New releases: From The Daughters of Izdihar to Long’s Barrow of Winter and City of Nightmares. These are the 14 most anticipated new fantasy books of January 2023
Child queens, Egyptian aristocrats, doomed lovers, god slayers and toothy punk rockers. From YA romance to dark adult fantasies – these are the latest and most anticipated new fantasy books in January.
14 New Fantasy Books in January 2023
The Stolen Heir
3 Jan 2023
The first of two new Elfhame books, Holly Black’s new Young Adult novel sees Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, hiding from her royal past in the human world. But her charming, beautiful and manipulative former betrothed, Prince Oak, finds her and has a proposition. Can she guard her heart, avoid the horrors she sought to leave behind and face a new threat from Lady Nore’s icy north? All in The Stolen Heir.
Genre Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Fae, Fairies, Fantasy Romance, Paranormal, Urban Fantasy
Author Holly Black | Home born New Jersey, US; lives Amherst, Massachusetts, US
Publisher Bonnier Zaffre Ltd. | Buy it
A Ruinous Fate
3 Jan 2023
Kaylie Smith’s debut novel follows Calliope Rosewood. Cursed with such terrifying powers, she’d been forced to desert her coven and live on the run from a secret prophecy: that she would be the one to destroy the world and her people, and eradicate magic forever. But now, there might be a chance to alter her fate – though she’ll have to face many new temptations and ultimately decide if choosing what’s best for herself is worth damning everyone else, in A Ruinous Fate.
Genre Fantasy, Young Adult, Romance, Witches, LGBTQ, Paranormal
Author Kaylie Smith | Home Louisiana, US
Publisher Disney Hyperion | Buy it
Unseelie
3 Jan 2023
In her debut novel, Ivelisse Housman weaves a YA fantasy tale about two sisters. One is a professional thief and the other a changeling – both on the run for different reasons. The thief is in pursuit of a legendary treasure, while the changeling is seeking answers about her true identity and a sense of belonging among both the fae who created her and the humans who reject her, in Housman’s Unseelie.
Genre Fantasy, Young Adult, Fae, Disability, Fairies, Autistic, Romance, Paranormal
Author Ivelisse Housman | Home Blue Ridge Mountains, US
Publisher Harlequin | Buy it
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night
3 Jan 2023
What a treat! This new xianxia duology (Chinese fantasy inspired by Buddhism, Taoism and mythology) sees Lan struggling to uncover the secrets of her colonised kingdom’s past – because they might hold clues to the hidden powers within herself. Aided by magician Zen, she journeys to the Last Kingdom in search of answers and a way to overthrow their oppressors. But they must confront their own secrets as they unearth the potential for great power, as it could just as easily liberate their land as bring about its destruction. More in Song of Silver, Flame Like Night.
Genre Fantasy, Young Adult, Mythology, Dragons, High Fantasy, Magic, Asian Literature
Author Amélie Wen Zhao | Home childhood Beijing, China; lives New York, US
Publisher Random House Children’s Books | Buy it
Hell Bent
10 Jan 2023
Billed as one of Amazon’s most recommended new books of 2023, the second instalment in Bardugo’s Alex Stern series sees Alex hellbent on breaking Darlington out of purgatory. But she can’t call on the university’s Ninth House (from the first book, set to be adapted by Amazon Studios into the new Ninth House TV show) this time and must assemble a rogue squad of dubious allies to help decipher the secrets to accomplishing this feat. When university faculty members start to die off, though, she realises there’s more to this than meets the eye. In Hell Bent.
Genre Fantasy, Adult, Mystery, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Thriller, Horror, New Adult
Author Leigh Bardugo | Home born Jerusalem, Israel; lives US
Publisher Flatiron Books | Buy it
The Daughters of Izdihar
10 Jan 2023
Hadeer Elsbai’s debut novel is the first in a duology set in a modern-Egyptian-inspired world where Nehal, a spoiled aristocrat, and Giorgina, a poor bookshop worker, discover they have more in common than they thought. They want to stand up for women’s rights. And they both can wield forbidden elemental magic to do it. Look out for The Daughters of Izdihar.
Genre Fantasy, Young Adult, LGBT, Adult, Urban Fantasy
Author Hadeer Elsbai | Home Queens, New York, US
Publisher HarperCollins | Buy it
Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries
10 Jan 2023
A Cambridge professor’s quest to create the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore leads to the small town of Hrafnsvik. A rival academic, Wendell Bambleby, charms the townspeople and hampers her search. But the investigation into the Hidden Ones also yields clues about Wendell’s true intentions. And to solve that mystery, Emily must confront her own feelings.
Genre Fantasy, Romance, Adult, Historical Fiction, Fairies, Magic
Author Heather Fawcett | Home Vancouver, Canada
Publisher Random House Worlds | Buy it
City of Nightmares
10 Jan 2023
This YA fantasy set in a Gotham-like city run by crooked politicians and sinister cults sees a cowardly girl embroiled in a criminal syndicate conspiracy. But this city is also a place where dreaming means becoming your worst nightmare – like in Strange the Dreamer. And clearing her name will mean confronting terrible monsters, including some of her own in this City of Nightmares.
Genre Fantasy, Young Adult, Horror, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Vampires, Dystopia, Dark
Author Rebecca Schaeffer | Home Canada
Publisher HarperCollins | Buy it
Lost in the Moment and Found
10 Jan 2023
Can lost innocence be reclaimed? Even discovering the place where all lost things go, Antoinette cannot find the one thing she is looking for, in Seanan McGuire’s standalone novella, Lost in the Moment and Found.
Genre Fantasy, Young Adult, Novella, Adult, Urban Fantasy, Magical Realism, LGBTQ
Author Seanan McGuire | Home California, US
Publisher Tor Publishing Group | Buy it
Barrow of Winter
17 Jan 2023
When an endless and maddening night cloaks the frozen northern land, the last Daughter of Winter returns from her new home in the warm southern lands to see her former people and siblings teetering on the brink of mad violence. It will take everything she has to prevent the madness from spreading. And do so before the spring winds blow, for then the sons and daughters of Winter will bring her southland to its knees, in Barrow of Winter.
Genre Adult, High Fantasy
Author HM Long | Home Ontario, Canada
Publisher Titan | Buy it
(Set yourself a reminder on this page: Barrow of Winter release date.)
The Keeper’s Six
17 Jan 2023
Space, time, dragonlords – they have nothing on this parent’s love. Even being banned from travelling the “Beyond” can’t stop spell-slinger mother Esther from assembling her magical party to go into it and find her captured son in The Keeper’s Six.
Genre Fantasy, Dragons, Adult, Science Fiction, Magic
Author Kate Elliott | Home Hawaii, US
Publisher Tor Publishing Group | Buy it
Godkiller
19 Jan 2023
A former champion of the god wars must trick a slayer of gods, a young girl and an unkillable god into coming back to the city of fallen shrines – without any of them figuring out the reason for this strange new quest. All in the new fantasy book, Hannah Kaner’s Godkiller.
Genre Fantasy, Adult, Mythology, LGBTQ, High Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Young Adult
Author Hannah Kaner | Home United Kingdom
Publisher HarperCollins UK
Spice Road
24 Jan 2023
In the first book of an epic fantasy series set in an Arabian-inspired world, 16-year-old Imani must use her skills and knowledge of secret spice magic to protect her nation from the monsters lurking in the sands. When her brother, the person she trusts most, betrays the country and becomes its greatest threat, Imani is determined to find him and bring him back to the right path, in Maiya Ibrahim’s Spice Road.
Genre Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, High Fantasy, Mythology, Asian Literature
Author Maiya Ibrahim | Home Sydney, Australia
Publisher Random House Children’s Books | Buy it
Vampire Weekend
31 Jan 2023
Being a vampire kinda sucks… There’s no flying or turning into bats, no murdering (ever!) and, for loner vamp Louise Chao, just blood bags, terrible night jobs and enjoying decades of punk rock from afar. Unless she can find a way to hide her “dark” nature and start her own band… Why not? All in Mike Chen’s Vampire Weekend.
Genre Horror, Vampires, Fantasy, Adult, Paranormal, Supernatural
Author Mike Chen | Home San Francisco, US
Publisher MIRA | Buy it
Note: I try my best to get every bit of info I can, and will keep updating this page all the time. If you know of an author and book that should be on this list, let me know at elvorne@scifixfantasy.com and I’ll make it happen.
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