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It’s a new year, and that means new books! 2022 was a great year for fantasy and science fiction novels, and 2023 looks like it’s going to be just as fantastic. We’ll be rounding up new fantasy and sci-fi releases each month so you can always be in the know about what books are on the way.
This list contains 10 exciting new fantasy and sci-fi books coming out in January. From rebellions set in fantasy worlds to near-future surveillance states to whimsical fairy tales, the breadth of stories coming our way this month is broad enough to sate many a reader’s taste. One’s TBR pile can never be towering precariously enough, as they say.
But before we begin, a note about this list: While this is only a sampling of some of the titles from the month that we’re excited about, one thing we’re not able to include are any titles being released from imprints of Harper Collins due to the ongoing strike of their editorial, marketing, design, and other staff across a number of departments. Until some kind of resolution has been reached, WinterIsComing stands in solidarity with the HCP Union and will unfortunately not be including any Harper Collins titles in these round-ups. We sincerely hope the situation is resolved soon.
With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk books!
THE SAPPHIRE ALTAR by David Dalglish (January 10)
The second novel in veteran fantasy author David Dalglish’s Vagrant Gods trilogy, The Sapphire Altar follows the further struggles of deposed prince Cyrus Lythan and his band of co-conspirators as they seek to push the Everlorn Empire out of their beloved island of Thanet. The first novel in the series, The Bladed Faith, was an enjoyable fantasy romp with great characters, and The Sapphire Altar promises to expand on what made that first installment so good while dishing out even more fantasy action, deific clashes, and found family feels.
Cyrus wants out. Trained to be an assassin in order to oust the invading Empire from his kingdom, Cyrus is now worried the price of his vengeance is too high. His old master has been keeping too many secrets to be trusted. And the mask he wears to hide his true identity and become the legendary “Vagrant” has started whispering to him in the dark. But the fight isn’t over and the Empire has sent its full force to bear upon Cyrus’s floundering revolution. He’ll have to decide once and for all whether to become the thing he fears or lose the country he loves.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
HELL BENT by Leigh Bardugo (January 10)
Leigh Bardugo may be best known for her Grishaverse novels, but she’s also carved out a space for herself in the dark magical academia genre with her acclaimed adult fantasy novel Ninth House. The first novel followed Galaxy “Alex” Stern as she was plucked out of her difficult life and tasked with uncovering secret occult activities at Yale University. This month Bardugo is back with the follow-up, Hell Bent.
Find a gateway to the underworld. Steal a soul out of hell. A simple plan, except people who make this particular journey rarely come back. But Galaxy “Alex” Stern is determined to break Darlington out of purgatory―even if it costs her a future at Lethe and at Yale.
Forbidden from attempting a rescue, Alex and Dawes can’t call on the Ninth House for help, so they assemble a team of dubious allies to save the gentleman of Lethe. Together, they will have to navigate a maze of arcane texts and bizarre artifacts to uncover the societies’ most closely guarded secrets, and break every rule doing it. But when faculty members begin to die off, Alex knows these aren’t just accidents. Something deadly is at work in New Haven, and if she is going to survive, she’ll have to reckon with the monsters of her past and a darkness built into the university’s very walls.
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LOST IN THE MOMENT AND FOUND by Seanan McGuire (January 10)
The newest novella in Seanan McGuire’s Nebula and Hugo-award winning Wayward Children series is coming out this month! While this is technically Book 8 in the series, it’s also a standalone work that can be enjoyed whether you’re familiar with McGuire’s other stories or not.
The series revolves around a boarding school for children who have discovered fantastical realms, but Lost in the Moment and Found follows new character Antoinette, who finds herself trapped in a magical shop where all lost things eventually end up. In this place are many doorways to worlds beyond imagining, yet “however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.”
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EMILY WILDE’S ENCYCLOPAEDIA OF FAERIES by Heather Fawcett (January 10)
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries is the beginning of a new fantasy series from author Heather Fawcett. It’s the story of Cambridge professor Emily Wilde, a genius scholar who prefers studying faeries to dealing with things like social interactions. Yet when Emily relocates to the small village of Hrafnsvik to study the reclusive fae who live in the forest nearby, she is interrupted by “insufferably handsome” fellow academic Wendell Bambleby. As Emily gets deeper into the mysteries of the elusive fae, she discovers Wendell might be keeping some secrets of his own.
Fawcett is best known for her middle grade and young adult novels like Ember and the Ice Dragons or Even the Darkest Stars. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries marks her first major foray into the realm of adult fantasy. It sounds like it’d be perfect to read while curling up next to a roaring hearth.
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TRESS OF THE EMERALD SEA by Brandon Sanderson (January 11)
Remember last year when juggernaut fantasy author Brandon Sanderson made headlines for launching the most successful Kickstart campaign in the platform’s history to independently release four novels he’d written in secret? Well, the Year of Sanderson is here, and so is the first of the author’s Secret Project novels! Even if you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can still get the first of these secret novels, Tress of the Emerald Sea, this month in ebook form, with a planned physical release set for April.
Tress of the Emerald Sea is a fable set in Sanderson’s interconnected Cosmere universe. If you’ve already read The Stormlight Archive, think of this book as a tale being relayed by the enigmatic character Hoid, similar in style to “The Dog and the Dragon” chapter in Rhythm of War except novel-length.
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THE WEIGHT OF COMMAND by Michael Mammay (January 17)
Michael Mammay, author of the military science fiction series Planetside as well as the standalone novel The Misfit Soldier, is back with another story this month. Like The Misfit Soldier, The Weight of Command is a standalone that requires no knowledge of Mammay’s other works. It released as an Audible exclusive last year, but come January 17 you can finally pick it up in ebook or paperback as well.
The Weight of Command follows Lieutenant Kiera Markov, a soldier who suddenly finds herself in command of human military forces on the planet Tanara after an attack kills off every higher ranking officer. Thrust into a situation far beyond anything she’s prepared for, Markov must step up to prevent a war as vying factions seek to take advantage of her seeming inexperience.
With challenges from all sides, and even from her own troops, Markov will have to learn quickly and establish her authority. Because what hangs in the balance is not only the future of the peacekeeping force, but of the planet itself.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
I KEEP MY EXOSKELETONS TO MYSELF by Marisa Crane (January 17)
The debut novel from Marisa Crane, I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is a science fiction story set in a near-future United States where, rather than being sent to prison, wrongdoers are given extra shadows that mark them as criminals. These so-called Shadesters are shamed in public, stripped of their rights, and forced to live as second class citizens.
Kris is a Shadester, and also the new mother of a daughter mysteriously born with her own second shadow. As Kris mourns the loss of her wife, she’s forced to face her own demons in order to raise her new daughter, connecting with a community of other misfits along the way. Featuring lyrical prose and an exploration of “the long shadow of grief, the hard work of parenting, and the power of queer resistance,” I Keep My Exoskeletons to Myself is definitely a novel to watch out for you if you enjoy mind-bending stuff like Black Mirror.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
THE KEEPER’S SIX by Kate Elliot (January 17)
Kate Elliot is the author of more than two dozen fantasy and science fiction novels as well as a ton of short fiction. As such, it can be somewhat daunting to know where to start with her work, but her latest book, The Keeper’s Six, is a novella that stands on its own, making it accessible whether it’s your first Kate Elliot book or your fifteenth.
The Keeper’s Six is the story of Esther, a “bad-ass, spell-slinging mother” who has to go on a world-hopping quest to find her missing son.
There are terrors that dwell in the space between worlds.
It’s been a year since Esther set foot in the Beyond, the alien landscape stretching between worlds, crossing boundaries of space and time. She and her magical travelling party, her Hex, haven’t spoken since the Concilium banned them from the Beyond. But when she wakes in the middle of the night to her son’s cry for help, the members of her Hex are the only ones she can trust to help her bring him back from wherever he has been taken.
Esther will have to risk everything to find him. Undercover and hidden from the Concilium, she and her Hex will be tested by dragon lords, a darkness so dense it can suffocate, and the bones of an old crime come back to haunt her.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
THE TERRAFORMERS by Annalee Newitz (January 31)
The latest novel from io9 founder and science fiction novelist Annalee Newitz, The Terraformers is a standalone science fiction novel with a hopeful streak reminiscent of authors like Becky Chambers. It’s a story that spans centuries, following both terraformer Destry as well as her future protege Misha. Complete with sci-fi trappings like a robots, naked mole rats, a cyborg cow and even a “taciturn moose” companion, The Terraformers sounds like it’s equal parts fun and uplifting, which is a nice change of pace from the dystopian sci-fi that’s so popular these days.
Destry’s life is dedicated to terraforming Sask-E. As part of the Environmental Rescue Team, she cares for the planet and its burgeoning eco-systems as her parents and their parents did before her.
But the bright, clean future they’re building comes under threat when Destry discovers a city full of people that shouldn’t exist, hidden inside a massive volcano.
As she uncovers more about their past, Destry begins to question the mission she’s devoted her life to, and must make a choice that will reverberate through Sask-E’s future for generations to come.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
HOUSE OF THE DRAGON: INSIDE THE CREATION OF THE TARGARYEN DYNASTY by Gina McIntyre (January 31)
Okay, so this last one isn’t technically a novel, but it’s Game of Thrones-related so I’m can’t not tell you about it. To close out the month, Insight Editions will be releasing a comprehensive behind-the-scenes coffee table book all about the production of House of the Dragon, HBO’s Golden Globe award-winning prequel to Game of Thrones. Written by longtime entertainment journalist Gina McIntyre, House of the Dragon: Inside the Creation of the Targaryen Dynasty features never-before-seen concept art, photography from the set, and interviews with the cast, crew, and creators of the series.
If you’re missing Westeros and all those wacky Targaryens, this could be a nice way to tide you over during the long wait for season 2.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
And thus concludes our January round-up of new fantasy and science fiction books. Which are you most excited to read?
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