If you’ve never read a series by Seanan McGuire, but you love complex worldbuilding, rich characters and settings, and extremely creative storylines: the Alchemical Journeys series just might be for you. The basic premise is that alchemists have found a way to physically embody concepts like Language and Math. They’ve been successful a few times, but we’ve since learned that there are more entities (the seasons, gods/goddesses, etc.) that have manifested naturally. If you’ve followed along in the series until now, you’ll be delighted to see some familiar faces from previous books and a handful of new faces that will capture readers’ hearts instantly.

We start by meeting manifestations of moon goddesses who make a journey across the sky as the moon each night (with a killer view of the Impossible City). There have been a lot of mysterious deaths of these manifestations lately and no one can figure out who’s responsible. Judy, a manifestation of Chang’e, partners with two other god/desses to figure out what’s happening. Along the way, she meets our group of alchemical creations, human friends, and another creation from the alchemists’ secret lab. They must all join forces to solve this slew of mysterious deaths before the alchemists claim another victim.

If you’ve kept up with the Alchemical Journeys, I also recommend The Up-And-Under series published under McGuire’s pseudonym A. Deborah Baker. The tales in these four novellas are known in the world of the Alchemical Journeys as children’s stories written by Baker, a famous alchemist. While it’s not required reading to enjoy this series, the information is definitely fun bonus content for a richer worldbuilding experience.