Most Anticipated Books of 2015

There are a lot of books coming out in 2015 that I'm looking forward to, but the following are my most anticipated.

(Date Unknown)

Six of Crows, Leigh Bardugo

As some readers may know, Leigh Bardugo is the author of the Grisha Trilogy and now she has a new series coming out set in the same world.  Some characters may be Grisha, but it's not going to be about that like the first series.  From what I've heard, it's going to be like the Grisha crossed with The Italian Job or The Lies of Locke Lamora.  Basically, thieves. 

Savages, K.J. Parker 

I believe this is supposed to be a limited edition book from Subterranean Press.  They often don't post any information on it until they have a pre-order system ready.  It doesn't matter as I'll automatically read anything by Parker.

Parker also has a new epic fantasy series coming out from Orbit called The Invincible Sun, but since Orbit usually has information by now, it probably won't come out until 2016.  I'll keep my eye out for anything about it.

February:

Half the World, Joe Abercrombie

 Some people didn't like this very much because it seemed too much like Abercrombie-lite compared to his other work, but I enjoyed it immensely so I'm really looking forward to this one.  This is the second book in the Shattered Seas world.  It's set some years after Half a King and features two new protagonists, though Yarvi does feature in the story somewhat.  

March:

Old Venus, George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

GRRM and Gardner Dozois did another anthology called Old Mars, of stories based on the idea of Mars around the turn of the 20th century.  I'm talking about the Mars of canals and long dead civilizations like in Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles.  This new anthology is the same thing, but of Venus: lush jungles and strange creatures.  

April:

The Grace of Kings, Ken Liu

I'm a huge fan of Ken Liu's short fiction so I'm eagerly awaiting his debut novel nominally styled silkpunk.  

Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods. Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice.

May:

  

The Water Knife, Paolo Bacigalupi

 I've been a fan of Bacigalupi ever since his story collection, Pump Six.  After two young adult novels and a middle school book, The Water Knife is his return to adult fiction.  One of things I like about Bacigalupi is how he makes a story out of current political ideas and this time it looks to be about the struggle over water rights in the American West, 

June:

Nemesis Games, James S.A. Corey

I've really enjoyed all the Expanse books to date.  Looks like this one is going to be another roaring good time!

The Dark Forest, Cixin Liu

I was extremely impressed with Cixin Liu's The Three-Body Problem that I reviewed back in November.  This is the second book in China's biggest-selling hard SF series and I'm looking forward to it.

Radiance, Catherynne M. Valente

I believe this is a novel that was expanded from a short story about a steampunk-era movie director investigating a mystery on old-style Venus.  It's been a while since I saw any info on this, but I'm still really looking forward to Valente's latest.

July:

The Dinosaur Lords, Victor Milan

This has been described as A Song of Ice and Fire with dinosaurs.  For me, more description isn't necessary.  It also helps that it has a kick-ass cover. 

August:

House of Shattered Wings, Aliette de Bodard

I snagged this description by the author via Kate Elliot: "It’s post-Apocalyptic Paris with Fallen angels and Vietnamese dragons.”  So far it's only going to be released in the UK with no US publisher yet.  Looks like I'll be getting from Book Depository.

September:

The Wolf in the Attic, Paul Kearney
Readers of this blog are probably already aware that I'm a huge Paul Kearney fan, having read everything of his except one or two tie-in novels.  This is his latest book.

The novel is set in very early 1930′s Oxford, features Tolkien and Lewis as characters, and is told from the point of view of a lonely 11 year old girl. She’s Greek, a refugee from the sack of Smyrna, and one day discovers a Romany boy in her attic. The boy is a shape-shifter, and becomes her friend. The two begin to explore the world around Oxford, discovering things they never imagined existed. The girl, Anna, is obsessed by the Odyssey, and likens the Romany boy, Luca, to Odysseus.

October:
The Empire Ascendant, Kameron Hurley
Despite some clunky prose and some political background that could have been better explained, I quite loved the first book in the Worldbreaker Saga, The Mirror Empire.  But then I'm a big fan of Kameron Hurley.  Octorber can't get here fast enough.