars on the outside, owing to the car accident they were both in three years ago. Facing a long teaching semester, Meg takes the chance of befriending guest university instructor Haley. Haley is bright, beautiful, and charismatic, everything Meg wants to be. As Meg warms up to her new friend, finally breaking out of the shell of her anxiety, Austin senses Meg is changing fast and not necessarily for the better. She’s looking for a life of perfection, and it might exist­just not in our reality. The story proceeds at a quick clip, with a huge amount of action in a short time frame and a narrator whom readers will feel for.

VERDICT Harrison (“Hollows” series) presents a twisty blend of psychological suspense and fantasy, blurring the edges of what is real, and to whom. ” — Library Journal