The Geek Vibes Nation Book Round-Up – March 2025

Welcome to the first installment of the Geek Vibes Nation Book Round-Up. Each month, we’ll be sharing the latest and greatest in that month’s books. This month sees new releases from the likes of Suzanne Collins, Stephen Graham Jones, John Green, John Scalzi, and more. So, without further ado, let’s jump into the new releases from March 2025.

Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins returns to the world of The Hunger Games in Sunrise on the Reaping, a heartbreaking look at the power of propaganda. Having previously dived into President Snow’s past in 2020’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Collins gives Haymitch the same treatment here, tracking his journey from the reaping day of the 50th Annual Hunger Games to his time within the arena itself. And Haymitch’s story may be the most heartbreaking yet—though never in a way that feels maudlin or unearned. To go into any specifics would ruin the book’s surprises, but let’s just say that Sunrise on the Reaping reads more like a companion to Catching Fire and Mockingjay. It throws open the world of The Hunger Games connecting fan-favorite characters while spinning a generations-long warning against the power and corruption of propaganda. Collins delivers a vital addition to The Hunger Games saga and a timely exploration of the ways a government can manipulate its population. (9/10)

Available March 18 from Scholastic Press in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook formats.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

In Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, a Native American vampire pays an early twentieth-century preacher a visit in this horrifying mixture of real history and gothic horror. On the one hand, Stephen Graham Jones’ The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is a real masterclass of slowly building dread; a horrifying combination of real history and dark fantasy. But on the other hand, it’s also a bit slow and middling, with ill-defined stakes and a framing device that detracts more than it adds. Without venturing into spoilers, it’s occasionally difficult to track why anyone’s doing what they’re doing on a deeper level; what any given character’s endgame is. And that pervasive sense of confusion robs the story of its stakes—something that’s especially disappointing given that the epistolary format already robs it of some of its tension.

As is, the bulk of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is merely a set of conversations between an early 1900s Lutheran pastor, Arthur, and a mysterious Native American visitor, Good Stab, who wishes to make a confession. It’s the subject of that confession that gradually bubbles up into this reflection of traditional horror tropes mixed with real-life historical horrors. And that’s where “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” is at its best—in these moments of conflict between Arthur and Good Stab. Everything else—all the trappings surrounding their dynamic—drags the story down. Jones delivers a slow burn in the truest sense, and though it finally does build up to something, the novel then goes far past that moment, eventually fizzling out in a very confusing, disjointed ending. It’s a sucker punch followed by a giant shrug.

That’s not to say there’s not plenty to like here, because there is. Jones’s gift for breathing life into his characters is on full display here. It’s just that “The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” has a habit of losing sight of its story in favor of its characters going on seemingly unconnected diatribes. A fact that rings true for the book itself—a genuinely enthralling mishmash of history and horror that feels a bit too bloated for its own good. Tense, gripping, and horrific but also plodding and occasionally tedious. A mixed bag, but one well worth exploring as your mileage here genuinely may vary. (6.5/10)

Available March 18 from Saga Press in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook formats.

Murder by Memory by Olivia Waite

In Murder by Memory, Waite crafts a delightfully twisty cozy sci-fi mystery. When Dorothy Gentleman abruptly wakes up in a new body, she finds herself caught in the middle of a deadly mystery. Someone’s not only killing the residents of the HMS Fairweather but deleting their very essences. Can Dorothy uncover the culprit before it’s too late? Or is this the end of the line for the HMS Fairweather’s maiden voyage? Led by a sapphic private detective who’s as witty as she is enthralling, Murder by Mystery plays out like an Agatha Christie mystery in space. Think Murder on the Orient Express but on a spaceship. It’s brisk, light, and immensely captivating. Though the novella’s short length results in quite a rushed mystery, Waite’s superb character work more than makes up the difference. Dorothy Gentleman has the potential to be the next big detective, and Murder by Mystery gives her quite the introduction. (7/10)

Available March 18 from Tordotcom in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook formats.

Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green

In Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green makes the difficult subject of tuberculosis approachable. Spanning the modern history of the disease—from its prevalence in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through more modern attempts to combat the disease in countries around the world—Green seeks to unearth the humanity behind humanity’s deadliest disease. Green takes the more scientific nuances of both how tuberculosis has evolved as a disease and how the worldwide response to fighting it has evolved and boils it down into something wholly digestible, informative, and actionable. His book is not one of hopeless despair, but one of optimism. Though we have not always been great at taking care of one another in the face of tuberculosis, perhaps we can be better in the future.

Everything is Tuberculosis isn’t a book for the scientist well-versed in communicable diseases; rather, it’s a read for the layman who wants to see a better world in the future. Green’s warmth and wealth of research combine for a read that’s all at once heartbreaking and invigorating, a must-read in every sense of the word. (9/10)

Available March 18 from Crash Course Books in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook formats.

When the Moon Hits Your Eye by John Scalzi

What if the moon spontaneously turned into a big ball of flaming cheese? Well, chaos would probably ensue, right? That’s the central idea behind John Scalzi’s When the Moon Hits Your Eye. Foregoing the confines of normal narrative structure, Scalzi dedicates a chapter to each day of the first lunar cycle after the moon turns to cheese. Each chapter reads like a small vignette of society as a whole reacting to this monumental change—from government officials to astronauts to actors to everyday folk in small-town diners. And as such, Scalzi paints a sweeping portrait of chaos, absurdity, and utter hilarity. It’s not the kind of book where you follow a plucky cast of characters through misadventures, nor is it the kind of book with a sweeping plot that slowly unfolds throughout its 300ish pages. Instead, it’s just a glimpse at the variety of ways humanity might react to an unfathomable tragedy.

Though the book fizzles out a bit in its final chapters, When The Moon Hits Your Eye offers a deliciously captivating glimpse of humanity at its most befuddled. A rip-roaringly fun idea seen through to its silliest potential. (8.5/10)

Available March 25 from Tor Books in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook formats.

Elphie by Gregory Maguire

Gregory Maguire returns to the world of Wicked in Elphie, a look at the childhood of the most famous Wicked Witch. Unfortunately, Elphie is one of those prequels that ends up feeling kind of pointless. The first half reads like a collection of events that happen to Elphaba, but there is very little connective tissue between those events that form any kind of narrative arc. And though the latter half of the book does start to connect all of these events, tying them into some semblance of a whole, that whole ends up amounting to very little. And so, Elphie just feels a bit ho-hum. We don’t learn anything new about Elphaba as a character, nor is there much of an interesting story being told about her youth. It’s just stuff you could mostly infer from the original Wicked. So, in that regard, Elphie offers nothing more than a glimpse at a Wicked childhood. (5/10)

Available March 25 from William Morrow in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook formats.

Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen

When Harriet Tubman returns from the dead, she searches for a producer to help craft a rap album about her life in this audacious and emotional debut from Bob the Drag Queen. The sheer audacity of Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert is beyond impressive. Here, Bob the Drag Queen tells a story that’s part exploration of real history and part semi-autobiographical coming-of-age story. It’s a tale of fighting for freedom in all its forms, and as such, it makes for quite an emotional read. Bob’s prose is personable, often hilarious, and quite arresting. Though a bit clunky at times, the book’s core is gripping and immensely satisfying. It’s an absurd premise, to be sure, but Bob the Drag Queen manages to pull it off with the kind of flair only he could manage. (8/10)

Available March 25 from Gallery Books in Hardcover, eBook, and Audiobook formats.