Every Orbit Book Coming in Winter 2024
January 2024
The Arthur C. Clarke award-winning author of Children of Time brings us the third and final novel in an extraordinary space opera trilogy about humanity on the brink of extinction, and how one man’s discovery will save or destroy us all.
Idris Telemmier has uncovered a secret that changes everything – the Architects’ greatest weakness. A shadowy Cartel scrambles to turn his discovery into a weapon against these alien destroyers of worlds. But between them and victory stands self-interest. The galaxy’s great powers would rather pursue their own agendas than stand together against this shared terror
Human and inhuman interests wrestle to control Idris’ discovery, as the galaxy erupts into a mutually destructive and self-defeating war. The other great obstacle to striking against their alien threat is Idris himself. He knows that the Architects, despite their power, are merely tools of a higher intelligence.
Deep within unspace, where time moves differently, and reality isn’t quite what it seems, their masters are the true threat. Masters who are just becoming aware of humanity’s daring – and taking steps to exterminate this annoyance forever.
The Final Architecture
Shards of Earth
Eyes of the Void
Lords of Uncreation
All she wanted to do was live her life in peace—maybe get a cat, expand the family spice farm. Really, anything that didn’t involve going on an adventure where an orc might rip her face off. But they say the goddess has favorites, and if so, Cin is clearly not one of them.
After Cin saves the demon Fallon in a wine-drunk stupor, Fallon reveals that all he really wants to do is kill an evil witch enslaving his people. And who can blame him? But now he’s dragging Cinnamon along for the ride whether she like it or not. On the bright side, at least he keeps burning off his shirt.…
The Everlorn Empire’s grip on Thanet is tighter than ever. The God-Incarnate himself has arrived on its shores to crush the struggling rebellion and carry out his final, sinister plan: he will sacrifice the entire island in order to rise, reincarnated from its ashes.
The rebellion is struggling to separate allies from enemies, and to figure out a way to stop the slow destruction of everything and everyone they care for. Meanwhile, Cyrus is disappearing deeper beneath the vicious mask of the “Vagrant”. Under the mantle of the legendary assassin, he may be strong enough to take down the Empire, but at what cost?
Panoply is a small, efficient police force, dedicated to maintaining the rule of democracy among the ten thousand disparate city-states orbiting the planet Yellowstone.
Ingvar Tench was one of Panoply’s most experienced operatives. So why did she walk alone and unarmed into a habitat with a vicious grudge against her organization?
As his colleagues pick up the pieces following her death, Prefect Tom Dreyfus must face his conscience. Four years ago, when an investigation linked to one of his most dangerous adversaries got a little too personal, Dreyfus arranged for Tench to continue the inquiry by proxy. In using her, did Dreyfus also put her in the line of fire? And what does Tench’s attack tell him about an enemy he had hoped was dormant?
The Prefect Dreyfus Emergencies
Aurora Rising
Elysium Fire
Machine Vendetta
Discover an epic tale of magic, revenge, and an empire on the verge of ruin in the first ever novel set in the blockbuster universe of League of Legends. Now in trade paperback!
Camavor is a brutal land with a bloody legacy. Where the empire’s knights go, slaughter follows.Kalista seeks to change that. When her young and narcissistic uncle, Viego, becomes king, she vows to temper his destructive instincts, as his loyal confidant, advisor, and military general. But her plans are thwarted when an assassin’s poisoned blade strikes Viego’s wife, Isolde, afflicting her with a malady for which there is no cure.
As Isolde’s condition worsens, Viego descends into madness and grief, threatening to drag Camavor down with him. Kalista makes a desperate gambit to save the kingdom: she searches for the long lost Blessed Isles, rumored to hold the queen’s salvation, if only Kalista can find them.
But corruption grows in the Blessed Isles’ capital, where a vengeful warden seeks to ensnare Kalista in his cruel machinations. She will be forced to choose between her loyalty to Viego and doing what she knows is right–for even in the face of utter darkness, one noble act can shine a light that saves the world.
“In the tradition of the most memorable Greek tragedies, Anthony Reynolds weaves a propulsive tale of love, loss, war, and duty that recalls the adage, ‘the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for the good to do nothing.’ Those familiar with League of Legends know where this story must leave us, but Ruination’s power is that—like all good myths—knowing how it ends is just the beginning.” – Evan Winter, author of The Rage of Dragons
“Ruination is a rousing, intrigue and action rich tale sure to delight fans of fantasy.” – Anthony Ryan, author of The Pariah
“Fast-paced and entertaining epic fantasy – thoroughly enjoyable, and a worthy addition to the world that League of Legends began fleshing out with Arcane. Recommended for fans and newcomers alike.” – James Islington, author of The Shadow of What Was Lost
A #1 International Bestseller • An Amazon Best Book of February 2024 • An IndieNext Pick
“A dark dream of a novel…that feels both timeless and original. Enjoy—and also beware. This fairy tale is deadly.” —Laini Taylor
“A story as darkly wondrous as midnight. Enthralling to the last page.” —Shelley Parker-Chan
“A dark, gorgeous tale of curses, gods and monsters.” —Sangu Mandanna
A curse can be many things. For the Everlys, it begins with stardust.
For centuries, the Everlys have seen their best and brightest disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor, a woman named Penelope, never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.
Violet Everly was a child when her mother, Marianne, left on a stormy night, determined to break the curse. When Marianne never returns, Penelope issues an ultimatum: Violet has ten years to find her mother, or she will take Marianne’s place.
Her hunt leads her into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. And into the path of Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who Violet knows cannot be trusted – and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn.
With her time running out, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began.
Slip into a lush world of magic, stardust, and monsters in this spellbinding standalone fantasy from debut author Georgia Summers.
February 2024
Cheesemaker Brie has the world’s worst luck in love, which is how she ends up falling for a lactose intolerant werewolf, in this raunchy, laugh-out-loud rom-com fantasy by the genre’s freshest new voice, Kimberly Lemming.
Brie’s never been particularly coordinated…or lucky. Who else would accidentally throw a drink at someone’s head only to miss entirely and hit a stranger behind them? And who else would have that stranger fall madly in love with them because it turns out that the drink she threw was a love potion? Yeah, probably just Brie.…
Running her cheese business and dealing with a pirate ship full of demons that just moved into town was hard enough. Now on top of it, she has to convince a werewolf that she’s not really his fated mate. Though even she’s got to admit…having a gorgeous man show up and do all her chores while telling her she’s beautiful isn’t the worst thing to happen to a girl.
THE TIME OF JUDGEMENT IS AT HAND
The Empire of the Wolf is on its knees, but there’s life in the great beast yet.
To save it, Sir Konrad Vonvalt and Helena must look beyond its borders for allies – to the wolfmen of the southern plains, and the pagan clans in the north. But old grievances run deep, and both factions would benefit from the fall of Sova.
Even these allies might not be enough. Their enemy, the zealot Bartholomew Claver, wields infernal powers bestowed on him by a mysterious demonic patron. If Vonvalt and Helena are to stand against him, they will need friends on both sides of the mortal plane—but such allegiances carry a heavy price.
As the battlelines are drawn in both Sova and the afterlife, the final reckoning draws close. Here, at the beating heart of the Empire, the two-headed wolf will be reborn in a blaze of justice . . . or crushed beneath the shadow of tyranny.
Also by Richard Swan:
The Empire of the Wolf
The Justice of Kings
The Tyranny of Faith
The Trials of Empire
From New York Times bestselling author Lilith Saintcrow comes the first book in a thrilling Norse-inspired epic trilogy about ancient myth and magical destiny.
The Black Land is a myth: Centuries have passed since that Great Enemy was slain. Yet old fears linger, and on the longest night of the year, people in the South still light ritual bonfires to banish the dark.
In her village, this duty falls to Solveig, a girl favored by the gods with powerful fire magic. But when her brother kills a Northern lord’s son during the ritual, it is Sol who faces punishment, by being weregild—part hostage, part guest—in the North for a year and a day.
As she journeys to her captivity, Sol starts to realize that the Black Land is no myth. The forests teem with foul beasts. Her travel companions are not what they seem, and their plans for her magic are shrouded in secrecy.
With only her loyal shieldmaiden and her own wits to rely upon, Sol must learn to master her powers and wrest control of her fate. For the Black Land’s army stirs, ready to cover the world in darkness—unless Sol can find the courage to stop it.
The story continues in THE FALL OF WATERSTONE, available July 2024, and in the incredible conclusion DOOM OF THE ELDER, coming soon.
Sumptuous and addictive, An Education in Malice is a dark academia tale of blood, secrets and insatiable hungers from S.T. Gibson, author of the cult hit A Dowry of Blood.
Deep in the forgotten hills of Massachusetts stands Saint Perpetua’s College. 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 magic, Laura and Carmilla must decide how much they are willing to sacrifice in their ruthless pursuit of knowledge.
For more from S.T. Gibson, check out A Dowry of Blood.
AN INTERNATIONAL #1 BESTSELLER
This gloriously imaginative debut fantasy, inspired by East Asian mythology and ocean folk tales, is a novel of magic, rebellion and change.
“An unforgettable, must-read fantasy,”–Shelley Parker-Chan
Welcome to Tiankawi – shining pearl of human civilization and a safe haven for those fleeing civil unrest. Or at least, that’s how it first appears. But in the semi-flooded city, humans are, quite literally, on top: peering down from shining towers and aerial walkways on the fathomfolk – sirens, seawitches, kelpies and kappas – who live in the polluted waters below.
For half-siren Mira, promotion to captain of the border guard means an opportunity to help her downtrodden people. But if earning the trust and respect of her human colleagues wasn’t hard enough, everything Mira has worked towards is put in jeopardy when Nami, a know-it-all water dragon and fathomfolk princess – is exiled to the city, under Mira’s watch. When extremists sabotage a city festival, violence erupts, as does the clampdown on fathomfolk rights. Both Nami and Mira must decide if the cost of change is worth paying, or if Tiankawi should be left to drown.
March 2024
All children are told fairytales. Some are epic adventures with high stakes and exciting twists, while others are tales of pitiful princesses trapped in boring towers pining for their Prince Charmings to come and rescue them. Growing up, Cherry always hated those stories. Why didn’t the princesses just get up and rescue themselves? Little did she know that her own fate would take an ironically similar turn. Because now, here she is. Stuck. In a tower. Turns out, when a dragon holds you hostage, he doesn’t just let you get up and leave.
Who knew?
And just when Cherry thinks she sees hope on the horizon, that hope is smashed to bits by—you guessed it—another damn dragon.
“Dark and dangerous and teeming with romance.” ―Rachel Gillig, New York Times bestselling author of Two Twisted Crowns
“Luxuriantly poetic [and] extravagantly sexy” —Shelf Awareness
Set in a world of perilous magic and moonlit forests, this seductive romantic fantasy debut tells the story of a defiant changeling, her cursed sister, and the dangerous fae lord she must defeat to save her family.
In a kingdom where magic has been lost, Fia is a rare changeling, left behind by the wicked Fair Folk when they stole the high queen’s daughter, Eala, and retreated behind the locked gates of the Folk realm. Rather than leave Fia an outcast, the queen takes her in and trains her to be a spy.
When a hidden gate to the realm is discovered, Fia is tasked by the queen to retrieve the princess and break her curse. Accompanying Fia is Prince Rogan, her dearest childhood friend—and Eala’s betrothed. As they journey through the forests of the Folk, Fia’s mission is complicated by her feelings for Rogan…and an unexpected attraction to the fae lord holding Eala captive.
Soon, Fia begins to question the truth of her origins and the reality of her mission, but time is running out to break Eala’s curse. And unraveling the secrets of the past might destroy everything Fia has come to love.
“An enormously enjoyable book, full of wonderful aliens, a sense of wonder and subtle political commentary on current events.” –Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
It is 4034 AD. Humanity has made it to the stars. Fassin Taak, a Slow Seer at the Court of the Nasqueron Dwellers, will be fortunate if he makes it to the end of the year.
The Nasqueron Dwellers inhabit a gas giant on the outskirts of the galaxy, in a system awaiting its wormhole connection to the rest of civilization. In the meantime, they are dismissed as decadents living in a state of highly developed barbarism, hoarding data without order, hunting their own young and fighting pointless formal wars.
Seconded to a military-religious order he’s barely heard of – part of the baroque hierarchy of the Mercatoria, the latest galactic hegemony – Fassin Taak has to travel again amongst the Dwellers. He is in search of a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer – a war that threatens to overwhelm everything and everyone he’s ever known.
“Banks is a phenomenon…writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.” –William Gibson
“Banks writes with a sophistication that will surprise anyone unfamiliar with modern science fiction.” –The New York Times
For More from Iain M. Banks, check out:The Culture series:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
The State of the Art
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata
“Banks is a phenomenon…writing pure science fiction of a peculiarly gnarly energy and elegance.” –William Gibson
This is a striking addition to the body of Culture lore, and adds definition and scale to the previous works by using the Earth of 1977 as contrast. The stories in the collection range from science fiction to horror, dark-coated fantasy to morality tale. All bear the indefinable stamp of Iain Banks’s staggering talent.
“Few of us have been exposed to a talent so manifest and of such extraordinary breadth.” –New York Review of Science Fiction
“[Banks] can summon up sense-of-wonder Big Concepts you’ve never seen before and display them with narration as deft as a conjuror’s fingers.” –scifi.com
The Culture series:
Consider Phlebas
The Player of Games
Use of Weapons
The State of the Art
Excession
Inversions
Look to Windward
Matter
Surface Detail
The Hydrogen Sonata
Britain, 60AD. Hoping to save her lover, her land, and her people from the Romans, Herla makes a desperate pact with the king of the Otherworld. But years pass unheeded in his realm, and she escapes to find everyone she loved long dead. Cursed to wield his blade, she becomes Lord of the Hunt. And for centuries, she rides, leading her immortal warriors and reaping wanderers’ souls. Until the night she meets a woman on a bloody battlefield—a Saxon queen with ice-blue eyes.
Queen Æthelburg of Wessex is a proven fighter. But when she leads her forces to disaster in battle, her husband’s court turns against her. Yet King Ine needs Æthel more than ever. Something dark and dangerous is at work in the Wessex court. His own brother seeks to usurp him. And their only hope is the magic in Ine’s bloodline that’s lain dormant since ancient days.
The moment she and Æthel meet, Herla knows it’s no coincidence. The dead kings are waking. The Otherworld seeks to rise, to bring the people of Britain under its dominion. And as Herla and Æthel grow closer, Herla must find her humanity—and a way to break the curse—before it’s too late.
Men go to war, gods scheme, and the choices of a queen will change the course of the world, in this powerful sequel to Ithaca from multi-award-winning author Claire North.
On the isle of Ithaca, Queen Penelope maintains a delicate balance of power. Many years ago, her husband, Odysseus, sailed to war with Troy and never came home. In his absence, Penelope uses all her cunning to keep the peace—a peace that is shattered by the return of Orestes, king of Mycenae, and his sister Elektra.
Orestes’s hands are stained with his mother’s blood. Not so long ago, the son of Agamemnon took Queen Clytemnestra’s life on Ithaca’s sands. Now, racked with guilt, he is slowly losing his mind.
Penelope knows destruction will follow in his wake as surely as the Furies circle him. His uncle, Menelaus, the battle-hungry king of Sparta, longs for Orestes’s throne—and if he can seize it, no one will be safe from his violent whims.
Trapped between two mad kings, Penelope fights to keep war from Ithaca’s shores. Her only allies are Elektra and the distant Helen of Troy, Menelaus’s enigmatic wife. And watching over them all is the goddess Aphrodite, who has plans of her own.
Each woman has a secret. And their secrets will shape the world.
April 2024
Journey across the stars of the Imperial Radch universe.
Listen to the words of the Old Gods that ruled the Raven Tower.
Learn the secrets of the mysterious Lake of Souls.
And so much more, in this masterfully wide-ranging and immersive short fiction collection from award-winning author Ann Leckie.
The glittering and dangerous world of the Sainted King’s royal court is upended when Prince Bastian seizes control and a mysterious dark force begins to take over in the second installment of New York Times bestselling series The Nightshade Crown.
The corrupt king August is dead. Prince Bastian has seized the throne and raised Lore—a necromancer and former smuggler—to his right-hand side. Together they plan to cut out the rot from the heart of the royal court and help the people of Dellaire. But not everyone is happy with the changes. The nobles are sowing dissent, the Kirythean Empire is beating down their door, and Lore’s old allies are pulling away. Even Prince Bastian has changed. No longer the hopeful, rakish, charismatic man Lore knows and loves, instead he’s become reckless, domineering, and cold.
And something has been whispering in her ear. A voice, dark and haunting, that’s telling her there’s more to the story than she knows and more to her power than she can even imagine. A truth buried deep that could change everything.
With Bastian’s coronation fast approaching and enemies whispering on all sides, Lore must figure out how to protect herself, her prince, and her country before they all come crumbling down and whatever dark power has been creeping through the catacombs is unleashed.
The incredible return to the New York Times bestselling world of the Night Angel, where master assassin Kylar Stern embarks on a new adventure as the High King Logan Gyre calls on him to save his kingdom and the hope of peace.
“Weeks has been showing other fantasy authors how it’s done for over fifteen years.” — Peter V. Brett, author of The Desert Prince
“Weeks is a giant of the genre.” — Nicholas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld
But Kylar’s best — and maybe only — friend, the High King Logan Gyre, needs him. To protect a fragile peace, Logan’s new kingdom, and the king’s twin sons, he needs Kylar to secure a powerful magical artifact that was unearthed during the war.
With rumors that a ka’kari may be found, adversaries both old and new are on the hunt. And if Kylar has learned anything, it’s that ancient magics are better left in the hands of those he can trust.
If he does the job right, he won’t need to kill at all. This isn’t an assassination — it’s a heist.
But some jobs are too hard for an easy conscience, and some enemies are so powerful the only answer lies in the shadows.
“Weeks writes in an inescapably engaging style. Breathlessly high stakes, terrible missteps, and unexpected revelations keep the story humming along at a breakneck pace.” — Andrea Stewart, author of The Bone Shard Daughter
For more from Brent Weeks, check out:
The Ka’kari Codex
The Night Angel Trilogy
The Way of Shadows
Shadow’s Edge
Beyond the Shadows
The Kylar Chronicles
Night Angel Nemesis
The Night Angel Trilogy: 10th Anniversary Edition
The Way of Shadows: The Graphic Novel
Lightbringer
The Black Prism
The Blinding Knife
The Broken Eye
The Blood Mirror
The Burning White
A vanished star. A haunted film. A mystery only love can unravel…
1968: Gemma Turner once dreamed of stardom. Now the actress is on the cusp of obscurity. When she’s offered the lead in a radical new horror film, Gemma believes her luck has changed—but her dream is about to turn into a nightmare. One night, between the shadows of an alleyway, Gemma disappears on set and is never seen again. Yet, Gemma is alive. She’s been pulled into the film. And the script—and the monsters within it—are coming to life. Gemma must play her role perfectly if she hopes to survive.
2007: Gemma Turner’s disappearance is one of Hollywood’s greatest mysteries—one that’s captivated film student Christopher Kent ever since he saw L’Étrange Lune for the first time. The screenings only happen once a decade and each time there is new, impossible footage of Gemma that shouldn’t exist. Curiosity drives Christopher to unravel the truth. But answers to the film’s mystery may leave him trapped by it forever.
“A sweeping tale of dark magic, artistic obsession, and a love unbound from the limits of time, The Star and the Strange Moon captivates with lush prose and moments of poignant, heartbreaking beauty.” —Paulette Kennedy, author of The Witch of Tin Mountain
For more from Constance Sayers, check out:
A Witch in Time
The Ladies of the Secret Circus
★ An IndieNext Pick
“An underwater treasure-chest to be slowly unpacked, full of things I adore.” —Freya Marske
A charming fantasy set in an underwater world with magical academia and a heartwarming penpal romance, perfect for fans of Emily Wilde’s Encylopaedia of Faeries and The House in the Cerulean Sea.
E. is content with a solitary life in her extraordinary underwater home, until the discovery of a strange, beautiful creature outside her window prompts her to begin a correspondence with renowned scholar Henerey Clel. The letters they share are filled with passion, at first for their mutual interests, and then, inevitably, for each other.
But when a mysterious seaquake destroys E.’s home, she and Henerey vanish.
A year later, E.’s sister Sophy and Henerey’s brother, Vyerin, must piece together the letters, sketches and field notes left behind and learn what their siblings’ disappearances might mean for life as they know it.
“A shimmering, delicately crafted delight.” —H.G. Parry
“A fascinating and charming story told in a uniquely elegant voice.” —Louisa Morgan
“Both the setting and the story are exquisite.” —Megan Bannen
From a rising star in epic fantasy comes the captivating second novel in a trilogy featuring an unlikely team who must find a way to work together and solve an empire-spanning mystery to defend the last place they call home.
Amadea Gintanas and her archivists solved a brutal murder, dispelling a grave conspiracy against the empire in the process. But danger still looms. When Quill and Richa discover the missing bones of a saint in a roadside shrine, the empire’s fragile equilibrium is put at risk. How this precious relic vanished from its sealed vault is a mystery. The threat posed by this theft is all too clear.
The archivists must once again unearth the clues—and quickly. For an old enemy is gathering strength beyond the Salt Wall. And it will not hold him for long.
“Detailed and mysterious, a place to explore and relish. Highly recommended!” ―R. A. Salvatore, author of “The Legends of Drizzt”
For more from Erin M. Evans, check out:
Empire of Exiles