One unexpected but really cool thing that’s come about recently from being a writer is that I’ve gotten the chance to read some books before they’re available to the general public. Having read four books that release in March, I thought it would be fun to share some of that and to write a little bit about them.

Some caveats up front. I know all four of these authors to some extent. That’s not unusual for me, though. I know a lot of authors. Also, authors (or agents, or publishers) tend to send you their books early because they are hoping you’ll say something good about them. In these cases, I went out of my way to get the ARCs. Three of them I actively sought out (One I actually got via a charity auction), and one my agent got for me because she knows that I loved the first two books in the series.

To put it in another context: I read every page of the four books in this post. I’m not someone who would continue to read a bad book. I don’t have time for that, even for people I know.

One really cool thing about these four books is how they span the spectrum of publishing. There’s one huge book, one medium sized press, one small press, and one self-published book. That wasn’t intentional. It just worked out that way.

So without further ado, here are some books that come out in March that I enjoyed, listed in order of date of publication.

March 6th. CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE by Tomi Adeyemi. This is the big one, of course. You’ve probably heard about it. It’s one of the biggest YA releases of the year, and will likely be on awards lists next year. It’s been covered everywhere from Teen Vogue to Entertainment Weekly. Amazon currently has it ranked as “#1 New Release in Teen and Young Adult Prejudice and Racism Fiction.” I understand that ranking, but if you looked at it as just that, that would be a serious disservice.

First and foremost, this is a great fantasy novel. It’s got outstanding world building, a great African setting, and young characters in compelling situations, fighting to overcome long odds. It also happens to address some huge issues about oppression. The brilliance of it is that even while it’s accomplishing the latter, it never feels heavy handed. It’s a great story with great characters, and they just happen to be dealing with some very real-world problem. It’s an important book, but don’t dare call it an ‘issue book.’

The story is told from three points of view. Two of them will be familiar to fantasy readers; The underprivileged girl rebelling against the regime and the princess in disguise. The third POV really makes the story unique. He’s a Jaubert type character, assigned to track down the other two, but what it does is puts us in the head of the oppressor. We see the insidious thoughts that drive the oppression, how he’s been programmed to think a certain way, yet somehow the author keeps him sympathetic. There will be times when you simultaneously want to hug him and punch him in the throat.

Set aside some time for this one. At 600 or so pages, it’s not a fast read, but you’re also not going to want to put it down. It’s a good way to blow a weekend.

Bottom line, this is a must read in the genre, even if you are like me and don’t read a ton of YA. You can pre-order it here: Amazon  B&N E Shaver

Note: E Shaver is a lovely independent bookstore in Savannah. You’ll pay a bit more, but if you’re someone who can afford it, they are worthy of support.

March 6th. SMOKE EATERS by Sean Grigsby.

This book is published by Angry Robot, who aren’t quite a top 5 publisher, but for me in the SFF world they’re right at #6. They put out so many good books. Last year from them I read Kameron Hurley, Foz Meadows, K.C. Alexander, and I’m sure there are more I’m forgetting.

They’re pitching this book as firefighters vs. dragons, and that’s exactly what you get. Dragons are real and living on a 22nd century earth that has seen some hard times. Imagine that you had gopher problems, where gophers tunneled up from the ground and ruined your yard and got into your house. Now imagine that those gophers were giant, fire-breathing dragons. These aren’t your regular fantasy dragons, sitting on hoards of gold. They tend to come in packs and infest neighborhoods until everything is ash.

That’s where the smoke eaters come in. They’re a special branch of the fire department–sort of like the FBI to the police–and they come in with their super-high tech gear and almost super-human firefighters and do battle with the dragons to save the suburbs. Of course there’s more to it than that (though seriously, that’s enough to make it fun right there.) Different political groups aim to use the dragons for their own purposes, and the fire chief turned smoke eater main character is caught in the middle of all of it. There are twists and turns all over the place.

One of the best parts of the book is that the author is a firefighter himself, which adds the kinds of authentic touches that I love in a book.

Note: If you pre-order this book, Angry Robot is donating one dollar of the proceeds from each sale to The Leary Firefighters Foundation.

You can pre-order it here: Amazon B&N Angry Robot

March 15th. WEAVER’S FOLLY by Sarah Madsen. This is a small press release from Curiosity Quills, and appears right now to only be available in digital formats (Bonus, though: It’s only $4.99!)

Elves are real and living in Atlanta. Well…not exactly. There’s an alternate dimension ruled by elves with access portals into the city, but some elves, including our heroine, choose to live among the humans. Also Atlanta is filled with cyberpunk awesomeness and plasma rifles. There’s also magic in many forms, one of which is the weaving mentioned in the book’s title.

So it’s kind of a cyberpunk/urban fantasy mash up, with a heist plot as the main story (That’s the part that really got me. I’m such a sucker for heist books.) There’s a powerful corporation in play, elf politics, a shady (and fun!) sidekick, and enough twists and turns where you won’t put this down in the third act. Try to figure out how it all ties together before you reach the end. Go ahead. I dare you.

And that doesn’t even take into account the various elementals raging through the city in search of the heroine’s head. There’s so much going on here that it’s a super quick read. The first person prose is sharp, and the voice is outstanding. There might be room for a sequel, but this book stands perfectly on its own, so I don’t know if that’s in the plan or not.

You can pre-order the digital version here: Amazon

March 20th. ALLY by K. Eason. Last but not least we have our indie release. This is a self-published book, though with the help of JABberwocky Literary Agency, so I don’t really know what to call it in that regard. Also, I’m represented by JABberwocky, and they’re awesome, so if you want to take that into consideration one way or the other, now you know.

I can honestly say this is one of the books I’ve been most looking forward to for the last two years. It’s different from the others on this page in that it’s the third book in a trilogy. So when I got a surprise email from my agent asking me if I wanted a free copy, my two word response was ‘Hell Yeah.’ Literally.

This might be the best fantasy series you have never heard of. The first two books, ENEMY, and OUTLAW, came out in 2016 with 47 North (Amazon) and I loved them. I assumed other people would love them too and that we’d soon have the final book in the trilogy. But for reasons understood only by Amazon, they didn’t publish the third book. Fast forward two years, and now we’ve got it. I just finished this last night, and I think it might be the best book of the three, and that’s saying something since I loved the first two.

The trilogy is Roman based, and the author really understands the time period. If you’re a history nerd like me, you’ll recognize some of the real world struggles of that empire in the bones of this story. This is multi-POV, third person fantasy, and the writing is flawless. If you’re a writer, you could study it for the craft alone. But I think my favorite part of the series is the characters. Yes, they have to save society, but they fight for each other. Their relationships develop throughout the three books, and they just feel so real. Their feelings for each other are complex, and they change, and not just the ones who are romantically involved. There is a great woman/woman friendship story embedded in this, with two women who aren’t really sure that they like each other all the time. I can’t say much more than that, having just read book three, without spoiling it.

All that said, you definitely can’t read this without reading the other two books first. So budget some time. You won’t regret it.

Note: Books one and two are also available in audio-book.

You can buy book one, here: Enemy
If you’ve already read the other two, you can pre-order book three, here: Ally

A note. I’m not planning on this being a regular feature. I happened to get a bunch of books early and I happened to have the time to read them all. That won’t come together very often. Please don’t send me unsolicited books. With that said, I do love to read and talk about SF and F books, so if you think you’ve got something I’d like, hit me up and lets talk about it. With that said, with my massive pile of books to read, I tend to take stuff, especially indie stuff, by referral.

And while you’re here, you can always pre-order my book, PLANETSIDE. You know. Because that would be cool. It comes out in July. I hear it’s pretty good. I might be biased.

Tags: bookblog, New fantasy, New science fiction, SF, SFF