RASPUTIN THE VAMPIRE? Sharp alt-history thriller ties the Dracula mythology into the legendary life of Rasputin. Lots of action, energy, taut prose. A MINUS

THE NOSFERATU CONSPIRACY BOOK ONE: THE SLEEPWALKER
Brian James Gage
2020

A DJINN AWAKES IN A NANOTECH-POWERED world, and takes on a city’s seemingly omnipotent AI. Marvelous reinvention of the picaresque combines SF and legend. A MINUS

THE GURKHA AND THE LORD OF TUESDAY
Tordotcom
2019

LOVELY, HAUNTED NOVEL draws on the many histories and spiritualities of Jamaica to tell richly intertwined family stories. Stunning prose. A MINUS

THESE GHOSTS ARE FAMILY
Simon & Schuster
2020

ANGRY, ELEGANT, IMPASSIONED and compassionate memoir about growing up Black, gay, a poet, the child of an extraordinary single mother, and deeply insightful. A MINUS

HOW WE FIGHT FOR OUR LIVES
Simon & Schuster
2019

SATIRE WITH A COMPASSIONATE HEART, set in the imaginary African nation of Vietongo, a microcosm of all the conflicts and coups that followed French colonialism. Sharp political insights and nuanced characterization. A MINUS

THE NEGRO GRANDSONS OF VERCINGETORIX (GLOBAL AFRICAN VOICES)
Indiana University Press
2019

A DAZZLING RETELLING OF LIVINGSTONE’S last journey, from the perspective of the Africans who brought his body to the coast. Thoughtful, poetic, beautifully researched historical novel. A MINUS

OUT OF DARKNESS, SHINING LIGHT
Scribner
2019

A POET’S SEARINGLY BEAUTIFUL memoir of a childhood as an undocumented immigrant, and of a family separated by the US/Mexico border. Heartbreaking, simple, elegant prose. A MINUS

CHILDREN OF THE LAND
Harper
2020

AN 18TH-CENTURY MEDICAL MARVEL, transformed into not just a masterful historical novel, but a timely parable about the limits of enlightenment. A MINUS

MARY TOFT; OR, THE RABBIT QUEEN
Pantheon
2019

WARM-HEARTED STEAMPUNK SUPERNATURAL creates an alternate England with little refuge for a traumatized veteran of an imagined war to end all wars. Lovely, compassionate writing. A MINUS

THE APPLE-TREE THRONE
Premee Mohamed
2018

FROM PUERTO RICO TO MIAMI BEACH, a writer’s complicated girlhood shaped by love and friendship, as well as by poverty, racism, and sexism. Lyrical writing, full of anger and hope. A MINUS

ORDINARY GIRLS
Algonquin Books
2019