“The Mime Order” by Samantha Shannon presents a “haunting dystopian universe [that is] is rich in detail”.    “The Marriage Game” by Alison Weir  brings to life one of England’s most scandalous royal love affairs: the romance between  Queen  Elizabeth and courtier Robert Dudley. In “Shipstar”  by Gregory Benford, an expedition to another star system is jeopardized by an encounter with an astonishingly immense artifact in interstellar space.  “Firefight” by Brandon Sanderson is the second book in the Reckoners series