This month’s fantasy top 5 looks amazing, something for everyone: a fantasy epic series, a modern-day retelling of The Little Mermaid, a mix of high fantasy and urban fantasy that reminds me very much of a fantasy version of Ocean’s Eleven, a young adult fantasy series with a dark touch, and finally a collection of stories about the Djinn by various international fantasy writers.
- Sins of Empire by Brian McClellan (Gods of Blood and Powder #1)
Publication date: March 7th 2017
The young nation of Fatrasta is a turbulent place – a frontier destination for criminals, fortune-hunters, brave settlers, and sorcerers seeking relics of the past. Only the iron will of the lady chancellor and her secret police holds the capital city of Landfall together against the unrest of a suppressed population and the machinations of powerful empires. The insurrection that threatens Landfall must be purged with wile and force, a task which falls on the shoulders of a spy named Michel Bravis, convicted war hero Ben Styke, and Lady Vlora Flint, a mercenary general with a past as turbulent as Landfall’s present. As loyalties are tested, revealed, and destroyed, a grim specter as old as time has been unearthed in this wild land, and the people of Landfall will soon discover that rebellion is the least of their worries. - The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb
Publication date: March 7th 2017
Kathleen suffers from the bizarre malady of experiencing stabbing pain in her feet. On her sixteenth birthday, she woke screaming from the sensation that her tongue had been cut out. No doctor can find a medical explanation for her pain, and only the touch of seawater can ease her pain, temporarily. Now Kathleen is a twenty-five-year-old opera student and shows immense promise as a soprano. Her girlfriend Harry worries endlessly about Kathleen’s phantom pain and obsession with the sea, especially since Kathleen’s mother and grandmother both committed suicide as young women. Harry convinces Kathleen to visit her hometown in Ireland to learn more about her family history. They discover that the mystery of Kathleen’s family history is far older and stranger than they could have imagined. Kathleen’s fate seems sealed, and the only way out is a terrible choice between a mermaid’s two sirens—the sea, and her lover. But both choices mean death… - The Holver Alley Crew by Marshall Ryan Maresca (The Streets of Maradaine #1)
Publication date: March 7th 2017
The Rynax brothers had gone legit after Asti Rynax’s service in Druth Intelligence had shattered his nerves, and marriage and fatherhood convinced Verci Rynax to leave his life of thievery. They settled back in their old neighborhood in West Maradaine and bought themselves a shop, eager for a simple, honest life. Then the Holver Alley Fire incinerated their plans. With no home, no shop, and no honest income, they fall back on their old skills and old friends. With a crew of other fire victims, Asti and Verci plan a simple carriage heist, but the job spirals out of control as they learn that the fire was no accident. Lives in Holver Alley were destroyed out of a sadistic scheme to buy the land. Smoldering for revenge, burdened with Asti’s crumbling sanity, the brothers lead their crew of amateurs and washouts to take down those responsible for the fire, no matter the cost. - Summoner Rising by Melanie McFarlane (Laws of Summoning #1)
Publication date: March 28th 2017
Law One: A summoner is responsible for all creatures it lets through from the netherworld. Dacie Cantar wishes someone had explained the Laws of Summoning to her before she watched a shadowy creature crawl out of a painting at the local arcade. At least it explains the strange things she’s witnessed since moving in with her great-aunt, after her mother’s untimely death. But who wants to be followed by shadows the rest of their life? Add that to being stalked by a strange boy at school, who just might be her Tovaros (aka soulmate), it’s about all Dacie can handle in her new life. As she nears her seventeenth birthday, will she be ready for her new responsibilities, or will the shadows that stalked her mother until her death, finally consume Dacie, too? And then there’s Law Two… - The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories by Nnedi Okorafor, Neil Gaiman, Helene Wecker, Amal El-Mohtar, Catherine King, Claire North, E.J. Swift, Hermes, Jamal Mahjoub, James Smythe, J.Y. Yang, Kamila Shamsie, Kirsty Logan, K.J. Parker, Kuzhali Manickavel, Maria Dahvana Headley, Monica Byrne, Saad Hossein, Sami Shah, Sophia Al-Maria and Usman Malik
Publication date: March 14th 2017
A fascinating collection of new and classic tales of the fearsome Djinn, from bestselling, award-winning and breakthrough international writers. Imagine a world filled with fierce, fiery beings, hiding in our shadows, in our dreams, under our skins. Eavesdropping and exploring; savaging our bodies, saving our souls. They are monsters, saviours, victims, childhood friends. Some have called them genies: these are the Djinn. And they are everywhere. On street corners, behind the wheel of a taxi, in the chorus, between the pages of books. Every language has a word for them. Every culture knows their traditions. Every religion, every history has them hiding in their dark places. There is no part of the world that does not know them. They are the Djinn. They are among us.
A very good crop this month! Which ones will you be reading soon? Other new releases of March 2017 can be found by genre right here on Goodreads.
Happy reading,
Loes M.