Autumn is my favorite time of year. It’s the prefect season for rainy weather, crisp mornings, pots of hot tea, soft blankets, and cozying up with a good book. When I’m not reading during fall, I spend a lot of my free time hitting up bookstores to add to my ever-expanding TBR shelves. This autumn has some big names dropping new books, so I’ll share with you which ones I plan on taking home with me.

My preferences generally swing towards fantasy, sci-fi, horror, and mysteries. But I do enjoy a good non-fiction from time to time and have been known to escape into a middle grade tale. If you want to preorder any of the titles I’ve shared below, feel free to hit the links. I don’t get any compensation for them.

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September (Late) Releases

The Golden Enclaves
_{Author: Naomi Novik
Release Date: September 27th}

Galadriel ‘El’ has made it out of the Scholomance alive, along with every one of the other students. She’s thwarted the prophecy and saved the enclavers and avoided turning into some “monstrous dark witch” to do it. Things should be good for her, but fate is cruel and El finds that she must now fight to save the enclaves from a new, bigger threat, and rescue Orion from the Scholomance. She just escaped the school, but now she needs to find a way back inside.

The Golden Enclaves is the third and final part to the The Scholomance trilogy.

I’m looking forward to the ending of this trilogy. I enjoyed the first to books quite a bit with the dark academia vibes and interesting magic system. While this book is tagged as Young Adult and involves students, it does not necessarily read as a book for younger people. Some themes are on the darker side (being a malificer for example) and I highly recommend checking it out, even if you’re an older reader like me.

Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult, Magic, Dark Academia

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Powell’s | Goodreads

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Starry Messenger Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization
_{Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Release Date: September 20th}

Bringing a “cosmic perspective and the rationality of science” to the forefront of our political and cultural views, Dr. Tyson shares his insights on resolving global conflict.

This is probably the only non-fiction book I’m anticipating this year. I’ve long admired his ability to share ideas and education in easy ways and look forward to hearing what he has to say on more terrestrial topics.

Genres: Nonfiction, Science, Philosophy, History

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Powell’s | Goodreads

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October Releases

Dead Man’s Hand
_{Author: James J. Butcher
Release Date: October 11}

Most anticipated debut novel by James J. Butcher is an urban fantasy take on a timeless fantasy trope: the student solves the murder of his mentor. Following in his father’s (Jim Butcher) footsteps, James spins a mysterious, action packed tale of magic, danger, murder, and adventure all set in lovely city of Boston.

I cannot wait to get my hands on this novel! The Unorthodox Chronicles are setting up to be another big winner in our library collection. We’re huge fans of James’ father, Jim, and expect to see big things with that kind of lineage. The story itself sounds right out of Jim Butcher’s playbook, which we love!

Genres: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Mystery, Paranormal, Magic

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Powell’s | Goodreads

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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – The Illustrated Edition
_{Author: JK Rowling // Illustrators: Jim Kay & Neil Packer
Release Date: October 11}

Long-awaited release of the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. If you’re a fan of the Harry Potter world and have not yet checked these illustrated books out, then please hurry down to your local bookstore and flip through one (or all of them)! Jim Kay & Neil Packer have done a phenomenal job with perfecting the artwork for these volumes. Their attention to detail and unique styles bring the books to life in a way the movies never could.

Genres: Fantasy, Children’s, Magic, Adventure

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Powell’s | Goodreads

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November Releases

The Cloisters
_{Author: Katy Hays
Release Date: November 1}

A young college student finds herself in a summer job working for The Cloisters, an off shoot of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She buries herself in her work to avoid a painful past, and soon finds that she is knee-deep in a “dangerous game of power, seduction, and ambition” all revolving around a 15th-century deck of Tarot Cards she finds, which may or may not hold the key to predicting the future.

Another debut novel that I’m looking forward to reading this fall. It checks off so many loves of mine: Dark Academia, Tarot, Sinister Plots, Medieval Art, and Magic. I can’t wait for this one.

Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Gothic, Dark Academia, Thriller

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Powell’s | Goodreads

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The Serpent in Heaven
_{Author: Charlaine Harris
Release Date: November 15}

Felicia, the young sister of Lizbeth Rose, is the blood donor keeping Tsar Alexei alive, yet her lineage is doing nothing to raise her status in the Holy Russian Empire. She goes to school, where she is viewed as a charity case due to possessing no magic skills of her own. She is treated as nothing more than a necessary function put up with for the Tsar’s benefit. That is until Felicia is kidnapped. In a tale of twists and turns, we find that there’s more to the young Felicia than meets the eye. As her secrets unravel and we get a glimpse of who she really is, her future may be in more danger than she ever could have imagined.

The 4th book in the Gunnie Rose series, this tale deviates from previous books where Gunnie Rose was the MC. Here, Felicia takes center stage and I’m looking forward to seeing how Charlaine Harris portrays the young Russian-Mexican girl. She has been a firecracker in previous volumes and I see more of that coming in The Serpent in Heaven.

Genres: Fantasy, Westerns, Magic, Thriller

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Powell’s | Goodreads

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December Releases

Ashes of Man
_{Author: Christopher Ruocchio
Release Date: December 6}

Rumors that Hadrian Marlowe is dead flit through the galaxy. The Prophet-King of the Cielcin has sent its armies to wipe out the worlds of men. The Emperor is in danger, with no where to hide. Hadrian finds himself in the company of Valka and together they must stop the evil that is coming to invade Imperial space.

Book 5 of the Sun Eater series jumps right in with the action and adventure. Christopher Rouccio is probably the best author find of the year for me. His work is elegantly written, excellently detailed, and full of action packed sci-fi fun. If you’re into fantasy + sci-fi mashups, then check out his work starting with Empire of Silence.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Powell’s | Goodreads

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Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen – D&D
_{Authors: Wizards of the Coast
Release Date: December 6}

Introducing the Dragonlance setting to 5th edition D&D with a focus on the legendary War of the Lance. This adventure book is meant for characters level 1-11. Players are able to take part of mass battlefield play, with options to enhance encounter gameplay through use of the Warriors of Krynn board game (Deluxe Edition only). Includes new updates such as Dragonlance setting, kender race, new feats, new backgrounds, and a new magic-user subclass.

We’re stoked for this release. We have all the Dragonlance novels and are huge D&D players so this mash up release really rubs me the right way. Can’t wait to get my hands on it and start planning our next campaign!

Genres: Roleplay, Fantasy, Adventure

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Roll 20

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