Review_FICTION
46 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ NOVEMBER 4, 2019
Review_FICTION
parliamentary election in a new neigh-
borhood formed during a recent alchem-
ical disaster known as the Crisis. Through
these various political machinations
moves “the spy,” an unnamed man who
has assumed the identity of Alic
Nemon, a refugee from the Godswar and
“father” to Emlin, a young saint. Hanrahan
crafts a mind-blowingly complex world
governed by capricious deities who
actively alter reality. Series fans and new
readers alike will delight entering this
strange, immersive universe. Agent: John
Jarrod, John Jarrod Literacy Agency. (Jan.)Buzz Kill
David Sosnowski. 47North, $24.95 (508p)
ISBN 978-1-5420-0502-9
Part family tragedy, part romance, and
part cautionary tale about the dangers of
modern technology, this sardonic prequel
to Happy Doomsday suffers from a lack of
direction. In Fairbanks, Alaska, high
school hacktivist Pandora Lynch reconnects
with her grandmother, who is slowly
dying of dementia. Meanwhile, in San
Francisco, homeless 16-year-old dropout
George Jedson is miraculously hired to
build a suicide-prevention artificial
intelligence chatbot for the popular
social media platform, Quire. Though
the novel opens with Pandora and
George’s rogue AI lovechild killing off
most of humanity, the two don’t meet
until halfway through the book. Once
they do, their budding romance is first
drowned in long-winded exposition
about quantum computing, then cut
short by George’s unexplained disappear-
ance just as the story starts to pick up.
When the AI introduced in the prologue
is finally built, there have been too many
narrative twists and distractions for
readers to still be invested in its rampage.
Fans of Sosnowski’s distinct and always
enjoyable narrative voice may overlook
the novel’s odd pacing, but those
expecting a gripping sci-fi thriller will
be disappointed. Agent: Jane Dystel, Dystel,
Goderich & Bourret. (Jan.)Agency
William Gibson. Berkley, $28 (416p) ISBN 978-
1-101-98693-6
Cyberpunk pioneer Gibson disappoints
with this inventive but jumbled prequel
to The Periphery. In 2017, gifted “appwhisperer” Verity Jane is hired to beta
test a pair of eye-glasses that double as
an artificial intelligence assistant named
Eunice. As Eunice’s personality and
capabilities grow, Verity decides to hide
the AI’s rapid development from her
mysterious new employers. She can’t
keep the secret for long, however, as
agents from a century into the future
descend to make sure that Eunice —a
misplaced technology from their time—
doesn’t start a nuclear war. Though the
writing is packed with intriguing concepts
and characters, the scrambled timelines
and shifting narrative perspective make
an already complicated plot even harder
to follow. The characters from the future
fall flat, especially in comparison to the
dynamic, fully-realized personalities of
Verity and Eunice. Cyberpunk fans
looking to dive into the “what-if’s” of an
alternate timeline will be as enraptured
as ever by Gibson’s imagination, but
they’ll be left with more questions than
answers. (Jan.)Romance/Erotica
The Mail Order Bride’s Secret
Linda Broday. Sourcebooks Casablanca,
$7.99 mass market (352p) ISBN 978-1-4926-
5110-9
Love blooms between a desperate
woman and an honorable outlaw in the
electrifying third romance in Broday’s
Outlaw Mail Order Bride series (after
Saving the Mail Order Bride). Melanie
Dunbar, the
daughter of a
gambler who
has skipped
town and left
her to face his
criminal
charges,
begrudgingly
cuts a deal with
crooked Judge
Ira McIlroy in
order to save herself from a harsh sentence:
Melanie will answer outlaw Tait Trinity’s
ad for a bride and go undercover to sniff
out proof that Tait robbed a train. When
Melanie arrives in Hope’s Crossing, she
discovers her husband-to-be has taken in
his twin adolescent nephews and toddlerniece following his sister’s murder. The
demanding children keep them busy as
Melanie warms to the charming Tait
while secretly attempting to unearth evi-
dence of his criminality. Real affection
grows between the two earnest characters,
leading Melanie to finally admit her
scheme to Tait. As they heal their broken
trust, Melanie’s father rolls into Hope’s
Crossing, leading to a climactic heart-
stopping action sequence. This is another
page-turning period romance from
Broday. Agent: Gail Fortune, the Talbot
Fortune Agency. (Feb.)The Arrangement
Sylvia Day, Minerva Spencer, and Kristin
Vayden. Kensington, $15.95 trade paper
(328p) ISBN 978-1-4967-3102-9
Though Day receives top billing, it’s
Spencer and Vayden who give this spicy
historical romance anthology its heart.
Day’s “Mischief and the Marquess”
(originally published in 2007) is packed
with steamy love scenes but is light on
plot. It follows
scandalous
single mother
Lady Sophie
Milton-Riley as
she tries to foil
her mother’s
attempts at
pairing her with
Justin, the
Marquess of
Fontaine, even
as Justin resolves to show Sophie how
perfect they would be together. In “The
Duke’s Treasure,” Spencer gives the
plain, heartbroken Josephine Loman,
the daughter of a wealthy industrialist, a
second chance at love with Beau, the
Duke of Wroxton. Though Beau marries
Jo for her fortune, his journey to
respecting and then loving her is genu-
inely sweet. Vayden’s “An Inconvenient
Countess” also begins with a marriage of
convenience, but the romance between
destitute Diana Lambson and roguish
Charles Brook, Earl of Barrington,
develops into a tender and consistently
surprising tale of honest friendship and
unexpected love. Each of these three
takes on arranged marriage is loaded with
passion and tenderness. This sparkling
collection is a surefire hit. Agents: (for