Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Most Anticipated Books For 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature/meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week’s topic is Top Ten Most Anticipated Books for 2013.

A few of these probably won’t come out in 2013; at any rate, they haven’t been scheduled yet.  Where I do know the scheduled publication date, I’ve included it in parentheses.  (Please remember that publication dates are subject to change.)  Here are the top 10 books I can’t wait to read next year, in no apparent order:

1. Codex Born (Magic Ex Libris #2), by Jim C. Hines.  The sequel to Hines’ fantastic (in several senses of the word) Libriomancer.  I can’t wait!  (YA/adult fantasy.  Hardcover.  August 6, 2013)

2. The Runaway King (Ascendance Trilogy #2), by Jennifer Nielsen.  The sequel to The False Prince, which I really enjoyed. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more about Jaron and his kingdom. (MG/YA fantasy.  Hardcover.  March 1, 2013) 

3. Wednesdays in the Tower (Castle Glower #2), by Jessica Day George.  Tuesdays at the Castle is an enchanting romp, a delightfully humorous fantasy for children.  George has a real knack for wonderful children’s and YA fantasy which is equally appealing to adults, so I’m eager to read the further adventures of Celie, Rolf, and Castle Glower.  (MG fantasy. Hardcover. May 7, 2013.)

4. The Sound of Broken Glass (James & Kincaid Mysteries), by Deborah Crombie.  I love the American-born Crombie’s British mysteries, which combine the realism of a police procedural with a delicate, spare tone and a rare compassion.  I discovered Crombie a little over a year ago, and while I’m not yet caught up on the series, I hope to be by the time The Sound of Broken is released.  (Mystery. Hardcover. February 19, 2013.)
 

5. The Fall of Arthur, a previously unpublished epic poem by J. R. R. Tolkien.  Tolkien’s take on King Arthur, in verse reminiscent of the Anglo-Saxon sagas.  Sounds irresistible to this life-long Tolkien and Arthurian mythos fan.

6. Steadfast (Elemental Magic #8), by Mercedes Lackey.  I was a little  disappointed in Lackey’s Home from the Sea; I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t up to her usual (or former) standards.  I do like the premise behind this series of reimagined fairy tales, so I’ll give the next installment a try.  Judging from the title, it looks as if this time she’ll be taking on Andersen’s tale of the Steadfast Tin Soldier. (I hope she gives it a happier ending!) (Fantasy. Hardcover. June 4, 2013)

7. His Majesty’s Hope (Maggie Hope #3), by Susan Elia MacNeal.  The third book in this series will send Maggie undercover behind enemy lines into Germany, where she may encounter her not-so-dead mother, her missing-presumed-dead fiance, or both.  I rather liked Princess Elizabeth’s Spy, so I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next. (Mystery/Thriller. Paperback. May 21, 2013.)

8. Aunt Dimity and the Lost Prince (Aunt Dimity Mysteries), by Nancy Atherton.  All right, I admit it, I’m quite fond of this series.  True, the first few books are the best, but the series as a whole is light, entertaining, and comforting, like a hot cup of tea on a cold afternoon. (Mystery. Hardcover. April 14, 2013.)  [You can read my review of Atherton’s most recent book, Aunt Dimity and the Village Witch, here.]


9. The Arrangement (Survivors’ Club #2), by Mary Balogh.  I read the occasional romance, particularly historical romances, and Balogh’s novels are almost always good.  For reasons unknown (but probably having to do with lackluster sales for hardcover romance, as the ebook market picks up steam), Dell has cancelled the spring hardcover release of this sequel to last May’s The Proposal, and will publish it instead as a paperback and ebook in late October 2013.  (Romance. Mass-market paperback. October 29, 2012.  The Proposal will come out in paperback on June 25, 2013.)

10. Dream Eyes (Dark Legacy #2), by Jayne Ann Krentz.  I like Krentz’s Arcane Society series (written under all three of her pen names).  They aren’t great literature, but they are fast-paced, suspenseful, often humorous, and the paranormal element was intriguing.  I’ve been less impressed with the non-Arcane books she’s been penning in the last year or so, including the first book in the Dark Legacy series, last winter’s Copper Beach.  But I haven’t given up on her yet, so I’ll be interested to see if she’s back on her game in Dream Eyes.  (Paranormal romantic suspense. Hardcover. January 8, 2013.)

11. Collegium Chronicles #5 (untitled), by Mercedes Lackey.  The normally prolific Lackey has only three or four new books scheduled so far for 2013, and none of them is the expected fifth book in this series.  (She doesn’t have a 500 Kingdoms book scheduled, either, although given the mediocrity of Beauty and the Werewolf, that series may be on its way out.)  Lackey has stretched the mystery of Mags’s parentage and past out over four books so far, and the overall story arc clearly has at least one more book to go.  I’m not quite as enamored of the Collegium Chronicles as I am of some of Lackey’s other Valdemar books, but it’s still Valdemar, and I’d really like to find out what’s going to happen after Redoubt.  The Collegium Chronicles have been coming out like clockwork each October; I’m fairly sure that by spring, the fifth one will be announced for next fall.  (YA fantasy. Hardcover. Unscheduled.)


(Did you really expect me to stop at 10?)

And the books I’m going to have to wait a while longer for… The really annoying thing is that these two would head my list if they were definitely coming out in 2013.

12. All Souls Trilogy #3 (untitled), by Deborah Harkness.  I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel to A Discovery of Witches and Shadow of Night. both of which I absolutely loved. Unfortunately for me (and hundreds of thousands of other fans), Harkness doesn’t know when the third book will be completed, which makes a 2013 release unlikely.  (Fantasy. Hardcover & audiobook. Unscheduled)

13. The Doors of Stone (Kingkiller Chronicle #3), by Patrick Rothfuss.  Also unfinished and unscheduled, and therefore unlikely for a 2013 release.  But I’m really, really anxious for this to come out — and I haven’t even finished listening to The Wise Man’s Fear yet!  (Fantasy. Hardcover & audiobook. Unscheduled.)

14. Drachomachia [sequel to Seraphina (title tentative )] by Rachel Hartman.  Seraphina is… well, I’ll let you read my review.  Suffice it to say that I loved it, and I’m excited for the sequel, which Hartman hasn’t finished.  She thinks it may make a 2013 release, but I’m not counting on it yet, as I don’t want to be disappointed. (MG/YA fantasy. Hardcover. Unscheduled.)

15. The new Robin McKinley (working title: Shadows).  I know most people are probably waiting for the sequel to Pegasus, but apparently Shadows stepped up and clamored to be written first.  McKinley writes slowly, but wow, she is good!  There’s no date for Shadows yet, nor much information about it (for someone as wordy as McKinley can be on her blog, she’s kept pretty quiet about this book), but the first draft was finished and turned in a while back, so presumably we’ll see it sometime in 2013.

What about you? Which books are you most eager to read in 2013?

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