Black Gate

Covers by Daniel Dos Santos

Apparently I haven’t been paying enough attention to DJ Butler. I can tell because when Serpent Daughter, the newest in his Witchy War saga, arrived in November, I thought it was the second in the series. Not so! There are actually four novels in Witchy War, and I managed to miss half of them.

I didn’t miss Serpent Daughter though — thanks mostly to Daniel Dos Santos’ knockout cover, which caught my eye the moment I spotted it in the Books You May Like tray at Amazon. A little digging revealed three previous installments, which have been labeled a blend of “alternate history, Appalachian Folklore, and epic fantasy.” The series opened with Witchy Eye, a Baen hardcover, back in 2017; Publishers Weekly gave it an enthusiastic starred review, saying:

In an alternate North America where magic is pervasive and the Appalachians are under the boot of Emperor Thomas Penn, 15-year-old Sarah Calhoun, youngest daughter of imperial war hero Iron Andy Calhoun, is content with her rural Tennessee tobacco-farming life, in which she gets to cast the occasional small spell… When the priest Thalanes, an acquaintance of Andy’s, arrives and helps to reveal that Sarah is not a Calhoun daughter but carries royal blood — and is being hunted by humans and magical entities in the service of the emperor… Butler’s fantasy is by turns sardonic and lighthearted; ghoulish shadows claw into the most remote areas and heroism bursts out of the most unlikely people. Sarah is the epitome of the downtrodden hero who refuses to give up until she gets what she needs, and her story will appeal to fantasy readers of all stripes.

I’m not quite sure how many books the series will run, but with four on the shelves already, I think it’s safe to give this one a try. Serpent Daughter was published by Baen on November 3, 2020; it is 608 pages, priced at $15.99 in trade paperback and $8.99 in digital formats. Read the first five chapters of Witchy Eye here.

See all our recent coverage of the best new fantasy series here.

The Salvation Sequence by Peter F. Hamilton (Del Rey, 2018-2020). Covers by Anna Kochman

You know, I remember when Peter F. Hamilton was known for hardboiled science fiction like the Greg Mandel series (Mindstar Rising, A Quantum Murder, and The Nano Flower, 1993-95). His breakout work was the massive 1.2 million-word The Night’s Dawn Trilogy (The Reality Dysfunction, The Neutronium Alchemist, and The Naked God, 1996-99) which turned him into the 21st Century’s poster child for Space Opera. Since then he’s become one of the top selling modern SF writers, with a series of NYT bestselling space opera trilogies, including the Commonwealth Saga, the Void Trilogy, and the Chronicle of the Fallers.

This month sees the release of The Saints of Salvation, the third novel in The Salvation Sequence. Here’s a slice from Paul Di Filippo’s rave review at Locus Online.

Peter Hamilton just keeps getting better and better with each book, more assured and more craftsmanly adroit, and more inventive. And to his credit, he wants to stretch and try different things, not just repeat himself. His newest – the first in a fresh cycle – is, to my eye, rather different than any of his previous books. I detect a distinct Neal Stephenson vibe layered atop his own signature Hard SF moves…

What’s the year 2204 like? Pretty amazing and different…  what could upset this arcadian applecart? The discovery of an unknown alien ship on a distant planet – a ship filled with semi-butchered yet still living humans. Immediately the Connexion Corp mounts a top-secret mission to Nkya. Helmed by an employee named Feriton, the posse consists of several deadly security experts, masters of dirty tricks and brute survivalism… Hamilton gives us a tale – or at least the maximally effective start of a tale – that calls to mind such classic sagas as Greg Benford’s Galactic Center series and Stephen Baxter’s Xeelee cycle… It’s a bravura performance from start to finish….

The flashback sequences are remarkable, heart-stopping mini-thrillers, kind of police procedurals-cum-spy-capers. Hamilton should really be tasked with doing the script for the next Mission: Impossible film… In short, Hamilton is juggling chainsaws while simultaneously doing needlepoint over a shark tank. It’s a virtuoso treat, and I for one can hardly wait for Salvation Lost.

Lucky for you, you don’t have to wait. Salvation Lost was published last year. Here’s the complete deets on all three volumes, all released by Del Rey.

Salvation (576 pages, $30 hardcover/$9.99 paperback and digital, September 4, 2018) – cover by Anna Kochman
Salvation Lost (512 pages, $32 hardcover/$9.99 paperback and digital, October 29, 2019) – cover by Anna Kochman
The Saints of Salvation (528 pages, $30 hardcover/$14.99 digital, November 17, 2020) – cover by Anna Kochman

See all our recent coverage of the best new Space Opera trilogies (and other high quality series) here.