Most eagerly anticipated 2009 SFF titles

I've been receiving quite a few emails asking me what's on my "to read" list for 2009. Let's just say that next year is shaping up to be what could well be the best SFF year ever. Off the top of my head, here are a few "can't miss" novels for me:

- Patrick Rothfuss' The Wise Man's Fear (Canada, USA, Europe)


- R. Scott Bakker's The Judging Eye (Canada, USA, Europe)


- Ian McDonald's Cyberabad Days (Canada, USA, Europe)

- Scott Lynch's The Republic of Thieves (Canada, USA, Europe)


- George R. R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons (Canada, USA, Europe)

Add to that Steven Erikson's Dust of Dreams, Joe Abercrombie's Best Served Cold, Robin Hobb's Dragon Keeper, and L. E. Modesitt, jr.'s first volume in a new fantasy series, Imager (Canada, USA, Europe). Brian Ruckley's final volume in The Godless World trilogy should also see the light, and the same can be said of Tad Williams' Shadowrise.

All that and much, much more!;-)

Roll on 2009!!!

10 commentaires:

Anonymous said...

what is this Dragon keeper by Robin Hobb you speak of?

Patrick said...

It's the new stand-alone Rainwilds novel (set in the same environment as The Liveship Traders trilogy).

Amit said...

You forgot A Memory of Light. But you are right 2009 is shaping up to be a blockbuster year.

Anonymous said...

Let's hope you're right about A Dance with Dragons...

Anonymous said...

I would add

David Anthony Durham - The Other Lands
Daniel Abraham - The Price of Spring
Ricardo Pinto - The Third God

to that list...

Anonymous said...

It's gonna be an awesome year for fantasy - which makes up for what seems a below-par year so far this time out. Hopefully some good debutants, too...

Oh, and Butcher should have one too, no?

Anonymous said...

Books I'm anticipating:

January 2009
Lois McMaster Bujold, Horizon (Sharing Knife #4)
various, Mean Streets (ss)

February 2009
Patricia Briggs, Bone Crossed (Mercy Thompson #4)
Scott Lynch, The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard #3)
Carrie Vaughn, Kitty and the Dead Man’s Hand (Kitty Norville #5)

March 2009
Larry Gonick, Cartoon History of the Modern World Part 2
Carrie Vaughn, Kitty Raises Hell (Kitty Norville #6)

April 2009
Jim Butcher, Turn Coat (Dresden #11)
Sarah Monette, Corambis (Doctrine of Labyrinths #4)
Patrick Rothfuss, The Wise Man's Fear (Kingkiller #2)

May 2009
Scott Lynch, The Bastards and the Knives (Gentleman Bastard collection)
Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker (Warbreaker #1)

other 2009
C.E. Murphy, Cauldron Bourne (Walker Papers #4)
Laura Resnick, Dopplegangster (Manhattan Magic #2)
Brandon Sanderson, Alcatraz Versus the Knights of Crystallia (Alcatraz #3)

Adam Whitehead said...

Amongst the 2009 debutants, the outstanding one at the moment, at least for American readers, is Peter V. Brett's The Warded Man (already out in the UK as The Painted Man). It doesn't do any thing too radically new, but what it does do it does well.

My list is:

Dance with Dragons by GRRM
The Judging Eye by R. Scott Bakker
The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett
Watcher of the Dead by JV Jones
Cyberabad Days by Ian McDonald
The Fall of Thanes by Brian Ruckley
The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
The City & The City by China Mieville
The Price of Spring by Daniel Abraham
A Memory of Light by Jordan and Sanderson
The Cold Commands by Richard Morgan
Shadowrise by Tad Williams
The Traitor by Peadar O Guilin
A Time of Disdain by Andrzej Sapkowski
Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson
Warrors, ed. by GRRM and Gardner Dozois
Ark by Stephen Baxter
Traitor's Gate by Kate Elliott
The Rats and the Ruling Sea by Robert VS Redick
The Edge of Ruin by Melinda Snodgrass
Malice by Chris Wooding
The Ace of Skulls: A Tale of the Ketty Jay by Chris Wooding
The Quiet War by Paul J. McAuley (actually out in just a few weeks, but WTH?)

Lynch's Bastards and the Knives may also come out in late 2009, given how fast Subterrenean can turn around books when they put their minds to it, although that would put a UK publication back all the way to 2011. Given that Lynch hasn't even reportedly started work on the B&K yet, and the delay in RoT has also delayed the rest of the series, he may want to get cracking on with The Thorn of Emberlain first, to make sure that comes out in 2010.

Philip Pullman is allegedly aiming The Book of Dust for 2009, but given how long he's been working on that, I'll believe it when I see it.

Most interesting is the news that David Brin is working on another big SF disaster novel in the vein of Earth. Brin's been promising a new book for the better part of a decade (supposedly first a sequel to Kil'n People and then a new Uplift book), so it'll be interesting to see what he's come up with, assuming it comes out next year.

Anonymous said...

Personally, I'm most looking forward to The Cold Commands, Richard Morgan's second fantasy after The Steel Remains (scheduled to be released Sept, 2009). Of course I realize this won't be one of the books you're most looking forward to, as you didn't think much of TSR. BTW, I totally disagree with your review of TSR--I absolutely loved it. I wonder if you'd read it after your European trip instead of hurredly reading just before you left, if you'd have a different opinion.

Alex said...

It's been so long, I'll have to reread the rest of the cycle to prepare for A Dance with Dragons. Although, wasn't the release of the last book delayed for a year or so? I'd hate to have all that prep work go to waste.

This is the first time I've heard of Bakker creating a second trilogy to follow on The Prince of Nothing (just wikied it). Excellent! I was disappointed by the abrupt and unresolved way the first trilogy ended.

I'll definitely be awaiting Steven Erikson's novel, but I'll pass on Rothfuss's new one: the sequel was incredibly underwhelming, for being so highly reviewed.