It’s been a difficult year for game developer Marcus Lockwood and his teen son, Elias: Marcus’ wife, Isabella, has been murdered by a serial killer with an artistic bent—emphasis on bent (“the way she died isn’t what stood out. It was what . . . what the killer did to her afterwards”). In an effort to heal, the Lockwoods have come to Moose Hollow, a rundown backwoods campground in Maine. While Elias enjoys himself, Marcus starts to wonder who sent the brochure about Moose Hollow that lured them there. There are rumors of UFOs; no one lends much credence to this talk until a starship beams up all the campers. The craft’s occupants, the alien Anunnaki, can control the minds of all the humans—except Marcus. Among those pulled up by the Anunnaki is the serial killer who slayed Isabella, who now sets about murdering humans and aliens alike onboard the ship. An alien named Kova recruits Marcus to hunt the killer. Marcus determines that the human killer is working with an alien accomplice; as the bodies pile up and suspects get eliminated, Marcus must face up to a horrific truth if he hopes to stop the slaughter. Robinson serves up an engaging blend of SF, horror, and mystery—his mashup of alien-invasion and serial-killer tropes makes for a familiar but still fresh read. The alternating perspectives of Marcus and the killer, who stays unidentified until late in the book, are also effective. The novel’s most compelling aspect is the evolution of Marcus, who goes from a man wallowing in grief to one willing to do whatever is necessary to save humanity. His allies are also well-developed, but not to the extent that they can easily be discounted as murder suspects. The author leaves the door open for more volumes featuring these characters; this story serves as an entrancing beginning for such a series.

When an undead stranger shows up on Arvelle’s doorstep, he offers her an impossible choice: Agree to kill the emperor, or watch her brother die. The bad news is that the emperor is an ancient and very powerful vampire protected by an elite company of soldiers. The good news is that Arvelle is a champion fighter herself—or at least she used to be. And, left with a choice that is no choice, she sets out for the capital to do the impossible. This is, on the whole, an engaging read. The Rome-inspired setting is interesting, its magic system is well-defined, and the politics of the emperor’s court is a nice complement to the action in the arena. Arvelle is a complex but sympathetic protagonist and Stark surrounds her with characters who also feel real—most importantly, the boy who broke her heart and the emperor’s sadistic son. The pacing is a bit slow at the beginning, but readers who get past the first third of the book will be amply rewarded. Fans who come to romantasy mainly for the love story may be slightly disappointed that the romance elements mostly stay in the background, while other readers may appreciate the emphasis on the action (and, of course, there are more installments to come). Stark has been building a dedicated following since she self-published Speak of the Demon in 2021, and her Kingdom of Lies series has been huge on TikTok. This author clearly understands the demands of her chosen genre: She knows how to hit the tropes while introducing intriguingly novel details and maintaining suspense.

A 21-year-old freshman, Ellory is significantly older than her classmates. Between her age, lower-middle-class poverty (she’s on scholarship), and race, she keenly feels her distance from her peers, many of whom seem to have always known each other. Tangling with the insufferably handsome and entitled Hudson Graves, who “loomed over the freshmen like an angry god” at the library that bears his family name, only worsens her misgivings. But what really cinches Ellory’s unease at Warren is the magic. Buildings, even neighborhoods, seem to shift around; a soccer ball hurtling toward her stops just before impact, and a tattoo appears on her shoulder and disappears just as easily. Ellory had experienced strange occurrences in childhood, but on campus, the magic is inescapable—and so is the danger. To graduate, Ellory will have to watch her back as closely as her books and maybe even make peace with her most inscrutable rival. Connoisseurs of rivals-to-lovers stories will appreciate the palpable tension between Ellory and Hudson. Their chemistry is equally palpable. Cole’s writing is vivid and creative, sometimes even poetic. She excels at conjuring Warren’s special cocktail of sinister spookiness and academic intensity. The campus is deliciously dark and believably shrouded in lore and rumors of missing undergraduates. But Ellory’s relentless insecurity in the face of her ongoing success grows repetitive, as do the book’s frequent social critiques, which often lack nuance. For example, since students from underrepresented groups are routinely challenged for not having earned their places in elite colleges, an observation regarding privilege in these spaces seems awkward: “The wealthy bought their way in. The poor begged their way in. Both groups were praised for their admission as if their journeys had been equal.”

Lamb, an Earth scientist and author of Devil in the Mountain: A Search for the Origin of the Andes, writes that Earth’s surface is a mosaic of restless plates that go their separate ways, sometimes bumping together as one plate sinks beneath another, sometimes moving apart and opening up a new ocean. That’s the surface. Below about 40 miles, rocks are so hot that they flow like a fluid, but above they are dotted with liquid “magma chambers” that occasionally surface explosively as a volcano or slowly as a hot spring, geyser, or deep-sea hydrothermal vent. Lamb writes an enthusiastic account of Earth’s 4-billion-year history, which mostly involves traveling rocks and subterranean fireworks, with life almost an afterthought. The best way to learn about the early Earth is to study rocks from that time. Most have been shoved deep out of sight by plate tectonics or rest at the bottom of the ocean, but around the globe (mostly in Canada) are surface remnants present over 3 billion years ago, when the planet was a quarter of its present age. Lamb chose an obscure nature reserve in South Africa for his graduate work and returned regularly, so readers will encounter a great deal of geological minutiae about its rocks, with occasional detours to the seafloor and his native New Zealand. The photographs are generous, and the author’s accounts of often hair-raising experiences have broad appeal, but his enthusiasm for geology is expressed in complex diagrams, the details of mineralogy and chemistry, and discussions of plate tectonics and volcanism that will appeal to aficionados with some knowledge of the field.

The author’s ethos throughout her discussion of GLP-1 medications is that obesity is a chronic issue that doctors treated from the wrong perspective: “For too long, we approached chronic conditions such as obesity as ‘willpower problems’ or moral failings….We treated the symptoms but did nothing to treat the disease because we didn’t fully understand it as a medical condition.” Her reframing of readers’ viewpoints on obesity is crucial to his guide’s argument, as GLP-1s only work when patients commit to holistic treatment plans that include adequate protein intake and strength training. The author writes that one need not rely on fad diets that “fight your body into changing”; instead, she asserts that GLP-1s, when used for an extended period, “create the conditions that make change easier.” Considering the cultural primacy of Ozempic, a GLP-1 drug, readers will be interested in the long-term effects of continued use of such pharmaceuticals on the body. Salas-­Whalen shares that minor side effects include nausea, constipation, and dehydration, but is upfront about the fact that one should not suffer to lose weight; if a side effect is bad enough, she says, injections should stop. Her tone is personal and warm throughout, even addressing the audience as “Dear reader,” and she has a patient-first approach, constantly reassuring and encouraging the reader. A large downside to GLP-1s, she says, is the cost, and Salas-­Whalen doesn’t shy away from this; instead, her guide provides tips on navigating health insurance to find the best and most cost-effective treatment. The book also warmly offers anonymized anecdotes from Salas-Whalen’s patients and practice, as well as first-person stories from her own experience taking GLP-1s. Aptly placed graphs, tables, and timelines help to make this a useful guidebook for those curious about GLP-1 medications.