Books like Rapture by Kameron Hurley

Nyx Dasheem, long exiled, resumes duty with the bel dames—an elite sisterhood of government assassins—when the end of a centuries‑long holy war leaves Nasheen's streets swarming with frustrated, unemployed soldiers. A fragile peace threatens to erupt into civil war as a key politician is kidnapped, potentially sparking a bloody government overthrow. With alien threats looming overhead and rebellion thundering below, Nyx assembles a ragtag team of mad magicians, torturers, and mutant shapeshifters to traverse a flesh‑eating desert in search of a man she should not kill—though her lethal skills make her the perfect, if reluctant, hunter. The stakes are personal and national as Nyx confronts the only thing she excels at: killing. The novel blends fantasy, science fiction, and LGBTQ speculative elements, exploring themes of loyalty, identity, and the costs of violence within a post‑war, cosmopolitan setting.

First publish date: 2012