September 2025 Books

What’s new and good to read? Dan Coombes has a look at what’s on offer from publishers in September and chooses Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon, The Collected Stories by Cixin Liu and The Predicament by William Boyd.

Among the Burning Flowers – Samantha Shannon

Samantha Shannon’s absolutely belting 2019 epic Priory Of The Orange Tree propelled her to the top of bestseller lists and won her all kinds of critical acclaim for strong characters, great storytelling and the kind of mythic world-building that makes for properly immersive and unforgettable fantasy.

Among The Burning Flowers expands on this beautiful world with a prequel packed full of apocalyptic, human-toasting dragons, secret magic, embattled heroines and then some more great big grumpy dragons for good measure. If old fashioned (but also very modern) high fantasy is even remotely your thing, this is what you should be reading.

With the awakening of fire-breathing dragons, Among the Burning Flowers sees the first sparks of danger that threaten to consume the world in The Priory of the Orange Tree.

Take your first steps into the epic. Yscalin, land of sunshine and lavender, will soon be ablaze.

It has been centuries since the Draconic Army took wing, almost extinguishing humankind. Marosa Vetalda is a prisoner in her own home, controlled by her cold father, King Sigoso.

Over the mountains, her betrothed, Aubrecht Lievelyn, rules Mentendon in all but name. Together, they intend to usher in a better world. A better world seems impossibly distant to Estina Melaugo, who hunts the Draconic beasts that have slept across the world for centuries.

And now the great wyrm Fýredel is stirring, and Yscalin will be the first to fall.

Images: Among the Burning Flowers front cover,  Author Samantha Shannon

The Collected Stories – Cixin Liu

At some point someone absolutely and definitely said something really pithy about short stories being the greatest form for science fiction.

They were quite famous I think, it was really catchy and memorable (although not for me, obviously) and I would have looked super awesome and highbrow wheeling it out for this review, but I can’t find it anywhere.

The internet was no help whatsoever and my colleagues just gave me a funny look when I asked, so you’ll just have to trust me.

Anyway – short stories really are a great form for science fiction – especially brain-bending high concept stuff like the works of Cixin Liu, author of Three Body Problem and its sequels along with a handful of spectacular novels, novellas and more short story collections.

Each story is a strange thought experiment, mind expanding, unsettling, thought provoking and every so often all of these and more at the same time.

From cosmological horror to wry satire, from first contact to the end of everything, these 32 stories explore our place in the universe, pitting the vastness of space against the fragility of humanity.

The scale of Liu’s imagination is immense, exploring both the infinite and the infinitesimal, the epic and the intimate.

Here, machine intelligences create art or sow terror, humanity is annihilated or created anew, alien civilizations come bearing gifts, or they come in the cold logic of universal war.

Solar systems are devoured, planets are turned into spaceships, and time is reversed. With a physicist’s mind and a philosopher’s heart, Liu takes us to the boundaries of the cosmos and consciousness…but that’s just where his imagination begins.

Images: The Collected Stories front cover,  Author Cixin Liu

The Predicament – William Boyd

Swerving neatly to avoid a trilogy of genre fiction reviews, here’s an historical spy thriller from a powerhouse of literary wordcraft and sophisticated storytelling that’ll sit comfortably in the fiction sections of every self-respecting book shop.

It’s the sequel to previous book Gabriel’s Moon, and charts the further adventures of ‘accidental spy’ Gabriel Dax, who gets drawn into ever increasing amounts of subterfuge and deception, essentially because he really fancies his MI6 handler. Seems reasonable. We’ve all been there.

William Boyd is a very different writer but it does have a little bit of a John Le Carre vibe to it what with all the international espionage, Cold War shenanigans and a sort-of-but-not-really everyman central character that’s kind of relatable – and that’s no bad thing.

Gabriel Dax, travel writer and accidental spy, is back in the shadows. Unable to resist the allure of his MI6 handler, Faith Green, he has returned to a life of secrets and subterfuge.

Dax is sent to Guatemala under the guise of covering a tinderbox presidential election, where the ruthless decisions of the Mafia provoke pitch-black warfare in collusion with the CIA. As political turmoil erupts, Gabriel’s reluctant involvement deepens.

His escape plan leads him to West Berlin, where he uncovers a chilling realisation: there is a plot to assassinate magnetic young President John F. Kennedy.

In a race against time, Gabriel must navigate deceit and danger, knowing that the stakes have never been higher . . .In The Predicament, William Boyd weaves yet another masterful tale of suspense, loyalty, love and the dark temptations of spy craft.

Images: The Predicament front cover, Author William Boyd

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