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When one looks in the box, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the cat.

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Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in a field of tall grass, a sword at your side, a castle in the distance. This is your destiny. This month’s fantasy titles will take you down roads filled with gods and monsters: fearsome dragons awaken in Duncan M. Hamilton’s Dragonslayer; travel to the Mayan Underworld with the god of death in Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia; and enjoy the fourth installment of The Tensorate Series from JY Yang, Ascent to Godhood.

Head below for the full list of fantasy titles heading your way in July!

Keep track of all the new releases here. Note: All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher.

 

WEEK ONE (July 2)

Dragonslayer—Duncan M Hamilton (Tor Books)

With the dragons believed dead, the kingdom had no more need for dragonslayers. Drunk, disgraced, and all but forgotten, Guillot has long since left his days of heroism behind him. As forgotten places are disturbed in the quest for power, and things long dormant awaken, the kingdom finds itself in need of a dragonslayer once again, and Guillot is the only one left…

Protect the Prince (A Crown of Shards Novel)—Jennifer Estep (Harper Voyager)

Everleigh Blair might be the new gladiator queen of Bellona, but her problems are far from over. First, Evie has to deal with a court full of arrogant, demanding nobles, all of whom want to get their greedy hands on her crown. As if that wasn’t bad enough, an assassin tries to kill Evie in her own throne room. Evie’s magic, life, and crown aren’t the only things in danger—so is her heart, thanks to Lucas Sullivan, the Andvarian king’s bastard son and Evie’s… well, Evie isn’t quite sure what Sullivan is to her. Only one thing is certain—protecting a prince might be even harder than killing a queen…

Beneath the Twisted Trees (The Song of Shattered Sands #4)—Bradley P. Beaulieu (DAW)

When a battle to eradicate the Thirteenth Tribe goes awry, the kingdoms bordering the desert metropolis of Sharakhai see the city as weak and ripe for conquest. Çeda, now leader of the Shieldwives, a band of skilled desert swordswomen, hopes to use the growing chaos to gain freedom for Sehid-Alaz, the ancient, undying king of her people. Freeing him is only the beginning, however. Like all the people of her tribe on that fateful night four centuries earlier, Sehid-Alaz was cursed, turned into an asir, a twisted, miserable creature beholden to the kings of Sharakhai—to truly free her king, Çeda must break the chains that bind him.

The Heart of Hell—Wayne Barlowe (Tor Books)

Sargatanas has Ascended and the doomed, anguished souls have found themselves emancipated. Hell has changed…hasn’t it? The demons, wardens of the souls, are free of their inmates. And the damned, liberated from their terrible torments, twisted and bent but thankful that they are no longer forced to be in proximity to their fearsome jailors, rejoice. But something is stirring under the surface of Hell’s ceaseless carnage Is there something older than Hell? Something no demon, born of Heaven or Hell, ever suspected? What new horror, what rough beast, its hour come round at last… could possibly be hidden in Hell?

Ash Kickers (Smoke Eaters #2)—Sean Grigsby (Angry Robot)

With ex-firefighter Cole Brannigan in command of the Smoke Eaters, the dragon menace is under control. Thanks to non-lethal Canadian tech, the beasts are tranquilized and locked up, rather than killed. But for Tamerica Williams, this job filled with action and danger, has become tediously routine. When a new threat emerges, a legendary bird of fire—the Phoenix – it’s the perfect task for Williams. But killing the Phoenix just brings it back stronger, spreading fire like a plague and whipping dragons into a frenzy. Will it prove to be too much excitement, even for adrenalin-junkie Williams?

Crowfall (Ravens Mark #3)—Ed McDonald (Ace)

In the third gritty installment of the Raven’s Mark series, Blackwing Captain Ryhalt Galharrow finds that all power comes with a price. A sorcerous cataclysm has hit the Range, the final defensive line between the republic and the immortal Deep Kings. Tormenting red rains sweep the land, new monstrosities feed on fear in the darkness, and the power of the Nameless, the gods who protect the republic, lies broken. Ryhalt Galharrow stands apart from it all. He has been deeper into the wasteland known as the Misery than ever before. It has grown within him–changed him–and now the ghosts of his past, formerly confined to the Misery, walk with him everywhere. They will even follow him–and the few surviving Blackwing captains–on one final mission into the darkness.

 

WEEK TWO (July 9)

Eye Spy (Valdemar Family Spies #2)—Mercedes Lackey (DAW)

Mags, Herald Spy of Valdemar, and his wife, Amily, the King’s Own Herald, are happily married with three kids. Their daughter, Abidela, dreams of building on her parents’ legacy by joining her father’s network of spies, hoping to offset her seeming lack of a Gift. But when Abi senses the imminent collapse of a bridge only moments before it happens, she saves countless lives, including that of her best friend, Princess Katiana. The experience, though harrowing, uncovers her unique Gift—an ability to sense the physical strains in objects. Intrigued by the potential of her Gift, the Artificers seek to claim her as their own—but only the Healers can train her. With the help of her mentors, she must hone her gift to uncover the hidden secrets in the depths of Valdemar.

The Sum of All Shadows (The Testament Series #4)—Eric Van Lustbader (Forge)

For millennia, Lucifer―the Sum of All Shadows―has been rebuilding his influence. At long last, he is ready to enact his ultimate revenge against Heaven. To do that, he must first annihilate the world and its inhabitants. To save the world, Bravo and Emma Shaw have recovered the lost Testament, battled across continents, and fought adversaries both powerful and terrifying. But nothing that has come before can prepare them for the Final Battle. As predicted centuries ago, the End Times has arrived. Lucifer, heading an infernal army, means to destroy the Shaws once and for all. Now, racing to find the lost treasure of King Solomon’s alchemical gold, Bravo and Emma must put their trust in strangers in strange lands. But even if they are successful, their lives may still be forfeit…

David Mogo, Godhunter—Suyi Davies Okungbowa (Abaddon)

LAGOS WILL NOT BE DESTROYED. The gods have fallen to earth in their thousands, and chaos reigns. Though broken and leaderless, the city endures. David Mogo, demigod and godhunter, has one task: capture two of the most powerful gods in the city and deliver them to the wizard gangster Lukmon Ajala. No problem, right?

Age of Legend (Legends of the First Empire #4)—Michael J Sullivan (Grim Oak)

After years of warfare, humanity has gained the upper hand and has pushed the Fhrey to the edge of their homeland, but no farther. Now comes the pivotal moment. Persephone’s plan to use the stalemate to seek peace is destroyed by an unexpected betrayal that threatens to hand victory to the Fhrey and leaves a dear friend in peril. Humanity’s only hope lies in the legend of a witch, a forgotten song, and a simple garden door.

 

WEEK THREE (July 16)

The Border Keeper—Kerstin Hall (Tor.com)

Vasethe, a man with a troubled past, comes to seek a favor from a woman who is not what she seems, and must enter the nine hundred and ninety-nine realms of Mkalis, the world of spirits, where gods and demons wage endless war. The Border Keeper spins wonders both epic―the Byzantine bureaucracy of hundreds of demon realms, impossible oceans, hidden fortresses―and devastatingly personal―a spear flung straight, the profound terror and power of motherhood. What Vasethe discovers in Mkalis threatens to bring his own secrets into light and throw both worlds into chaos.

The Rage of Dragons (The Burning #1)—Evan Winter (Orbit)

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Their society has been built around war and only war. The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men is able to magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine. Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He’s going to get himself injured, get out early, and settle down to marriage, children, and land. Only, he doesn’t get the chance. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path. He’ll become the greatest swordsman to ever live, a man willing to die a hundred thousand times for the chance to kill the three who betrayed him.

 

WEEK FOUR (July 23)

Gods of Jade and Shadow— Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)

The Jazz Age is in full swing, but Casiopea Tun is too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house to listen to any fast tunes. Nevertheless, she dreams of a life far from her dusty small town in southern Mexico. Yet this new life seems as distant as the stars, until the day she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it—and accidentally frees the spirit of the Mayan god of death, who requests her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother. Failure will mean Casiopea’s demise, but success could make her dreams come true. In the company of the strangely alluring god and armed with her wits, Casiopea begins an adventure that will take her on a cross-country odyssey from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City—and deep into the darkness of the Mayan underworld.

Desdemona and the Deep—C. S. E. Cooney (Tor.com)

The spoiled daughter of a rich mining family must retrieve the tithe of men her father promised to the world below. On the surface, her world is rife with industrial pollution that ruins the health of poor factory workers while the idle rich indulge themselves in unheard-of luxury. Below are goblins, mysterious kingdoms, and an entirely different hierarchy.

Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2)—Fonda Lee (Orbit)

On the island of Kekon, the Kaul family is locked in a violent feud for control of the capital city and the supply of magical jade that endows trained Green Bone warriors with supernatural powers they alone have possessed for hundreds of years. Beyond Kekon’s borders, war is brewing. Powerful foreign governments and mercenary criminal kingpins alike turn their eyes on the island nation. Jade, Kekon’s most prized resource, could make them rich—or give them the edge they’d need to topple their rivals. Faced with threats on all sides, the Kaul family is forced to form new and dangerous alliances, confront enemies in the darkest streets and the tallest office towers, and put honor aside in order to do whatever it takes to ensure their own survival – and that of all the Green Bones of Kekon.

The Adventure of the Innsmouth Mutations (Sherlock Holmes vs. Cthulhu #3)—Lois H. Gresh (Titan)

Both Fitzgerald and Moriarty travel to Innsmouth, the stronghold of the cult of the Old Ones. Holmes and Watson follow them across the ocean and discover a structure designed to enable the Old Ones to flood into our world and unleash horrors that–unless stopped–will annihilate all of humanity. Yet when it is destroyed people continue to mutate and go mad. Cthulhu rises over Devil Reef, ready to unleash his minions. In an epic battle–logic vs. brawn–Holmes must defeat Cthulhu and permanently seal the deadly dimensions.

The Wolf’s Call—Anthony Ryan (Ace)

Vaelin Al Sorna is a living legend, his name known across the Realm. Yet whispers have come from across the sea—rumours of an army called the Steel Horde, led by a man who believes himself a god. Vaelin has no wish to fight another war, but when he learns that Sherin, the woman he lost long ago, has fallen into the Horde’s grasp, he resolves to confront this powerful new threat. To this end, Vaelin travels to the realms of the Merchant Kings, a land ruled by honor and intrigue. There, as the drums of war thunder across kingdoms riven by conflict, Vaelin learns a terrible truth: that there are some battles that even he may not be strong enough to win.

 

Week Five (July 30)

The Ascent to Godhood (The Tensorate Series #4)JY Yang (Tor.com)

The Protector is dead. For fifty years, the Protector ruled, reshaping her country in her image and driving her enemies to the corners of the map. For half a century the world turned around her as she built her armies, trained her Tensors, and grasped at the reins of fate itself. Now she is dead. Her followers will quiver, her enemies rejoice. But in one tavern, deep in rebel territory, her greatest enemy drowns her sorrows. Lady Han raised a movement that sought the Protector’s head, yet now she can only mourn her loss. She remembers how it all began, when the Protector was young, not yet crowned, and a desperate dancing girl dared to fall in love with her.

Relics — The EdgeTim Lebbon (Titan)

There exists a secret and highly illegal trade in mythological creatures and their artifacts. Certain individuals pay fortunes for a sliver of a satyr’s hoof, a gryphon’s claw, a basilisk’s scale, or an angel’s wing. Embroiled in the hidden world of the Relics, creatures known as the Kin, Angela Gough is now on the run in the United States.

Forty years ago the town of Longford was the site of a deadly disease outbreak that wiped out the entire population. The infection was contained, the town isolated, and the valley in which it sits flooded and turned into a reservoir. The truth—that the outbreak was intentional, and not every resident of Longford died—disappeared beneath the waves.

Now the town is revealed again. The Kin have an interest in the ruins, and soon the fairy Grace and the Nephilim leader Mallian are also drawn to them. The infection has risen from beneath silent waters, and this forgotten town becomes the focus of the looming battle between humankind and the Kin.

The Ember Blade (The Darkwater Legacy #1)—Chris Wooding (Gollancz)

Aren has lived by the rules all his life. He’s never questioned it; that’s just the way things are. But then his father is executed for treason, and he and his best friend Cade are thrown into a prison mine, doomed to work until they drop. But what lies beyond the prison walls is more terrifying still. Rescued by a man who hates him yet is oath-bound to protect him, pursued by inhuman forces, Aren slowly accepts that everything he knew about his world was a lie. The rules are not there to protect him, or his people, but to enslave them. A revolution is brewing, and Aren is being drawn into it, whether he likes it or not. The key to the revolution is the Ember Blade. The sword of kings, the Excalibur of his people. Only with the Ember Blade in hand can their people be inspired to rise up… but it’s locked in an impenetrable vault in the most heavily guarded fortress in the land. All they have to do now is steal it…

Rotherweird (Rotherweird Series #1)—Andrew Caldecott (Jo Fletcher Books)

1558: Twelve children, gifted far beyond their years, are banished by their Tudor queen to the town of Rotherweird. Some say they are the Golden Generation; some say the devil’s spawn. But everyone knows they are to be revered–and feared. Four and a half centuries later, cast adrift from the rest of England by Elizabeth I and still bound by its ancient laws, Rotherweird’s independence is subject to one disturbing condition: no one, but no one studies the town or its history. Then an Outsider arrives, a man of unparalleled wealth and power, enough to buy the whole of Rotherweird–deeply buried secrets and all…

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