A review roundup of four recent speculative novels, ranging across apocalyptic fantasy, crime fiction, occult horror and contemporary witchcraft.

– The Salt King by Natasha Pulley blends folk horror, faith and romance around a salt-mining community in the East Anglian fens.
– A Trade of Blood by Robert Jackson Bennett follows detectives investigating a murder amid resource pressures in a science-based fantasy world.
– Netherwood by Jake Arnott is an unsettling Hastings-set horror about a couple, occult rituals and a house with a hidden cave.
– Fawn by CN Vair follows an ageless witch whose rescue of a bloodthirsty fawn threatens her safety and community.