Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
Mike seems to have found the perfect life in Amorea: he’s a beloved bookstore owner in a welcoming community, and his romance with Sean seems ideal. But unsettling details begin to crack that picture. No children or parents live in town, people who leave never return, and starlings darken the sky. As strange memories blur his sense of who he is, Mike must face the possibility that Amorea’s perfection hides something far more disturbing—and that saving Sean may mean confronting the truth.
Bestselling, award-winning author TJ Klune’s work spans fantasy, romance, and young adult fiction, and Murmuration brings that range to a twisty science-fiction story. A queer writer, he is known for centering LGBTQ+ characters and relationships with warmth, humor, and emotional depth in books like The House in the Cerulean Sea. This book continues his tradition of inclusive fiction, but it may surprise fans who fell in love with the Cerulean Chronicles series. Its twists can leave readers wondering whether they are following the plot or have missed something along the way.
I give Murmuration 4 out of 5 stars. I appreciate the way Klune develops his characters and their relationships. The residents of Amorea feel as though they could be my next-door neighbors. I especially love how each character seems to know everything about the others—a familiarity that feels distinctly small-town and reminds me of Stars Hollow in Gilmore Girls. The plot, however, sometimes lost me; science fiction isn’t always my genre. I found myself wondering whether I had already read a passage or had somehow missed pages. It wasn’t until the halfway point that I began to understand what was happening, and that confusion became frustrating. Still, I appreciated the revelations in the final chapters, which left me surprisingly emotional.
I would recommend this book to mature readers over 16. With one on-page sex scene, domestic violence, and murder, this may not be the best choice for all readers. Klune writes that he aimed to capture the spirit of The Twilight Zone, an influence that should resonate with fans of the show. With so much to unpack about Mike’s journey, it would also make a strong selection for a science-fiction or LGBTQ book club. If you appreciate the sense that something is wrong beneath the surface in The Rabbit Back Literature Society by Pasi Ilmari Jaaskelainen, or the offbeat small-town atmosphere and speculative mystery of Welcome to Night Vale by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, this book may be a good fit.
Murmuration will be released on November 17. You can order your copy today through our Bookshop.org page!
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What I’m Reading
- Current print book: Differ We Must, Steve Inskeep
- Current audio book: Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi Coates
- Book I’m most looking forward to: Buffalo Hunter Hunter, Stephen Graham Jones
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