Best recent fanatsy debuts (or thoughts on these books)?

[Jussi]

Out of the "new" authors I think I have "the incorruptibles", "blood song" "malice" and "emperor's blades" on my kindle.

I enjoyed John Gwynne's Malice quite a lot. Haven't read the sequel Valour yet.

[The She Wolf]

I have only read blood song of that list and absolutely loved it. I thought it would be one of my favorite fantasy series, but the sequel didn't quite live up to the same standards. The transition from Blood Song to Tower Lord felt like ASOS to AFFC.

[Spockydog]

I enjoyed John Gwynne's Malice quite a lot. Haven't read the sequel Valour yet.

Man, I love those books. Gwynne writes some of the most stirring battle scenes in the genre.

[SkynJay]

Unwrapped Sky by Rjurik Davidson (stuck at 26%) - ditto

Unwrapped Sky really is a Bas Lag Lite type of book. A blend of weird and politics with a heavy emphasis on the illusion of power. Personally it worked for me, but Tor reviewer Liz Bourke called it a lot of words without substance. It is not a character driven novel nor an action one, I doubt you will find it gets better if not already enjoying it.

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett is getting a lot of hype as well. I haven't read it yet but I'll get to it at some point in the near future.

Awesome book, I can't push it on people hard enough. But not really a debut, Bennett is a critical darling who is finally get a push and some buzz with this book.

Which leaves me wondering a bit about what criteria the OP has. How 'new' are you looking for? And do you want only debuts or are you looking at new series from existing names?

No matter, I will through out a few anyway, sticking to debuts I enjoyed.

-Three Parts Dead by Max Gladstone - First of a loosly connected series that follows a new cast in each book(three so far). Gods are real but not all powerful tale; in the the debut a god is so ingrained in a city that his sudden death could spell the city's demise.

-The Barrow by Mark Smyle - I am the only one on the board who like this one (I think) but still put it out there. Major disclaimer for sexual themes but a fairly strait forward quest tale that of course starts twisting the standard tropes around.

-The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer - I may be pushing it with the 'new' label on this one because it came out three years ago but a real nice series in which a mountain outfitter tries to smuggle something out of a city of magic. Nightshade's demise kinda killed its momentem I think, and the author is going to self publish the final book in the trilogy next year.

[Darth Richard II]

I keep forgetting aBout the narrow. I should read that next.

[Mark Lawrence]

I've made a decision to not read any debut until it's been out for a couple of years....let the hype die down and see what people are still talking about years later*. However I keep seeing these authors show up on sites I visit and people keep raving about them which makes them hard to ignore. Could be good marketing, too. Which would you say is the best of these?

Anthony Ryan - Blood Song

Brian McClellan - Promise of Blood

Django Wexler - The Thousand Names

Brian Staveley - The Emperor's Blades

Probably the newest author I've read is Mark Lawrence, whom I no longer see as one of the new boys, what with four published books under his belt. What are your thougts on the above series, or any other recent debuts?

NoooooooOOoooo! I'm still new!

Blood Song (the only one of those I've read (it's very good)) was first published at the same time as my début. Prince of Thorns came out in 2011.

I think Mark Lawrence and Adrian Tchaikovsky were the most impressive of the recent batch but they've both been around 4-5 years now.

Prince of Thorns came out August 2011. That's 3 years ago :P

On the 'old and dusty' pile already... that 'new gloss' doesn't last long :)

[polishgenius]

I've gotta second SkynJay's recommendation of Courtney Schafer. I loved Whitefire Crossing. And Three Parts Dead is well good too.

On the 'old and dusty' pile already... that 'new gloss' doesn't last long :)

When you've already finished one series and started on the next, you're no longer new.

Maybe you should write slower. Don't finish the book, Mark! :P

[Mark Lawrence]

I've gotta second SkynJay's recommendation of Courtney Schafer. I loved Whitefire Crossing. And Three Parts Dead is well good too.

I'm also a fan of Courtney Schafer's Whitefire Crossing, Mark Alder's Son of the Morning, and John Hornor Jacobs' The Incorruptibles - all fine books. Though again, all three of those authors have been in print as long or longer than I have.

[benpeek]

I keep poking at The Godless at B&N, but I'm always leery of anything that gets promoted as the next BIG THING.

Edit: Also, aren't Mark Alder and Ben Peek established authors in the genre already?

That so made my day. It really did - no lie.

I appreciate the shout out Ancalangantheblack. Much thanks.

Anyhow, I wasn't gonna comment, but I saw Lawrence was here and I thought, ah, fuck it, might as well. It starts with one, y'know.

Unwrapped Sky really is a Bas Lag Lite type of book. A blend of weird and politics with a heavy emphasis on the illusion of power. Personally it worked for me, but Tor reviewer Liz Bourke called it a lot of words without substance. It is not a character driven novel nor an action one, I doubt you will find it gets better if not already enjoying it.

I dug Unwrapped Sky, for what it's worth. I've known Rjurik for years, so I went to it pretty willing to like it, but there's a lot of cool stuff in the book, from the world building, to the politics, etc. I'd call it a character driven novel, but also a revolutionary one - for the people stuck early, I think it does change from the start (the minotaur's drop out, for example) but everyones mileage varies on these things, so...

I've been keen to give the Gwynne books a look at, but otherwise on the list of debuts, I'm pretty low on the 'have read these' books that are listed here. No matter how I try to keep it, seems I never can.

[Seli]

...I've been keen to give the Gwynne books a look at, but otherwise on the list of debuts, I'm pretty low on the 'have read these' books that are listed here. No matter how I try to keep it, seems I never can.

Welcome :).

That is how I already feel on the 'I own them and should read them' books, both physical and in ebook, before even thinking about all the other interesting works out there. For example I've yet to even start Above/Below that has been in my ereader library for close to a year now :( And yet I keep buying more.

[benpeek]

Welcome :).

That is how I already feel on the 'I own them and should read them' books, both physical and in ebook, before even thinking about all the other interesting works out there. For example I've yet to even start Above/Below that has been in my ereader library for close to a year now :( And yet I keep buying more.

Yeah, I'm much the same, but I long ago figured it was alright. It's a little harder for things to fall out of print completely now, since a lot of authors put up their backlist, but the independent stuff like Above/Below tends to come and go pretty quickly. There's also something nice about hearing about an author and realising you have a book or two buried away you always meant to read, and there you are.

Anyhow, hope you dig Above/Below when you get to it.

[Shinrei]

I quite enjoyed the debut of Mark T. Barnes. His Echoes of Empire serie was also shortlisted for a Morningstar-Award so i guess other people share my enthusiasm for the series ;)

Here's his webpage if you want to take a look: http://www.marktbarnes.com/ , there's also a goodreads page here: https://www.goodreads.com/series/107356-echoes-of-empire

[Werthead]

The Grim Company by Luke Scull was pretty solid as an opening.

Anyone read The Black Guard and The Dark Blood by AJ Smith? The first one is on the reading pile.

[Guinevere Seaworth]

I haven't read any of the new books that the OP was seeking opinions on.

I plan on reading The Barrow soon. I'd much rather read explicit sex than violence in my books!

Has anyone read The Copper Promise by Jen Williams? The synopsis sounded interesting but it only seems to be available in the UK. There are no paper or ebook versions (my preference) in Canada.

[David Selig]

Mary Rickert's debut novel The Memory Garden is pretty great. Not surprising considering she has been one of the the top short fiction writers in SFF for more than a decade.

[AncalagonTheBlack]

I appreciate the shout out Ancalangantheblack. Much thanks.

Nice to see you here. :) Does the 2nd book have a title yet ? When can we expect it ? :D

Anyone read The Black Guard and The Dark Blood by AJ Smith? The first one is on the reading pile.

I've read both. Both were average and if you've been reading epic fantasy for a long time you're not missing much.

Has anyone read The Copper Promise by Jen Williams? The synopsis sounded interesting but it only seems to be available in the UK. There are no paper or ebook versions (my preference) in Canada.

I read it back in February and quite liked it.It's a quest/adventure fantasy with likable characters,if you're looking for a fast ,fun read give it a try.

[RedEyedGhost]

This thread shows me just how little epic fantasy I've been reading lately. I do own a few of them because they were free or $1.99 on kindle, but haven't had much desire to read them. I also have my eye on several, like John Horner Jacobs' because his Southern Gods was fantastic, and Bennett's because it's getting such good reviews, and Schafer's because of the good reviews - but I'm waiting for the third to be published. The only books I've actually read that are mentioned in this thread are Gladstone's Three Parts Dead an that felt more like urban fantasy, and Lawrence's first book (but that wasn't for me so I haven't read any further).

Eh, Wolfsangel is marked heavy as fantasy everywhere I've ever seen. It was published by Pyr for fucks sake.

Yes, they are most definitely what I would consider epic fantasy. They just happen to not be in a secondary world.

[benpeek]

Nice to see you here. :) Does the 2nd book have a title yet ? When can we expect it ? :D

Ta. I'm a terrible lurker in regards to these things, as you can see by my amazing amount of posts ;)

As for the second book, yeah: it's called Leviathan's Blood. It's due back from my editor soon, so it'll get a bit of a rewrite and a fix of bits that I need to fix, but it's nothing serious. It'll be out next year at the end of July, start of August - no firm date just yet, but that's when it'll be. I have a decent gap between book and release from the way Tor UK scheduled it, which is nice, so all three should roll out at regular yearly lots. Should being the word, of course.

[peterbound]

Ta. I'm a terrible lurker in regards to these things, as you can see by my amazing amount of posts ;)

As for the second book, yeah: it's called Leviathan's Blood. It's due back from my editor soon, so it'll get a bit of a rewrite and a fix of bits that I need to fix, but it's nothing serious. It'll be out next year at the end of July, start of August - no firm date just yet, but that's when it'll be. I have a decent gap between book and release from the way Tor UK scheduled it, which is nice, so all three should roll out at regular yearly lots. Should being the word, of course.

Well, I make a point of buying the books of the folks that post on here.. .so Boom! Got a sell

Hope it's good.

[benpeek]

Well, I make a point of buying the books of the folks that post on here.. .so Boom! Got a sell

Hope it's good.

Much appreciated, man.