Staff Picks
Across the Multiverse
- Savannah G.
- Friday, June 16, 2023
Collection
With its incredible animation, soundtrack, and attention to even the most minute details Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is a showstopper that left audiences wanting to see more of the spider-verse. This list is for anyone who’s given up on waiting for their own dimensional rift to open up in their backyard. Here are some fantastic titles that will whip you from one world to the next. Just be warned, not all multiverses are full of wise-cracking crime fighting spider people. Some are just filled with spiders.
The 22 Murders of Madison May
Published in 2021
"From the critically acclaimed author of Jennifer Government and Lexicon comes mind-bending speculative psychological suspense about a serial killer pursuing his victim across time and space, and the woman who is determined to stop him, even if it upends her own reality"-- Provided by publisher.
Finna
Published in 2020
When an elderly customer at a Swedish big box furniture store -- but not that one -- slips through a portal to another dimension, it's up to two minimum-wage employees to track her across the multiverse and protect their company's bottom line. Multi-dimensional swashbuckling would be hard enough, but those two unfortunate souls broke up a week ago. To find the missing granny, Ava and Jules will brave carnivorous furniture, swarms of identical furniture spokespeople, and the deep resentment simmering between them. Can friendship blossom from the ashes of their relationship? In infinite dimensions, all things are possible.
Dark Matter
A Novel
Published in 2016
A mind-bending, relentlessly paced science-fiction thriller, in which an ordinary man is kidnapped, knocked unconscious--and awakens in a world inexplicably different from the reality he thought he knew.
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse
Published in 2019
Princess Rory Thorne must use the fairy blessings gifted to her at birth to change the multiverse--or possibly destroy it. How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse is a feminist reimagining of familiar fairytale tropes and a story of resistance and self-determination--how small acts of rebellion can lead a princess to not just save herself, but change the course of history.
A Spindle Splintered
Published in 2021
"USA Today bestselling author Alix E. Harrow's A Spindle Splintered brings her patented charm to a new version of a classic story. Featuring Arthur Rackham's original illustrations for The Sleeping Beauty, fractured and reimagined. "A vivid, subversive and feminist reimagining of Sleeping Beauty, where implacable destiny is no match for courage, sisterhood, stubbornness and a good working knowledge of fairy tales." -Katherine Arden It's Zinnia Gray's twenty-first birthday, which is extra-special because it's the last birthday she'll ever have. When she was young, an industrial accident left Zinnia with a rare condition. Not much is known about her illness, just that no-one has lived past twenty-one. Her best friend Charm is intent on making Zinnia's last birthday special with a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and a spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something strange and unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds, with another sleeping beauty, just as desperate to escape her fate"-- Provided by publisher.
Elsewhere
Published in 2020
Since his wife left them, Jeffy Coltrane has worked to maintain a normal life for himself and his eleven-year-old daughter, Amity, but when a local eccentric entrusts Jeffy with hiding a strange device that allows people to jump between parallel planes, he and his daughter must outwit a man determined to obtain the device and use its grand potential for profound evil or the place that they call home may never be safe again.
Chosen Ones
Published in 2020
"The first novel written for an adult audience by the mega-selling author of the Divergent franchise: five twenty-something heroes famous for saving the world when they were teenagers must face even greater demons-and reconsider what it means to be a hero. . . by destiny or by choice"-- Provided by publisher.
The Kaiju Preservation Society
Published in 2022
"The Kaiju Preservation Society is John Scalzi's first standalone adventure since the conclusion of his New York Times bestselling Interdependency trilogy. When COVID-19 sweeps through New York City, Jamie Gray is stuck as a dead-end driver for food delivery apps. That is, until Jamie makes a delivery to an old acquaintance, Tom, who works at what he calls "an animal rights organization." Tom's team needs a last-minute grunt to handle things on their next field visit. Jamie, eager to do anything, immediately signs on. What Tom doesn't tell Jamie is that the animals his team cares for are not here on Earth. Not our Earth, at at least. In an alternate dimension, massive dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju roam a warm and human-free world. They're the universe's largest and most dangerous panda and they're in trouble. It's not just the Kaiju Preservation Society whose found their way to the alternate world. Others have, too. And their carelessness could cause millions back on our Earth to die"-- Provided by publisher.
Dark Nights Metal. Dark Knights Rising
Published in 2019
Seven nightmarish versions of Batman from seven dying alternate realities have been recruited by the dark god Barbatos to terrorize the World's Greatest Heroes in our universe. They threaten life across the Multiverse, and the Justice League may be powerless to stop them!
The Memory Theater
Published in 2021
"In a world just parallel to ours exists a mystical realm known only as the Gardens. It is a place where feasts never end, games of croquette have devastating consequences, and teenagers are punished for growing up. For a select group of Masters, it's a decadent paradise where time stands still. For those who serve them, however, it's a slow torture where their lives can be ended in a blink. In a bid to escape before their youth betrays them, Dora and Thistle--best friends and confidants--set out on a remarkable journey through time and space. Traveling between their world and ours, they hunt the one person who can grant them freedom. Along the way they encounter a mysterious traveler who trades in favors and never forgets debts, a crossroads at the center of the universe, our own world on the brink of war, and a traveling troupe of actors with the ability to unlock the fabric of reality. Endlessly inventive, The Memory Theater takes the reader to a wondrous place where destiny has yet to be written, life is a performance, and magic can erupt at any moment. It is Karin Tidbeck's most engrossing and irresistible tale yet"-- Provided by publisher.
What If?
Infinity
Published in 2016
Imagine if Thanos had joined the Avengers in their war with the Builders. Or if Black Bolt had seized the opportunity for the Inhumans to rule Earth. The Avengers easily could have suffered crushing defeat -- what would that mean, years later, for Cannonball and a handful of other survivors? Then there are the Guardians of the Galaxy, who'd certainly have something to say if they discovered the Illuminati were hiding Thanos. Most chilling of all, what if Norman Osborn grabbed the Infinity Gauntlet and ushered in a second Dark Reign?