Books: Princes & Inquisitors

The Summer Prince by Alaya Dawn Johnson

This is a lovely cyberpunk-ish post-apocalypse novel set in Palmares Tres, a Brazilian arcology in a world recovering from global warming and a plague that killed almost all men. Our heroes are young artists (in a world where "young" means "under 30", since people can live for centuries) who get caught up in the local politics where kings are media celebrities who get ceremonially executed after a year. There's a lot in here about generational conflict and where true power comes from, and it does not shy away from issues of race. Recommended.

Nicholas St. North And The Battle Of The Nightmare King by William Joyce & Laura Geringer

This is the first book in the series which inspired the movie Rise Of The Guardians, but it doesn't quite hit the same notes as the movie does. Mildly recommended.

The Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty

A fascinating study of Judaism and social class in an alternate late-19th-century New York. Our young hero discovers he has magical ability in a city where magic is strictly regulated, and promptly gets drafted into the NYPD inquisitor's office. The novel is a tour of New York's social strata and history as our hapless hero gets bounced around from one crime scene to the next, until he finally develops a bit of a spine. First in a series, recommended.

The Enemy Stars by Poul Anderson

A novel of toxic masculinity in a tryannical future. The universe is slowly being colonized by slower-than-light ships equipped with instantaneous teleporters. (So a ship which has been traveling for 1000 years can cycle its crew back to Earth whenever.) Earth rules over its colonies tightly and harshly, and all of our heroes are damaged by this. They get sent out to a ship on the frontier, and then things start going wrong... Of its era, and seems to be caught between the horror of men warped by patriarchy, and an inability to imagine alternatives, even in the face of scientific wonders, the stars, and beyond. Not especially recommended.