Here are the 18 best Fantasy & Sci-Fi book releases of October 2021!
Check out the different titles with genres in the overview, and click on the titles you’re interested in to jump to that book for more information.
The book I’ve read this month is Crossbones (YA Adventure Fantasy, Pirates).
Sci-Fi YA
- The Last Shadow (The Shadow Series #6) by Orson Scott Card: YA Sci-Fi Space Opera
- City of Shattered Light by Claire Winn: YA Sci-Fi Adventure, LGBTQ
- Glimmer by Marjorie B Kellogg: YA Dystopian Sci-Fi
Sci-Fi Adult
- Truth of the Divine (Noumena #2) by Lindsay Ellis: Adult Alternate History Sci-Fi
- Look to the Sun by Emmie Mears: Adult Dystopian Sci-Fi Fantasy
- Perhaps the Stars (Terra Ignota #4) by Ada Palmer: Adult Alternate History Sci-Fi
- Nightwatch on the Hinterlands by K. Eason: Adult Military Sci-Fi Mystery
- Destroyer of Light by Jennifer Marie Brissett: Adult Adventure Sci-Fi Thriller
- The Quantum War (The Quantum Evolution #3) by Derek Künsken: Adult Sci-Fi Space Opera
Fantasy YA
- Kingdom of the Cursed (Kingdom of the Wicked #2) by Kerri Maniscalco: YA Historical Fantasy Romance
- Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan: YA Fantasy Mythology, LGBTQ
- Vespertine (Vespertine #1) by Margaret Rogerson: YA Paranormal Fantasy
- Crossbones by Kimberly Vale: YA Adventure Fantasy
Fantasy Adult
- A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout: New Adult Fantasy Romance
- The Book of Magic (Practical Magic #2) by Alice Hoffman: Adult Historical Urban Fantasy
- Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw: Adult Paranormal Fantasy, Horror
- A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow: Adult Fairy Tale Fantasy Retelling
- Isolate (The Grand Illusion #1) by L.E. Modesitt Jr.: Adult Adventure Fantasy
What I Read: Book Releases October 2021
Crossbones by Kimberly Vale
Genre: YA Adventure Fantasy, Pirates
Pubdate: 5th of October
Publisher: Wattpad books
When a pirate king dies, the Blood Bell tolls, marking the start of the Trials: a competition for the Bone Crown, the coveted island thrown. Csilla Abado yearns to prove her strength to the seasoned pirates and to her elder sister. She’s willing to risk everything to become the first pirate queen.
For Kane Blackwater, the Trials represent a new beginning, yet rumors of a secret heir are swirling, threatening his hopes of becoming the pirate king. It will give him the chance to get away from the dirty gold and shady trades he’s made to keep his father’s ship, the Iron Jewel, alive.
Lorelei Penny is bent on avenging her mother’s death. So she stows away on the Iron Jewel to get closer to her killer. Instead, she finds herself caught up in the deadly battle of the Trials.
All three are on a mission. However, the sea has other plans—dark tides are rising, and if they’re not careful, they’ll surely drown.
I found this to be a fun and entertaining read. The plot was quite fast (perhaps a bit too fast) and there was a lot of action.
The plot was a little predictable but still good. As such, the ending was also not very surprising.
I liked the characters, although Lorelei was perhaps a bit too “powerful,” surviving things she shouldn’t have been able to survive.
Finally, I also liked the romance/friendship between Kane and Lorelei. However, I didn’t care much about the romance between Csilla and Flynn. I just didn’t really feel the spark there.
So: if you’re looking for an entertaining pirate novel, with lots of action, romance, and a solid plot, Crossbones might be the book for you!
Fantasy & Sci-Fi Book Releases October 2021
Kingdom of the Cursed (Kingdom of the Wicked #2) by Kerri Maniscalco
Genre: YA Historical Fantasy Romance
Pubdate: 5th of October
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Emilia sold her soul to become Queen of the Wicked, and now travels to the Seven Circles with the enigmatic Prince of Wrath. She vows to do whatever it takes to avenge her sister, Vittoria, even if that means accepting the hand of the Prince of Pride, the king of demons. The first rule in the court of the Wicked? Trust no one. Emilia finds herself more alone than ever before—can she even trust Wrath, her one-time ally in the moral world? Or is he keeping dangerous secrets about his true nature?
Vespertine (Vespertine #1) by Margaret Rogerson
Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy
Pubdate: 5th of October
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books
Artemisia is training to be a Gray Sister, a nun who cleanses the bodies of the deceased so their souls can pass on. Otherwise, they will rise as spirits with a ravenous hunger for the living. When her convent is attacked by possessed soldiers, Artemisia defends it by awakening an ancient spirit bound to a saint’s relic—a revenant, a malevolent being threatening to possess her the moments she drops her guard. It almost consumes Artemisia, but only a vespertine, a priestess trained to wield a high relic, has any chance of beating the possessed army. However, with all knowledge of vespertines lost, Artemisia has no choice but to turn to the last remaining expert: the revenant itself.
The Book of Magic (Practical Magic #2) by Alice Hoffman
Genre: Adult Historical Urban Fantasy
Pubdate: 5th of October
Publisher: Simon Schuster
For over 300 years, the Owens family has been crused in matters of love. But that’s all about to change. In a library, Jet Owens hears the deathwatch beetle and knows she has only seven days to live. And she’s not the only one in danger—the curse is at work.
An attempt to save a young man’s life spurs three generations of Owens women and one long-lost brother to use their gifts to break the curse as they travel from Paris to London. Here, their ancestor first practiced the Unnamed Art. The younger generation discovers secrets in matters of both magic and love, all hidden from them by their fiercely protective mother. As Kylie Owens uncovers the truth about her dark powers, her aunt Franny comes to understand she’s ready to sacrifice everything for her family, and Sally that she will give up everything for love.
A Spindle Splintered by Alix E. Harrow
Genre: Adult Fairy Tale Fantasy Retelling
Pubdate: 5th of October
Publisher: Tordotcom
Zinnia Gray turns 21, and it’s the last birthday she’ll ever have. Because of an industrial accident when she was young, Zinnia has a rare condition. Not much is known about it, other than that no one has lived past 21.
Intent on making her last birthday special, her best friend Charm wants to give her a full sleeping beauty experience, complete with a tower and spinning wheel. But when Zinnia pricks her finger, something unexpected happens, and she finds herself falling through worlds with another sleeping beauty, who is just as desperate to escape her fate.
Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan
Genre: YA Fantasy Mythology, LGBTQ
Pubdate: 12th of October
Publisher: HarperTeen
In an empire on the brink of war, Ahn is no one—without past and family. Altan is a lost heir, his future stolen away as a child. When they meet, Altan sees the path to reclaiming the throne in Ahn, while Ahn sees a way to unluck her past and understand her magical abilities. However, they may have to pay a deadlier price than either could have imagined.
Truth of the Divine (Noumena #2) by Lindsay Ellis
Genre: New Adult Alternate History Sci-Fi
Pubdate: 12th of October
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
We are not alone: that much is known. But the details about the alien presence on Earth are stil lbeing withheld from the public. What are the ramifications of granting human rights to nonhuman persons? How do you define “person” in the first place?
Cora Sabino serves as the full-time communication intermediary between the alien entity Ampersand and his government chaperones. She also shares a mysterious bond with him that is both painful and intimate in ways neither of them anticipated. However, Ampersand still keeps secrets, even from Cora, which backfires on them both when journalist Kaveh Mazandarani witnesses more of Ampersand’s machinations than anyone was meant to see.
Cora has no choice but to trust Kavey, and the two work together to prove to a fearful world that intelligent, conscious beings should be considered persons, no matter how horrifying or powerful they may seem. This is a hard enough case to make when the public doesn’t know what it’s dealing with, but it’s made only harder when a mysterious flash illuminates the sky, marking the arrival of a chaos that will light the world on fire.
Destroyer of Light by Jennifer Marie Brissett
Genre: Adult Adventure Sci-Fi Thriller
Pubdate: 12th of October
Publisher: Tor Books
After they destroyed Earth, the alien conquerors resettle the remains of humanity on the planet of Eleusis. In the three habitable areas—Day, Dusk, and Night—three stories irrevocably bind together.
A mother is left searching and grieving after her daughter was abducted from the agrarian outskirts of Dusk by a violent warlord.
Genetically modified twin brothers search for the lost son of a human/alien couple in a criminal underground that trafficks children for unknown purposes in Day.
And in the borderlands of Night, a young woman with inhuman powers rises through the insurgent ranks of soldiers.
The stories build across years, leading to a single confrontation when the fate of all balances upon a knife’s edge.
The Quantum War (The Quantum Evolution #3) by Derek Künsken
Genre: Adult Sci-Fi Space Opera
Pubdate: 12th of October
Publisher: Solaris
The Union-Congregate war rages onward. The Homo Eridanus—the Union’s premier fighter pilots—discover that the new Congregate pilots aren’t human, but Homo quantus, with strange wiring and AI connections.
Simultaneously, the Puppets come to the Union with offers of an alliance. But the price is high: the rescue of the geneticist Antonio Del Casal who is a captive at Venus, with over a hundred Homo quantus. The only one who might be able to break through those defenses is a con man who has given up his profession.
Glimmer by Marjorie B Kellogg
Genre: YA Dystopian Sci-Fi
Pubdate: 12th of October
Publisher: Daw Books
In 2110, the Earth’s glaciers have melted, and there’s no climate fix in sight. Refugees stream inland from the coasts, social structures and economies are stressed to the point of fracture, food production falters, pandemics rage, the sea level rises and devastating superstorms ahve flooded much of Manhattan. Its residents have mostly fled, but there are a few die-hards left who hope that digging in and staying local is safer.
Can a damaged population of poor folk, artists, misfits, and loners work out their differences in time to create a sustainable long-term society?
Among these people is a young girl named Glimmer who struggles to regain a past lost to trauma. As her memory returns, she finds she must choose who and how to be, and who and what to believe in. Even if it means giving up a love she has only recently found herself able to embrace.
A Shadow in the Ember (Flesh and Fire #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Genre: New Adult Fantasy Romance
Pubdate: 19th of October
Publisher: Blue Box Press
Seraphena Mierel never had a choice about her future, chosen beven before birth to uphold the desperate deal her ancestor struck to save his people. Sera must leave her life behind and offer herself to the Primal of Death as his Consort. However, her real destiny is a closely guarded secret—she’s not the Maiden but an assassin with one mission: make the Primal of Death fall in love, become his weakness, and end him. Failure means the doom of her kingdom to a slow demise at the hands of the Rot. However, the Primal of Death’s unexpected words and deeds chase away the darkness gathering inside Sera and his touch ignites a passion she’s never felt before. Can she continue with her plan?
Perhaps the Stars (Terra Ignota #4) by Ada Palmer
Genre: Adult Alternate History Sci-Fi
Pubdate: 19th of October
Publisher: Head of Zeus — an AdAstra Book
Peace and order are figments of the past. Instead, corruption, deception, and insurgency hum within the leadership of the Hives, nations without fixed location.
For centuries, the leaders of the great Hives bought the world’s stability with a trickle of secret murders, mathematically planned. All to make sure no faction could dominate and that the balance held. This facade is the only thing the leaders have left to prevent the public from succumbing to the savagery and bloodlust of wars past. But as the great secret spreads, the facade slips away.
Hives and hiveless, Utopians and sensayers, emperors and the downtrodden, warriors and saints all scramble to prepare for the seemingly inevitable war.
City of Shattered Light by Claire Winn
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Adventure, LGBTQ
Pubdate: 19th of October
Publisher: Flux
Asa Almeida, the 17-year-old heiress to a powerful tech empire, strives to prove she’s more than her father’s shadow. But when she uploads her rebellious sister’s mind to an experimental brain, Asa will do anything to save her sister from reprogramming. Even fleeing with her sister’s digitized mind in tow with a bounty on her head and a rogue A.I. hunting her. Unfortunately, Asa’s getaway ship crashes in the worst place possible: the neon-drenched outlaw paradise, Requiem.
Riven Hawthorne, a gun-slinging smuggler, is determined to collect the bounty on the runaway rich girl, until a nasty computer virus spreads in Asa’s wake, causing a citywide blackout and tech quarantine. To save Requiem and get her payout, Riven must team up with her captive.
Nothing But Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw
Genre: Adult Paranormal Fantasy, Horror
Pubdate: 19th of October
Publisher: Nightfire
A Heian-era mansion with foundations resting on the bones of a bride and with walls packed with the remains of the girls sacrificed to keep her company, does not scream “wedding venue.” It does, however, for a group of thrill-seeking friends.
But a night of food, drinks, and games quickly spirals into a nightmare. Lurking in the shadows is the ghost bride with a black smile and a hungry heart.
Nightwatch on the Hinterlands by K. Eason
Genre: Adult Sci-Fi Mystery
Pubdate: 19th of October
Publisher: Daw Books
When Lieutenant Iari hears screams in the night, she discovers a murder with an impossible suspect: a riev, one of the battle-mecha decommissioned after the end of the last conflict, repurposed for manual labor. Riever don’t kill people—yet this one clearly has.
Gaer is an ambassador from the vakari, but unofficially, he’s also a spy, sending information back to his government. Gaer isn’t so sure the riev’s behavior is just a malfunction.
As Gaer and Iari search for the truth, they discover that the riev is just a weapon in the hands of a wielder with much grander ambitions than homicide. Including releasing horrors not seen since the war…
The Last Shadow (The Shadow Series #6) by Orson Scott Card
Genre: YA Sci-Fi Space Opera
Pubdate: 19th of October
Publisher: Tor Books
It’s here: the conclusion to both the original Ender series and the Ender’s Shadow series, where the children of Ender and Bean solve the great problem of the Ender Universe—the deadly and incurable virus that will kill all of humanity if it escapes from Lusitania.
One planet. Three sapient species living together peacefully. And one deadly virus that could wipe out every world in the Starway Congress.
Is the only answer really another great Xenocide?
Isolate (The Grand Illusion #1) by L.E. Modesitt Jr.
Genre: Adult Adventure Fantasy
Pubdate: 19th of October
Publisher: Tor Books
With industrialization, social unrest, underground movement, and government corruption and surveillance, something is about to give.
Steffan Dekkard is an isolate, one of the few people immune to the projections of empaths. As such, he has been trained as a security specialist and is employed by Axel Obreduur, a senior Craft Minister and the de facto political strategist of his party. He works together with his security partner Avraal Ysella, a highly trained empath.
When a respected Landor Councilor dies of “heart failure” at a social event, Dekkard and Ysella find that not only is their employer a target, but so are they, in a covert and deadly struggle for control of the government and economy.
Look to the Sun by Emmie Mears
Genre: Adult Dystopian Sci-Fi/Fantasy, LGBTQ
Pubdate: 28th of October
Publisher: Indigo
For fifteen years, the National People’s Voice have ruled Kael in relative peace. And for fifteen years, they have quietly snuffed out dissent wherever they found it.
Rose Abernethy and Beo Mataya are two strangers drawn together by one thing alone: Red Sunrise, a book no one else seems to have read. A book only asked about by either collectors or the NPV. A book Rose and Beo feel was written just for them.
As winter falls and the fifteen years of seeming calm seethes into violent protests in the city square, Red Sunrise’s secrets pull Rose and Beo into the twisted mystery of the city’s past and into the centre of a forgotten tragedy.
Those were the Book Releases of October 2021
I hope you found some nice additions to your reading list among these best fantasy & sci-fi book releases of October 2021!
Which ones are you most excited about?
Let me know in the comments!
