The most anticipated fantasy and romantasy releases of January 2027:
- Ledger of Souls by Olena Nikitin, 27 January 2027, Slavic epic fantasy with a romantic subplot, trilogy opener
- Forsaken Crown by Jenna Wolfhart, 5 January 2027 US, 7 January 2027 UK, Red Tower
- A Court of Forgotten Melody by Sarah J. Maas, 12 January 2027, Bloomsbury, ACOTAR book seven
- Deathsworn by Meg Smitherman, 12 January 2027 US, 14 January 2027 UK, gothic necromantasy
- We Who Will Rise by Stacia Stark, 21 January 2027 UK, 16 March 2027 US, Empire of Blood book two
- Merciful Carnage by Sara Hashem, 2 February 2027, Orbit, dark fantasy romance duology opener
January is the month publishers save their heavy artillery for. Everyone is broke, cold and hiding indoors, which turns out to be excellent reading weather. Six books are worth clearing your shelf for, and one of them is mine, so let us get the awkward part over with first.
Ledger of Souls
Yes, I wrote this one. No, I am not sorry.
Vidiana Toraven cuts open corpses for a living and hides a royal artefact under her floorboards. Ten years ago the bastard prince chose her in front of the whole court, then betrayed her, and she has cursed the day ever since. Now the town healer turns up charred in a locked house, the investigation drags Vidiana to the Royal Ledger, the book decides who wears the crown, and Prince Zoran Valentian walks back into her morgue needing both the artefact and her.
Slavic gods, blood magic punishable by execution, one fae apprentice with no manners and a Bloodrite bond neither of them finished. I have a medical background, so the autopsies hold up and the humour stays as dark as the subject matter.
Tropes: enemies to lovers, morally grey necromancer heroine, forced proximity, decade-long slow burn, forbidden magic, found family, stolen artefact, political intrigue, Slavic mythology.
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Forsaken Crown
Sophie scrubs the floors of the castle she used to live in, kept there as little more than a prisoner since her uncle lost the throne. Then she hears where a relic of her ancestral power sits, inside a labyrinth in a shadow realm, and she goes after it. Prince Severin, the emperor’s embittered third son, wants the same relic. Something older and worse than either of them waits in the middle of the maze, so they strike a truce neither trusts.
Wolfhart has over thirty self-published romantasy novels behind her, and this is her first traditionally published book. The gamble was taken years ago by her readers, which makes this the safest new series on the list.
Tropes: forced alliance, fallen noble heroine, labyrinth quest, shadow realm, third son with a grudge, enemies to lovers.
A Court of Forgotten Melody
The second instalment of the Valkyrie Cycle, following A Court of Splintered Harmony by twelve weeks. Old alliances across Prythian are fraying, diplomacy keeps failing, and the Night Court’s Inner Circle scatters looking for anything to use against the threat on the horizon.
The threat is Koschei the Deathless. Half of Poland grew up on Koschei, the man who hid his death inside a needle, inside an egg, inside a duck, inside a hare, inside a chest, buried under an oak on an island nobody has found. Watching Prythian work out how to kill him is my entertainment for the winter. Five years of waiting after Silver Flames, then two books in three months. January owes you nothing after this.
Tropes: fae courts, ensemble cast, mating bonds, war build-up, Slavic folklore villain, high-stakes politics.
Deathsworn
Jonquil Foye holds the power of life. Edmund Blackburn holds the power of death. Their warring cities send them to duel over the fate of both, their magic tangles mid-fight and makes something neither of them intended, and the creature drags them into Death itself. They agree to a truce, because the alternative is staying there.
Gothic Victorian setting, a masked hero, slow burn wound tight, and enough horror in the underworld scenes to earn the necromantasy label readers keep pinning on it. If you pick up Ledger of Souls for the death magic and the morgue humour, this is the nearest neighbour on the list.
Tropes: true enemies to lovers, forced proximity, life and death magic, gothic setting, masked love interest, yearning, underworld journey.
We Who Will Rise
Arvelle walked out of the emperor’s arena alive, which nobody expected, least of all her. Now she works with Rorrik, the emperor’s brutally violent son, translating a lost journal holding the only method of keeping the god Mortuus caged. One brother is her lover, one is her enemy, and a traitor inside the imperius wants her dead before she reaches the last page.
Roman-inspired vampires, gladiator politics and a slow burn stretched to breaking point. Note the split: UK readers get this in January, US readers wait until March. For once, being on this side of the Atlantic pays.
Tropes: vampires, gladiator arena, slow burn, brothers on opposite sides, vengeful gods, court conspiracy, found family.
Merciful Carnage
Tala cannot die. Her village has treated her as a bad omen since they fished her out of the Liyan River as a newborn. When a water-borne plague starts killing the oasis settlements, they send her across the desert to Axsanda to beg refuge from the people who despise them. Selim, the immortal High Judge of the city, finds her deathlessness a threat to the balance he keeps, and finds Tala herself far more interesting than he wants to admit.
Shape-shifting scorpions, a plague plot and a soulmates to enemies arc, which runs the usual order backwards. Hashem wrote The Jasad Heir, so the political knife work is reliable. It lands two days into February, and I refuse to leave it off for the sake of a calendar.
Tropes: soulmates to enemies, deathless heroine, immortal love interest, desert setting, plague investigation, slow burn, morally grey judge.
January 2027 fantasy release calendar
- 5 January: Forsaken Crown, Jenna Wolfhart (7 January in the UK)
- 12 January: A Court of Forgotten Melody, Sarah J. Maas
- 12 January: Deathsworn, Meg Smitherman (14 January in the UK)
- 21 January: We Who Will Rise, Stacia Stark (16 March in the US)
- 27 January: Ledger of Souls, Olena Nikitin
- 2 February: Merciful Carnage, Sara Hashem
Dates shift. Publishers move things, printers catch fire, authors get flu. Check the retailer page before you plan your week around any of them.
Reader questions
What is the biggest fantasy release of January 2027?
A Court of Forgotten Melody on 12 January, the seventh A Court of Thorns and Roses book. Sales-wise nothing else in the month comes close. Whether it is the best book of the month is a separate argument, and one I am happy to have in the comments.
Do I need to read anything before these?
None of them, as it turns out. Ledger of Souls opens a new trilogy, Forsaken Crown and Merciful Carnage open duologies, Deathsworn starts a new series. A Court of Forgotten Melody and We Who Will Rise are sequels, so begin at book one for both. The four series openers need no prior reading, which is the practical version of standalone.
Which ones suit readers who want plot over romance?
Ledger of Souls and Merciful Carnage. Both run an investigation as the spine of the book with the romance threaded through it. If you want the romance driving everything, go for Forsaken Crown or Deathsworn.
Where do I pre-order Ledger of Souls?
The ebook is available to pre-order here, and the pre-order incentive form is here. If you would rather read it early and review it, the ARC team is open.
One free story before January arrives
Wraith of Lilies is a prequel short set in the world of Secrets of Dagome. Free when you join the newsletter, where release dates, snippets and the occasional rant about deadlines land first.
Get Wraith of Lilies FreeTell me which one you are pre-ordering first.
Olena
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