Another year, another round of amazing novels! I can feel myself almost salivating at the delicious, delicious sequels and debuts set to be published this year! Right now I’m envisioning curling up in a comfy chair with a 2016 release and a big plate of cookies… and it’s really distracting…

Anyway, here are the two releases I’m most excited about this year:

fantasy book reviews science fiction book reviews1. Daniel Abraham’s The Spider’s War, out March 8, is the conclusion to his acclaimed THE DAGGER AND THE COIN series. I’ve been waiting for this one for two years! Here’s the publishers’s blurb:

The epic conclusion to THE DAGGER AND THE COIN series, perfect for fans of George R.R. Martin. Lord Regent Geder Palliako’s great war has spilled across the world, nation after nation falling before the ancient priesthood and weapon of dragons. But even as conquest follows conquest, the final victory retreats before him like a mirage. Schism and revolt begin to erode the foundations of the empire, and the great conquest threatens to collapse into a permanent conflict of all against all. In Carse, with armies on all borders, Cithrin bel Sarcour, Marcus Wester, and Clara Kalliam are faced with the impossible task of bringing a lasting peace to the world. Their tools: traitors high in the imperial army, the last survivor of the dragon empire, and a financial scheme that is either a revolution or the greatest fraud in the history of the world.

2. Saladin Ahmed’s The Thousand and One, out December 15, is the sequel to his Hugo-nominated Throne of the Crescent Moon and the second installment in his THE CRESCENT MOON KINGDOMS series:

Revolution has come to Dhamsawaat. The Falcon Prince, whose coup had aimed to feed the city’s poor, now sits on the Throne of the Crescent Moon. But he quickly learns that stealing a kingdom is much easier than running one. Doctor Adoulla Makhslood forces himself to ignore the political turmoil boiling around him as he prepares for his long-awaited wedding to Miri Almoussa. His old friends Dawoud and Litaz in turn prepare to travel back to their homeland in the Soo Republic, accompanied by the tribeswoman Zamia Banu Laith Badawi, who hopes to put distance between herself and memories of her dead kinsmen and the warrior dervish Raseed bas Raseed. Meanwhile, Raseed has left Dhamsawaat and his apprenticeship to Adoulla to journey back to the Lodge of God, hoping to purify himself of religious doubts and his troubling attraction to Zamia, and in the course of his journey he crosses swords with the master assassin and disgraced dervish Red Layla. But the heroes’ paths cross again when the enigmatic Queen of the djenn herself appears with a dire warning for the world of men, and Adoulla and his old friends again leave peace and happiness behind as they set out to make things right in a world gone wrong.

What about you? Which 2016 releases are you most looking forward to?

Author

  • Kevin Wei

    KEVIN WEI, with us since December 2014, is political/digital strategist based in Harlem. Secretly, Kevin has always believed in dragons. Not the Smaug kind of dragon, only the friendly ones that invite you in for tea (Funke’s Dragon Rider was the story that mercilessly hauled him into the depths of SF/F at the ripe old age of 5). Kevin loves epic fantasy, military SF/F, New Weird, and some historical fantasy; some of his favorite authors include Patrick Rothfuss, George R.R. Martin, Neil Gaiman, China Miéville, Django Wexler, and Joe Abercrombie. In his view, a good book requires not only a good character set and storyline, but also beautiful prose — he's extremely particular about this last bit. You can find him at: kevinlwei.com