NoveList Reading Challenge: August 2026Like this list

13 items

• The Poet Empress

  Tao, Shen (Fiction writer),

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  In the final years of the Azalea Dynasty, Yin Wei, a peasant girl desperate to save her starving family, volunteers as concubine to the notoriously cruel Prince Guan Terren. This act of survival pulls her into a labyrinth of palace intrigue and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Lessons in Magic and Disaster

  Anders, Charlie Jane,

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  Jamie is basically your average New England academic in-training — she has a strong queer relationship, an esoteric dissertation proposal and inherited generational trauma. But she has one extraordinary secret: she's also a powerful witch.

• Harmattan Season

  a Novel

  Onyebuchi, Tochi,

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  As the annual Harmattan dust storms gather strength, a girl bleeding from an abdominal wound stumbles into the squalid flat of clientless private investigator Boubacar, a half-French, half-native chercher (finder of lost persons) who fought for the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Incandescent

  a School Story

  Tesh, Emily,

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  Doctor Walden is one of the most powerful magicians in England, and the Director of Magic at Chetwood School. Her days consist of meetings, teaching and securing the school's boundaries from demonic incursions. When a new threat emerges in the form…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• When the Tides Held the Moon

  Kelley, Venessa Vida,

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  Benny, an immigrant ironworker, is seduced by the promise of a better life and agrees to help the carnival owner capture a merman to become the star of a sideshow. Benny knows he has made a terrible mistake immediately upon meeting Rio, with whom he…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Awakened

  a Novel

  Osworth, A. E.,

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  A small coven of queer New York City witches — three trans adults and one 17-year-old trans kid — is confronted with an unprecedented magical AI named Hex. The four witches must band together to defeat Hex, after they realize it is present in every…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Full Moon Coffee Shop

  a Novel

  Mochizuki, Mai,

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  In Japan, cats are a symbol of good luck. As the myth goes, if you are kind to them, they'll one day return the favor. And if you are kind to the right cat, you might just find yourself invited to a mysterious coffee shop under a glittering Kyoto…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• She Who Knows

  Okorafor, Nnedi,

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  At 13, Najeeba receives the call: the psychic summons to the Salt Roads that only male members of the Osu-nu people experience. She's the first girl to ever feel it, but her father and brothers welcome her along with them on the trek to mine salt…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Long Live Evil

  Brennan, Sarah Rees,

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  As her whole life collapses, Rae still has books. Dying, she seizes a second chance at living: a magical bargain that lets her enter the world of her favorite fantasy series. She wakes in a castle on the edge of a hellish chasm, home to the Once…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Bright Sword

  a Novel of King Arthur

  Grossman, Lev,

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  A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a place at the Round Table, only to find that he's too late. King Arthur died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, and only a handful of the knights of the Round Table are left.

• The Sky on Fire

  Lyons, Jenn, 1970-

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  Teen Anahrod Amnead, who has the magical ability to control animals, is accused of stealing from a dragon, charged with treason and sentenced to death. But 15 years later, the arrogant and powerful blue dragon Tiendremos suspects that the humans…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Foxglove King

  Whitten, Hannah,

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  When Lore was 13, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the 10 years since, she's lived by one rule: don't let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.

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