Feature Image Credit: @penandpaperplanes
N.K Jemisin is one of the most celebrated science fiction writers of our generation. Waiting for her next book to come out can seem long and painful. So, we took the liberty to find some just-as-amazing books—and many are just the beginning of their own series—to fill the time and some are even N.K. Jemisin-approved. So sit back and dive into these alternate magical novels in the meantime.
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
This tale begins where most end: Moon finds a home. The only problem is, he has a secret. Moon is a shapeshifter, he transforms into a winged creature of flight. Once he has become an outcast, again, he meets someone of his own kind. Another shapeshifter, just like himself, who promises acceptance and familiarity. What Moon is not told is that he is the fate of his newfound kin. Set in a world of its own, where no one is fully human. The best part … it’s a series!

Everfair by Nisi Shawl
In this alternate-history novel, Everfair is a safe haven for native populations of the Congo-escaped slaves from America and other places where African natives were being mistreated. An exciting exploration of the possibilities inherent in a turn of history, Everfair is told from a multiplicity of history’s most silenced voices with complex relationships with one another. A story of the steampunk Congo, and the grand expedition of “what ifs.”
Dawn (Lilith’s Brood Trilogy) by Octavia Butler
Lilith wakes up on an alien spaceship, after being asleep for centuries. Oankali, the alien race whose ship she woke up on, apparently intervened in the fate of humanity hundreds of years ago during a nuclear war, and saved all the survivors by putting them in a deep sleep. The Oankali has cured the Earth and made humans even stronger. Now, Lilith is being nominated to lead the surviving human race back to Earth. However, there is always a price to pay when it comes to salvation. You also read that correctly: it’s the first book of three in case you can’t get enough.
The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley
From a two-time Hugo Award winner, this is an ambitious tale of magic, war and parallel worlds that pushes the boundaries of epic fantasy. On the eve of a recurring catastrophic event known to extinguish nations and reshape continents, a troubled orphan evades death and slavery to uncover her own bloody past . . . while a world goes to war with itself. Stretching from desolate tundras to steamy, semi-tropical climes seething with sentient plant life, this is an epic tale of blood mages and mercenaries, emperors and priestly assassins, who must unite to save a world on the brink of ruin.
Archivist Wasp by Nicole Kornher-Stace
Wasp has one job: ghost hunting. She was chosen, she is special, or else she wouldn’t have been marked from birth to do the holy work of a goddess as an Archivist … right? A bargain with a super-soldier ghost to the underworld in order to hunt for the long-long ghost of his partner will, in exchange, give her more knowledge about his pre-apocalyptic world than any Archivist before her. Will she survive the trip to the underworld—or will the gruesome life she came from be better?
A Winter’s Promise by Christille Dabos
“The Rupture” caused the world to break apart into multiple floating celestial islands known as Arks. Each Ark has a different way of life, almost like they are completely different worlds, but the spirit of an omnipotent ancestor abides over them all. Ophelia lives in one of these vasts worlds and has the ability to speak to the spirit of objects—oh and she can travel through mirrors. When she is promised to marry someone from the Dragon clan, she unknowingly becomes the pawn in a deadly plot.
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Everything changed the night magic disappeared. Under the orders of a ruthless king, Zélie is left without a mother, and her people without hope. With the help of a rogue princess, it is up to Zélie to bring back magic, strike against the monarch, and protect herself from her growing powers and feelings for the enemy.
Redemption in Indigo by Karen Lord
Paama’s husband is a disgrace, so she leaves him. However, her liberation has brought the attention of the undying ones – the djombi. They give her the gift of the Chaos Stick— but that doesn’t exactly scream a peaceful and quiet life. Especially when the Indigo Lord, a not-so-happy djombi, believes that the power of the Chaos Stick should be his, and only his. Is Pamma strong enough to avoid his persuasions?
Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson
An assassin tries to change her fate after she has fallen in love in this amazing read. Phyllis Leblanc gave up everything when she started her life in the underworld of Manhattan. When a ghost from the past shows up on her doorstep and threatens everything she cares about, Phyllis must make a choice. What better than a magical love story and an exposure of racial faults lines to explore an alternate history?
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
A queen with no heir, a secret protector that belongs to a society of mages, a trained dragonrider, and a force of chaos that is rising from their sleep. How far are they willing to go to protect, or destroy, the realm of Inys? This one-volume fantasy epic will give you all the answers you need in this completely new world full of dragons, pirates, magic and maybe even some heartbreak.
Leave A Comment