15 new Fantasy and Science Fiction books to read in 2021

The Veiled Throne by Ken Liu (November 2)

2021 also brings us the long-awaited third book in Ken Liu‘s Dandelion Dynasty series. Liu’s epic tale spans generations to tell an ambitious and powerful story about the perils of power and empire, all set in an incredibly unique silkpunk fantasy world. What began with Kuni Garu’s garrulous ways in The Grace of Kings has grown into something more massive and powerful with each installment, and it looks like The Veiled Throne will be no exception.

"Princess Théra, once known as Empress Üna of Dara, entrusted the throne to her younger brother in order to journey to Ukyu-Gondé to war with the Lyucu. She has crossed the fabled Wall of Storms with a fleet of advanced warships and ten thousand people. Beset by adversity, Théra and her most trusted companions attempt to overcome every challenge by doing the most interesting thing. But is not letting the past dictate the present always possible or even desirable? In Dara, the Lyucu leadership as well as the surviving Dandelion Court bristle with rivalries as currents of power surge and ebb and perspectives spin and shift. Here, parents and children, teachers and students, Empress and Pékyu, all nurture the seeds of plans that will take years to bloom. Will tradition yield to new justifications for power? Everywhere, the spirit of innovation dances like dandelion seeds on the wind, and the commoners, the forgotten, the ignored begin to engineer new solutions for a new age."

It’s worth noting here that while The Dandelion Dynasty was originally planned as a trilogy, Liu recently announced that he had expanded it to four books due to how large and epic The Veiled Throne was getting. Thus, The Veiled Throne and its follow-up The Speaking Bones form a “single narrative cleaved right down the middle.”

While both books were originally slated to come out this year, each has been pushed back a few months due to the coronavirus pandemic. As of now, The Veiled Throne comes out on November 2 from Saga Press, with The Speaking Bones due for release in April 2022.