Fantasy (not romantasy) Books on My Radar for Fall 2024

As soon as fall ends every year, I count down the days until the next one. Plus, I’m always stalking certain fantasy publishers (Enclave, Orbit, Ace, Tor, etc.) for upcoming releases to put on my TBR for my favorite season.

Here's a list of some fall books I'm for sure going to read:

September 2024

The Immortal Abyss by Katherine Briggs

I pretty much read anything Enclave puts out, and I loved Briggs' The Eternity Gate. I can't wait to read this sequel.

Release Date: 17 September 2024

Publisher: Enclave Escape

Synopsis: Seize the throne. Seek the legend and conquer the Abyss.

Nations rise and fall in the aftermath of war over the Eternity Gate. The corrupted desert throne stands empty, and the Immortal Abyss awakens. Drought ravages the continent, and people long for the rebirth of a starpalm, who will rise from among mortals and end their judgment.

Orphaned at birth, Tol grew up hiding in the farthest corners of the desert, training under powerful rebel fire wielders. She now dedicates her life to the Rebellion’s cause to seize the throne and Abyss from the surviving dynasty and deliver both to the coming deity.

Chosen as the Rebellion’s messenger, she travels to reach sympathizers capable of identifying the starpalm. Familiar figures haunt her dreams, and her path twists with every step she takes. Can Tol fulfill her purpose and summon a legend? Or will her country perish under the judgment of the twin gates?

Bringer of Dust by J.M. Miro

As I slowly dip my toes back into Victorian lit (the prof I had in grad school completely ruined my love for it), Miro's historical fantasy trilogy continues in its second installment, which I'm giddy for. I hope Goldsboro continues the trilogy with matching editions.

Release Date: 17 September 2024

Publisher: US: Flatiron (Macmillan)/UK: Bloomsbury

Synopsis: 1883. Agrigento, Sicily. A city of spires and now broken hopes and bodies.

With the orsine destroyed, Cairndale lies in ruins, and Marlowe has vanished. His only chance of rescue lies in a fabled second orsine - long-hidden, thought lost - which might not even exist.

But when a body is discovered in the shadow of Cairndale, Charlie and the Talents realize there is even more at stake than they'd feared. For a new drughr has arisen, ferocious, horned, seemingly able to move in their world at will - and it is not alone. A malevolent figure, known only as the Abbess, desires the dust for her own ends. And deep in the world of the dead, a terrible evil stirs - an evil which the corrupted dust just might hold the secret to reviving, or destroying forever.

So the dark journey begun in Ordinary Monsters surges forward, from the sinister underworld of the London exiles, to the roar of the streetmarkets in nineteenth-century Alexandria, to the sunlit silences of the Dalmatian coast. Against bone witches, mud glyphics, and a house of twilight that exists in a netherworld all its own, the Talents must work together - if they are to have any hope of staving off the world of the dead, and saving their long-lost friend.

A breathtaking sequel to Ordinary Monsters that delves even deeper into the rich worldbuilding and darkly sparkling sparkling tale of The Talents.

Buried Deep and Other Stories by Naomi Novik

Since Naomi Novik pretty much stays on my auto-read list, I'll definitely be checking this one out. It also has some sneak peaks of an upcoming series, so I may also buy it.

Release Date: 17 September 2024

Publisher: Del Rey (Penguin Random House)

Synopsis: A thrilling collection of thirteen short stories that span the worlds of the New York Times bestselling author of the Scholomance Trilogy, including a sneak peek at the land where her next novel will be set.

From the dragon-filled Temeraire series and the gothic, magical halls of the Scholomance trilogy to the fairy tale worlds of Spinning Silver and Uprooted, this stunning collection takes us from fairy tale to fantasy, myth to history, and mystery to science fiction as we travel through Naomi Novik’s most beloved stories.

In Buried Deep, we move from ancient Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages and the Black Death, and into the modern era. We meet Mark Antony, Sherlock Holmes, and Elizabeth Bennet, in ways we have never seen them before. We visit exotic fantasy cities and alien civilizations among the stars.

Though the stories are vastly different, there is a unifying theme: the act of finding and seizing one’s destiny, and the lengths one will go to achieve that—be it turning pirate, captaining a fighting dragon, or shifting from marriage to seek your destiny with a sword.

And in the two tales original to this collection, we first reenter the remade Scholomance in the wake of El’s revolution and see what life is like for the new crop of students. Then, we get a glimpse at the world of Novik’s upcoming series, a deserted land, populated only by silent and enigmatic architectural behemoths whose secrets are yet to be unlocked.

The Naming Song by Jedediah Barry

Tor publishes some of my favorite fantasy books, such as The Wheel of Time; I usually just click add to TBR when something from this imprint pops up, especially when it sounds as great as this does.

Release Date: 24 September 2024

Publisher: Tor (Macmillan)

Synopsis: There's nothing more dangerous than an unnamed thing

When the words went away, the world changed.

All meaning was lost, and every border fell. Monsters slipped from dreams to haunt the waking while ghosts wandered the land in futile reveries. Only with the rise of the committees of the named--Maps, Ghosts, Dreams, and Names--could the people stand against the terrors of the nameless wilds. They built borders around their world and within their minds, shackled ghosts and hunted monsters, and went to war against the unknown.

For one unnamed courier of the Names Committee, the task of delivering new words preserves her place in a world that fears her. But after a series of monstrous attacks on the named, she is forced to flee her committee and seek her long-lost sister. Accompanied by a patchwork ghost, a fretful monster, and a nameless animal who prowls the shadows, her search for the truth of her past opens the door to a revolutionary future--for the words she carries will reshape the world.

The Naming Song is a book of deep secrets and marvelous discoveries, strange adventures and dangerous truths. It's the story of a world locked in a battle over meaning. Most of all, it's the perfect fantasy for anyone who's ever dreamed of a stranger, freer, more magical world.

The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner

I love a good cozy mystery, as long as it's a fantasy. Fantasies about books generally go on my TBR automatically.

Release Date: 24 September 2024

Publisher: US—Ace (Penguin Random House/UK—Del Rey (Penguin Random House)

Synopsis: A librarian with a knack for solving murders realizes there is something decidedly supernatural afoot in her little town in this cozy fantasy mystery.

Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she's concerned by just how many killers she's had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count...but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural. But when someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town's new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the "Demon-Hunting Society," Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon. This riotous mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Murder, She Wrote is a lesson for demons and murderers.

Never mess with a librarian.

October 2024

The Great When: A Long London Novel by Alan Moore

I'm so excited for this one because it's Alan Moore. That is all.

Release Date: 1 October 2024

Publisher: US—Bloomsbury (Macmillan)/UK—Bloomsbury UK

Synopsis: A dark and beguiling tour through the streets of a magical London by the Sunday Times bestselling master of modern fantasy, Alan Moore.

The year is 1949, the city London. Dennis Knuckleyard is a hapless eighteen-year-old who works and lives in a second-hand bookstore. One day, on an errand to retrieve rare books, Dennis discovers that one of them does not exist. It is a fictitious book, yet it is physically there in his hands nonetheless. How? It comes from the Great When, a dark and magical version of the city that is beyond time. There, epochs blend and realities and unrealities blur. If Dennis does not take this book back to the other London, he will be killed.

So begins a journey delving deep into the city's occult underbelly and tarrying with an eccentric cast of sorcerers, gangsters, and murderers, many of whom have their own nefarious intentions. Soon Dennis finds himself at the center of an explosive series of events that may alter and endanger both Londons.

Mystical, magnificently written and hilarious, The Great When is Moore's most imaginative work yet and the first in the fantastic new Long London series.

Blood of the Old Kings by Sung-Il Kim, trans. by Anton Hur

I immediately requested this on NetGalley after it was listed. Many thanks to Tor for approving my request. I can't wait to read this dragon fantasy. I'll be shocked if Goldsboro and/or The Broken Binding doesn't offer a special edition. Maybe even miffed.

Release Date: US—8 October 2024/UK—10 October 2024

Publisher: US—Tor (Macmillan)/UK—Orbit (Hachette)

Synopsis: There is no escaping the Empire. Even in death, you will serve.

In an Empire run on necromancy, dead sorcerers are the lifeblood. Their corpses are wrapped in chains and drained of magic to feed the unquenchable hunger for imperial conquest.

Born with magic, Arienne has become resigned to her dark fate. But when the voice of a long-dead sorcerer begins to speak inside her head, she listens. There may be another future for her, if she's willing to fight for it.

Miles away, beneath a volcano, a seven-eyed dragon also wears the Empire's chains. Before the imperial fist closed around their lands, it was the people's sacred guardian.

Loran, a widowed swordswoman, is the first to kneel before the dragon in decades. She comes with a desperate plea, and will leave with a sword of dragon-fang in hand and a great purpose before her.

Blood of the Old Kings begins an epic fantasy adventure in which three strangers fight back against an all-powerful Empire, from award-winning author Sung-il Kim and translated by the highly-acclaimed Anton Hur.

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

I'm a massive fan of the story Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, so when I see anything from that universe coming up, it's on my list pronto. Let it be known that there is a short programme on the BBC website here that may or may not be what's in this book.

Release Date: 22 October 2024

Publisher: US—Bloomsbury (Macmillan)/UK—Bloomsbury

Synopsis: From the internationally bestselling and prize-winning author of Piranesi and Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, an enchanting, beautifully illustrated short story set in the world of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.

'A church is a sort of wood. A wood is a sort of church. They're the same thing really.'

Nineteen-year-old Merowdis Scot is an unusual girl. She can talk to animals and trees-and she is only ever happy when she is walking in the woods.

One snowy afternoon, out with her dogs and Apple the pig, Merowdis encounters a blackbird and a fox. As darkness falls, a strange figure enters in their midst-and the path of her life is changed forever.

Featuring gorgeous illustrations truly worthy of the magic of this story and an afterword by Susanna Clarke explaining how she came to write it, this is a mesmerizing, must-have addition to any fantasy reader's bookshelf.

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door by H.G. Parry

I'll be the first to tell you that reading a book based off its comp titles is a mistake and sets up dangerously false expectations. Nevertheless, if a book has Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell for a comp title, I'm reading it. Plus, it gives off vague Emily Wilde vibes, so I'll give it a try.

Release Date: 24 October 2024

Publisher: US—Redhook (Hachette)/UK—Orbit (Hachette)

Synopsis: All they needed to break the world was a door, and someone to open it.

Camford, 1920. Gilded and glittering, England's secret magical academy is no place for Clover, a commoner with neither connections nor magical blood. She tells herself she has fought her way there only to find a cure for her brother Matthew, one of the few survivors of a faerie attack on the battlefields of WWI which left the doors to faerie country sealed, the study of its magic banned, and its victims cursed.

But when Clover catches the eye of golden boy Alden Lennox-Fontaine and his friends, doors that were previously closed to her are flung wide open, and she soon finds herself enmeshed in the seductive world of the country's magical aristocrats. The summer she spends in Alden's orbit leaves a fateful mark: months of joyous friendship and mutual study come crashing down when experiments go awry, and old secrets are unearthed.

Years later, when the faerie seals break, Clover knows it's because of what they did. And she knows that she must seek the help of people she once called friends-and now doesn't quite know what to call-if there's any hope of saving the world as they know it.

The Fury of the Gods by John Gwynne

There's no way I'm going to start reading these door stops before the last one comes out. I own the first two, so I'll definitely be completing the collection. Plus, it's based on Norse-inspired, so my Scandinavian heart will be happy.

Release Date: 24 October 2024

Publisher: Orbit (Hachette)

Synopsis: The Fury of the Gods is the earth-shattering final book in John Gwynne's bestselling Norse-inspired epic fantasy series, packed with myth, magic and bloody vengeance

THE FINAL BATTLE FOR THE FATE OF VIGRIÐ APPROACHES

Varg has overcome the trials of his past and become an accepted member of the Bloodsworn, but now he and his newfound comrades face their biggest challenge yet: slaying a dragon.

Elvar is struggling to consolidate her power in Snakavik, where she faces threats from within and without. As she fights to assert her authority in readiness for the coming conflict, she faces a surely insurmountable task: reining in the ferocity of a wolf god.

As Biorr and his warband make their way north, eager for blood, Gudvarr pursues a mission of his own, hoping to win Lik-Rifa's favour and further his own ambitions.

All paths lead to Snakavik, where the lines are being drawn for the final battle - a titanic clash that will shake the foundations of the world, and bear witness to the true fury of the gods.

November 2024

Lethal Kings by Victoria McCombs

After the ending for Mortal Queens (which you should totally read if you love great YA), I'm so glad Enclave decided to put this one out earlier than the projected release. I'm not sure a wait longer than what we have would have been okay for how that one ended.

Release date: 1 November 2024

Publisher: Enclave

Synopsis: You've been warned many times, you cannot trust the kings...

The old queen is dead, a new queen is in play, and the realm has descended into darkness. For the first time in history, a queen has rejected the game. Eliza will start her reign with no alliances while Althea must fight to save her tenuous bond with the king who cannot love. Her relationship threatens to break, but Althea’s attention becomes divided after receiving a few harrowing clues connecting her past and the game at hand.

Before she can find answers, a mysterious fae appears promising the power of the seventh king to whoever can solve a series of riddles, leaving the fae realm in shambles as they race to come out on top. Althea has one year left. New alliances are forged. Old stories come to life. She must make her move, or the fate of the queens will consume her. 

We Shall be Monsters by Alyssa Wees

I loved Wees' Nocturne, so I'll be reading this one for sure.

Release Date: 12 November 2024

Publisher: Del Rey (Penguin Random House)

Synopsis: A dark, lyrical fantasy blending the world of the Fae with the stories mothers tell to keep their daughters safe - and the consequences of disregarding the truth, no matter how sinister.

Gemma lives with her mother in an isolated antique shop in Michigan, near a small patch of woods that conceals an enchanted gateway to fairyland. She knows she's not supposed to go into the woods - her mother Virginia has warned her multiple times about the monsters that lurk there - and yet defiantly, curiously, she goes anyway.

Virginia understands her daughter's defiance. She knows the lure of the woods all too well. Her own mother warned her about the monsters that resided there, and she also did not listen. Until a witch cursed her true love, Ash - Gemma's father - into the form of a beast in the days before Gemma's birth. And if Virginia cannot break the curse before her daughter turns fifteen, Ash will eat Virginia's heart and Gemma will belong to the witch. So Virginia will do whatever she can to protect her daughter - even if it means stealing Gemma's memories away.

But everything changes when Gemma inadvertently gets too close to the truth, and the witch steals Virginia away instead. Now it is up to Gemma to venture deep into Fae lands to try and rescue her mother and break the curse.

Told in alternating viewpoints between Gemma and Virginia, this lyrical novel is not only a tale of a girl's fantastical quest through a darkly magical fairyland, but also an examination of the complex bonds of love and resentment that lie between parents and their children.