2017-01-24

By

Adrian Liang

Reading-wise, there's nothing that beats immersing yourself in a gripping, thought-provoking book. A close second, though, is happily awaiting new books from authors you respect the hell out of.

Four new series from seriously talented authors will have you circling dates on your calendar and clearing your schedule so you can settle in for some furiously good reading.

TERRY BROOKS

For many, Brooks' Shannara novels were among the first fantasy books they ever read, so calling the conclusion of the 40-year-long series "an end of an era" doesn't seem like hyperbole at all. But don't despair. Brooks said in EW that it's the chronological end of Shannara but "If I want to go back and fill in some gaps that I left along the way, or write more stories about a particular character, I can."

The Black Elfstone kicks off the four-book arc titled the Fall of Shannara, and it hits shelves on June 13, 2017.

PIERCE BROWN

Pierce Brown's Red Rising series swept up readers into both a solar system and a caste system on the breaking edge, with Mars-born Darrow as the angry hero ready and willing to do the final breaking. Now Brown returns to the world of Golds, Obsidians, and Howlers ten years later as Darrow and Mustang try to lead their people. But, as Brown revealed last month in an interview with Entertainment Weekly, "something stirs in the darkness out beyond the asteroid belt." Darrow will be one of four POV characters in the new three-book arc, which promises to expand to other planets and moons.

Book one, Iron Gold, releases on August 22, 2017.

N. K. JEMISIN

The publisher Orbit announced earlier this month that Hugo Award-winning author N. K. Jemisin is writing three new books for them, the first being "a contemporary fantasy dealing with themes of race and power in New York City" with a projected publication date of April 2019. While no one is saying quite yet if the first novel is a standalone or the beginning of a series, Jemisin's ideas are big and deep and often surge through multiple books. Fingers crossed that that's the case here, too.

Jemisin concludes her Broken Earth trilogy this summer with The Stone Sky (August 15, 2017).

MARLON JAMES

James isn't a household name among the SF community but he became well known among literary fiction fans after winning the Man Booker Prize in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings, a deeply violent and profound novel whose plot is sparked by the assassination attempt on Bob Marley. An argument with a friend about The Lord of the Rings spurred James to start writing this fantasy series that he says began before he won the Booker. Currently titled the Dark Star Trilogy, it launches in fall 2018 with Black Leopard, Red Wolf. James brings a fresh voice to the fantasy genre, and I can't wait to dive into his worldview.

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