Release Week: 11 March 2025

FEATURED PICK:

The Tomb of Dragons: The Chronicles of Osreth: The Cemeteries of Amalo Trilogy, Book 3 by Katherine Addison, read by Liam Gerrard for Macmillan -- My pre-order this week, and again cementing my belief that I could read one of these every year for as long as the author cares to write them. "Thara Celehar has lost his ability to speak with the dead. When that title of Witness for the Dead is gone, what defines him? While his title may be gone, his duties are not. Celehar contends with a municipal cemetery with fifty years of secrets, the damage of a revethavar he’s terrified to remember, and a group of miners who are more than willing to trade Celehar’s life for a chance at what they feel they’re owed."

MORE PICKS:

Luminous By: Silvia Park, read by Eric Yang for Simon and Schuster -- "Set in a unified Korea, the story of three estranged siblings—two human, one robot—as they collide against the backdrop of a murder investigation to settle old scores and make sense of their shattered childhood."
Malinalli: A Novel By: Veronica Chapa, read by Cynthia Farrell for Simon and Schuster -- "An imaginative retelling of the triumphs and sorrows of one of the most controversial and misunderstood women in Mexico’s history and mythology."
The Innkeeper's Song By: Peter S. Beagle, read by Chloe Sommer and Des Yankson for Simon and Schuster -- "The tale of three women of legendary skill on a quest to save the world’s most powerful wizard, and the innkeeper’s assistant whose heartbreak will bear witness."
Rose of Jericho By: Alex Grecian, read by John Pirhalla for Macmillan -- "A supernatural horror where ghosts and ghouls are the least of a witch’s problems in nineteenth-century New England."
The Knight and the Butcherbird: A Short Story By: Alix E. Harrow, read by Aida Reluzco for Audible Originals -- "In this dystopian fairy tale from the New York Times bestselling author of Starling House, a small town’s storyteller struggles to protect a local demon from the knight hired to kill it."

SERIES WATCH:

The Sea Eternal By: Emery Robin, read by Kim Reed and Ella Lynch for Orbit -- "From one of the most original voices in science fiction comes the spectacular sequel to the epic, interstellar love story that began in The Stars Undying."
Waterblack: Cities of the Weft, Book 3 By: Alex Pheby, read by Jay Lafayette Valentine for Recorded Books -- "One thousand million infants are dead, and Nathan Treeves is back. He’s become the Master of Waterblack, the City of the Dead. And Sharli, once a sacrifice, then an assassin, is now a trained God-Killer. She has killed many—but failed in killing Nathan Treeves years ago. Soon she, and the Women’s Vanguard, will have another chance, even as The Master, The Mistress and the Atheistic Crusade hurtle toward their final confrontation."
Galaphile: The First Druids of Shannara by Terry Brooks, read by Will Damron for Random House -- The final Shannara book by Brooks, with Delilah S. Dawson set to take over the reigns of the venerable epic fantasy series. "One of the most iconic structures in the Four Lands is Paranor, the fortress home of the Druid Order. Legend holds that it was erected by an Elven leader known as Galaphile Joss. But who was this Galaphile, and how and why did he choose to establish this center of magic and learning?"

BACKLIST WATCH:

Helliconia Winter: The Helliconia Trilogy, Book 3 By: Brian W. Aldiss (1985), read by Keval Shah for Tantor -- "A civilization crumbles as its planet hurtles away from its star."

INDIE WATCH:

The Bee-ginning: A Dungeon-Core LitRPG: The Bee Dungeon, Book 1 By: Icalos, read by Savy Des-Etages for Podium -- "Belissar has always lived a peaceful life, if not a particularly easy one. Though he lost his parents, he was taken in by a kindly villager who taught him his life's calling: beekeeping. But one day the local lord's ruthless son, Ruckanos, comes to their humble village to claim his own tower, slaughtering everyone. Luckily for Belissar, as he lies dying with an arrow in his back, a tiny worker bee decides to interfere, and he wakes up not only alive but a whole new bee-ing. Turns out his little savior is in actuality a core, and together they've swiped the tower out from under the murderous Ruckanos. Now Belissar is king of his own beehive/dungeon. But with power comes more trouble than he could've imagined. In addition to building and protecting his own monstrous apiary with the help of his fellow bees, he must confront the encroaching doom known as the Hunger that haunts the world and consumes everything in its path, leaving only death."