21 magical science fiction and fantasy books to read in summer 2021

Summer 2021 release: For the Wolf – Hannah Whitten

Part folklore, part fairytale, and part horror story, Hannah Whitten’s For the Wolf manages to take the familiar – a reimagining of “Little Red Riding Hood” – and make it feel like something completely new.

The story is set in the kingdom of Valleyda, which sits at the edge of the Wilderwood, a magic forest that holds back the monsters of the Shadowlands. But that protection comes with a price – a human life. Every Second Daughter of the Valleydan royal family is sacrificed to the Wolf of the Wood, sent into the forest as payment for the kingdom’s continued safety.

And Redarys is a Second Daughter approaching her twentieth birthday, the designated date at which she’ll be offered up to the Wolf. But what if the legends got it wrong? And what if Red’s destiny isn’t a sacrifice at all – but a calling to become something more?

The official synopsis describes the story as follows.

"As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods. Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again. But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole."

For the Wolf is available on June 15.