Fantasy fans had a lot to celebrate in the year 2023. Month after month, we were gifted with incredible stories, just banger after banger. From the buzziest title of the year in virtually any genre (Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing) to doorstopper sequels (Samantha Shannon’s A Day of Fallen Night), magical debuts (Emma Torzs’s Ink Blood Sister Scribe) and compelling new series’ openers (Hannah Whitten’s The Foxglove King). But it’s very possible that 2024 could top it, if the list of titles headed our way is anything to go by.
The next twelve months promise both monster releases from big-name fantasy authors and thrilling new debuts. There are highly anticipated sequels and series enders, new stories and new worlds from established favorites, and even the return of a beloved icon in this particular genre space.
Here are twenty-five of the most anticipated fantasy titles set to hit shelves in 2024.
Dark Star Burning Ash Falls White by Amelie Wen Zhao
Release Date: January 2 from Delacorte
Why We’re Excited: This thrilling sequel to Song Like Silver, Flame Like Night sees the battle for the fate of the Last Kingdom come to a head—as Hin survivor Lan and magic practitioner Zen find themselves on opposite sides of the fight for the future of their homeland.
Publisher’s Description: Years ago, the Elantian colonizers invaded Lan’s homeland and killed her mother in their search to uncover the Last Kingdom’s greatest the location of its legendary four Demon Gods. Lan’s mother devoted her life to destroying the Demon Gods, and Lan is determined to finish her mission. Yet, there are others searching for the gods, too.
Zen knew his soul was forfeit the moment he made a deal with the Demon God known as the Black Tortoise, but he’s willing to lose himself if it means saving the Kingdom–and the girl–he loves. But to crush the colonizers who have invaded his land he needs more power than even a single Demon God can provide. He needs an army. And he knows exactly where he can find it–in the undead army his great-grandfather lead decades ago.
The Elantians may have stolen their throne, but the battle for the Last Kingdom has only begun.
The Atlas Complex by Olivie Blake
Release Date: January 9 from Tor Books
Why We’re Excited: We know very little about this final installment in Olivie Blake’s addictive dark academia trilogy, which somehow makes the wait for The Atlas Complex even more torturous. Get ready for this series to go out with a bang.
Publisher’s Description: An explosive return to the library leaves the six Alexandrians vulnerable to the lethal terms of their recruitment.
Old alliances quickly fracture as the initiates take opposing strategies as to how to deal with the deadly bargain they have so far failed to uphold. Those who remain with the archives wrestle with the ethics of their astronomical abilities, while elsewhere, an unlikely pair from the Society cohort partner to influence politics on a global stage.
And still the outside world mobilizes to destroy them, while the Caretaker himself, Atlas Blakely, may yet succeed with a plan foreseen to have world-ending stakes. It’s a race to survive as the six Society recruits are faced with the question of what they’re willing to betray for limitless power―and who will be destroyed along the way.
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands by Heather Fawcett
Release Date: January 16 from Del Ray
Why We’re Excited: Heather Fawcett’s Emily Wilde series is peak cozy fantasy, and this second volume is likely to be the warm hug we all need in the winter’s darkest days.
Publisher’s Description: Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.
Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of marriage: Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.
And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.
But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
Release Date: January 23 from Del Ray
Why We’re Excited: The first installment in a new trilogy from the bestselling author of The Final Strife follows the story of two elven sisters who find themselves exiled and then trapped in the dangerous and mythical world of the fae court.
Publisher’s Description: Yeeran is a warrior in the elven army and has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future.
When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven lands, they are both forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders. There they encounter the impossible: the fae court.
The fae haven’t been seen for a millennium. But now Yeeran and Lettle are thrust into their seductive world – torn between their loyalty to each other, their elven homeland, and their hearts.
To Cage a God by Elizabeth May
Release Date: January 23 from DAW
Why We’re Excited: I can’t be the only person with an extreme weakness for fantasy that’s inspired by Imperial Russia, can I? A bloody, political romantasy about two sisters who are raised to be living weapons, it’s a story that’s grounded in sacrifice and family bonds.
Publisher’s Description: To cage a god is divine. To be divine is to rule. To rule is to destroy.
Using ancient secrets, Galina and Sera’s mother grafted gods into their bones. Bound to brutal deities and granted forbidden power no commoner has held in a millennia, the sisters have grown up to become living weapons. Raised to overthrow an empire―no matter the cost.
With their mother gone and their country on the brink of war, it falls to the sisters to take the helm of the rebellion and end the cruel reign of a royal family possessed by destructive gods. Because when the ruling alurea invade, they conquer with fire and blood. And when they clash, common folk burn.
While Sera reunites with her estranged lover turned violent rebel leader, Galina infiltrates the palace. In this world of deception and danger, her only refuge is an isolated princess, whose whip-smart tongue and sharp gaze threaten to uncover Galina’s secret. Torn between desire and duty, Galina must make a choice: work together to expose the lies of the empire―or bring it all down.
The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers
Release Date: January 30 from Orbit
Why We’re Excited: An intriguing standalone fantasy about a cursed family doomed to lose their best and most promising young members in payment for a bargain no one remembers mixes elements of romantasy, dark academia, and adventure into something altogether fresh and fun.
Publisher’s Description: For centuries, generations of Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.
Violet Everly was just a child when her mother Marianne vanished on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. And when Penelope cannot find her, she issues an Violet has ten years to find Marianne, or she will take her place. Violet is the last of the Everly line, the last to suffer from the curse. Unless she can break it first.
To do so, she must descend into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. She must also contend with Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted – and yet whose knowledge of a world beyond her own is too valuable to avoid.
Tied to a very literal deadline, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.
Crescent City: House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas
Release Date: January 30 from Bloomsbury Publishing
Why We’re Excited: The third installment in Sarah J. Maas’s wildly popular Crescent City series likely needs no introduction—or hype—but I know I can’t be the only one who’s dying to find out how this whole apparent crossover with the world of A Court of Thorns and Roses works, right??
Publisher’s Description: Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.
Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.
A Flame in the North by Lilith Saintcrow
Release Date: February 13 from Orbit
Why We’re Excited: An action-packed series opener about an elemental witch and her shieldmaiden, it’s got dense worldbuilding and a complicated journey, all fully steeped in the magic and myth of Norse mythology. Fans of epic fantasy should take especial note of this one.
Publisher’s Description: The Black Land is spent myth. Centuries have passed since the Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, every village still lights a ritual fire to banish the dark.
That is Solveig’s duty. Favored by the gods with powerful magic, Sol calls forth flame to keep her home safe. But when her brother accidentally kills a northern lord’s son, she is sent away as weregild—part hostage, part guest—for a year and a day.
The further north Sol travels, the clearer it becomes the Black Land is no myth. The forests teem with foul beasts. Her travel companions are not what they seem, and their plans for her and her magic are shrouded in secrecy.
With only her loyal shieldmaiden and her own wits to reply upon, Sol must master power beyond her imagination to wrest control of her fate. For the Black Land’s army stirs, ready to cover the world in darkness—unless Sol can find the courage to stop it.
They thought the old ways were dead. But now, the Enemy awakens…
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
Release Date: February 13 from William Morrow
Why We’re Excited: Books about books—literal magical books, the power of reading, ancient libraries full of secret tomes—are always fascinating, and Gareth Brown’s debut promises magic, adventure, and romance in spades.
Publisher’s Description: Cassie Andrews works in a New York City bookshop, shelving books, making coffee for customers, and living an unassuming, ordinary life. Until the day one of her favorite customers—a lonely yet charming old man—dies right in front of her. Cassie is devastated. She always loved his stories, and now she has nothing to remember him by. Nothing but the last book he was reading.
But this is no ordinary book… It is the Book of Doors. Inscribed with enigmatic words and mysterious drawings, it promises Cassie that any door is every door . You just need to know how to open them. Then she’s approached by a gaunt stranger in a rumpled black suit with a Scottish brogue who calls himself Drummond Fox. He’s a librarian who keeps watch over a unique set of rare volumes. The tome now in Cassie’s possession is not the only book with great power, but it is the one most coveted by those who collect them. Now Cassie is being hunted by those few who know of the Special Books.
With only her roommate Izzy to confide in, she has to decide if she will help the mysterious and haunted Drummond protect the Book of Doors—and the other books in his secret library’s care—from those who will do evil. Because only Drummond knows where the unique library is and only Cassie’s book can get them there. But there are those willing to kill to obtain those secrets. And a dark force—in the form of a shadowy, sadistic woman—is at the very top of that list.
The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden
Release Date: February 13 from Del Ray
Why We’re Excited: The latest novel from the author of the (truly excellent) Winternight trilogy, Katherine Arden’s The Warm Hands of Ghosts is a complicated historical fantasy about war, trauma, love, and the strangely mysterious hotel whose owner seems to be able to keep the war at bay for some of its victims.
Publisher’s Description: January 1918. Laura Iven was a revered field nurse until she was wounded and discharged from the medical corps, leaving behind a brother still fighting in Flanders. Now home in Halifax, Canada, Laura receives word of Freddie’s death in combat, along with his personal effects—but something doesn’t make sense. Determined to uncover the truth, Laura returns to Belgium as a volunteer at a private hospital, where she soon hears whispers about haunted trenches and a strange hotelier whose wine gives soldiers the gift of oblivion. Could Freddie have escaped the battlefield, only to fall prey to something—or someone—else?
November 1917. Freddie Iven awakens after an explosion to find himself trapped in an overturned pillbox with a wounded enemy soldier, a German by the name of Hans Winter. Against all odds, the two form an alliance and succeed in clawing their way out. Unable to bear the thought of returning to the killing fields, especially on opposite sides, they take refuge with a mysterious man who seems to have the power to make the hellscape of the trenches disappear.
As shells rain down on Flanders and ghosts move among those yet living, Laura’s and Freddie’s deepest traumas are reawakened. Now they must decide whether their world is worth salvaging—or better left behind entirely.
A Fate Inked in Blood by Danielle Jensen
Release Date: February 27 from Del Ray
Why We’re Excited: The buzzy new series opener from the author of the Malediction and Bridge Kingdom series, A Fate Inked in Blood is set in a Norse-inspired universe where “unfated” humans can defy the destinies laid out for them. Action-packed, angsty, and almost destined to be our winter fantasy romance obsession.
Publisher’s Description: Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish, but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.
Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. It was foretold such a magic would unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.
Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she swore to protect.
Fathomfolk by Eliza Chan
Release Date: February 27 from Orbit
Why We’re Excited: An early frontrunner for best fantasy cover of 2024, Fathomfolk is an ambitious debut with one of the year’s most unique premises. Set in a half-submerged city where war is brewing between sea dwellers (a.k.a. fathomfolk) and humans, it’s a fantasy that also wrestles with all too real issues of xenophobia and social injustice.
Publisher’s Description: Welcome to Tiankawi – shining pearl of human civilization and a safe haven for those fleeing civil unrest. Or at least, that’s how it first appears.
But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on peering down from skyscrapers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolk — sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas—who live in the polluted waters below.
For half-siren Mira, promotion to captain of the border guard means an opportunity to reform. At last, she has the ear of the city council and a chance to lift the repressive laws that restrict fathomfolk at every turn. But if earning the trust and respect of her human colleagues wasn’t hard enough, everything Mira has worked towards is put in jeopardy when a water dragon is exiled to the city.
New arrival Nami is an aristocratic water dragon with an opinion on everything. Frustrated by the lack of progress from Mira’s softly-softly approach in gaining equality, Nami throws her lot in with an anti-human extremist group, leaving Mira to find the headstrong youth before she makes everything worse.
And pulling strings behind everything is Cordelia, a second-generation sea-witch determined to do what she must to survive and see her family flourish, even if it means climbing over the bodies of her competitors. Her political game-playing and underground connections could disrupt everything Nami and Mira are fighting for.
When the extremists sabotage the annual boat race, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Even Nami realises her new friends are not what they seem. Both she and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth it, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.
Fate Breaker by Victoria Aveyard
Release Date: February 27 from HarperTeen
Why We’re Excited: The final installment in Victoria Aveyard’s Realm Breaker series promises a devastating final battle for the literal fate of the world—and the lives of the companions we’ve come to care so much about along the way.
Publisher’s Description: The Companions are scattered and hopeless, torn from each other. After Corayne barely escapes with her life, she must forge on alone, leaving her blade broken and her allies behind her. Her only consolation—Corayne now has Taristan’s sword, the only Spindleblade left in existence. Without it, he can’t rip open any more Spindles. Without it, he can’t end the world.
But Taristan and Queen Erida will not be defeated so easily. Both will burn the world to bring down Corayne—and bring forth their demon god, What Waits, ready to claim the realm of Allward for his own. In a final clash between kingdoms and gods, all must rise to fight—or be destroyed.
The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black
Release Date: March 5 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Why We’re Excited: The latest installment in Holly Black’s beloved Folk of the Air series, this sequel to The Stolen Heir has been on our must-read list since we finished the first book back in January of 2023.
Publisher’s Description: After the shocking events of The Stolen Heir, Prince Oak is in deeper trouble than ever before. As his situation grows more precarious, Oak is desperate to find a way out, before all of Elfhame is caught in the coming storm.
Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
Release Date: March 12 from St. Martin’s Press
Why We’re Excited: The long-awaited sequel to Jay Kristoff’s fantasy doorstopper Empire of the Vampire, Empire of the Damned is a sequel that aims to up the stakes—which were plenty high enough—-of its original, adding in new characters, perspectives, and worldbuilding, even as it turns some of our initial assumptions about what kind of story we’re reading on their heads.
Publisher’s Description: Gabriel de León has saved the Holy Grail from death, but his chance to end the endless night is lost. Drawn into an uneasy alliance with the mysterious vampire Liathe, Gabriel must now deliver the Grail to ancients of the Blood Esani, and learn the truth of how Daysdeath might be finally undone.
But the Last Silversaint faces peril, within and without. Pursued by terrors of the Blood Voss, drawn into warfare between the Blood Dyvok and duskdancers of the frozen Highlands, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the Grail learn her truth.
And that truth may be too awful for any to imagine.
Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner
Release Date: March 12 from Harper Voyager
Why We’re Excited: The sequel to Hannah Kaner’s excellent (and underrated) series opener Godkiller picks up immediately where its predecessor left off, as the threat of rebellion and war grows across the land and the kingdom reels in the wake of Kissen’s sacrifice.
Publisher’s Description: Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren—but now they are stirring, whispering of war. Godkiller Kissen sacrificed herself to vanquish the fire god Hseth, who murdered her family and endangered her friends. But gods cannot be destroyed so easily, and Hseth’s power threatens to reform with even greater strength and a thirst for vengeance. As tensions rise throughout the land, the kingdom needs its Godkiller more than ever.
Still reeling from the loss of Kissen, young noble Inara and her little god of white lies, Skedi, have set out to discover more about the true nature of their bond. As the divide between gods and humans widens, Inara and Skedi will uncover secrets that could determine the fate of the war to come.
Meanwhile, Elogast, no longer a loyal knight of King Arren, has been tasked with killing the man he once called friend. The king vowed to eradicate all gods throughout the land, but has now entered into an unholy pact with the most dangerous of them all. And where his heart once beat, a god now burns. . .
The Hemlock Queen by Hannah F. Whitten
Release Date: April 9 from Orbit
Why We’re Excited: The second installment in Hannah Whitten’s Nightshade Crown trilogy, this sequel to The Foxglove King—one of our favorite fantasies of 2023—has some pretty big shoes to fill. But everything about The Hemlock Queen feels darker and more dangerous than its predecessor, as we watch Lore struggle to deal with the Sun Prince’s rise to the throne, her newfound position at his side, and the secret truth she seems to be drawn toward.
Publisher’s Description: The corrupt king August is dead. Prince Bastian has seized the throne and raised Lore—a necromancer and former smuggler—to his right hand side. Together they plan to cut out the rot from the heart of the sainted court and help the people of Dellaire. But not everyone is happy with the changes. The nobles are sowing dissent, the Kyrithean Empire is beating down their door, and Lore’s old allies are pulling away. Even Prince Bastian’s changed. No longer the hopeful, rakish, charismatic man Lore knows and loves, instead he’s reckless, domineering and cold.
And something’s been whispering in her ear. A voice, dark and haunting, that’s telling her there’s more to the story than she knows and more to her power than she can even imagine. A truth buried deep that could change everything.
With Bastian’s coronation fast approaching and enemies whispering on all sides, Lore must figure out how to protect herself, her prince, and her country before they all come crumbling down and whatever dark power has been creeping through the catacombs is unleashed.
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
Release Date: April 9 from Flatiron Books
Why We’re Excited: The megapopular Leigh Bardugo tries her hand at historical fantasy (!!!) with this story of a scullery maid with a knack for magic during the age of the Spanish Inquisition. We’re here for it.
Publisher’s Description: In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family’s social position.
What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain’s king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England’s heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king’s favor.
Determined to seize this one chance to better her fortunes, Luzia plunges into a world of seers and alchemists, holy men and hucksters, where the line between magic, science, and fraud is never certain. But as her notoriety grows, so does the danger that her Jewish blood will doom her to the Inquisition’s wrath. She will have to use every bit of her wit and will to survive—even if that means enlisting the help of Guillén Santángel, an embittered immortal familiar whose own secrets could prove deadly for them both.
The Book That Broke the World by Mark Lawrence
Release Date: April 9 from Ace
Why We’re Excited: Fantasy stories about the magic of books—or in this particular case, giant, magical, time-and-space-bending libraries—are always a must-read for me. This sequel to The Book that Wouldn’t Burn, will see its two central characters set on very different paths, one that will require leaving the Great Library, and the other that will require going deeper into its world than ever before.
Publisher’s Description: The Library spans worlds and times. It touches and joins distant places. It is memory and future. And amid its vastness Evar Eventari both found, and lost, Livira Page.
Evar has been forced to flee the library, driven before an implacable foe. Livira, trapped in a ghost world, has to recover the book she wrote—one which is the only true threat to the library’s existence—if she’s to return to her life.
While Evar’s journey leads him outside into a world he’s never seen, Livira’s path will taker her deep inside her own writing, where she must wrestle with her stories in order to reclaim the volume in which they were written.
The secret war that defines the library has chosen its champions and set them on the board. The time has come when they must fight for what they believe, or lose everything.
When Among Crows by Veronica Roth
Release Date: May 14 from Tor Books
Why We’re Excited: A dense little novella with a wildly original premise, When Among Crows is an urban fantasy story of monsters who feed on emotions and the knights who slay them, who must rend their own body to pieces to make weapons. One part road trip and one part redemption quest, this story packs a punch.
Publisher’s Description: Pain is Dymitr’s calling. To slay the monsters he’s been raised to kill, he had to split his soul in half to make a sword from his own spine. Every time he draws it, he gets blood on his hands.
Pain is Ala’s inheritance. When her mother died, a family curse to witness horrors committed by the Holy Order was passed onto her. The curse will claim her life, as it did her mother’s, unless she can find a cure.
One fateful night in Chicago, Dymitr comes to Ala with a bargain: her help in finding the legendary witch Baba Jaga in exchange for an enchanted flower that just might cure her. Desperate, and unaware of what Dymitr really is, Ala agrees.
But they only have one day before the flower dies . . . and Ala’s hopes of breaking the curse along with it.
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle
Release Date: May 14 from S&S/Saga Press
Why We’re Excited: A new Peter Beagle book—and one with dragons no less—is always cause for intense celebration in my world.
Publisher’s Description: Dragons are common in the backwater kingdom of Bellemontagne, coming in sizes from mouse-like vermin all the way up to castle-smashing monsters. Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax (who would much rather people call him Robert) has recently inherited his deceased dad’s job as a dragon catcher/exterminator, a career he detests with all his heart in part because he likes dragons, feeling a kinship with them, but mainly because his dream has always been the impossible one of transcending his humble origin to someday become a princess valet. Needless to say, fate has something rather different in mind…
Mirrored Heavens by Rebecca Roanhorse
Release Date: June 4 from S&S/Saga Press
Why We’re Excited: It’s the final installment in Rebecca Roanhorse’s Between Earth and Sky trilogy—what’s not to be excited about??
Publisher’s Description: Serapio, avatar of the Crow God Reborn and the newly crowned Carrion King, rules Tova. But his enemies gather both on distant shores and within his own city as the matrons of the clans scheme to destroy him. And deep in the alleys of the Maw, a new prophecy is whispered, this one from the Coyote God. It promises Serapio certain doom if its terrible dictates are not fulfilled.
Meanwhile, Xiala is thrust back amongst her people as war comes first to the island of Teek. With their way of life and their magic under threat, she is their last best hope. But the sea won’t talk to her the way it used to, and doubts riddle her mind. She will have to sacrifice the things that matter most to unleash her powers and become the queen they were promised.
And in the far northern wastelands, Naranpa, avatar of the Sun God, seeks a way to save Tova from the visions of fire that engulf her dreams. But another presence has begun stalking her nightmares, and the Jaguar God is on the hunt.
Children of Anguish and Anarchy by Tomi Adeyemi
Release Date: June 25 from Henry Holt and Co.
Why We’re Excited: The long-awaited and much-anticipated finale to Tomi Adeyemi’s Legacy of Orïsha series, it feels like this book has been on my must-read list for literal years. Bring it on.
Publisher’s Description: When Zelie seized the royal palace that fateful night, she thought her battles had come to an end. The monarchy had finally fallen. The maji had risen again. Zélie never expected to find herself locked in a cage and trapped on a foreign ship. Now warriors with iron skulls traffic her and her people across the seas, far from their homeland.
Then everything changes when Zélie meets King Baldyr, her true captor, the ruler of the Skulls, and the man who has ravaged entire civilizations to find her. Baldyr’s quest to harness Zélie’s strength sends Zélie, Amari, and Tzain searching for allies in unknown lands.
But as Baldyr closes in, catastrophe charges Orïsha’s shores. It will take everything Zélie has to face her final enemy and save her people before the Skulls annihilate them for good.
A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
Release Date: August 20 from Tor Books
Why We’re Excited: Look, at this point I’m basically willing to read T. Kingfisher’s grocery list, so the idea that she’s releasing a dark complicated retelling of The Goose Girl in 2024 is all I need to know. (If you don’t get it, please go read her recent fantasies Thornhedge or Nettle and Bone while we wait.)
Publisher’s Description: Cordelia knows her mother is . . . unusual. Their house doesn’t have any doors between rooms―there are no secrets in this house―and her mother doesn’t allow Cordelia to have a single friend. Unless you count Falada, her mother’s beautiful white horse. The only time Cordelia feels truly free is on her daily rides with him.
But more than simple eccentricity sets her mother apart. Other mothers don’t force their daughters to be silent and motionless for hours, sometimes days, on end. Other mothers aren’t sorcerers.
After a suspicious death in their small town, Cordelia’s mother insists they leave in the middle of the night, riding away together on Falada’s sturdy back, leaving behind all Cordelia has ever known. They arrive at the remote country manor of a wealthy older man, the Squire, and his unwed sister, Hester. Cordelia’s mother intends to lure the Squire into marriage, and Cordelia knows this can only be bad news for the bumbling gentleman and his kind, intelligent sister.
And indeed Hester sees the way Cordelia shrinks away from her mother. How the young girl sits eerily still at dinner every night. Hester knows that to save her brother from bewitchment and to rescue the terrified Cordelia, she will have to face down a wicked witch of the worst kind.
Somewhere Beyond the Sea by T.J. Klune
Release Date: September 10 from Tor Books
Why We’re Excited: House in the Cerulean Sea sequel! House in the Cerulean Sea sequel! (Does anything else even need to be said?)
Publisher’s Description: Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.
He’s the master of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical children who live there.
Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. He is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department In Charge of Magical Youth. And there’s the island’s sprite, Zoe Chapelwhite, and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children.
But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve.
And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name that Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart.
Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story.
Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB