Starred Review Roundup (6/10/2026)

Stars all around! These titles all received multiple starred reviews:

RASPUTIN SWIMS THE POTOMAC by Ben Fountain
9781250776549 | 6/9/26

“Timely and terrifying, Fountain’s version of the current and potentially future state of American politics and culture is simultaneously wild and absurd yet eerily plausible.”—Booklist, starred review

“A comic masterpiece. The current administration is finally getting the book it deserves.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

THE GREAT WHEREVER by Shannon Sanders
9781250421678 | 7/7/26

“She imbues the book with imagination and wit, and the narrator’s voice, cheeky and charming, is perfectly rendered. This is a truly magnificent novel from a uniquely powerful voice. A bighearted triumph.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Sanders (COMPANY) delivers a gripping multigenerational epic of land, home, and inheritance . . . Along the way, Sanders poses timely questions of ownership and ancestry, and she packs the novel with indelible imagery, as when Thomas paces the land before buying it, passing through a ‘wall of oaks’ to a pond, where he finds the ghost of his great-grandmother. This resonates.”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

MOSS’D IN SPACE by Rebecca Thorne
9781250414144 | 6/20/26

“This may well be the most entertaining and enjoyable science fiction novel of the year.”—Booklist, starred review

” Thorne’s arch humor, which shines especially in Moss’s spikiness and hyper-literal takes, and striking critique of inequality blend beautifully with moments of tense action and the emotional second-chance romance between Torian and Amelia. It’s enchanting.”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

WELLWATER by Karen Solie
9780374617677 | 5/5/26

“As a deep well draws on an aquifer of ancient water, this collection draws up profound feelings. WELLWATER is an exceptionally moving and superb collection.”—Booklist, starred review

“Solie’s voice and range guide the reader from a basement suite ‘cold on five sides, like childhood’ to a farmer’s-eye view of the landscape, with a precision that regularly dazzles. This is a rare and superbly crafted volume.”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

MAD EDEN by Morgan Thomas
9780374620158 | 6/2/26

“Radically inventive, compassionate, and perspicacious. Compulsively page-turning.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Lacing traditional narrative elements with snippets of social media posts, emails, and chapters from ‘Mad Eden,’ Thomas’s gorgeously constructed story explores difficulties of love, as Ro, a refreshingly complex protagonist, weighs their idyllic bliss with Liam against their desire to help those in need. This luminous novel is impossible to forget.”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

UNPRECEDENTED TIMES by Malavika Kannan
9781250420787 | 8/18/26

“A sparkling work of auto-fiction, this story feels like pages ripped straight from your funniest friend’s diary.”—Booklist, starred review

“But what was supposed to provide answers raises more questions for Rishi about her future in this simultaneously painful and laugh-out-loud narrative, as friendships are tested and ‘all sorts of things are drifting apart with the tide.’ Readers will find much to love in this smart and searching coming-of-age tale.”—Publisher’s Weekly, starred review

QUEEN MAB by Emily McBride
9780374617820 | 8/4/26

“McBride’s debut is a sublime, serious depiction of madness and imagination in relation to motherhood. She masterfully pairs haunting epigraphs (Yeats, Keats, Tennyson) with each chapter and dusts the narrative with delicious literary allusions, and her Note on Sources is a bonus for lit lovers.”—Booklist, starred review

“A stark portrait of maternal depression and psychosis is unflinchingly presented; McBride pulls no punches in her portrait of a woman desperately trying to use the research tools and familiar stories she knows to make sense of the unrelenting psychological horror of a hallucinatory bout with postpartum mental illness. A harrowing tale of mothering and myth.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

KILLER VIBES by Jack Friday
9781250428615 | 7/14/26

“Writing with a sharp sense of humor of which Carl Hiaasen would approve, and a keen insight into characterization Ross Macdonald would admire, Friday delivers a crime novel with both style and substance.”—Library Journal, starred review

“The mystery and what dangerous men, underground poker games, and overpriced real estate have to do with it have a satisfying conclusion, but the real treat is pointed social commentary, hilarious one-liners, and joke call-backs. With expert pacing and plotting and laughs galore, this book is a rip-roaring good time.”—Booklist, starred review