The Deep And The Drowned by Ian Green (Head of Zeus £22, 384pp)

Killian’s a privateer of a dandyish persuasion with a fine sailing ship, a mostly loyal crew but, alas, a massive debt to pay off.

He’s got gifts – psychic tomb-robbing abilities and Berserker rage – but somehow only ever manages to stay one step ahead of trouble. And sometimes only half a step. Or no step at all.

So when he’s offered the chance to pay off said debt, he jumps at it in spite of having to navigate lethal monster-infested waters while carrying a cold-hearted imperial functionary with her massive, armoured, fanatical bodyguard. Who hates everyone.

Outstandingly swashbuckling, outrageously gripping and out-of-this-world brilliant: bring on the sequel!

The Infinite State by Richard Swan (Gollancz £23, 416pp)

A masterclass in storytelling, Swan shifts seamlessly through the gears: it’s a The Handmaid’s Tale fascist nightmare with pod-racers; Blade Runner gloom pierced by shafts of light.

The lives of three characters are smashed together by the brutal, Decurion state: Katherine, the childless widow of a party official; Cyprian, a cynical drunken cop; Julian, an off-planet speed-merchant.

Each, in their own way, is left with nothing to lose by staying on the planet and everything to win by setting up on a new world – bought by Katherine’s vast wealth. But new starts offering hope and freedom is exactly what the state cannot tolerate . . .

Gritty, unflinching and suffocatingly atmospheric.

A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett (Hodderscape £25, 400pp)

A detective story involving murders, family feuds, out-sized cattle and bean-picking cats with clever little hands just proves again the awe-striking, gruesome fertility of RJB’s imagination.

It looks like war between two great dynasties when the daughter of one is filleted by the son of another in a country inn. Enter the brilliant and testy Ana Dolabra, detective extraordinaire, and her long-suffering sidekick, Dinias Kol.

Thinking the unthinkable, they realise afungal mutation, so long used on animals, is infecting humans. But who is behind it? And what secrets lurk in the ancient forest?

An utterly immersive, high-stakes mystery spiced with sharp humour and grisly grotesquerie.