Most Eagerly Awaited Books of 2007

[Werthead]

Which SF&F books are you most looking forward to in 2007? My money is on:

 

1. A Dance with Dragons by George RR Martin

Book 5 of A Song of Ice and Fire

ETA: Late 2007 (touch wood)

 

Unfortunately delayed from this year, the fifth volume in the modern fantasy masterpiece brings back all the characters missing from the fourth book, introduces some new ones (for the last time) and, generally, unleashes hell on the Seven Kingdoms.

 

2. Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch

Book 2 of The Gentleman Bastard

ETA: 21 June 2007

 

The Lies of Locke Lamora was the big fantasy debut of 2006 and the already-finished sequel is sparking a lot of pre-publicity hype eight months before publication.

 

3. The Aspect-Emperor: Book One by R. Scott Bakker

Book 1 of The Aspect-Emperor (duh)

ETA: Very Late 2007 (US/Canada), May 2008 (UK)

 

The second of the three series that together tell the story of The Second Apocalypse starts in late 2007. Apparently this is to the earlier Prince of Nothing Trilogy what Lord of the Rings is to The Hobbit.

 

4. Reaper's Gale by Steven Erikson

Book 7 of The Malazan Book of the Fallen

ETA: 2 April 2007 (UK/Canada), June 2008 (USA)

 

The sixth book in this series, The Bonehunters, was somewhat of a disappointment, but Book 7 will hopefully put the series back on track.

 

5. Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

ETA: 5 March 2007

 

Kay's first urban fantasy has already attracted some fantastic reviews. The film adaption of his novel The Lions of Al-Rassan (by the guy who did The Last Samurai and Glory) may also surface at the end of 2007, more likely in 2008.

 

6. The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton

Book 1 of The Void Trilogy

ETA: September 2007

 

The sequel trilogy to PFH's Commonwealth Saga, picking up 1,200 years after the events of Judas Unchained.

 

7. The Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkien

ETA: 16 April 2007

 

Several different drafts of this story - told in brief form in The Silmarillion - have been combined to give us a huge new Middle-earth tale. One of the highest-profile releases of 2007.

 

8. The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds

ETA: 19 April 2007

 

A new stand-alone SF novel in the same universe as his earlier Revelation Space Trilogy.

 

9. Storm of the Dead by Paul Kearney

Book 3 of The Sea-Beggars

ETA: Late 2007

 

Kearney's excellent nautical epic fantasy continues to its penultimate volume. Hopefully Kearney's earlier, superb Monarchies of God series may be reprinted as well, but probably not until 2008.

 

10. A Sword from Red Ice by JV Jones

Book 3 of Sword of Shadows

ETA: December 2007

 

The much-delayed penultimate volume of Jones' Sword of Shadows Quartet (itself a sequel series to her earlier Book of Words Trilogy) was finished some months ago, but publishing problems will keep it off the shelves until late next year.

 

Night of Knives by Ian Cameron Esslemont, Making Money by Terry Pratchett and The Sworn Sword by George RR Martin all just fail to make the grade, NoK and TSS because they have been already published in different forms and MM because, well, I'm a bit behind on Pratchett and probably won't catch up before it comes out.

 

The Born Queen by Greg Keyes, the conclusion to his Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone sequence, looks promising for a late 2007 release. I'm looking forward to this coming out as I can then go and read Book 1!

 

Early hopes for 2008 are Neuropath by R. Scott Bakker, A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan (the long-awaited end to WoT, although this could slide to 2009), Toll the Hounds by Steven Erikson, Return of the Crimson Guard by Ian Cameron Esslemont and The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch.

 

Plus, let's hope we get some more unexpectedly great new authors who we haven't even heard of yet!

[Guest Majsju]

10. A Sword from Red Ice by JV Jones

Book 3 of Sword of Shadows

ETA: December 2007

 

I've been waiting a LONG time for this book, the first two books in this series are pure awesomeness.

[Sirayn]

Sword of Shadows is so much better than the Book of Words it's not true. What did JV Jones do between the two series? Wow. Loved A Cavern of Black Ice.

[Kadere]

I'm despreatly awaiting Shadowplay by Tad Williams. Book 2 of Shadowmarch Trilogy. To be released in March 2007.

[Alys Kinch]

also, the next in the rhapsody series comes out (finally) this year. i think january.

[JenniferL]

Unfortunately, I haven't even HEARD of half those books, much less be looking forward to them. I think I don't read enough anymore.

[the dude]

um, did rowling actually SAY that?

[JenniferL]

I wish.

 

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/interviews/rowling.html

[Kivam]

Plus, let's hope we get some more unexpectedly great new authors who we haven't even heard of yet!

 

I can give you two to look out for, both coming out with strong debut novels.

 

Alan Campbell's "Scar Night" is a dark, victorian/gothic fantasy that reminded me a lot of Mervyn Peake's style (but I found Campbell much much easier to read). Should be out in January.

 

Patrick Rothfuss' "The Name of the Wind", which is the best book I've read in a long tim, is scheduled for an April release. Trust me on this - he's going to get mentioned with GRR Martin, Steven Erikson and Tad Williams. And it will be more than justified.

[Werthead]

Actually, Scar Night has been out here for nearly a year in hardcover. There's been a lot of praise for it (it's been compared to Perdido Street Station for its deep depiction of a somewhat unusual city), but I'm waiting for the paperback to take a look.

 

I'll keen an eye out for the other book, cheers.

 

I'm desperately awaiting Shadowplay by Tad Williams. Book 2 of Shadowmarch Trilogy. To be released in March 2007.

 

I keep having flashbacks to the waits between the Otherland books. I'm not doing that again, so I'm waiting for the trilogy to be finished before I go pick it up. Williams' writing speed seems to have seriously dropped off (going from one year between books to nearly three), which is a shame.

 

Sword of Shadows is so much better than the Book of Words it's not true. What did JV Jones do between the two series? Wow. Loved A Cavern of Black Ice.

 

It's worth mentioning here that Sword of Shadows is now a four-book series. The final book will be called The Shadow Under the Ice. Expect it in 2010, based on Jones' current writing speed. Between the two series Jones did a very good stand-alone novel called The Barbed Coil, set in a different world. Whilst Sword of Shadows is better, I did like a lot of things about Book of Words, such as Tavalisk, Bodger and Grift. Jones does great, darkly humourous characters very well.

[Sirayn]

These pesky trilogies keep multiplying, don't they? 8) Thanks for the heads up. Loved The Barbed Coil as well. I'm not normally a fan of people crossing over from the modern world to a fantasy world, but The Barbed Coil pulled it off, as did Thomas Covenant. Kay's Fionavar Tapestry is the next on my list of crossovers to read.

[I Love Semirhage]

I have to say I am waiting for book 3 of Christopher Paolini's Inheritance trilogy, and I do want to see the film of Eragon too.

 

Is it next year that Harry Potter 7 is coming out? I imagine that would be pretty huge...

 

I can't think what else I'm waiting for really, just those two and AMOL.

 

Thanks though Werthead for the big fantasy list, I haven't read any of them, where would you recommend starting?

 

ILS

[Kaznen]

I agree about the Eragon movie. I haven't even seen any previews but I still want to see it.

 

And I'm looking forward to the next Salvatore book. He has finished his first draft. And this book is back to Drizzt!

[the dude]

I wish.

 

http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/interviews/rowling.html

 

that's decidedly amusing.

[Kivam]

Werthead - did you ever pick up FitzPatrick's War?

[Werthead]

Thanks though Werthead for the big fantasy list' date=' I haven't read any of them, where would you recommend starting?[/quote']

 

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch and A Game of Thrones by George RR Martin are both heavily recommended. Both are somewhat more 'adult' than Rowling and Paolini (although not radically moreso than Jordan). A Song of Ice and Fire is easily the best fantasy sequence out there at the moment and is heavily recommended by Robert Jordan, Raymond E. Feist, Janny Wurts, Katherine Kerr and Anne McCaffrey, among others.

 

Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen is very good but it's very demanding and complex. A lot of people find the confusing nature of the first book offputting. You are dropped in the middle of all hell breaking loose and no-one really explains anything until about a third of the way into the book. If you have a lot of patience to get through the first 200-odd pages of Gardens of the Moon, you'll probably enjoy it.

 

Guy Gavriel Kay mainly deals with stand-alone novels: Tigana, A Song for Arbonne, The Lions of Al-Rassan and The Last Light of the Sun are all great books.

 

I'd get a few other authors under your belt before tackling Scott Bakker. He is brilliant, but very dark and sometimes disturbing in what he writes. The Lord of the Rings as written Frank Herbert and that guy who did American Psycho.

 

With Peter F. Hamilton I'd start with The Reality Dysfunction, the first book of his Night's Dawn Trilogy (confusingly published in six volumes in the USA).

[Illiara]

I am in total agreement with A Dance for Dragons. I also want to see the new Inheritance book 3 and the Eragon movie.

[Guest Wynne Jessal]

I didn't know about the Children of Hurin release. That's very cool! I much prefer those histories to LotR or the Hobbit. Not sure why...

 

Harry Potter will be 2008. You can at least get a fix from the movie released in, what is it, July of '07? If you can get past the bad hair...

 

There's a few short stories from Janny Wurts set in her WoLaS series, and Stormed Fortress itself should be out in late '07 (praying that it doesn't go through the huge delays that Traitor's Knot did).

[Jeppit Groccin]

wait a tick, they pushed harry potter back to '08? when did this happen?

 

And yea, the 5th movie arrives July 13 2007. I was hoping for a book/movie combo release.

[Alys Kinch]

i think htey are going to do that for the next one.

[Guest Wynne Jessal]

Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking. I guess I was thinking that the year we are currently in is 2007 and a friend at work told me 2008, which makes sense if we are in 2007...

 

Doesn't look like there is anything solid on the Internet, but they are saying 'likely' for 2007. So. My bad.

 

:oops: :oops: :oops:

[Werthead]

The new Forbes interview does confirm that the final Wheel of Time book won't be out until early 2009 though. Nineteen years since it started...not quite a record, but impressive anyway.

 

Harry Potter VII is likely to be late 2007, but nothing is confirmed from Rowling yet. For the last book she made an announcement the preceding Christmas, so expect an announcement in a few weeks if this one is going to be summer 2007.

[maeve]

Sword of Shadows is so much better than the Book of Words it's not true. What did JV Jones do between the two series? Wow. Loved A Cavern of Black Ice.

 

I totally agree. Was not very impressed with the Book of Words but gave A Cavern of Black Ice a go as my aunt said it was good. And she was right. JV jones seemed to step it up and become a different author.

[Apollo277]

Third Eragon book, Salvatore's new one, and the end to the Age of Cartomancy series by Michael A. Stackpole.

[Dylanfanatic]

Bah, you leave out some excellent books, Werthead! Let's see...in addition to most of the ones you named above:

 

Hal Duncan, Ink (Feb. 2007)

 

Sergei Lukyanenko, Day Watch (March 2007)

 

Lukyanenko, Twilight Watch (Summer 2007)

 

Maybe Neuropath ;)

 

China Miéville, Un Lun Dun

 

Nalo Hopkinson, The New Moon's Arms

 

Tobias Buckell, Ragamuffin

 

Of course, none of these are what I'd call "epic" fantasies, although some come close in feel and most are of a more "realistic" style. But these are must-buys for me in addition to the Bakkers, Martins, Lynchs, and Eriksons.