The Best New Book Releases Out November 7, 2023

If you’ve been anywhere near the Book World in the past few months, you know that the first book in this series had the romantasy girlies in a hold. In this second book, we see Violet Sorrengail continue her journey of dragon riding at Basgiath War College. As she tries her best to survive the physicality of the training, she’s faced with an impossible decision surrounding her love.

This genre-bending memoir weaves Nakamura Lin’s experience with mental illness with traditional Japanese narrative structure and Japanese, Taiwanese, and Okinawan legends. The Hyakki Yagyo, or the Night Parade that Nakamura Lin references in her title, is an event in Japanese folklore in which demons and spirits march through the streets at night. It’s these demons that Nakamura Lin compares early versions of herself to — versions that struggled with undiagnosed bipolar disorder and a father dying from cancer. Though she explores times when she felt monstrous, like the demons of the mythological procession, she also looks at how monsters are defined. One really cool aspect of this book that I don’t see in memoirs much is the full-color illustrations, which are done by her sister.

We loved the first book published in this series, Legends & Lattes, and this prequel promises just as much fantastical coziness. Viv the orc is a mercenary with an infamous company who gets wounded and sent to recover in a sleepy town. But looks are deceiving because a gray traveler, a feisty gnome, and a little summer boo thang all prove that the town of Murk is more poppin’ than Viv first thought.

This fiction debut from the award-winning Porter follows generations of Métis women and the bison that lived around them as everyone tries to figure things out. Young mother Carter is trying to find out more about her heritage, even as she struggles to balance her emotions, while her mother is trying not to make the same mistakes as Carter’s grandmother. This is all while Geneviève struggles with internal demons, and Mamé, who is in the Afterlife, sees her legacy being realized in her descendants but must cut her ties to the land of the living and let them forge their own path into the future.

From the author of The Power comes a dystopian novel that feels very much like the current day. A handful of billionaires are essentially running the world into the ground for their own benefit. When they hear word of an upcoming super deadly pandemic, they flee to lavish bunkers on a private jet. Meanwhile, another group of people — friends that include a hacker, the daughter of a cult leader, and a survivalist — try their best to save the world.

Look at that cover! I’ve been excited to talk about this one for a while. A couple of years ago, Sunday, Mina, and Candice made up an all-girl Asian American pop music group. But then a scandal leads to Mina’s death. Now, Sunday keeps tabs on Candice since the two girls have become estranged. When she sees that Candice is going to attend a K-pop workshop, she decides to go herself and finally get some closure. What she gets instead is ghostly visions, fellow competitors who are getting mutilated, and the mystery of who is behind it all.

CW: self-harm