Our pick of the latest paperbacks: Sunyi Dean’s fantasy horror THE BOOK EATERS ( , out now, HarperCollins). Devon is a “Book Eater”, a member of one of six surviving families who subsist on stories and legends. But her latest son is a Mind Eater, who must consume other people to survive. Rather than see him turned into a weapon, she goes on the run, seeking a drug which will allow him to eat books, not brains. We said: “The world-building is fascinating, and the characters complicated and real… An intense read.” THE RED SCHOLAR’S WAKE ( , 17 August, Gollancz), Aliette de Bodard’s space opera tale of lesbian pirates vs a corrupt empire, is in the running for the Arthur C Clarke Award. Set in a matriarchal far-future, it sees a scavenger captured by pirates receiving a marriage proposal from the sentient ship she’s being held on. Though the relationship is driven by political convenience, it soon becomes something deeper. We said: “A romantic fairy tale in an outlandish setting, but one told with a quirky charm and exotic kinkiness.” Finally, John Marrs’s THE MARRIAGE ACT ( , 31 August, Pan) takes place in a future UK where walking down the aisle is heavily incentivised. But such benefits are conditional on installing an Alexa-like device in your home which eavesdrops. We said: “Its rapid-fire chapters function like movie scenes… A socially aware novel packed with thought-provoking questions.”