Books to look forward to in 2014

It’s been a little while since I’ve done one of these, so I thought I’d take a quick look at some good books due out later this year.

Words of Radiance is the second book in the Stormlight Archive, by Brandon Sanderson. It’s going to be a mega-series (probably 10+ books), so be warned (or enticed, as your taste determines). Way of Kings, the first instalment, is probably my favourite of Sanderson’s books. It was bloody enormous, and had some very cool ideas. Here and there I was less taken with it (some interludes did not grab me), but overall I liked it a lot. 

Sworn in Steel is the second Tale of the Kin, by Douglas Hulick. The date has (like Words of Radiance, actually) been pushed back a bit, but at the moment it’s pencilled in for about halfway through this year. The first book introduced the protagonist Drothe, and a pretty interesting world. It was a good read, and I’m looking forward to seeing how things go (my suspicion is Bronze Degan will not be in this book, but will be in book 3, but that’s just a guess).

Half a King, by Joe Abercrombie. This is an entirely new work by Mr. Abercrombie, and I believe it’s entirely separate to the First Law world (unlike his trilogy and stand-alone works to date). The entries on his blog suggest it’ll have more of a Young Adult (YA) feel to it. Which puts me in a quandary. I really like his stuff (Red Country was one of my favourite books in 2012), but I’m generally less into YA. I’ll probably download a sample and see what I think.

Malevolence will be an anthology of ghost stories from new publisher Tickety Boo Press. There are many contributors (twenty plus, I think), including Ian Whates, Toby Frost, and a handsome young man called Thaddeus White.

The last book is actually out in 2015, but when checking the release date for one of the other books I happened to see it and had to include it. The Bastards and the Knives contains two prequel novellas in the Gentleman Bastards series and is, of course, by Scott Lynch. Now, Republic of Thieves was delayed quite a lot, but I’m hopeful this will come out on time(ish). The time period covered will have Locke, Jean, Caldo and Galdo as well as Bug in the gang, and will be something to look forward to.

Thaddeus