Fantasy Book Critic: Three Upcoming 2012 Fantasies of Great Interest, Galen Beckett, Beth Bernobich, Mark Newton (by Liviu Suciu)

So far 2012 has been dominated by science fiction with a sprinkle of literary and historical fiction - out of 19 books I have read in 2012 and of 14 2012 releases read so far, only two have been fantasies - and based on my current interests this trend is sure to continue in the indefinite future, so for balance I thought of highlighting some upcoming fantasy novels I am really looking forward to, novels that I hope will find their way here sooner rather than later.

All are part of series and all previous novels in the respective series have been reviewed here, mostly by me, some by/with Robert, and all have been in my top 25 of their respective years.

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After two wonderful novels in The Magicians and Mrs. Quent and The House on Durrow Street, the saga of Ivy and of her family and friends comes to an end in The Master of Heathcrest Hall. Great atmosphere and superb characters in a combination of the classic and the modern, of the strange and the familiar.

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After the wonderful debut Passion Play, comes Queens' Hunt, the next chapter in the story of Ilse and her strange employer/mentor/lover Raul Kosenmark. I have been waiting for this novel for a while now as it has been delayed from its original 2011 release date and I am really eager to find out what happens next as the ending of Passion Play demanded the next installment asap!

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The Legends of the Red Sun saga also ends this year after three superb novels, Nights of Villjamur, City of Ruin and The Book of Transformations. While the ending of the third novel gave some hints where the story will go, I am really curious what surprises were prepared by Mark Newton for The Broken Isles!

1:31 PM |

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7 comments:

Unknown said...: I am excited for Queen's Hunt - and the cover looks amazing! It definitely kicks the series up a notch from Book 1's cover, and I too am interested to see how the politics unfold in the sequel!; February 12, 2012 at 8:11 PM
Liviu said...: They changed the cover for book 1 too and the new cover (I guess a mmpb) is similar to this one

http://www.grimstudios.com/SGrimandowebPage/PassionPlay.html

I hope to get a copy soon and I will have first impressions asap; February 12, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Sean said...: I check this site quite frequently for my reading list. My interest mainly lies in sf and certain fantasy subgenres.

While I very much appreciate and often refer to your reviews and best-of lists, I think considering your reading interest of late, having another reviewer for the fantasy genre would greatly benefit the site (or at least me!).

Sean.

P.S. I just remembered you mentioned Robert, and I think he used to fill the gap I'm talking about. But I don't recall any recent posts by him.; February 17, 2012 at 9:03 PM
Liviu said...: Mihir covers more fantasy these days though it's true he does a lot of UF stuff, while Robert (who is still the ultimate authority as the owner of FBC) is on an indefinite break from revieweing though he is still active behind the scenes and updates the Upcoming Release page.

Robert tried a few people but it did not really work out - I would say that beyond the usual reasons (as everything here is done in our free time and we get no monetary benefit beyond a few review copies, though lots of the books talked about here are actually obtained by us independently, while none of us is interested in a publishing job, paid reviewing job or writing a book as far as I know, so you need true love of books and reading to put the effort/time) the other main thing is that eveything we do here is independent and there is no "central authority" to coordinate stuff; February 17, 2012 at 9:51 PM
Sean said...: It seemed to me, despite lack of coordination, the site covers quite a nice collection of works. You, focusing on SF and historical fiction, Robert mostly on HF, and Mihir on UF.

I realize that it perhaps has more to do with my personal taste (as I said mostly sf and HF), and it's quite unreasonable to expect one site to cover the whole of sff. I'm also too lazy to regularly check multiple sources.

Having said that, I still believe FBC covers quite a nice mix and I honestly think what you especially manage to cover is prodigious. One of the books that I really wish got a mention on FBC last year was The Crippled God, for example. As a closer to an epic series that I actually picked up upon Robert's recommendation and ended up becoming one of my all-time favourite series (which if I recall you never really got into beyound the first book). Given the circumstances you outlined, I perfectly understand having difficulty finding a new fit. Perhaps you can persuade Robert to do an occasional review again! :)

Thanks for all the hard work,
Sean.; February 17, 2012 at 11:13 PM
Liviu said...: Thank you for your kind words and again as mentioned I see your point which is surely amplified by our site name - personally if I were to choose a name for a site based on what i plan to cover, I would choose (unsurprisingly as I even started a blog with that name but then Robert talked me into contributing here in 2008) Future and Past as that reflects my lifelong interest in sf and historical fiction first and foremost, with fantasy preferred especially when it's close to either of those two (like say GRRM or Adrian Tchaikovsky, close to historical fiction and sf respectively)

As for S. Erikson, Robert is a huge fan and he was mentioning he has been reading the newer volumes from the series recently, so who knows, maybe we will see that review here too...

And I have a few fantasies I want to cover in the next few weeks too (Ruined City for example, Son of Sorrow which I just got, Master Heathcrest as mentioned and also just got, Outcast Blade); February 18, 2012 at 12:30 AM
ALOP Admin said...: i just love this blog!!! I am a huge fantasy fan and i review mostly fantasy on my blog...but i always come here to read the latest reviews and updates.. this blog is the only place from where i learn new fantasy series lol...

One day, I'd love to join this team..; February 18, 2012 at 9:04 PM