Scintillating science fiction novels out now: Seek the Traitor’s Son by Veronica Roth, Sarafina by Philip Fracassi, If We Cannot Go At The Speed of Light by Kim Choyeop

Search for the Traitor’s Son by Veronica Roth (Tor £22, 432pp)

Two hostile civilizations exist in an uneasy stasis on an Earth-like planet.

Cedres are a tech-savvy minority; Talusar, the violent majority. But things get personal when a soothsayer predicts that the fight will take place between two women.

On the one hand, there is Elegy Ahn, a soldier of greatness; on the other, the cruel Rava Vidar. In between is the unfortunate Theren, who is both blessed and cursed with her beauty, her muscles, and her ability to sense the Truth.

With wide emotional range, vibrant characters, and wonderful world-building, this is an epic of love and hate, betrayal and loyalty. Part One of a trilogy. Bring it on!

Sarafina, Philip Fracassi (Black Crow Books £10.99, 354pp)

In Fracassi’s latest novel, fear does not spread into normal life; rather, it represents the continuation of their misery.

Three American brothers born into the harsh conditions of the 19th century encounter an evil far more fundamental than human violence while escaping civil war.

Hungry, injured and on the run, they seek refuge in a rural paradise full of fruit trees and meadows, all under the watchful eye of the beautiful and seductive Sarafina. And ‘Get out now!’ you’ll understand exactly why they’re staying there.

An ingenious and brilliant blend of myth, fantasy and old-fashioned horror, this film is like forbidden fruit: Take a bite and you’ll be hooked.

If We Can’t Go at the Speed ​​of Light currently available From the Mail Bookstore

If We Can’t Go to the Speed ​​of Light by Kim Choyeop (Maclehose Press £14.99, 192pp)

Already a famous bestseller in his native Korea, these stories are a welcome introduction to Choyeop’s vivid imagination and fluid storytelling.

Each technically inspired outlet is used to explore the human condition with clarity, helpfulness, and ironic wit.

In the title story, a stranded scientist explains how his brilliant work has effectively placed galaxies between him and his family. In another, a grieving daughter is forced to confront the bleak realities of her mother’s real life when a file from a high-tech archive belonging to the late Minds goes missing.

Meanwhile, an encounter lost in space turns into a beautiful meditation on otherness, communication and reality itself.

Pure sci-fi magic.