Most anticipated books of 2016

I have a loooong list of books I am excited about. I’m not going to talk about the obvious ones like The Raven King, A Gathering of Shadows and any other sequel, but about books that maybe not everyone has heard of yet. 

Debuts:

There are quite a lot of debuts I can’t wait to get my hands on. Riverkeep by Martin Stewart is the number one on that list. Not only does that book sound right up my alley but it is also said that it is “The Wizard of Oz as told by Patrick Ness“. I love that we get so much Fantasy in YA at the moment and Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton is drop-dead gorgeous. I’ve already seen some early reviews and it looks like this going to be a good one. The Reader by Traci Chee has a lot speaking for it. Not only is there the description of “overlapping stories of swashbuckling pirates and merciless assassins” that made me want to read it right away, but it is also set in a world where reading is forbidden. And because books set on a ship are awesome, I’m also beyond excited about The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig. This one is not set on any ship but on a time traveling one.

Talking of ships: Shadow Run by AdriAnne Strickland and Michael Miller is about a young but savvy captain of a starship which is pretty much all I need to know. If you want something unique, take a look at Timekeeper by Tara Sims, a story about a world that is run by a clock tower and could be stuck in time if that is destroyed. Sounds like nothing I’ve ever read before and I like books that resolve around a concept of time.

I usually try to stay away from YA mysteries because in most cases they just don’t work for me, BUT  The Killer in Me by Margot Harrison sounds a lot as if you’re going to get into the head of a killer and have an unreliable narrator. RIGHT UP MY ALLEY. A book I’ve already talked about before because I’m THAT excited is Beyond the Red by Ava Jae. ALIEN QUEEN, NOUGH SAID.

A historical fantasy that made me scream NEED when I read it’s super short description is Iron Cast by Destiny Soria. “Illusionists who live and work in a nightclub and con the city’s elite, only to find themselves entangled with mobsters”? YES, PLEASE! GIMME! Then there is Of Blood and Shadow by Kerri Maniscalco which I need to get because I’m a sucker for Jack the Ripper stories. Two more fantasy books I can’t wait to read are Of Fire and Stars by Audrey Coulthurst (forbidden magic + girl falling in love with the sister of the prince she is supposed to marry!!!!) and The Summer Dragon by Todd Lockwood (DRAGONSSS!).

I’m very much in the mood for adult Science-Fiction at the moment so my two most anticipated books for 2016 are Join by Steve Toutonghi and Sleeping Giants by Sylvian Neuvel. Okay, I’ve already read Sleeping Giants (for fans of Pacific Rim is all I’m saying!!! GO GET IT) but I can’t wait to get a beautiful finished copy and reread. Two other SciFi debuts I’m excited about are Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee (which I already pre-ordered because who can resist a book described as ““a tale of massacres, madness, and mathematics in deep space””) and Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer.

Of course I also have to have some adult Fantasy on my list: I can’t wait to get a copy of The Forgetting Moon by Brian Lee Durfee. Another debut that sounds like the right book for me is Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine which is described as “Napoleon in space”. I would buy it for the cover alone. And just look at A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain. Isn’t that cover just GORGEOUS?  Sounds like a great thriller combined with time travel.

Standalones and new series by known authors:

I read Sarah Rees Brennan’s Lynburn Legacy in September and even though I don’t think this will be anywhere near as good, I am really excited about Tell the Wind and Fire. Ruta Sepetys is THE author for historical fiction and I can’t wait to read her newest book Salt to the Sea. To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of the cover of And I Darken by Kiersten White but it just sounds really really good. A book about a brutal princess in an Ottoman empire must be good right? Another book I’m really looking forward to is Michael Grant’s Frontlines, just because I read everything he writes. Girl soldiers fighting World War II does sound interesting though. S.J. Kincaid finally has a new book coming out (I loooved her Insignia series): The Diabolic, the story of a genetically created teenager.

A few new series and  OMG-MUST-HAVE-WHY-AREN’T-THEY-OUT-YET books are Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor (which sounds freaking amazing, I mean “aftermath of a war between gods and men”!), Heartless by Marissa Meyer (new retelling from the queen of all retellings!), Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (Locke Lamora meets Harry Potter! Can it get any better than that!?) and Ancestral Night by Elizabeth Bear (a space opera that sounds EPIC).

Yes, I actually have a few contemporaries on my list too. When authors whose previous books you loved write a new book you can’t just look the other way. The Haters by Jesse Andrews is probably the one I’m least excited about of the three but it’s about musicians so I’m hopeful. Beth Revis’ new book A World Without You sounds SO GOOD. The MC has delusions that he can travel through time!! I know Katrina Leno can write a unique book that I love so I’m really excited about The Lost & Found. With its theme of “getting lost before you can be found” it can only be a good one.

Which 2016 releases are you excited about? Are you going to read any of these?