Spring Fantasy Roundup

by | May 5, 2020 | Round-Up

Whether your days are filled with sunshine and fresh flowers or sweet-smelling rain, it’s undeniable that spring is upon us. What better way to celebrate this new season of life than by hanging out inside with a new book? (I kid, but only a little. There’s nothing quite like a new book and rain drumming on the window to make my day.) If your tastes run to fantasy, here’s a collection of new works perfect for inside or outside, rain or shine.

 

Queen of the Conquered (Islands of Blood and Storm)
By Kacen Callender
Orbit, $15.99, 400 pages

The first in the new Islands of Blood and Storm series, Kacen Callender’s Queen of the Conquered packs a heavy punch. Sigourney Rose is the only survivor after her family was killed by colonizers, and when a chance comes for her to take her revenge, she leaps at it. Someone else is out for blood, however, and in the midst of her own vengeance, Sigourney must seek allies among the very people she sought to kill before she winds up dead herself. This thrilling tale will captivate any reader and leave them hungry for the sequel.
 

The Monstrous Citadel (Chronicles of Amicae)
By Mirah Bolender
Tor Books, $18.99, 416 pages

Mirah Bolender’s The Monstrous Citadel is the second in the Chronicles of Amicae, and it definitely delivers as a sequel. Amicae may have survived the Falling Infestation, but new dangers now face the city. Bureaucracy, gangs, and a threat from the City of Kings face the protagonists now. Fans of the first book will find this one a fast-paced, exhilarating read, and those unfamiliar with the series should do their best to pick up both.
 

Empire of Grass
By Tad Williams
DAW, $30.00, 688 pages

Another second in a series, Tad Williams brings readers back to Osten Ard in Empire of Grass. Simon and Miriamele, now king and queen, face a looming war as treachery and dark magic threaten to pull apart the kingdoms around them. Full of richly rendered characters and edge-of-your-seat political intrigue, this is one series any fan of epic fantasy will find themselves thrilled by.
 

Master of Sorrows (The Silent Gods Series)
By Justin Travis Call
Blackstone Publishing, $29.99, 577 pages

In Master of Sorrows, the first of a new series, Justin Travis Call asks a question that has been largely missing from high fantasy: What if the orphaned hero and the threat to the world were one and the same? Annev de Breth, a warrior-thief with a past shrouded in mystery, must face this very notion in a novel that turns one of the core fantasy plots on its head. Brutal and intense, this is a book no one will be able to put down.
 

The Bone Ships (The Tide Child Trilogy)
By RJ Barker
Orbit, $15.99, 512 pages

The Bone Ships, first in RJ Barker’s new trilogy, is a vivid epic of the high seas. Even hundreds of years after the last dragon vanished, the people of the Hundred Isles still use their dragonbone ships in their battles for naval supremacy. When a dragon is seen in distant waters, both sides see not only a beast but a chance to gain victory in a seemingly endless war. This thrilling, original fantasy is a very promising start to the Tide Child Trilogy.
 

Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive
By Brandon Sanderson
Tor Books, $23.99, 1264 pages

Brandon Sanderson has well earned his title as a giant of fantasy, and Oathbringer, the third book in the Stormlight Archive, is only further proof. With the return of the Voidbringers, a new Desolation looms over humanity, and fresh troubles are springing up everywhere. In this latest epic addition to an already gripping saga, Sanderson gives his fans exactly what they have been waiting for.
 

Warrior of the Altaii
By Robert Jordan
Tor Books, $27.99, 352 pages

Many of us know Robert Jordan from his epic Wheel of Time series (and that, in fact, was my introduction to that particular branch of fantasy), and with his death, it seemed natural that we would hear no more from him. Now, however, we have a never-before-published novel, Warrior of the Altaii. Wulfgar, the eponymous warrior, must find some way to save his people from drought and fanghorn, but when faced with magic, prophets, and an otherworldly visitor, the task may be more difficult than he could ever have imagined.
 

The Burning White (Lightbringer (5))
By Brent Weeks
Orbit Books, $30.00, 992 pages

The Burning White, conclusion to Brent Weeks’s Lightbringer series, brings us a hero laid low and presented with a choice impossible to get right. Gavin Guile has lost his magic, and his mission will lose him either the woman he loves or a whole empire, regardless of whether he succeeds or fails. The novel is full not only of treason and desperate last stands but also Weeks’s trademark attention to detail amid an epic scope, creating a finale that will blow you away.
 

Fate of the Fallen
By Kel Kade
Tor Books, $25.99, 352 pages

The beginning of Kel Kade’s new Shroud of the Prophecy series, Fate of the Fallen, begins with a man everyone loves, and of course it’s no surprise that he’s meant to save the world. Best friend in tow, Mathias dives into adventure only to find it isn’t nearly as exciting as all the stories say and sometimes people think he ought to just give up. (How shocking!) A look at epic fantasy as seen through the eyes of an epic fantasy protagonist, this is a promising start to a series I’m eager to see more of.