Earlier in the month, Paul Weimer, Karen McMillan, and Rebecca Fisher shared their Top 5 books and/or shows of the year with us. Over the next three days, they’ll be sharing their most eagerly anticipated books or (in Rebecca’s case) shows coming up in 2017.

Relevant covers or cover images may not be available yet, in which case I shall either deploy one from an earlier book (or show) in a series, or use none.

So here, without further ado, is reader, reviewer, podcaster, gamer, and photographer, Paul Weimer, with his “most anticipated” 5 (books) for 2017.

—

Paul Weimer’s Five Most-Anticipated Books of 2017

With 2016 behind us, to the relief of many, 2017 and its slate of books and authors awaits all of us readers at last. Here are just five of the many books I am excited to get to read in 2017. As always, I will delight in the books I don’t even know about just yet. But for now, these are the books I am salivating the most to read this year.

The House of Binding Thorns, Aliette De Bodard

Alternate Historical Fantasy

The House of Binding Thorns is a standalone sequel to De Bodard’s fabulous novel The House of Shattered Wings. (One of my top five reads for 2015: http://helenlowe.info/blog/2015/12/21/an-avid-reader-special-paul-weimers-top-5-reads-of-2015/) The House of Binding Thorns promises to switch focus from House Silverspires to House Hawthorn, and its leader, the charismatic antagonist Lord Asmodeus. Madeline, the alchemist of Silverspires reclaimed by Hawthorn in the course of the previous novel, is sent to make contact with the underwater dragon kingdom we only got the very briefest of looks at in the previous novel. Dragons, Houses, Fallen Angels and Alchemists. And a wonderful apocalyptic alternate historical fantastical setting in ruined Paris. What more could I want?

The Stars are Legion, Kameron Hurley

Space Opera

Kameron Hurley has written gritty war-infused SF (The Nyx Trilogy), epic fantasy (The Worldbreaker novels) and non fiction essays besides. Her work is as bright and sharp as the desert of Nyx’s world, as inventive as the cultures of the Mirror Empire, and as mind-expanding as her non fiction. The Stars are Legion promises to take her writing to a new and exciting realm: Space Opera. Decaying world-ships traveling the galaxy? A huge interstellar war? Desperate survivors willing to risk all? Count me on board!

Brother’s Ruin, Emma Newman

Gaslight Fantasy

Emma Newman first came to my attention as a new writer who traveled across the seas from England to attend a convention local to me. I was enchanted by her urban fantasy Split World novels, with strong characters, feminism, Fae, Sorcerers and much more in the shadows of the modern day world. Her turn into science fiction, starting with Planetfall, has been startlingly good. Brother’s Ruin (Industrial Magic #1) extends her genre range even further, moving into the realm of gaslight fantasy, set in a 19th century where a lower middle class brother and sister’s secret about their magical abilities promises to put questions of class, gender, and magic together in a character blender and set on high.

Cover of the first-in-series

A Tyranny of Queens, Foz Meadows

Portal Fantasy

Foz Meadows’ An Accident of Stars, a triumphant and uncompromising look at the subgenre of Portal Fantasy, was one of my top five reads of 2016 (http://helenlowe.info/blog/2016/12/08/an-avid-reader-special-paul-weimers-top-5-reads-of-2016/ ). It was, much like Alyx Dellamonica’s Stormwrack trilogy, Portal fantasy done right, with the issues and problems plaguing the genre addressed head on, with a strong main character and fascinating secondary world. I am delighted that the sequel, A Tyranny of Queens, is set to come out this year. With the initial wheels of the world, and the main characters already set, I am really eager to see where Meadows takes the character of Saffron, the nation of Kena on the other side of the portal,  the rest of the world beyond it, and more.

The Stone in the Skull, Elizabeth Bear

Epic Fantasy

I’ve been a fan of the work of Elizabeth Bear from the very beginning of her career, having gotten a leg up on knowing about her and fiction through a personal connection in the world of roleplaying games. I’ve read in delight as Bear has developed and grown as an author, conquering subgenre after subgenre. A particular favorite of mine is her epic fantasy Eternal Sky trilogy. Now, with The Stone in the Skull, Bear returns to a new area of her Eternal Sky world, with dynastic war, automations, dark sorcery and much more in store. I’m more than ready to walk the Celadon Highway again.

—

About Paul Weimer: 

Paul Weimer is a writer, gamer, blogger, podcaster, photographer, and ubiquitous genre enthusiast. At venues ranging from Skiffy and Fanty to SFF Audio and beyond, he can be found exploring the world of science fiction and fantasy. He can be found on his own website http://www.skyseastone.net/jvstin, on Twitter @princejvstin, and many other places on the internet.