Coming up in 2012

2011 will be a hard year to beat in Fantasy, at least in the release of big titles. However, looking at the list of novels I'm looking forward to in 2012, I will admit that we're in for another great year (and we will add more and more titles to the to-read pile).  Here's my spotlight for 2012.  More books will be added each month as part of my releases posts.

Enjoy!

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JANUARY

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Seven Princes
John R. Fulz

It is an Age of Legends. Under the watchful eye of the Giants, the kingdoms of Men rose to power. Now, the Giant-King has slain the last of the Serpents and ushered in an era of untold peace and prosperity. Where a fire-blackened desert once stood, golden cities flourish in verdant fields. It is an Age of Heroes. But the realms of Man face a new threat-- an ancient sorcerer slaughters the rightful King of Yaskatha before the unbelieving eyes of his son, young Prince D'zan. With the Giant-King lost to a mysterious doom, it seems that no one has the power to stop the coming storm. It is an Age of War. The fugitive Prince seeks allies across the realms of Men and Giants to liberate his father's stolen kingdom. Six foreign Princes are tied to his fate. Only one thing is certain: War is coming. SEVEN PRINCES. Some will seek glory. Some will seek vengeance. All will be legends.

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Orb, Sceptre, Throne
Ian C. Esslemont

Darujhistan, city of dreams, city of blue flames, is peaceful at last; its citizens free to return to politicking, bickering, trading and, above all, enjoying the good things in life. Yet there are those who will not allow the past to remain buried. A scholar digging in the plains stumbles across an ancient sealed vault. The merchant Humble Measure schemes to drive out the remaining Malazan invaders. And the surviving agents of a long-lost power are stirring, for they sense change and so, opportunity. While, as ever at the centre of everything, a thief in a red waistcoat and of rotund proportions walks the streets, juggling in one hand custard pastries, and in the other the fate of the city itself.

Far to the south, fragments of the titanic Moon's Spawn have crashed into the Rivan Sea creating a series of isles... and a fortune hunter's dream. A Malazan veteran calling himself 'Red' ventures out to try his luck -- and perhaps say goodbye to old friends. But there he finds far more than he'd bargained for as the rush to claim the Spawn's treasures descends into a mad scramble of chaos and bloodshed. For powers from across the world have gathered here, searching for the legendary Throne of Night. The impact of these events are far reaching, it seems. On an unremarkable island off the coast of Genabackis, a people who had turned their backs upon all such strivings now lift their masked faces towards the mainland and recall the ancient prophesy of a return.

And what about the ex-Claw of the Malazan Empire who now walks the uttermost edge of creation? His mission -- the success or failure of which the Queen of Dreams saw long ago -- is destined to shape far more than anyone could have ever imagined.

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Heir of Novron
Michael J. Sullivan

The New Empire intends to mark its victory over the Nationalists with a bloody celebration. On the high holiday of Wintertide, the Witch of Melengar will be burned and the Heir of Novron executed. On that same day the Empress faces a forced marriage, with a fatal accident soon follow. The New Empire is confident in the totality of its triumph but there's just one problem-Royce and Hadrian have finally found the true Heir of Novron---and they have their own holiday plans. When author Michael J. Sullivan self-published the first books of his Riyria Revelations series online, they rapidly became ebook bestsellers. Now, Orbit is pleased to present the complete series for the first time in bookstores everywhere. Heir of Novron is the final volume of The Riyria Revelations and includes "Wintertide" and ---available for the first time--- the final volume, "Percepliquis." BOOKS IN THE RIYRIA REVELATIONS Theft of Swords (The Crown Conspiracy & Avempartha) Rise of Empire (Nyphron Rising & The Emerald Storm) Heir of Novron (Wintertide & Percepliquis)

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Giant Thief
David Tallerman

Meet Easie Demasco, rogue, thieving swine and total charmer. 

He's a sneak thief and a con man, but even the wicked cannot rest when their land is invaded by an army of mercenaries commanding an unstoppable weapon, magically-enslaved giants. 

Only, well, he's somehow managed to make off not only with the warlord's treasure, but also the special stone that controls the giants. Which means he now has an entire army on his tail.

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February

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The Scar
Sergey and Marina Dyachenko

Reaching far beyond sword and sorcery, The Scar is a story of two people torn by disaster, their descent into despair, and their reemergence through love and courage. Sergey and Marina Dyachenko mix dramatic scenes with romance, action and wit, in a style both direct and lyrical. Written with a sure artistic hand, The Scar is the story of a man driven by his own feverish demons to find redemption and the woman who just might save him.  

Egert is a brash, confident member of the elite guards and an egotistical philanderer. But after he kills an innocent student in a duel, a mysterious man known as “The Wanderer” challenges Egert and slashes his face with his sword, leaving Egert with a scar that comes to symbolize his cowardice. Unable to end his suffering by his own hand, Egert embarks on an odyssey to undo the curse and the horrible damage he has caused, which can only be repaired by a painful journey down a long and harrowing path. Toria, the woman whose fiancé Egert killed, hates Egert, and is saddened and numb, but comes to forgive the drastically changed Egert. 

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Throne of the Crescent Moon
Saladin Ahmed

The Crescent Moon Kingdoms, home to djenn and ghuls, holy warriors and heretics, are at the boiling point of a power struggle between the iron- fisted Khalif and the mysterious master thief known as the Falcon Prince. In the midst of this brewing rebellion a series of brutal supernatural murders strikes at the heart of the Kingdoms. It is up to a handful of heroes to learn the truth behind these killings. Doctor Adoulla Makhslood, "the last real ghul hunter in the great city of Dhamsawaat," just wants a quiet cup of tea. Three score and more years old, he has grown weary of hunting monsters and saving lives, and is more than ready to retire from his dangerous and demanding vocation. But when an old flame's family is murdered, Adoulla is drawn back to the hunter's path. Raseed bas Raseed, Adoulla's young assistant, is a hidebound holy warrior whose prowess is matched only by his piety. But even as Raseed's sword is tested by ghuls and manjackals, his soul is tested when he and Adoulla cross paths with the tribeswoman Zamia. Zamia Badawi, Protector of the Band, has been gifted with the near- mythical power of the lion-shape, but shunned by her people for daring to take up a man's title. She lives only to avenge her father's death. Until she learns that Adoulla and his allies also hunt her father's killer. Until she meets Raseed. When they learn that the murders and the Falcon Prince's brewing revolution are connected, the companions must race against time-and struggle against their own misgivings-to save the life of a vicious despot. In so doing they discover a plot for the Throne of the Crescent Moon that threatens to turn Dhamsawaat, and the world itself, into a blood-soaked ruin.

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March

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Shadow's Master

Jon Sprunk

The northern wastes. . . .  

A land of death and shadow where only the strongest survive. Yet that is where Caim must go to follow the mystery at the heart of his life. Armed only with his knives and his companions, he plunges into a world of eternal night where the sun is never seen and every hand is turned against him.  

Caim has buried his father’s sword and found some measure of peace, but deep in the north an unfathomable power lays waiting. To succeed on this mission, Caim will have to more than just survive. He must face the Shadow’s Master.

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April

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Straits of Galahesh
Bradley P. Beaulieu

West of the Grand Duchy of Anuskaya lies the Empire of Yrstanla, the Motherland. The Empire has lived at peace with Anuskaya for generations, but with political turmoil brewing and the wasting disease still rampant, opportunists from the mainland have begun to set their sights on the Grand Duchy, seeking to expand their empire. Five years have passed since Prince Nikandr, heir to the scepter of Khalakovo, was tasked with finding Nasim, the child prodigy behind a deadly summoning that led to a grand clash between the armies of man and elder elemental spirits. Today, that boy has grown into a young man driven to understand his past - and the darkness from which Nikandr awakened him. Nikandr's lover, Atiana, has become a Matra, casting her spirit forth to explore, influence, and protect the Grand Duchy. But when the Al-Aqim, long thought lost to the past, return to the islands and threaten to bring about indaraqiram - a change that means certain destruction for both the Landed and the Landless - bitter enemies must become allies and stand against their horrific plans. 

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May

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The King's Blood
Daniel Abraham

War casts its shadow over the lands that the dragons once ruled. Only the courage of a young woman with the mind of a gambler and loyalty to no one stands between hope and universal darkness.

The high and powerful will fall, the despised and broken shall rise up, and everything will be remade. And quietly, almost beneath the notice of anyone, an old, broken-hearted warrior and an apostate priest will begin a terrible journey with an impossible goal: destroy a Goddess before she eats the world.

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The Black Mausoleum
Stephen Deas

Two years have passed since the events of the Order of the Scales. Across the realms, dragons are still hatching. Hatching, and hatching free. Skorl is an Ember, a soldier trained from birth to fight dragons. He is a living weapon, one-shot only, saturated with enough dragon-poison to bring down a monster all on his own. Misanthrope, violent and a drunk, to fulfil his purpose and slay a dragon, means to be eaten. Now Skorl has a choice: he can hang for his crimes, or he can go with the last of the Adamantine Men, fighting against an enemy he was born to face. Rat is an Outsider. He's on the run and he's stumbled onto something that's going to make him rich beyond all his dreams. It's just a shame that the end of the world has started without him. Kataros is an alchemist, one of the order responsible for keeping the dragons in check. One of the order that has just failed, and disastrously so. Two men, one woman. One chance to save the world from a storm of dragons ...

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The Killing Moon
N.K. Jemisin

In the city-state of Gujaareh, peace is the only law. Along its ancient stone streets, where time is marked by the river’s floods, there is no crime or violence. Within the city’s colored shadows, priests of the dream-goddess harvest the wild power of the sleeping mind as magic, using it to heal, soothe… and kill.

But when corruption blooms at the heart of Gujaareh’s great temple, Ehiru — most famous of the city’s Gatherers — cannot defeat it alone. With the aid of his cold-eyed apprentice and a beautiful foreign spy, he must thwart a conspiracy whose roots lie in his own past. And to prevent the unleashing of deadly forbidden magic, he must somehow defeat a Gatherer’s most terrifying nemesis: the Reaper

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June

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The Republic of Thieves
Scott Lynch

Having pulled off the greatest heist of their career, Locke and his trusted partner in thievery, Jean, have escaped with a tidy fortune. But Locke's body is paying the price. Poisoned by an enemy from his past, he is slowly dying. And no physiker or alchemist can help him. Yet just as the end is near, a mysterious Bondsmagi offers Locke an opportunity that will either save him - or finish him off once and for all.  

Magi political elections are imminent, and the factions are in need of a pawn. If Locke agrees to play the role, sorcery will be used to purge the venom from his body - though the process will be so excruciating he may well wish for death. Locke is opposed, but two factors cause his will to crumble: Jean's imploring - and the Bondsmagi's mention of a woman from Locke's past . . . Sabetha. The love of his life. His equal in skill and wit. And now his greatest rival.  

Locke was smitten with Sabetha from his first glimpse of her as a young fellow-orphan and thief-in-training. But after a tumultuous courtship, Sabetha broke away. Now they will reunite in yet another clash of wills. For faced with his one and only match in both love and trickery, Locke must choose whether to fight Sabetha - or to woo her. It is a decision on which both their lives may depend.

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The Skybound Sea
Sam Sykes

After the misadventures of the first two books Lenk and his companions must finally turn away from fighting each other and for their own survival and look to saving the entire human race. A terrible demon has risen from beneath the sea and where it came from thousands could follow. And all the while an alien race is planning the extinction of humanity.

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Sworn in Steel
Douglas Hulick

It’s been three months since Drothe killed a legend, burned down a portion of the imperial capital, and unexpectedly elevated himself into the ranks of the criminal elite. Now, as the newest Gray Prince in the underworld, he’s learning just how good he used to have it.  

With barely the beginnings of an organization to his name, Drothe is already being called out by other Gray Princes. And to make matters worse, when one dies, all signs point to Drothe as wielding the knife. As members of the Kin begin choosing sides – mostly against him – for what looks to be another impending war, Drothe is approached by a man who not only has the solution to Drothe’s most pressing problem, but an offer of redemption. The only problem is the offer isn’t for him.  

Now Drothe finds himself on the way to the Despotate of Djan, the empire’s long-standing enemy, with an offer to make and a price on his head. And the grains of sand in the hour glass are running out, fast . . .

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The Shadowed Sun
N.K. Jemisin

Gujaareh, the city of dreams, suffers under the imperial rule of the Kisuati Protectorate. A city where the only law was peace now knows violence and oppression. And nightmares: a mysterious and deadly plague haunts the citizens of Gujaareh, dooming the infected to die screaming in their sleep. Trapped between dark dreams and cruel overlords, the people yearn to rise up -- but Gujaareh has known peace for too long. 

Someone must show them the way. 

Hope lies with two outcasts: the first woman ever allowed to join the dream goddess'' priesthood, and an exiled prince who longs to reclaim his birthright. Together, they must resist the Kisuati occupation and uncover the source of the killing dreams... before Gujaareh is lost forever

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(cover is a work in progress)

The Black Captain
Miles Cameron

The Traitor’s Son is the story of a mercenary knight and his men in a world full of trials, battles and danger. Accepting a commission to protect a small community against the savage creatures besieging them, the knight is quick to realise he and his men need help. 

The King is the only one who can provide it. But why should the King answer the call, when he has his own battles to fight? And why is the wayward knight so reluctant to request his aid in the first place?

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July

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Dusk Watchman
Tom Lloyd

The final reckoning has come. The future of the Land will be decided now, written in the blood of men.  

After his pyrrhic victory at Moorview, King Emin learns the truth about the child Ruhen. Powerless to act, he must mourn his friends and watch his enemy promise a new age of peace to the beleaguered peoples of the Land. While the remaining Menin troops seek revenge, daemons freely walk the Land, and Ruhen’s power grows, a glimmer of hope remains.  

One final, desperate chance for victory remains and failure has become unimaginable. The fanatical rulers of Vanach hide a secret at the heart of their nation; a weapon so terrible only a dead man could wield it and only a madman would try, but without it Narkang will be obliterated. The past year has taken a grave toll and Ruhen’s millennia-old plans are about to bear terrible fruit. There can be only one outcome if he continues unchecked: total dominion over the Gods themselves.

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Shaprs
K.J. Parker

For the first time in nearly forty years, an uneasy truce has been called between two neighboring kingdoms. The war has been long and brutal, fought over the usual things: resources, land, money... 

Now, there is a chance for peace. Diplomatic talks have begun and with them, the games of skill and chance. Two teams of fencers represent their nations at this pivotal moment. 

When the future of the world lies balanced on the point of a rapier, one misstep could mean ruin for all.

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The Unholy Consult
R. Scott Bakker

The gripping conclusion to the majestic Aspect-Emperor series.

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Wake of the Bloody Angel
Alex Bledsoe

Twenty years ago, a barmaid in a harbor town fell for a young sailor who turned pirate to make his fortune.  But what truly became of Black Edward Tew remains a mystery, one that just has fallen into the lap of freelance sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse.  

For years, Eddie has kept his office above Angelina’s tavern, so when Angelina herself asks him to find out what happened to the dashing pirate who stole her heart years ago, he can hardly say no–even though the trail is two decades old.  Some say Black Edward and his ship, the Bloody Angel, went to bottom of the sea, taking with it  a king’s fortune in treasure.  Others say he rules a wealthy, secret pirate kingdom.  And a few believe he still sails under a ghostly flag, with a crew of the damned.  

To find the truth, and earn his twenty-five gold pieces a day, Eddie must take to sea in the company of a sexy former pirate queen in search of the infamous Black Edward Tew . . . and his even more legendary treasure.

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August

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Forge of Darkness
Steven Erikson

The first novel in a series set in Kharkanas, starring Anomander Rake.

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King of Thorns
Mark Lawrence

The Broken Empire burns with the fires of a hundred battles as lords and petty kings battle for the all-throne. The long road to avenge the slaughter of his mother and brother has shown Prince Honorous Jorg Ancrath the hidden hands behind this endless war. He saw the game and vowed to sweep the board. First though he must gather his own pieces, learn the rules of play, and discover how to break them.  

A six nation army, twenty thousand strong, marches toward Jorg's gates, led by a champion beloved of the people. Every decent man prays this shining hero will unite the empire and heal its wounds. Every omen says he will. Every good king knows to bend the knee in the face of overwhelming odds, if only to save their people and their lands. But King Jorg is not a good king.  

Faced by an enemy many times his strength Jorg knows that he cannot win a fair fight. But playing fair was never part of Jorg’s game plan.

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Black Bottle
Anthony Huso

Tabloids sold in the Duchy of Stonehold claim that the High King, Caliph Howl, has been raised from the dead. His consort, Sena Iilool, both blamed and celebrated for this act, finds that a macabre cult has sprung up around her. 

As the news spreads, Stonehold—long considered unimportant—comes to the attention of the emperors in the southern countries. They have learned that the seed of Sena’s immense power lies in an occult book, and they are eager to claim it for their own. 

Desperate to protect his people from the southern threat, Caliph is drawn into a summit of the world’s leaders despite the knowledge that it is a trap. As Sena’s bizarre actions threaten to unravel the summit, Caliph watches her slip through his fingers into madness. 

But is it really madness? Sena is playing a dangerous game of strategy and deceit as she attempts to outwit a force that has spent millennia preparing for this day. Caliph is the only connection left to her former life, but it’s his blood that Sena needs to see her plans through to their explosive finish. 

Dark and rich, epic in scope, Anthony Huso has crafted a fantasy like no other, teeming with unthinkable horrors and stylish wonders.

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The Time of Contempt
Andrzej Sapkoski

A coup in the Mages Guild ends with the Guild being weakened, and Geralt being badly wounded. Ciri is teleported to a remote desert in Nilfgaard dominion. The war between Nilfgaard and the Northern Kingdoms begins, resulting in a series of quick and stunning victories for Nilfgaard. Within weeks, Aedirn, Rivia and Lyria all fall to Nilfgaard, the Redanian king Visimir is killed, which removes Redania from the battlefield and Temeria and Kaedwen agree to an armistice with Nilfgaard.

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The Night of the Swarm
Robert V.S. Redick

The struggle to prevent the sorcerer Arunis from destroying the world with the Nilstone reaches its thunderous conclusion.

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A Guile of Dragons
James Enge

It's dwarves versus dragons in this origin story for Enge's signature character, Morlock Ambrosius! 

Before history began, the dwarves of Thrymhaiam fought against the dragons as the Longest War raged in the deep roads beneath the Northhold. Now the dragons have returned, allied with the dead kings of Cor and backed by the masked gods of Fate and Chaos. 

The dwarves are cut off from the Graith of Guardians in the south. Their defenders are taken prisoner or corrupted by dragonspells. The weight of guarding the Northhold now rests on the crooked shoulders of a traitor's son, Morlock syr Theorn (also called Ambrosius). 

But his wounded mind has learned a dark secret in the hidden ways under the mountains. Regin and Fafnir were brothers, and the Longest War can never be over. . . .

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A Memory of Light
Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson
November (tentative)

Conclusion to the Wheel of Time series

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Legend of the Red Sun book 4
Mark Charan Newton
Summer 2012

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The Air War
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Summer 2012

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The Blinding Knife
Brent Weeks
Fall 2012

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A Red Country
Joe Abercrombie
Summer/Fall 2012

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The Daylight War
Peter V. Brett

Pushed back to 2013