My Most Anticipated Books of 2018

FANTASY & SF:

Tempests & Slaughter (Tamora Pierce) I’ve been waiting for the first book in the Numair Chronicles for literally years. If you’re a Tamora Pierce fan, you already know why. If you’re not, go read her Tortall books right now! (Feb. 6, 2018)  

Spinning Silver (Naomi Novik) Novik rocks, whatever she writes. If this YA fantasy, which seems to be a retelling of Rumplestiltskin, is even half as good as Uprooted, it should be terrific.

The Hills Have Spies (Mercedes Lackey)  Lackey has been a bit inconsistent for a while now, but I still have a strong affection and loyalty to her Valdemar series. I think this book, which begins the Family Spies series-within-a-series,  continues the tales of Mags and Amily begun in The Collegium Chronicles and The Herald Spy trilogy. (May 5, 2018)

The Calculating Stars (Mary Robinette Kowal)  This book and its sequel, The Fated Sky (due out later in 2018) come before and expand upon Kowal’s award-winning short story, “The Lady Astronaut of Mars.”  I loved Kowal’s alternate-historical-fantasy Ghost Talkers and her regency-fantasy Shades of Milk and Honey (review) so this should be great.  (July 3, 2018)

The Girl with the Dragon Heart (Stephanie Burgis) A direct sequel to Burgis’s charming The Dragon with the Chocolate Heart (review), which I loved. Burgis describes this one as “Spies! Fairies! Delicious chocolate! – And a very human heroine who’s every bit as fierce as her dragon best friend.” (expected 2018; date not set; cover not available)

Tess of the Road (Rachel Hartman) Set in the same world and kingdom as Seraphina (review) and Shadow Scale, this book follows a new character, Tess, as she runs away from home disguised as a boy. Hartman is always terrific, so I have high expectations for this book. (Feb. 27, 2018)

MYSTERY:

Island of the Mad (Laurie R. King)  The Mary Russell & Sherlock Holmes series is one of my favorite series in any genre, so the 15th book in the series is cause for celebration—particularly since we didn’t get one in 2017. (June 12, 2018) 

A Treacherous Curse (Deanna Raybourn)  Third in Raybourn’s Veronica Speedwell series featuring a strong, unconventional, and independent-minded Victorian heroine. I loved the first two books, and I’m looking forward to (hopefully) more resolution of Veronica’s past and of her relationship with her investigative partner, Stoker.  

The Woman in the Water (Charles Finch)  A prequel to Finch’s terrific historical mystery series featuring Victorian gentleman-detective Charles Lenox, The Woman in the Water goes back in time to recount Lenox’s first case: that of a fiendish serial killer. (Feb. 20, 2018) 

Death and the Viking’s Daughter (Loretta Ross)  I really enjoy this series, which falls under the “cozy” label but is a bit more realistic than many cozies, particularly because one of the two main characters is a veteran with PTSD and a disability due to damaged lungs. 

ROMANCE & ROMANTIC SUSPENSE:

Someone to Care (Mary Balogh) The “widow” of a bigamous duke finds happiness in the fourth book in the Westcott series. Balogh is one of my favorite historical romance authors, and huzzah for older heroines!

Hello Stranger (Lisa Kleypas) Unfortunate cover aside (too much pink! And the dress is contemporary, not period), I love Kleypas’s historicals, and the Ravenels series has been a good one so far. This time around, England’s first female doctor meets her match in a former Scotland Yard detective who is also a Ravenel by-blow.

The Other Lady Vanishes (Amanda Quick) A sequel to last spring’s The Girl Who Knew Too Much(review), this mystery returns to 1930s Burning Cove, California, but introduces a new hero and heroine.

The First Time at Firelight Falls (Julie Anne Long)  Fourth in the Hellcat Canyon series, all of which have been terrific. 

HONORABLE MENTION:

Fire and Heist (Sarah Beth Durst) – were-dragons; heist novel; YA

Skyward (Brandon Sanderson)  – YA SF

Kill the Farm Boy (Delilah S. Dawson & Kevin Hearne) – humorous fantasy

Circe (Madeline Miller) – about the mythological Greek goddess/sorceress