Gollancz has revealed the British cover for The Fires of December, and it is gorgeous!
The Fires of December is Brandon Sanderson's sixth Secret Project, a standalone novel set in his vast Cosmere universe. It is the third book in the Hoid's Travails series following Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and is set for release in December 2026, published by Gollancz in the UK and Tor Books in the US.
The story is set in a forgotten corner of the Cosmere, a land sustained by colorful rivers of demon blood. It follows a young woman named December who discovers that a devastating plague is on its way and when nobody will believe her, she takes matters into her own hands.
She sets sail up the River Violet to warn the king's court herself with only a talkative priestess and a fledgling fashion designer at her side. What follows is a journey through skeptical royal officials, twisted court intrigue and a roguish count who might hold the key to saving everything.
Like the other Hoid's Travails books, the story is narrated by Hoid himself, the mysterious, world-hopping wanderer who appears throughout the Cosmere, framed around whatever terrible thing has happened to him this time.
The new cover is our favorite out of the three
A capa da edição comercial de The Fires of December foi revelada!
— Cosmere Central (@CosmereCentral) May 25, 2026
O livro chegará primeiro em uma edição pela Dragonsteel, enquanto a versão comercial será lançada oficialmente em 8 de dezembro. pic.twitter.com/bGhu2o8jbz
The Gollancz cover is, to put it simply, our favorite so far. The artwork features who appears to be December herself at the centre with a swirling storm of deep crimson closing in around her. There are also Serpentine creatures and flame-like shapes coiling through the background.
The color palette is deep red, shadow and gold and the whole thing has an epic, almost mythic quality to it.
This is actually the third distinct cover the book has had and the story behind that is worth telling. When Sanderson first revealed the novel at Dragonsteel Nexus in December 2025, he showed off cover art by Tran Nguyen, the artist behind the stunning cover for Yumi and the Nightmare Painter.
Fans loved it immediately. Then Dragonsteel proposed an alternative cover for the crowdfunding edition and the fandom split. A fan poll was run. The debate was so intense that Dragonsteel eventually threw up their hands and decided to offer both covers, absorbing the extra cost themselves.
So the Gollancz cover you are looking at now is the third version, and in our view, the best of the lot.
The Fires of December will feature Sanderson's “strongest opening” yet
Sanderson is not usually one to oversell his own work, and he believes the book contained "the strongest opening for a book I've ever written." In his end-of-year State of the Sanderson blog post, he went even further, calling it "one of the books that make me the most proud."
The beta readers who have already seen it are saying the same. Early Goodreads reviews from readers who got access before the public announcement are mostly five stars. One wrote that the opening is "the best and most compelling of any Sanderson has written so far." Another said simply: "I loved it and I'll likely reread it many times."
The Fires of December is still months away from publication, but there is quite a head of steam.
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