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Meet the Epic and Awesome Authors of Fall's Big Fantasy Novels
If you love the fantasy genre, this is the season for you! Some of the biggest books out this fall promise to be epics full of magic, adventure, and wonder. If you haven't read the genre in a while, this is also the perfect chance to rediscover it!
To help you find your perfect fantasy read (or two...or several), we asked the authors of the most anticipated books to tell you about their hit novels and recommend plenty of other speculative fiction. Oh, did I mention these are some of the most exciting authors working in the genre today? We're talking Susanna Clarke, P. Djèlí Clark, Rebecca Roanhorse, V.E. Schwab, Naomi Novik, and Christopher Paolini, as well as rising stars Alix E. Harrow and Andrea Stewart.
Be sure to add the books that pique your interest to your Want to Read shelf!
To help you find your perfect fantasy read (or two...or several), we asked the authors of the most anticipated books to tell you about their hit novels and recommend plenty of other speculative fiction. Oh, did I mention these are some of the most exciting authors working in the genre today? We're talking Susanna Clarke, P. Djèlí Clark, Rebecca Roanhorse, V.E. Schwab, Naomi Novik, and Christopher Paolini, as well as rising stars Alix E. Harrow and Andrea Stewart.
Be sure to add the books that pique your interest to your Want to Read shelf!
Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter
Andrea Stewart: The Bone Shard Daughter is an epic fantasy in an Asian-inspired setting that follows several characters: a daughter trying to reclaim her rightful place as heir, a smuggler who professes not to care but can't seem to stop doing good things, two women in an established relationship struggling with the class differences between them, and a stranger on a remote island trying to unravel the mystery of why she's there.
If you like: A failing empire on the brink of revolution, migratory islands, monstrous constructs powered by bone shard magic, a magic system inspired by computer programming, and magical animal companions.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
AS: It started in a food court in San Antonio, when my friends and I were at WorldCon. We went out for lunch, and my friend Marina Lostetter (who is now also a published author!) found a shard of bone in her food. That started me on the process of thinking...what if bone shards were used for magic? I thought about why they'd be used, how the magic would work, the characters involved and their struggles in this world, and what other things I wanted to include in this book. I didn't start actually writing it until years later.
GR: What’s your definition of a perfect fantasy novel?
AS: I think the perfect fantasy novel is one that takes me away to another place, immersing me fully in the world and involving me utterly in the lives of its characters. For me, it's something that is refreshing and fun to read, but also makes me think and lingers with me long after I've finished reading the last page.
GR: Who are some of your all-time-favorite speculative fiction writers?
AS: Oh, there are so many! I adore Octavia Butler's writing, N.K. Jemisin (her Broken Earth trilogy is incredible), Naomi Novik, Ted Chiang, Brandon Sanderson, Robin McKinley, Robin Hobb...and I'll stop there before I'm just rattling off a long list of names.
GR: What are some new speculative fiction novels you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
AS: I've been fortunate enough to get to read a few books ahead of their release dates! Lately I've really enjoyed The Wolf of Oren-Yaro by K.S. Villoso. The second book is coming out in September and has such a strong voice and compelling main character. The Vanished Queen by Lisbeth Campbell is another recent read I loved—beautifully written, gripping, and hopeful. Chaos Vector, which is the sequel to Velocity Weapon, by Megan E. O'Keefe. Velocity Weapon is one of those twisty, edge-of-your-seat books where you wonder, "Well, how is the author going to follow this one up?" and then she writes an amazing second book, too.
GR: For someone who hasn't read fantasy in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre?
AS: I feel like Alix E. Harrow’s The Ten Thousand Doors of January is a good gateway—in more ways than one. It's a portal fantasy with a lot of timeless elements: a lonely young girl with her loyal dog, a star-crossed love story, a villain you love to hate, and strange new worlds. All of this told in lush, gorgeous prose.
GR: If you could have one magical power, what would it be?
AS: Ah, this one is tough because I feel like so many powers that sound great on the surface come fraught with unintended consequences. I think I'd have to go with the ability to give people good dreams. Not just the kind that leave a smile on your face, but the kind that leave you feeling rested, content, and like you've caught a glimpse of something otherworldly.
Andrea Stewart's The Bone Shard Daughter is available now in the U.S.
V.E. Schwab, author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
V.E. Schwab: A woman in 18th-century France makes a deal with the devil to live forever and ends up cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets. Until a young man in 2016 Brooklyn remembers her name.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
VES: I always think of books like soup, a meal made of several individual ingredients, often added not at once but over time.
Addie is the product of a decade's worth of cooking, of Peter Pan, and Interview with the Vampire, of memory and immortality and loneliness and hope. Of turning 30, and everyone suddenly treating you like you know what you're doing, when you still feel young and small and insignificant. Of the fear that comes with time passing too quickly. Of the desire to leave your mark on the world.
GR: What’s your definition of a perfect fantasy novel?
VES: There's no such thing as a perfect novel, just the perfect novel for the person you are when you're reading it. For me, I want a story that makes me forget—who, and where, and when I am. I want a story that involves magic but feels perfectly real. A story that makes me doubt the edges of my world.
GR: Who are some of your all-time-favorite speculative fiction writers?
VES: Neil Gaiman, N.K. Jemisin, Ray Bradbury, Susanna Clarke, Naomi Novik, Kate Atkinson, Diana Wynne Jones.
GR: What are some new speculative fiction novels you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
VES: This year I've been pushing The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune and The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang on everyone I meet.
GR: For someone who hasn't read fantasy in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre?
VES: Ohh, it truly depends what they want out of it—fantasy is a very broad genre—but for high fantasy fans, I'd recommend Brian Staveley's The Emperor's Blades, and for ambition mind-bending work, N.K. Jemisin's The City We Became.
GR: If you could have one magical power, what would it be?
VES: The ability to control time, but only moving forward. When people go back, that's when all the paradoxes and problems start. I just want the ability to slow down, speed up, or hit pause. Think of all the reading I'd get done!
V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is available now in the U.S.
P. Djèlí Clark, author of Ring Shout
P. Djèlí Clark: D.W. Griffith is a sorcerer, and The Birth of a Nation is a spell that drew upon the darkest thoughts and wishes from the heart of America. Now, rising in power and prominence, the Klan has a plot to unleash Hell on Earth.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
PDC: Lots of things. But if I had to give it an origin story… Almost two decades ago, I read the accounts of ex-slaves collected in the late 1920s and 1930s by Fisk University and the federal government. There were accounts by freed people on dealing with the terrorism of that first incarnation of the Klan, which they often described as “haints” (ghosts) or spoke of them dressed in horns and pretending to carry out supernatural acts—as a means of instilling fear.
That stuck with me. Filed them away, but wasn’t sure what to do with them. When the first concepts for Ring Shout started taking shape in 2015 or so, those narratives were never far from mind.
GR: What’s your definition of a perfect fantasy novel?
PDC: One that creates a world I am utterly immersed in, characters I’m wholly invested in, and a story that makes me eager to turn the page. I want to be itching to return to that world all day. Like thinking about it at lunch. Or when I’m on my commute—just to see what those characters are up to and where this story leads.
GR: Who are some of your all-time-favorite speculative fiction writers?
PDC: There are the ones I grew up with as a kid: Ray Bradbury, JRR Tolkien, Madeleine L’Engle, all those people who wrote those Dragonlance/Forgotten Realms novels.
Then there were all the amazing Black writers I was denied a good deal of knowledge about until college: Octavia Butler, Samuel R. Delany, Charles Saunders, Tananarive Due.
Got my massive doorstop tome faves: Robert Jordan, Steven Erikson, Brandon Sanderson.
Finally, there are the new ones who have really done lots to inspire my current writing: N.K. Jemisin, Victor LaValle, Kai Ashante Wilson. Can name more, but I’ll stop.
GR: What are some new speculative fiction novels you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
PDC: Let’s see… Justina Ireland’s Deathless Divide, Evan Winter’s The Rage of Dragons, Cadwell Turnbull’s The Lesson, Tochi Onyebuchi’s Riot Baby. And though they’re not yet out: Alix Harrow’s The Once and Future Witches (which I have read) and Rebecca Roanhorse’s Black Sun (which I very much want to read!).
GR: For someone who hasn't read fantasy in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre?
PDC: It’s not new any longer, but N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms trilogy. Make it a stocking stuffer. Also, anything by Naomi Novik, Ken Liu, and Neil Gaiman. Oh, and definitely Cassandra Khaw—if you want some creepy fantasy that scares the daylights out of you.
GR: If you could have one magical power, what would it be?
PDC: To open doorways to anywhere or anytime. And walk through them.
P. Djèlí Clark’s Ring Shout is available now in the U.S.
Alix E. Harrow, author of The Once and Future Witches
Alix E. Harrow: The entire pitch is “suffragists, but witches.” So it’s three sisters involved in the American women’s suffrage movement, except they’re fighting for women’s magic in addition to women’s rights.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
AEH: I don’t think it was a spark so much as a slow burn fueled by roughly 30 years of existing as a woman here on planet Earth. I’ve always thought of fantasy as a genre that lets us make the invisible, internal parts of our experiences (desires, emotions, dreams) suddenly visible. The desire to escape becomes a literal door into another world; nostalgia becomes time travel; fear becomes monsters under the floorboards; fascists become all-seeing eyes atop black towers.
So The Once and Future Witches to make the fight for women’s sociopolitical power into a fight for actual power, of the kind that turns men into pigs and calls storms, that might get you condemned, bound to the stake, burned—but never, ever ignored.
GR: What’s your definition of a perfect fantasy novel?
AEH: The perfect book is the one that finds you at the perfect moment. It’s the one that feeds some hungering part of you, existing outside of objective measures of good and bad. I can’t always tell what makes a book good or bad, but I can tell whether I feel sated.
Which is to say: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.
GR: Who are some of your all-time-favorite speculative fiction writers?
AEH: I’m just going to start listing them and stop when the paragraph on my screen starts to look deranged: N.K. Jemisin, Lois McMaster Bujold, Susanna Clarke, Philip Pullman, Ursula Le Guin, Toni Morrison, Amal El-Mohtar, Sofia Samatar, Laini Taylor, P. Djèlí Clark, Rivers Solomon, Robin McKinley, Neil Gaiman, Octavia Butler, Tamsyn Muir, Naomi Novik, Nicola Griffith...
GR: What are some new speculative fiction novels you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
AEH: Like everyone I know, one of my recent obsessions was Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s Mexican Gothic. I also loved Shelley Parker-Chan’s forthcoming She Who Became the Sun, Emily Tesh’s novellas Silver in the Wood and Drowned Country, Jemisin’s The City We Became, and Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter. Oh, and Lee Mandelo’s Summer Sons, which isn’t out until next year but which is absolutely worth the wait.
GR: For someone who hasn't read fantasy in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre?
AEH: That depends entirely on the reader! If you like thrillers and mysteries, Sarah Gailey’s Magic for Liars; if you like fairy tales, Novik’s Uprooted; if you like horror, Mexican Gothic; if you like like witchy, creepy vibes, Alexis Henderson’s The Year of the Witching; if you like romance, Tasha Suri’s Empire of Sand.
GR: If you could have one magical power, what would it be?
AEH: I mean, right now? In 2020? I would like to open a portal to another world and escape through it. Or, failing that, I would like to wave my hands and save the post office, end the pandemic, and redistribute the wealth.
Alix E. Harrow's The Once and Future Witches is available now in the U.S.
Rebecca Roanhorse, author of Black Sun
Rebecca Roanhorse: An epic fantasy inspired by the pre-Columbian Americas populated by giant crows, vengeful dark gods, political intrigue, and forbidden magic.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
RR: It's something I've always wanted to write. I am a huge epic fantasy fan, and I've always wanted to do my take on the genre.
GR: What’s your definition of a perfect fantasy novel?
RR: One that is totally engrossing and transports me to another time and place, but whose characters' faults and failures, triumphs and loves, are familiar enough to give me all the feels. I want to ache when the book is over. I want to miss a place and people that don't exist.
GR: Who are some of your all-time-favorite speculative fiction writers?
RR: I would start with the classics like Ursula K. Le Guin and Octavia Butler, but would quickly move to some of the new voices that are rocking the genre, including Tamsyn Muir, Arkady Martine, Silvia Moreno-Garcia, and P. Djèlí Clark. All of these authors are auto-buys for me.
GR: What are some new speculative fiction novels you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
RR: The past few years in speculative fiction have been an embarrassment of riches. There are so many amazing works being created. Some of my recent faves were Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, The Raven Tower by Anne Leckie, Circe by Madeline Miller, and Vita Nostra by Marina Dyanchenko.
GR: For someone who hasn't read fantasy in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre?
RR: It depends on what kind of fantasy you like, but I think The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin and An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard are great contemporary fantasies. If you're looking for something more epic, The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang and The City of Brass by S.A. Chakraborty are both great first books in some seriously epic trilogies, respectively.
GR: If you could have one magical power, what would it be?
RR: To be able to make deadlines! In all seriousness, I'd love a Time Turner like in the Harry Potter books. The ability to control time would be immensely handy.
Rebecca Roanhorse’s Black Sun is available now in the U.S.
Naomi Novik, author of A Deadly Education
Naomi Novik: In A Deadly Education, Galadriel “El” Higgins is a student at the Scholomance, a unique enchanted academy, where students either master their magical gifts or succumb to the countless voracious, nightmarish creatures that lurk around every corner. There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Once the students enter the Scholomance, they’re locked inside until they graduate...or die.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
NN: My books always have many sparks, but one in particular came from my love of Harry Potter and the questions I ask myself when I love a fantastic universe: Why are there rich and poor wizards? Why is there an economy and class among wizards when magic seems to be free?
So, the Scholomance trilogy is about answering that question: What if magic wasn’t free? When you use it, what does it cost you and how does that shape the world and society of wizards?
GR: What’s your definition of a perfect fantasy novel?
NN: What makes a novel perfect is that the book matches your mind in that particular moment. The potential for its world to be immersive to you or its characters to be more alive—that comes from you and the book being perfect for each other. I can say that when I’m sick and need to be in bed for a few days with a cup of tea reading, I’ll almost always have Robin McKinley’s The Hero and the Crown and Patricia McKillip’s The Forgotten Beasts of Eld in the stack at my bedside.
GR: Who are some of your all-time-favorite speculative fiction writers?
NN: Ursula K. Le Guin, Robin McKinley, Patricia A. McKillip, Jorge Luis Borges.
GR: What are some new speculative fiction novels you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
NN: I’ve really enjoyed V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and Tochi Onyebuchi’s Beasts Made of Night just recently. I’ve also had the pleasure of reading some parts of Katherine Arden’s upcoming novel in progress, and it’s blowing me away. Anything N.K. Jemisin writes I’ll recommend to people even before I’ve read it myself; she’s just been crushing it nonstop lately.
GR: For someone who hasn't read fantasy in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre?
NN: I dislike making any kind of obligation out of reading, really. The book you should read is the book you want to read. That said, all fiction is fantasy; the genre is just asking you to journey through a more unexpected landscape or sometimes a familiar landscape you’ve met in other fantasy novels.
GR: If you could have one magical power, what would it be?
NN: The ability to clear my inbox!
Or the power to translate my thoughts onto paper without actually having to sit there and write it out, whole stories just magically appearing.
But that’s a lie—I actually don’t think lines out before I write or type them down. Part of the thinking is done by the hands.
Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education is available now in the U.S.
Susanna Clarke, author of Piranesi
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
SC: In my 20s, I loved the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges. They’re generally very short, very precise, and very jewel-like. Some of the worlds he created are strange—worlds that pose philosophical questions and make you think in ways you’ve never thought before. One world, for example, is an endless library (The Library of Babel).
At some point in the ’80s, I wrote a few pages about a Borgesian sort of world which consisted of a vast house in which an ocean was imprisoned. Two characters inhabited it; one character understood the house instinctively and could navigate it easily, and the other character could only really increase his understanding of the house by studying the first character. So this story has been with me for almost 40 years, but for several decades I couldn’t work out how to write it or what the characters’ story was.
GR: Can you recommend some of your favorite labyrinths?
SC: Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan. It’s one of her Earthsea books and contains an underground labyrinth. It’s not a pleasant place, but it is fascinating (plus there’s a map, so you can walk around it by yourself if you like). The protagonist, Arha, must enter the labyrinth in total darkness. Once inside, she is allowed to light a lamp or a torch. Like Piranesi, Arha prides herself on her skill in negotiating the labyrinth’s paths.
The House of Asterion, a short story by Jorge Luis Borges, contains a labyrinth very closely related to the one in Piranesi. It is quiet and dusty and empty.
Laputa: The Castle in the Sky is a Studio Ghibli film by Hayao Miyazaki. This isn’t strictly speaking a labyrinth; it’s an intricate and surreal combination of trees and architecture–and it’s also in the sky. Its ancient robots faithfully tend the birds and the trees and plants in a very Piranesi sort of way.
The Mines of Moria from The Lord of the Rings are rather an obvious choice, I suppose, but I do love them in both the book and the film. Moria has all the pleasurable horrors of a labyrinth: a long walk through the darkness, led by someone who’s forgotten the way, menaced by something people would rather not name, opening out into an ancient, ruined, and deserted splendor.
GR: What’s currently on your bedside table/ “to-read” list?
SC: The several wobbly piles of books on my bedside table would, if amalgamated into one pile, be at least as tall as the table itself. They include approximately half of Diana Wynne Jones’ children’s books. I’ve read them all many times. They’re there in case I need quickly to go into one of her many worlds. My favorites are probably The Merlin Conspiracy and Conrad’s Fate.
The books I shall read next are Utopia Avenue by David Mitchell and The Experience of God by David Bentley Hart, which I’m hoping will be enlightening. I often get God wrong inside my own head.
I also want to reread Crow by Ted Hughes. In 1975, Hughes went to the Ilkley Literature Festival and read poems from Crow there. And my mother took me to see him. (I don’t think she would have taken me if she’d known what the poems would be like.) I was 15. The memory of him reading is still clear in my mind. I remember he read “A Childish Prank.” I’m not sure I understood the poems (I’m not sure I understand them now), but the torrent of images—black and violent and rude and funny and delicate and lovely—came so fast, it was like standing under a waterfall. I thought then that Crow was the most extraordinary thing, and I still do.
Susanna Clarke's Piranesi is available now in the U.S.
Christopher Paolini, author of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars
Christopher Paolini: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is an epic science-fiction adventure, full of alien planets, spaceships, lasers, explosions, and of course...tentacles. The story follows Kira Navárez, a xenobiologist who discovers an alien artifact during a routine survey mission on an uncolonized planet. Her delight turns to terror when the ancient dust around begins to move.
GR: What sparked the idea for your latest book?
CP: A love of science fiction, and also a desire to capture the sense of awe and wonder I feel when I look up at the stars, ponder the size of the universe, and imagine the future that humanity will—I hope—have out among that vastness. To Sleep is, at its heart, an optimistic story. Despite all the challenges we face on Earth, I truly believe that we can and will accomplish great things moving forward.
More specifically, I had an idea years ago...an idea bound up in two images. The first was Kira finding the alien artifact. The second was the very final scene of the book. And everything I’ve written since, all of the research, plotting, and editing, ALL of it has been to give those two scenes the support they needed, so that when readers reach the end of this book, they’ll go, “Wow.”
GR: What’s your definition of a perfect fantasy novel?
CP: Hard to say. The genre contains immense variation. However, for me, I think a perfect fantasy novel would be one that successfully evokes emotion. And specifically, a sense of mystery and magic. I find myself most powerfully affected by fantasies that give me a tingle down the spine and make me feel as if I’ve seen something rare, beautiful, and oftentimes dangerous. Plus, I like it when the genre tackles the larger questions in life. All the best fiction does, even if it’s in a humorous manner.
GR: Who are some of your all-time-favorite speculative fiction writers?
CP: Iain M. Banks, Douglas Adams, Dan Simmons, Ursula K. Le Guin, Peter Høeg, Evangeline Walton, Octavia Butler, Frank Herbert, Andre Norton, Ray Bradbury, and...and so many more.
GR: What are some new speculative fiction novels you've been enjoying and recommending to friends?
CP: Recently I’ve enjoyed A Memory Called Empire, Kings of the Wyld, and The Doors of Eden. They’re all very different, but they each tackle their subject material with style, imagination, and gusto.
GR: For someone who hasn't read fantasy in a while, what's a good book to lure them back to the genre?
CP: Depends on what sort of story you enjoy reading. If you want something more mythological, I’d highly recommend the Mabinogion Tetralogy by Evangeline Walton. If you want a vast, sprawling epic, check out The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. If you want the gothiest piece of gothic fiction ever, then the Gormenghast Trilogy has you covered. If you want a fun romp, Kings of the Wyld. Victorianesque lady adventurer with dragons? A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan is your friend. Talking animal allegory (but a good one!)? The Book of the Dun Cow by Walter Wangerin Jr.
GR: If you could have one magical power, what would it be?
CP: The power to heal. As much as I would like to fly or have super strength or any of the other flashier powers, I’d much rather have the ability to heal. I’ve known far too many people who have suffered health problems that doctors couldn’t do anything to alleviate. To help them would be...truly wonderful.
Christopher Paolini’s To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is available now in the U.S.
Don’t forget to add these fantasy novels to your Want to Read shelf, and tell us which of these books you’re most excited about in the comments below.
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Check out more recent articles, including:
The 40 Most Popular Horror Novels of the Last 5 Years
How the Debut Authors of 2020 Are Coping
The Big Mysteries and Thrillers of Fall
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Aahana
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Oct 14, 2020 12:33AM
I really want to read the Once and Future Witches (I love the description!), Addie La Rue (I am really behind on the whole VE Schwab trend) and Deadly Education (a dark feminist Harry Potter? Need you say anything more :D)
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Also, first, comment! Well, this is the second one but you get my point...
This fall's fantasy novels are all so interesting i'm so excited to read them!!But The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is the one i'm looking forward to reading the most🖤🖤😊
Addie LaRue was great! Piranesi was kinda underwhelming for me. Currently reading Deadly Education and waiting for my copies of Once And Future Witches and To Sleep In A Sea of Stars to arrive! Just received Black Sun and I'm pretty excited to start it
Currently reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRou! I'm ALMOST done, I can't wait to see how V.E. Schwab concludes it. One correction to make: the young man Addie meets is in Brooklyn in 2014-not 2016!
I am currently about 3/4 of the way through To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. I can see the author's love of sci-fi in this and detect lots of influences.
I have read The Once and future witches and The invisible life of Addie la rue (had advance copies) Loved them both
The summaries of
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
,
A Deadly Education
and
The Bone Shard Daughter
got me interested. I'm gonna complete them by the end of this year.I'm also a fan of Christopher Paolini's Inheritance series. So maybe I'll give To Sleep in a Sea of Stars a try.
I'm back with the "are we going to ignore Sanderson, one of the top selling epic fantasy writers of our time?" again this year since he has another new book coming in November (Rhythm of War) and Goodreads rarely spotlights him.
Matthew wrote: "I'm back with the "are we going to ignore Sanderson, one of the top selling epic fantasy writers of our time?" again this year since he has another new book coming in November ([book:Rhythm of War|..."Thanks, Matthew! This article is a roundup of books currently available. We will definitely have coverage of Sanderson in November.
LOVED Addie LaRue! Read it in one sitting! Thinking I need to read A Deadly Education now...
Just finished A Deadly Education last night, and it was great. Another one I really enjoyed that folks should check out is Hench.
I literally want to read every book on this list! I’ve read some, & am reading others as well at this very moment!!!
Great list!! So excited for all of these new releases
Omg! I've only recently discovered V.E. Schwab, I binged all of ADSOM. I couldnt put them down. I have every book she has ever written on my tbr. So excited about this new one!
The Invisible Life of Addie La Rue. I will never stop crying
So many great book recommendations on here!Deadly Education was a bit lack luster to me but I have fonder memories of it after finishing it.
Addie Larue is coming up next on my list to read. So excited about that one.
Piranesi also sounds high on my radar.
I love how this article are mini interviews. What an interesting article.
I really wanna read VE Schwab book. And i just know it that Schwab love Neil Gaiman. I do love his works too!
My "Want to Read" list has increased dramatically after reading these interviews. I'm so thankful for all the insights and recommendations from the authors above!
My Want to Read list just keeps growing! "So many books, so little time" has become my catchphrase as I remind myself that I need to balance my reading with time for living my own life before I turn into a dull old lady. The one positive experience of Covid shutdowns has been having plenty of time to read.
I am so looking forward to reading The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue and A Deadly Education. I have read Piranesi and The Once and Future Witches and I absolutely LOVE THEM!!!!
I truly can't wait to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue; to be honest, I've read only 3 books by V.E. Schwab (although I own 7; four I still need to read!), but I can already say she's one of my favorite authors. Her writing is amazing!
So many that I now want to read! Thanks for the interviews.
I have to read the V.E. Schwab one, since my son is consuming all the YA books of this author and is loving them. (First time the recommendation goes this way round)
Don't forget about RF Kuang coming out with her third book in The Poppy War! Super excitedddddddddddddddddddddddddd
Huge fan of Christopher Paolini. I am on the last book of the Inheritance series right now. I will be sure to read To Sleep in a Sea Full of Stars.
I agree with Ahana! I love Harry Potter and am a feminist forever!
I soooo want to read The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, A Deadly Education, and of course, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars.
So many great book recommendations on here!Gordon, secretchild.com
Looking forward to devouring most of these! Thank you for sharing
No mention from any of these authors of Phillip Pullman. Serious omission!!
Definitely top of my list of fantasy fiction, (along with Ursula Leguin) I’ve read a lot of ‘fantasy’ fiction and almost read too much ‘sci-fi.’ and I’m really not sure if either of those terms/categories are very useful or what they mean any more in the context of 21st century novel writing.
Also thanks to all those authors for sharing their thoughts and creative processes
I plan to read most of their new novels & some of their rich & varied recommendations......
All of these look delicious in different ways. I wish I had more time to read!
Fantastic article with some terrific interview questions and fabulous answers. What a joy to read today!
Aahana wrote: "I really want to read the Once and Future Witches (I love the description!), Addie La Rue (I am really behind on the whole VE Schwab trend) and Deadly Education (a dark feminist Harry Potter? Need ..."I have not read the once and future witches yet, but the invisible life of Addie LaRue is fantastic! life changing! I also LOVED A Deadly Education. If I had to choose one word to describe it, I'd choose DARK. But omg I have love for it for so many other reasons! For me neither of those disappointed!
Gordon wrote: "No mention from any of these authors of Phillip Pullman. Serious omission!!
Definitely top of my list of fantasy fiction, (along with Ursula Leguin) I’ve read a lot of ‘fantasy’ fiction and almost..."
RIGHT?! You’d think they’d even list it because His Dark Materials season 2 is on HBO next month...🤷🏼♀️
The Once And Future Witches is amazing, I’ve been recommending it to everyone. Looking forward to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Bone Shard Daughter, and A Deadly Education.
Wood like to read these book
Just new to this;Octavia Butler books show up a number of times by the authors comments. Looking for a suggestion that reflects “one of her best” in this genre, Donna
Donna wrote: "Octavia Butler books show up a number of times by the authors comments. Looking for a suggestion that reflects “one of her best” in this genre"You really cannot go wrong with anything by Octavia Butler. But my favorites of her books are the Xenogenesis trilogy. Closely followed by Wild Seed (and to a lesser degree, the rest of the Patternmaster books).
Wonderful menu of authors and novels, thank you. Two amazing authors I'd suggest for future interviews: Jess Kidd (Things in Jars, Himself, The Hoarder) and Frances Hardinge (Fly By Night, A Face like Glass, Cuckoo Song...). I've read all of both of their work (i think; if not I'll fix that quickly), and regret not a minute.
I'm so excited for Black Sun and Ring Shout. The authors gave amazing recommendations!
Patrick wrote: "Wonderful menu of authors and novels, thank you. Two amazing authors I'd suggest for future interviews: Jess Kidd (Things in Jars, Himself, The Hoarder) and Frances Hardinge (Fly By Night, A Face l..."1000% couldn't agree more about Francis Hardinge! Have you read The Lie Tree, A Skinful of Shadows, Gullstruck Island, Twilight Robbery, ermmmmm ah or Deeplight ( I haven't read those last two yet! Twilight Robbery/ Fly Trap bc I haven't read Fly By Night yet either!) ?
These all look amazing for fans of their genres. I personally can't wait for Shannon Messenger's Unlocked coming out November 17th... counting down the days!
Not happy with Brandon sanderson being ignored!!! Currently reading Piranesi. And WOW, more Fantasy recommendations from the authors-that was an unexpected bonus. The TBR keeps getting longer.
rivka wrote: "Donna wrote: "Octavia Butler books show up a number of times by the authors comments. Looking for a suggestion that reflects “one of her best” in this genre"You really cannot go wrong with anythi..."
Definitely Wild Seed but Kindred is the most iconic and I have been thinking about it a lot lately
So, only books by women or racially charged books make this list eh.
TravisC wrote: "So, only books by women or racially charged books make this list eh."Idiotic comment.
