The Fantasy Review‘s list of 10 new epic fantasy books to sink your teeth into!
#1 – Eyes of Kings (Flesh and False Gods, #3) by Cloe Gong
Blurb excerpt:
The action-packed finale to Chloe Gong’s New York Times bestselling Flesh & False Gods trilogy—inspired by Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra—brings readers the ultimate showdown for power among gods and men.
War beckons in the kingdom of Talin. On one side sits Calla Tuoleimi and Anton Makusa, and on the other, the recently dethroned August Shenzhi and Calla’s own predecessor Sinoa Tuoleimi. Neither will rest until the opposition is buried.
Calla assumed victory would be easy. She wears the divine crown after a violent coup, wielding the most powerful weapon in the kingdom. Then the provinces start to whisper of the old gods returning to earth, and suddenly the game board is flipped upside-down...
#2 – The Castle and the Cloister (Daughters of Light, #1) by Laura E. Weymouth
Blurb excerpt:
The Priory of the Orange Tree meets Black Sun in the thrilling launch of a political fantasy duology following three people—a refugee, a heretic queen, and a priest—as they attempt to shape the fortunes of a continent shattered by war.
Two centuries ago, the Inver clan conquered the nation of Honoria, ushering in an era of blood. Now, after a period of fragile peace, a king’s whims may reignite the engines of war.
At the last stronghold of Honoria’s sun goddess, Fia, a young postulant, seeks safety for her child, but the price of the cloister’s protection will tear her from what she loves most and thrust her into a deadly game of deception...
#3 – A Dance of Burning Blades (Invoker Trilogy, #2) by M.H. Ayinde
Blurb excerpt:
War rages on in the second heart-pounding novel in M. H. Ayinde’s relentless epic fantasy series The Invoker Trilogy, a sweeping epic of revenge and rebellion set in a richly drawn world of warring clans and ancestor magic.
A DANCE OF RAGE. A DANCE OF RUIN. A DANCE OF BURNING BLADES.
Tension simmers across the Nine Lands. In the capital, the people of Lordsgrave seethe with resentment after the horrors of the greyblood attack. Clan Adatali is in open rebellion against the king, and as war in the Feverlands rages on, a humble tree feller—who looks a lot like missing invoker Jinao Mizito—has not forgotten the promise he made to avenge his brother...
#4 – Dragonlance: War Wizard by Margaret WeisTracy Hickman
Blurb excerpt:
The first volume of a new epic trilogy set in the world of Krynn, written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, the creators of Dragonlance.
Vinus Solamnus wrote: The practice of magic is secretive, inherently deceitful, and dishonorable. Those who practice magic are forbidden to enter the knighthood, nor should they be connected to the knighthood in any way.
The boy with a rare gift for magic was born in Solamnia, a nation that despised and distrusted mages. His father tried to beat the magic out of him. The knights threatened him with imprisonment and exile. He endured tragedy and heartbreak. Yet he persisted with his magic, for the sake of the magic...
#5 – A Viper Among Kings by Sydney Olivia
Blurb excerpt:
In the twisted city of Amaris, magic spawns from chaos. Prone to driving humans mad, it can only be wielded safely by the Wraiths-seven immortal beings magically bound to obey the king.
Esme is the most notorious Wraith. She has spent the last century forced to kill on behalf of the nation that stole her from her homeworld while building a secret life for herself and her wife away from violence.
That is, until the current king turns up murdered, and a magical will demands his successor be chosen through three trials. Esme cannot break the magical shackles that bind her, but she will suffer no more tyrants. She rigs the king’s succession trials in favour of her chosen candidate: the righteous General Balthazar, who she can’t help but fall for….
#6 – Upon the Forge of Battle (Age of Wrath, #3) by Anthony Ryan
Blurb excerpt:
The epic conclusion to Anthony Ryan’s Age of Wrath trilogy—a gripping fantasy saga of bloody retribution, deadly intrigue, and soaring heroism.
As the Age of Wrath reaches its bloody conclusion, the world will be reforged in steel and fire …
Thera Blackspear was once champion to the Sister Queens. Now she’s a queen herself, with Elvine as her spear maiden, wielding a weapon forged by the gods. But while the traitorous Sister Lore plots in the shadows, Ascarlia will never be safe.…
#7 – The Eye of Leviathan (The Sea Beyond, #1) by M.A. Carrick
Blurb excerpt:
In an alternate Spanish Golden Age, the Council of the Sea Beyond has risen to unrivaled power, exploiting the Otherworld’s most precious resources for their own gain. Estevan seeks to uncover their secrets, but he risks the exposure of his own: that he is a faerie, masquerading as a mortal.
The Hungry Girl is the human whose place he took. Lost among the fae and desperate to find some purpose for her existence, she leaps at the chance to help a group of Spanish explorers in the Sea Beyond … only to be horrified at the atrocities they commit.
A faerie pact has separated them―but only together can they bring down Spain’s worlds-spanning empire and save the homes they have both come to love.
#8 – Theodora’s Tea Shop by Christy Anna Jones
Blurb excerpt:
Perfect for fans of TJ Klune and Sarah Beth Durst, Theodora’s Tea Shop by Christy Anne Jones is a fantasy novel brimming with witchy magic, found family, self-love and lots of warm cups of tea.
Nothing is more dangerous than a witch with secrets.
Dorothy Louise Walcott should have died at fourteen. She is now twenty-three, timid, chronically ill, and yearning for a life she can never have. Her dreams of studying magic and publishing her discoveries feel impossible: even if license-less magic weren’t outlawed, her family would never allow it. But if Dot stays at home any longer, she will wither and fade away. So with nothing but a carpetbag and her ambergris tonic, Dot flees dreary Seafarthing for the capital city of Alliaster, where she tumbles headfirst into an apprenticeship with the most powerful witch in the city: Theodora….
#9 – The Revenant of Surolifia by Florence Chien
Blurb excerpt:
Secrets are often liabilities, but sometimes they are power.
Lucas Rhine has seen enough violence. When the Empire of Colours slaughters 17,000 of his silver-eyed kin, Lucas buries his hatred, hides his eyes behind coloured lenses, and vows to become the imperial gendarmerie’s commander. He will liberate his annexed island home through a diplomatic secession.
Usurped prince Faye Phlorik wants his throne back. When violent revolutionaries help him escape from prison, he joins them. They need a silver-eyed champion to rally the people, and he needs their resources to defeat the gendarmerie protecting the usurper...
#10 – The Harpy Knight (The Chaos Constellation, #2) by Sara Omer
Blurb excerpt:
In this thrilling sequel to The Gryphon King, old rivalries and new threats pull Bataar and Nohra into a swirling cauldron of gods, monsters and djinn.
Sweeping Southwest Asian-inspired epic fantasy starring morally gray characters and lady knights, perfect for fans of Godkiller and Shannon Chakraborty.
Bataar Rhah, the gryphon king, has conquered the kingdom of Dumakra. Victorious, he turns his attention on Aglea in the north, where pagan berserkers rule over inhospitable, monster- infested marshes. Prince Nassar and his entourage have also fled to Aglea to rally his supporters against Bataar—spreading a ghoulish plague wherever they go...
