Secret Identity
Alex Segura(Flatiron Books)
This noir is set in the 1970s comic-book world—grimier than the Golden or Silver Ages but still devoted to the medium. Assistant Carmen Valdez lends her personal experience to writing a new superhero, the Legendary Lynx, yet can’t get an author credit. But when her co-creator is murdered, Carmen must stay one step ahead of the killer while ensuring that the Lynx makes it to the next issue.
User Unfriendly
Vivian Vande Velde (Harcourt)
This is a ’90s throwback to the era when Dungeons & Dragons campaigns were all played in the basement instead of over Zoom… Except that for Arvin and his friends, their fantasy quest in a pirated virtual reality game is so immersive that if they die in the game—well, you know the rest. You’ll never look at a glitch the same way again.
The Magicians
Lev Grossman (Penguin Books)
While “fantasies inspired by Harry Potter” is its own subgenre, Lev Grossman’s stands out for shattering the wish-fulfilment dreams of Quentin Coldwater and his schoolmates at Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy. In the world of The Magicians, magic demands a bloody cost, magicians are petty and fallible, and the Fillory novels that Quentin grew up on are far more brutal than even the darkest Narnia tales.
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