Skip to content
Answering Your Questions About Reactor: Right here.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Everything in one handy email.
When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

Reactor

Books Fiction Affliction

Fiction Affliction: March Releases in Fantasy

By

Published on February 27, 2012

New fantasy book releases in March 2012
New fantasy book releases in March 2012

Fantasy fans can look forward to 13 new titles in March, including the start of a new series from Elizabeth Bear, and new entries in ongoing series by Anne Bishop, Naomi Novik, Raymond E. Feist, Hilari Bell, Galen Beckett, Helen Lowe, and Jon Sprunk. Fans of Rick Riordan’s Kane Chronicles will bliss out on the colorful Kane Chronicles Survival Guide…sure, you can pretend it’s your kids doing the activities. We’ll believe you.

Fiction Affliction details releases in science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, paranormal romance, and “genre-benders.” Keep track of them all here.

WEEK ONE

 

Masters of the Veil, by Daniel A. Cohen (March 1, Spencer Hill)

Life can’t get much better for Sam Lock. Every guy at Stanton High School wishes he were Sam. That is, until his championship football game, when Sam accidentally links with an ancient source of energy known as the Veil and reveals his potential to become a powerful sorcerer. Sam is whisked off to Atlas Crown, a community of sorcerers who utilize the Veil as a part of everyday life. Once there, he trains beside a mute boy who speaks through music, an eternal sage who’s the eyes and ears of the Veil, and a beautiful girl who’s pretty sure Sam’s an idiot. As it becomes clear Sam’s meant for power magic—the most feared and misunderstood form of sorcery—people beyond Atlas Crown learn of his dangerous potential. Young Adult.

Emperor Mollusk vs. The Sinister Brain, by A. Lee Martinez (March 5, Orbit)

Emperor Mollusk: Intergalactic Menace. Destroyer of Worlds. Conqueror of Other Worlds. Mad Genius. Ex-Warlord of Earth. Not bad for a guy without a spine. But what’s a villain to do after he’s done everything? With no new ambitions, he’s happy to pitch in and solve the energy crisis or repel aliens invaders should the need arise, but if he had his way, he’d prefer to be left alone to explore the boundaries of dangerous science. Just as a hobby, of course. Retirement isn’t easy though, especially with the presence of a legendary death cult and an up-and-coming megalomaniac who have marked Emperor for their own nefarious purposes.

Bridge of Dreams (Ephemera, Book 3), by Anne Bishop (March 6, Roc)

When wizards threaten Glorianna Belladonna and her work to keep Ephemera balanced, her brother Lee sacrifices himself in order to save her—and ends up an asylum inmate in the city of Vision. But a darkness is spreading through Vision, perplexing the Shamans who protect it. And Lee is the only one who can shed any light on its mysteries.

Crucible of Gold (Temeraire, Book 7), by Naomi Novik (March 6, Del Rey)

The British government enlists Captain Will Laurence and Temeraire to negotiate a peace with the angry Tswana, who have besieged the Portuguese royal family in Rio—and as bait, there’s an offer to return Laurence to his former rank in the Aerial Corps. The dragon Temeraire is delighted by this reversal of fortune, but Laurence knows from experience that personal honor and duty to one’s country do not always run parallel. Laurence and Temeraire—joined by the egotistical fire-breather Iskierka and the still-growing Kulingile, who has already surpassed Temeraire in size—embark for Brazil, only to meet with a string of unmitigated disasters that leave the dragons and their human friends in the hostile territory of the Inca empire.

 

WEEK TWO

The Steel Seraglio, by Mike Carey, Linda Carey and Louise Carey (March 13, ChiZine)

The sultan Bokhari Al-Bokhari of Bessa has 365 concubines—until a violent coup puts the city in the hands of the religious zealot Hakkim Mehdad. Hakkim has no use for the pleasures of the flesh: he condemns the women first to exile and then to death. Cast into the desert, the concubines must rely on themselves and each other to escape from the new sultan’s fanatical pursuit. But their goals go beyond mere survival: with the aid of the champions who emerge from among them, they intend to topple the usurper and retake Bessa from the repressive power that now controls it. But even if they succeed, their troubles will just be beginning—because their most dangerous enemy is within their own number.

A Crown Imperiled (The Chaoswar Saga, Book 2), by Raymond E. Feist (March 13, Harper Voyager)

War rages in Midkemia but behind the chaos there is disquieting evidence of dark forces at work. Jim Dasher’s usually infallible intelligence network has been dismantled; nowhere is safe. He feels that the world is coming apart at the seams and is helpless to protect his nation. Quiet palace coups are underway in Roldem and Rillanon, and King Gregory of the Isles has yet to produce an heir. In each kingdom a single petty noble has risen from obscurity to threaten the throne. An unknown player appears to be orchestrating these conflicts. Can Pug and the Conclave of Shadows track down this source before Midkemia is destroyed?

Chrysanthe, by Yves Meynard (March 13, Tor)

Christine, the princess and heir to the real world of Chrysanthe, is kidnapped as a small child by a powerful magician and exiled in a Made World that is a version of our present reality. In exile, she undergoes bogus memory recovery therapy, through which she is forced to remember childhood rape and abuse by her parents and others. She is stunted emotionally by this plot, but at seventeen discovers it is all a lie. Christine escapes with a rescuer, a knight from Chrysanthe, in a chase across realities. Once home, the magical standoff caused by her exile is broken, and a war begins, in spite of the best efforts of her father, the king, and his wizard, Melogian.

 

WEEK THREE

Traitor’s Son (Raven Duet, Book 2), by Hilari Bell(March 20, Houghton Mifflin Children’s)

In Trickster’s Girl, when Kesla’s journey comes to an end, she passes the pouch and the quest on to someone else. She picks Jason, a native boy she thinks will be able to finish the job. But in fact, a family feud has cut Jason off from his traditional roots, and he is even more doubtful and resistant than Kesla was. But Raven, now a beautiful girl, manages to convince Jason this is something he must do if he wants to heal his family and the earth. Young Adult.

The Kane Chronicles Survival Guide, by Rick Riordan (March 20, Hyperion)

A primer on Riordan’s bestselling series. Including lenticulars, an easy-to-assemble trading card pyramid, and full-color diagrams and maps, this deluxe survival guide teaches readers how to compile secret messages, read hieroglyphics, and cast ancient magic spells. Nonfiction. Middle Grade.

 

WEEK FOUR

Range of Ghosts, by Elizabeth Bear (March 27, Tor)

Temur, grandson of the Great Khan, is walking away from a battlefield where he was left for dead. He is now the legitimate heir to his grandfather’s throne, but he is not the strongest. Once-Princess Samarkar is climbing the thousand steps of the Citadel of the Wizards of Tsarepheth. She was heir to the Rasan Empire until her father got a son from a new wife. Now she has renounced her worldly power to seek the magical power of the wizards. These two will come together to stand against the hidden cult that has so carefully brought all the empires of the Celadon Highway to strife and civil war. First in a new series.

The Master of Heathcrest Hall (Mrs. Quent, Book 3), by Galen Beckett (March 27, Spectra)

As her husband is about to attain undreamed-of power, Ivy Quent fears for her family’s safety. With war looming and turmoil sweeping Altania, Ivy finds the long-abandoned manor on the moors a temporary haven. But nowhere is really safe. An even greater peril is stirring deep within the countryside’s green estates. As Ivy dares an alliance with a brilliant illusionist and a dangerous lord, she races to master her forbidden talents and unravel the truth at the heart of her land’s unrest—even as a triumphant, inhuman darkness rises to claim Altania for its own.

The Gathering of the Lost (Wall of Night, Book 2), by Helen Lowe (March 27, Harper Voyager)

Tarathan of Ar and Jehane Mor ride into the great city of Ij in time for its grand Festival of Masks. But soon after their arrival they witness a terrible slaughter as their fellow heralds are targeted and assassinated. They must flee for their lives across the city as they discover Swarm agents attempting to destabilize the River Cities network for their own ends. And five years after her great flight from the Derai Wall, Malian remains hidden to those who seek her. But she has not been idle. Her goal is to muster all Derai magic users that have fled into exile rather than face destruction.

Shadow’s Master (Shadow Saga, Book 3), by Jon Sprunk (March 27, Pyr)

The northern wastes… A land of death and shadow where only the strongest survive. Yet that is where Caim must go to follow the mystery at the heart of his life. Armed only with his knives and his companions, he plunges into a world of eternal night where the sun is never seen and every hand is turned against him. Caim has buried his father’s sword and found some measure of peace, but deep in the north an unfathomable power waits. To succeed on this mission, Caim will have to more than just survive. He must face the Shadow’s Master.


Author Suzanne Johnson is a book geek with a fondness for a good dystopia. Her new urban fantasy series, scheduled to begin with the release of Royal Street on April 10 by Tor Books, is set in New Orleans during and after Hurricane Katrina. Find Suzanne on Twitter.

About the Author

About Author Mobile

Suzanne Johnson

Author

Urban fantasy author with a new series, set in immediate post-Katrina New Orleans, starting with ROYAL STREET on April 10, 2012, from Tor Books. Urban fantasy author with a new series, set in immediate post-Katrina New Orleans, starting with ROYAL STREET on April 10, 2012, from Tor Books.
Learn More About Suzanne
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
5 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments