The air is getting chillier, and the holiday season is beginning to move into full swing. Whether you're spending as much time with family as possible or basking in the peaceful sweetness of solitude, there's one thing that always makes these last few months of the year better: good books to read.
There are some exciting fantasy and science fiction books releasing this November. It's a heavy month for fantasy in particular, with highly anticipated epic fantasy sequels, romantasies, and a cozy fantasy perfect to read while gorging yourself on holiday food. That's not to say there aren't sci-fi books worth keeping an eye out for as well — there most certainly are, including an anthology edited by none other than George R.R. Martin.
So pull up your Goodreads or Storygraph — or a pen and paper if you're old school — and let's find you your next favorite read.
THE WAR BEYOND by Andrea Stewart (The Hollow Covenant #2) — November 4
The War Beyond is the second volume in Andrea Stewart's new series The Hollow Covenant, which is set in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world where gods once lived in the hollow core of the planet, and humans scrabble for purchase on the surface.
An ancient pact invited the deity Kluehnn to remake regions of the surface one at a time, in order to reassert stability following a time of war and destruction. That included remaking the humans who lived in each one, disappearing half the population and transforming the rest into animalistic beings known as altered. But as we learned during the first book, The Gods Below, there was much more to Kluehnn's compact than first glance. There are many more secrets yet to be unearthed in The War Beyond. With a healthy dose of epic fantasy, horror, and starcrossed romance, The Hollow Covenant is a series not to be missed.
Hakara risked her life to find her long-lost sister Rasha, only to lose her all over again. Now she and her Unanointed rebels hunt for the shapeshifter Lithuas, knowing that defeating her would strike a blow to the plans of the tyrant god Kluehnn.
Rasha once longed to be reunited with Hakara. No longer. Now she is a Godkiller and proud to serve Kluehnn’s divine will. Yet she also harbours doubts about Kluehnn’s teachings. When she is sent to destroy Hakara and her allies, Rasha will have to decide where her loyalty truly lies.
As the two sisters hurtle towards a bloody reunion, Sheuan continues her shadowy games of intrigue to uncover the secret that killed her father, while her cousin Mullayne seeks the tomb of Tolemne. There, Mull believes he’ll find the answers he desires.
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THE BURNING QUEEN by Aparna Verma (The Ravence Trilogy #2) — November 4
Another highly-anticipated sequel coming out this month is The Burning Queen, the second book in The Ravence Trilogy by Aparna Verma. The first book, The Phoenix King, is a sci-fantasy that sees a princess chafe against a bitter prophecy that threatens her rule, while a disillusioned assassin sets out on one final mission that puts her squarely in her path. It recalled Dune, but with more emphasis on unlikely romance and some extremely cool Indian-influenced worldbuilding.
The first book ended with a major shift to the status quo that saw princess Elena's future thrown into question. What lies ahead for her in The Burning Queen?
"So what will you become, Elena? Villain, hero, or conqueror?"
Ravence has fallen. Her enemies have ravaged her people. And now Elena Aadya Ravence must decide how far she will go to reap her revenge. As she is pulled into a bitter war that will decide the fate of her kingdom, a new tyrant rises to reclaim his home, and Elena finds that perhaps her hunger isn’t enough.
And his knows no bounds.
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THE BLACKFIRE BLADE by James Logan (The Last Legacy #2) — November 4
Yet another anticipated sequel coming out in November is The Blackfire Blade by James Logan. This is the sequel to The Silverblood Promise. It's a fantasy story rife with thieves, alchemy and politics that's perfect for readers who loved Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora and are looking for other books to scratch that itch.
Winter has come early to Korslakov, City of Spires, and Lukan Gardova has arrived with it. Most visitors to this famous city of artifice seek technological marvels, or alchemical ingenuity. Lukan only desires the unknown legacy his father has left for him, in the vaults of the Blackfire Bank.
But when Lukan's key to the vault is stolen by a mysterious thief known as the Rook, he and his friends race to win it back—and find themselves trapped in a web of murder and deceit. In desperation, Lukan requests the help of Lady Marni Volkova, scion of Korslakov's most powerful family.
Yet Lady Marni has secrets of her own. Worse, she has plans for Lukan and his friends. Plans that involve a journey into Korslakov's dark past, in search of a long-lost alchemical formula that could lead to the city's greatest discovery . . . or its destruction.
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THE NAMELESS LAND by Kate Elliott (The Witch Roads #2) — November 4
Let's keep the fantasy sequel train rolling. The Nameless Land is the follow-up to Kate Elliott's fantasy novel The Witch Roads, which came out earlier this year. That means you can now read the full duology.
Elliot is a veteran fantasy and sci-fi writer who knows how to weave a deeply engrossing story. The Witch Roads duology follows Elen, a courier who is forced into the service of a haughty prince in a world where societal status is everything, and forbidden magic lingers. But when that prince insisted on going into a haunted tower, he didn't emerge the same man, and Elen's life got far more interesting.
The Nameless Land sees Elen and Prince Gevulin set out for the titular region of the map, which has long been believed to be desolate and uninhabited. If you want some travelogue fantasy with a dose of eerie romantic pining, The Witch Roads duology is worth checking out.
When the royal party finds themselves in a land they never believed they could access, it will take all of Prince Gevulin's (admittedly impressive) diplomatic skills to forge a coalition with an unlikely group of would-be allies.
Meanwhile, as Elen mourns her lost love, an unwelcome visit to the land of her birth brings back the traumatic memories of the childhood she shared with her sister.
And a surprise visit from an unwelcome family member threatens to derail the plans of multiple opposing factions.
Loyalty cannot be demanded, only won
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EMPIRE OF THE DAWN by Jay Kristoff (Empire of the Vampire #3) — November 4
Here's another sequel that's also a series ender: Empire of the Dawn, the final installment in Jay Kristoff's hit series Empire of the Vampire. These books may be epic fantasy, but with a focus on vampires they can often feel more like horror, which is a chillingly good strength of the series.
This series begins with the silversaint Gabriel de León recounting his story to his vampire captors, nearly three decades after an eternal night swept the world and the bloodsuckers have built their own new empire on the ruins of humanity's. Gabriel is drawn into a quest for the Holy Grail, a woman named Dior whose bloodline holds the key to ending the endless night and saving humanity. By the end of the second book, Empire of the Damned, it seems all hope is lost. Now on a quest for vengeance, Gabriel sets out to face his most dangerous foe yet, unaware that a glimmer of light for the prophesied salvation remains.
From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hand sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.
Gabriel de León has lost his family, his faith, and his last hope of ending the endless night—the Holy Grail, Dior. With no desire left but vengeance, he and a band of loyal brothers journey into the war-torn heart of the Augustin Empire to claim the life of the Forever King.
Unbeknownst to the Last Silversaint, the Grail still lives—speeding towards Augustin’s besieged capital in the frail hope of ending Daysdeath forever. But deadly treachery awaits within the halls of power, and the Forever King’s legions march ever closer. Gabriel and Dior will be drawn into a final battle that will shape the very fate of the Empire, but as the sun sets for what may be the last time, there will be no-one left for them to trust.
Not even each other.
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COLD WIRE by Chloe Gong (The StrangeLoom Trilogy #1) — November 4
At last, we're breaking the sequel train. Cold Wire is the latest novel from Chloe Gong, whose previous works include bestselling hits like the Secret Shanghai novels and the Flesh and False Gods trilogy. Cold Wire is the start of a new series, a dystopian sci-fi that blends a complex and precarious political climate with a story of two women who are drawn into a web of technological conspiracies.
Cold Wire is the start of a brand new series, which makes it a great choice if you want to experience something totally new this month that has the chance of melting your brain in unexpected ways, as the layers of this cyberpunk-esque sci-fi world are peeled back one by one.
The future is loading…
To escape rising seas and rampant epidemics, most of society lives “upcountry” in glistening virtual reality, while those who can’t afford the subscription are forced to remain in crumbling “downcountry.”
But upcountry isn’t perfect. A cold war rages between two powerful nations, Medaluo and Atahua—and no one suffers for it more than the Medan orphans in Atahua. Their enrollment at Nile Military Academy is mandatory. Either serve as a soldier, or risk being labelled a spy.
Eirale graduated the academy and joined NileCorp’s private forces downcountry, exactly as she was supposed to. Then Atahua’s most wanted anarchist frames her for assassinating a government official, and she’s given a choice: cooperate with him to search for a dangerous program in Medaluo or go down for treason.
Meanwhile, Lia is finishing her last year upcountry at Nile Military Academy. Paired with her academic nemesis for their final assignment, Lia is determined to beat him for valedictorian and prove her worth. But there may be far more at stake when their task to infiltrate Medaluo and track down an Atahuan traitor goes wrong…
Though Eirale and Lia tear through Medaluo on different planes of reality, the two start to suspect they are puzzle pieces in a larger conspiracy—and the closer they get to the truth, the closer their worlds come to a shattering collision.
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SHIP OF SPELLS by H. Leighton Dickson — November 4
Ship of Spells by H. Leighton Dickson combines the high seas adventure of a series like One Piece with the magic and romantic tension of a fantasy saga like Shadow and Bone. If you're looking for a new romantasy this fall, this is a book to consider.
The story follows Ensign Bluemage Honor Renn, who is shepwrecked and ends up aboard a legendary vessel that's on a daring mission, helmed by an elven captain who probably has an overflowing treasure chest's worth of secrets. Can Renn trust her new crew enough to join in the mission, or will her own magical secret put her in even more danger?
A war-scarred mage. A sentient ship. A secret that could drown empires.
When Ensign Bluemage Honor Renn is rescued from the wreckage of her first naval post, she expects death or disgrace. Instead, she wakes aboard the Touchstone, a mythic vessel whispered of in dockside ballads and royal war rooms alike. With a crew of misfits. A mysterious, elven captain. And a mission tied to the Dreadwall, the crumbling barrier that has kept the Overland and Nethersea from open war for a hundred years.
But the tragedy that sank her last ship didn’t just take lives—it left something behind.
Now Renn carries a secret everyone wants. A magik that’s chimeric, arcane...and slowly killing her. But the captain’s mission may be her only chance to survive, even if he still doesn’t trust her.
Caught between privateers, princes, and spies, Renn knows each choice could sink her future—or set the sea on fire.
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THE TOWER OF THE TYRANT by J.T. Greathouse — November 6
The Tower of the Tyrant a the new novel from J.T. Greathouse, author of the excellent Pact and Pattern fantasy series. But unlike the Pact and Pattern trilogy, this book is a standalone, which means you're going for a complete and epic adventure all in one book. Personally, I always love to see more standalone epic fantasy, and with how good Greatehouse's previous books have been, I'm excited to see what he does with this more compact format.
The Tower of the Tyrant follows Fola, a sorceress who specializes in hauntings and the magic that revolves around the undead. As you might imagine, this is not the most popular of callings. And that makes Fola's life infinitely more interesting when she goes to investigate a kingdom which has fallen on dire times after an ethereal malady claimed its king.
In a terrorized kingdom where the ghosts of the past do not rest in peace, a sorceress comes calling.
Some flee from wraiths. Others are drawn to them. Fola is both.
Cast out from the City of the Wise, Fola embarks on a journey to explore her interests in the barriers between life, death, and undeath. It has been a lifelong passion for Fola and she has the magical skills to help those in this world as well as comfort the restless souls from beyond. When Fola hears word of a kingdom plagued by darkness, she knows what she must do.
Pervading all of Parwys are rumors of a haunting that drove its king mad. Upon arrival, Fola’s greater challenge may be among the living. Hostile nobles, political machinations, and a growing rebel faction have shaken the stability of the court. And as the threat of a templar invasion looms, Fola’s quest to rid the vulnerable Parwys of a sinister scourge has just begun.
As chaos threatens the kingdom, Fola must rely on her uncanny talent, outwit conspiracies, and trust unlikely new allies to survive what lies ahead.
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THE STRENGTH OF THE FEW by James Islington (Hierarchy #2) — November 11
Back to sequels! The Strength of the Few is one of the most highly-anticipated books of the month. It's the follow-up to James Islington's The Will of the Many, a Roman-inspired fantasy about a young man named Vis who joins a prestigious Academy of the powerful Hierarchy in search of answers that could help him overthrow the powers that leech the life force from its subservient citizens.
Vis' story continues in The Strength of the Few, but it sounds like things are going to get truly mindbending this time around. Now Islington's series is bringing in the myth of the Labyrinth as a way to tackle the multiverse, with multiple versions of Vis spread across different worlds who each have to survive their own difficult ordeals in order to stop the downfall of all they know.
OMNE TRIUM PERFECTUM
The Hierarchy still call me Vis Telimus. Still hail me as Catenicus. They still, as one, believe they know who I am.
But with all that has happened—with what I fear is coming—I am not sure it matters anymore.
I am no longer one. I won the Iudicium, and lost everything—and now, impossibly, the ancient device beyond the Labyrinth has replicated me across three separate worlds. A different version of myself in each of Obiteum, Luceum, and Res. Three different bodies, three different lives. I have to hide; fight; play politics. I have to train; trust; lie. I have to kill; heal; prove myself again, and again, and again.
I am loved, and hated, and entirely alone.
Above all, though, I need to find answers before it’s too late. To understand the nature of what has happened to me, and why.
I need to find a way to stop the coming Cataclysm, because if all I have learned is true, I may be the only one who can.
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BRIGANDS & BREADKNIVES by Travis Baldree (Legends & Lattes #3) — November 11
November truly is the month for sequels! Next up we have Brigands & Breadknives, the third book in the hit Legends & Lattes cozy fantasy series from Travis Baldree. These books are short and sweet and ideal for curling up with on a rainy day. The success of the original Legends & Lattes book is a large part of why cozy fantasy has had such a boom in recent years, so if you are in the mood for some lighter fare and haven't check it out already, get on that!
Brigands & Breadknives focuses on Fern, the foul-mouthed bookseller introduced in Baldree's second book, Bookshops & Bonedust. Fern quickly became a fan-favorite after that book's release, so it's very exciting that she's now going to get her very own adventure. Unlike the second book, which was a prequel, it sounds like Brigands & Breadknives will get us back to the present, where the retired orc mercenary Viv runs a beloved coffee shop in the city of Thune. It's all coming together!
Fern has weathered the stillness and storms of a bookseller’s life for decades, but now, in the face of crippling ennui, transplants herself to the city of Thune to hang out her shingle beside a long-absent friend’s coffee shop. What could be a better pairing? Surely a charming renovation montage will cure what ails her!
If only things were so simple…
It turns out that fixing your life isn’t a one-time prospect, nor as easy as a change of scenery and a lick of paint.
A drunken and desperate night sees the rattkin waking far from home in the company of a legendary warrior, an imprisoned chaos-goblin with a fondness for silverware, and an absolutely thumping hangover.
As together they fend off a rogue’s gallery of ne’er-do-wells trying to claim the bounty the goblin represents, Fern may finally reconnect with the person she actually is when nothing seems inevitable.
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PROJECT HANUMAN by Stewart Hotston — November 11
Project Hanuman is a mind-bending science fiction novel from Stewart Hotston, which sounds perfect for readers of authors like Adrian Tchaikovsky, Essa Hansen, and Megan E. O'Keefe. It blends Indian mythology with a sweeping space opera story where a digital utopia is on the verge of collapse, and only an unlikely pairing of characters, including a living starship buckling under the weight of all that utopia's data, have a hope of figuring out why.
The ship needed to hear voices, to know he was not alone. The pilot thought they were going to fight an enemy, to find someone responsible and mete out justice. The Interlocutor thought they were going to help. The ship only wanted to hear the chaos of life and know he wasn’t alone among the stars.
The Arcology is a pan galactic utopia whose people live entirely online. Tired of paradise, Praveenthi ‘Prab’ Saal had herself printed into the physical world of Sirajah’s Reach, working as an Interlocutor – a go between for the Arcology and the cultures it meets in flesh and blood.
One evening after a call with her family - who are pressuring her to abandon her body and rejoin the Arcology, the city stops. Stops completely – nothing electronic works anymore. Terrified that the Arcology has just up and disappeared, she receives a call for help from a ship in dock whose pilot, Kercher, is a prisoner printed into a body to serve out his sentence in the physical world. Between them they discover it’s not just her planet, but the entire Arcology that’s gone missing. If they don’t find out what’s going on it could be the end of everyone and everything that calls the Arcology home.
Their only resource is their living ship, into which all the knowledge and culture of the Arcology has been downloaded. Asked to be a life raft for the Arcology, the ship, a frigate without a name, is dying – slowly being swallowed whole by the literal universe of information it’s been asked to carry.
Featuring worlds made entirely from gold, an enemy who has no consciousness, allies made of lichen and the grand Ring World of Akhanda - the physical heart of the Arcology. Prab and Kercher will need to put aside their dislike of each other and the Arcology if they’re to help their ship and save anything at all. Can they restore the possibility of hope to their lives?
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ACES FULL: A WILD CARDS COLLECTION edited by George R.R. Martin — November 11
Our final book of the month isn't a novel, but an anthology edited by A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin. Aside from Westeros, Martin's other big series is Wild Cards, an alternate history sci-fi story where an alien virus blanketed the world and wiped out humanity. Of those who remain, a select few gains super powers and became known as Aces; others were transformed into inhuman forms, and are called Jokers.
Wild Cards is unique in that it's an anthology series which utilizes many different authors, often with Martin's editorial eye helping weave their disparate stories together into a cohesive tale. The series has been running since 1987, which can make it a bit daunting for newcomers.
That makes books like the new release Aces Full a great addition to the series, because it's accessible to both longtime fans and newcomers alike. This book is a compilation of Wild Cards stories that were originally published on Reactor (aka Tor.com). As such, it should have a feel much closer to a true short fiction anthology than the typical interwoven Wild Cards tapestry, with each story telling a complete tale that gives readers a taste of Martin's superhero universe.
Aces Full: A Wild Cards collection features stories by Cherie Priest, Carrie Vaughn, Caroline Spector, Bradley Denton, Walton Simons, Sage Walker, Marko Kloos, Ian Tregillis, Laura J. Mixon, Alan Brennert, and Emma Newman.
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That concludes our round-up of new fantasy and sci-fi releases for November. What will you be reading this month?