Hi guys! It’s another Fantasy Wednesday today! I’ve scrounged up the top 5 of new releases to be expected this month – at least according to Goodreads. Other new releases of April 2018 can be found by genre right here on Goodreads. So the first cover seems to be something Greek? Isn’t Circe a sorceress from Greek mythology? The second book seems to me to be part of a series, about a man fighting against magical bad guys, involving some kind of prophecy? Don’t really know what the third book is about, something water-related? The fourth seems to be part of the horror genre – so I’ll take a pass on that! And the final book seems like a medieval story, something about kings and queens of yore, fighting for their kingdom. Since it’s fantasy, there will probably be some magical elements as well.
- Circe by Madeline Miller
Publication date: April 10th, 2018
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power—the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves. Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus. But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from, or the mortals she has come to love. - Scourged by Kevin Hearne (The Iron Druid Chronicles #9)
Publication date: April 3rd, 2018
Unchained from fate, the Norse gods Loki and Hel are ready to unleash Ragnarok, a.k.a. the Apocalypse, upon the earth. They’ve made allies on the darker side of many pantheons, and there’s a globe-spanning battle brewing that ancient Druid Atticus O’Sullivan will be hard-pressed to survive, much less win. Granuaile MacTiernan must join immortals Sun Wukong and Erlang Shen in a fight against the Yama Kings in Taiwan, but she discovers that the stakes are much higher than she thought. Meanwhile, Archdruid Owen Kennedy must put out both literal and metaphorical fires from Bavaria to Peru to keep the world safe for his apprentices and the future of Druidry. And Atticus recruits the aid of a tyromancer, an Indian witch, and a trickster god in hopes that they’ll give him just enough leverage to both save Gaia and see another sunrise. There is a hound named Oberon who deserves a snack, after all. - The Gloaming by Kirsty Logan (Gracekeepers)
Publication date: April 19th, 2018
Mara’s island is one of stories and magic. She knows she’ll eventually end her days atop the cliff, turned to stone and gazing out at the horizon like all the villagers that went before her, drawn by the otherworldly call of the sea. Her whole family will be there too, even her brother Bee and her sister Islay. But the island and the sea do what they want, and when they claim a price from her family, Mara’s world changes forever. As years pass and Mara grows into herself and her scars, a chance meeting with the magnetic Pearl brings magic to life once more in ways that Mara never thought possible, in a story that she never would have dreamed for herself before. The enchanting spiritual prequel to The Gracekeepers, Kirsty Logan’s The Gloaming is a present-day fable that brims over with dazzling imagination and captivating language. - Unbury Carol by Josh Malerman
Publication date: April 10th, 2018
Carol Evers is a woman with a dark secret. She has died many times… but her many deaths are not final: they are comas, a waking slumber indistinguishable from death, each lasting days. Only two people know of Carol’s eerie condition. One is her husband, Dwight, who married Carol for her fortune, and—when she lapses into another coma—plots to seize it by proclaiming her dead and quickly burying her… alive. The other is her lost love, the infamous outlaw James Moxie. When word of Carol’s dreadful fate reaches him, Moxie rides the Trail again to save his beloved from an early, unnatural grave. And all the while, awake and aware, Carol fights to free herself from the crippling darkness that binds her—summoning her own fierce will to survive. As the players in this drama of life and death fight to decide her fate, Carol must in the end battle to save herself. - The Wolf of Oren-yaro by K.S. Villoso (Annals of the Bitch Queen #1)
Publication date: April 5th, 2018
Born under the crumbling towers of Oren-yaro, Talyien aren dar Orenar’s life unfolded like a storybook. The shining jewel and legacy of the War of the Wolves that nearly tore her nation apart, her marriage to the Ikessar heir, Rayyel, spoke of peaceful days to come. But all storybooks must end. Rayyel suddenly left the night before they were to be crowned, leaving the land as divided as before. Years later, in the midst of the warlords’ rising tensions, Talyien receives a message from Rayyel, urging her to meet with him in the Empire of Ziri-nar-Orxiaro. An assassination attempt interrupts Talyien’s quest for reconciliation, sending the queen struggling in a strange and dangerous land. With betrayals in every twist and turn, she is forced to enlist the help of a con-artist to survive and save her husband from the clutches of those who would seek to use him for their gain… if he would let her.
Hmm, I was close with most of my predictions. And the sense I had that none of these books would appeal to me, has also been proven correct. Not a good month for fantasy!
Happy reading,
Loes M.