Highly Anticipated 2024 Fantasy Releases
It’s a new year which means new books and there are definitely some highly intriguing ones coming out that we at The Imaginarium are looking forward to reading. Most of these books release in the first quarter and as we go through 2024 we’ll make sure to keep you updated on new releases when we find out about them. If you would like to pre-order any of these pop us a message. I know I’ll definitely be getting a few if not all of these books.
Starting off the year we have Faebound by Saara El-Arafi, the author of The Final Strife. Faebound is the start of a new fantasy romance trilogy. Set in a world of Fae, Elves and Humans, we follow Yeeran a member of the Elven Army. All She knows is violence, while her little sister Lettie is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future.
After one fatal mistake, Yeeran is exiled from the Elven lands and both are forced into the frightening wilderness beyond the safety of the Elven borders. It’s there that they encounter the impossible, a myth: the Fae Court. The Fae haven’t been seen for a millenium but Yeeran and Lettie are both thrust into their lustrous world and become torn between their loyalties to each other, their elven home and their hearts.
Faebound comes out on the 18th of January.
City of Stardust by Georgia Summers. For centuries, Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor is a woman named Penelope, who never ages, never grows sick - and never forgives a debt. Ten years ago, Violet Everly's mother left to break the curse, and never returned.
Now Violet must find her mother, or she will be taken in her place. Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods, and monsters bent on revenge.
City of Stardust Comes out on the 25th of January.
Coming up shortly after we have the third book in the Crescent City series by Sarah J Maas, House of Flame and Shadow. For those who may not have read the series or who have not read or finished the second book I won’t go into detail too much the synopsis for House of Flame and Shadow as it most definitely contains spoilers for the plot if you aren’t up to date.
We continue to follow our main character Bryce who has landed herself in an unexpected situation with no idea how she’s going to get out of it or who she can trust.
House of Flame and Shadow comes out on the 30th of January.
Moving into February we have Bride by Ali Hazelwood. This is one of my most anticipated reads for 2024. Ali Hazelwood is one of my favourite romance authors and now she’s coming out with a romantasy, probably leaning more towards romance and paranormal than fantasy but it’s staying on the list! Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast - again.
Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold an historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange - again. . . Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception.
Bride comes out on the 6th of February.
Sunbringer by Hanner Kaner. The long awaited sequel to Godkiller finally arrives! The first book, if you haven’t read it, follows Kissena who became a godkiller after her family were killed by a fire god. She enjoys killing the gods who stole her life from her until she meets Skedi, a god of white lies, has somehow bound himself to a young noble, and they are both on the run from unknown assassins.
Joined by a disillusioned knight on a secret quest, they must travel to the ruined city of Blenraden, where the last of the wild gods reside, to each beg a favour. Pursued by demons, and in the midst of burgeoning civil war, they will all face a reckoning something is rotting at the heart of their world, and only they can be the ones to stop it.
Sunbringer comes out on the 15th of February.
An Education in Malice by S.T. Gibson. This is a dark academia tale of blood, secrets and insatiable hungers from the author of A Dowry of Blood. Saint Perpetua's College is isolated and ancient, it is not a place for timid girls. Here, secrets are currency, ambition is lifeblood, and strange ceremonies welcome students into the fold.
On her first day of class, Laura Sheridan is thrust into an intense academic rivalry with the beautiful and enigmatic Carmilla. Together, they are drawn into the confidence of their demanding poetry professor, De Lafontaine, who holds her own dark obsession with Carmilla.
But as their rivalry blossoms into something far more delicious, Laura must confront her own strange hungers. Tangled in a sinister game of politics, bloodthirsty professors and dark magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.
An Education in Malice comes out on the 15th of February.
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown. This is the story of Cassie Andrews, a completely normal bookseller living a completely normal life until she is gifted a special book by a favourite customer. At the very front there is a handwritten message to Cassie, telling her that this is the Book of Doors, and that any door is every door.
Soon she and her best friend Izzy are exploring all that the Book of Doors can do, swept away from their quiet lives by the possibilities of travelling to anywhere they want.
But the Book of Doors is not the only magical book in the world. There are other books that can do wondrous and dreadful things when wielded by dangerous and ruthless individuals - individuals who crave what Cassie now possesses.
The Book of Doors comes out on the 15th of February.
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal. On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by dark, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—and she can’t do the job alone.
Calling upon a band of misfits, Arthie formulates a plan to infiltrate the dark and glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not every member of her crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it.
A Tempest of Tea comes out on the 22nd of February.
Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff. Who isn’t excited for this book?! The long wait for the sequel to Empire of the Vampire is almost over after three years of waiting. The entire Imaginarium team and many of our bookclub members are ecstatic to find out where Gabe’s journey goes after the end of the first.
In Empire of the Vampire, Gabriel De Leon is forced to tell his story, the story of his childhood, the silversaints, his first loves, lost loves and his victories against the Vampires while being held prisoner for execution. This is a tremendous book full of action, heartache and vampires reimagined in an entirely fresh way. If you haven’t read it, it is one of The Imaginarium’s number one recommendations.
Empire of the Damned comes out on the 29th of February.
The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black. The sequel to The Stolen Heir which was the first book in the spin off duology that brings us all back to the much loved world of The Cruel Prince series, Elfhame. The first book follows one familiar character from the original trilogy, Oak headed out on a mission that will take him North and he’ll need the assistance of a new character, Suren, child queen of the court of teeth.
The Prisoner’s Throne comes out on the 5th of March.
The Hemlock Queen by Hannah Whitten. The second book in the Nightshade Crown epic romantasy series. The first book follows Lore who escaped a cult when she was thirteen years old. Her one rule since: don’t let them find you. That’s not so easy when her death magic ties her to the city and the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.
The Hemlock Queen comes out on the 11th of April.
The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo. In a shabby house, on a shabby street, in the new capital of Madrid, Luzia Cotado uses scraps of magic to get through her days of endless toil as a scullion. But when her scheming mistress discovers the lump of a servant cowering in the kitchen is actually hiding a talent for little miracles, she demands Luzia use those gifts to better the family's social position.
What begins as simple amusement for the bored nobility takes a perilous turn when Luzia garners the notice of Antonio Pérez, the disgraced secretary to Spain's king. Still reeling from the defeat of his armada, the king is desperate for any advantage in the war against England's heretic queen—and Pérez will stop at nothing to regain the king's favor.
The Familiar comes out on the 11th of April.