The South by Tash Aw review – an intimate epic begins

Two boys on the brink of adulthood in 1990s Malaysia, in the opening volume of a Proustian quartet

Sidelined: The QB and Me review – hot cheerleader meets star quarterback movie is streaming-age bubblegum

Slickly made high-school movie is packed with slow-motion corridor walks and flawless cheer-squad routines – but it’s hard to get caught up in a plot with so few surprises

Looking at Women Looking at War by Victoria Amelina review – a precious and powerful work of literature

This tragically unfinished account of the Russian invasion of Ukraine bears witness to both grave crimes and the strength of the human spirit

Perspectives by Laurent Binet review – a dazzling Renaissance romp

The HHhH author’s entertaining whodunnit is stuffed with real-life artists behaving badly

Under a Metal Sky by Philip Marsden review – our dark materials

This account of humanity’s magical yet toxic relationship with rocks and minerals is filled with glittering details

The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep review – gore flows in bloody animated mer-western

Lovejoyish dude with magical powers wanders into a seaside kingdom where merpeople and regular humans are at loggerheads

Measures of Weather by JR Carpenter review – deft verse that offers a guiding light

The British Canadian poet’s new collection invokes the elements as it interrogates imperialism, patriarchy and climate emergency

Cottontail review – life lessons are learnt in tender, Beatrix Potter-inspired tale

A Japanese man journeys to the Lake District to honour his late wife, testing his relationship with his son in the process

Looking at Women, Looking at War by Victoria Amelina review – in memory of the Ukrainian novelist who catalogued war crimes

A powerful, posthumous collection of diary entries, interviews, war reports and poetry has the late author’s tragic absence at its heart

Pig Heart Boy review – lively staging of Malorie Blackman’s stimulating novel

Winsome Pinnock adapts the story of a teenager whose heart transplant causes controversy but the comedy drowns out the issues

The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates review – face to face with uncomfortable truths

The author and academic roams from Senegal to Palestine to South Carolina in essays unified by his belief that, as stories shape us, journalism should reflect the world, warts and all

Empty Wigs by Jonathan Meades review – a black museum of savage stories

Encompassing eugenics, euthanasia and terrorism, this dark, sprawling novel by a man of many talents is not for the easily offended

We Do Not Part by Han Kang review – a harrowing journey into South Korea’s bloody history

The Nobel prize-winner’s strange and unsettling new novel takes its protagonist on a mission that ends up confronting terrible pre-war violence

Money to Burn by Asta Olivia Nordenhof review – fire and energy in a new septology

This intense tale of lives connected to the Scandinavian Star ferry disaster in 1990 is hardly conventional, but undoubtedly exciting

Don’t Make Me Laugh by Julia Raeside review – did you hear the one about the toxic standup?

Set in the London comedy world, this provocative and funny debut novel explores the grey areas of coercion and intimacy