A new year dawns and brings with it a new crop of incredible and enticing young adult science fiction and fantasy novels. I hope you still have some money left over and some room on your TBR pile after all that holiday gifting, because it’s next to impossible to not want to get your hands on these upcoming titles.
January
The Girl King by Mimi Yu
When their father names their male cousin Set as his heir instead of his eldest daughter, sisters Lu and and Min find themselves on a collision course as they fight over the throne. Lu flees the palace and builds an army of shapeshifters and magicians while Min explores how her newfound abilities might be used to benefit Set or take the empire for herself.
Jan. 8, 2019, Bloomsbury
Buy the Book
The Girl King
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
Paris, 1889. Séverin Montagnet-Alarie, hotelier, thief, and rejected heir of the great House Vanth, is forced by a childhood acquaintance to track down the magical artifact known as the Horus Eye. To pull off this heist, he must rely on help from his teenage crew: his artist brother, a historian, a dancer, and an engineer.
Jan. 15, 2019, Wednesday Books
Buy the Book
The Gilded Wolves
Firestarter by Tara Sim (Timekeepers #3)
In an alternate Victorian world where time is controlled by special clocks, Danny and his boyfriend Colton are given an impossible choice. Zavier, the captain of a rebel airship, needs their help in destroying all clock towers, thus breaking human control over time. Since releasing time all but guarantees Colton’s demise, will Danny save the world or the boy he loves?
Jan. 15, 2019, Sky Pony
Buy the Book
Firestarter
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
Bardugo returns to the world of the Grisha with Nikolai, the young king of Ravka. After barely surviving the Ravka civil war, Nikolai needs to restore his rule (and his wealth). But first he has to deal with the powerful, dangerous magic growing within him.
Jan. 29, 2019, Imprint
Buy the Book
King of Scars
February
Enchantée by Gita Trelease
On the eve of the French Revolution, Camille is desperate. Her brother ran off with their savings and her sister is struggling. Using magic, Camille transforms herself into a baroness and sneaks into Versailles to scam the royals. Soon she’ll be forced to choose between her new friends in the royal court and her people rebelling in the streets.
Feb. 5, 2019, Flatiron
Buy the Book
Enchantée
The Afterward by E.K. Johnston
The Old God is dead, thanks to a team of heroes. A year later, Olsa Rhetsdaughter’s fame hasn’t translated into a move into the upper echelon and she’s left having to beg, borrow, and steal to survive. Apprentice Knight Kalanthe Ironheart is also disappointed that she, a lesbian, may have to marry a man to pay off her family’s debts. The quest may be over, but Olsa and Kalanthe aren’t yet done with each other.
Feb. 19, 2019, Dutton
Buy the Book
The Afterward
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
In the land of Medio, wealthy men have two wives while the poor live in harsh, desperate circumstances. Daniela and Carmen are both engaged to the same heartless, overly ambitious politician’s son. Before she graduates from the Medio School for Girls, Dani is blackmailed into spying on her fiance when a band of rebels discover her deepest secret.
Feb. 19, 2019, Katherine Tegan
Buy the Book
We Set the Dark on Fire
March
Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi (Legacy of Orïsha #2)
Zélie finally restored magic to Orïsha, but the hard part has only just begun. Her homeland is thrown into chaos as maji emerge, willingly and unwillingly. Amari, meanwhile, is busy not only discovering her new magical abilities but securing her claim to the throne.
Mar. 5, 2019, Henry Holt
Buy the Book
Children of Virtue and Vengeance
Dealing in Dreams by Lilliam Rivera
Mega City is all that remains after the Big Shake. Within its borders lives Nalah, the leader of a violent gang of teen girls. Nalah is offered the chance to move into the upper class only Mega Towers, but first she must leave the city to track down another gang.
Mar. 5, 2019, Simon and Schuster
Buy the Book
Dealing in Dreams
The Everlasting Rose by Dhonielle Clayton (The Belles #2)
The glitz and glamor of the Belles has been stripped from Camille’s eyes and now she sees the truth of the violence and slavery embedded in the magical system. Princess Sophia rules Orléans with an iron fist, so Camille sets off to restore Charlotte to her rightful seat on the throne. She seeks the help of some rebels, but she may not be able to rely on them after all.
Mar. 5, 2019, Freeform
Buy the Book
The Everlasting Rose
The Last 8 by Laura Pohl
Months after an alien invasion killed everyone on earth but her, Clover Martinez discovers a small group of teens living in Area 51. Clover wants to do more than hide for the rest of their lives, a goal that gets more feasible when they uncover an old spaceship and capture an alien. The Last Teenagers on Earth are about to go from hiding to surviving to fighting back.
Mar. 5, 2019, Sourcebooks Fire
Buy the Book
The Last 8
Once and Future by Cori McCarthy and Amy Rose Capetta
In this queer, racially diverse science fiction retelling of the King Arthur myth, Ari inadvertently becomes the reincarnation of King Arthur. By pulling Excalibur from a tree, she restarts an ancient cycle pitting a now-teenage Merlin against the witch Morgana. At first Ari rejects her new role, but things change when she realizes she can use her power to take on the evil Mercer Company that has imprisoned her parents.
Mar. 5, 2019, Jimmy Patterson
Buy the Book
Once and Future
Out of Salem by Hal Schrieve
Monsters abound in Salem, Oregon in the 1990s. With no family or friends, Z, a genderqueer zombie, and Aysel, a lesbian werewolf, are taken in by the witch Mrs. Dunnigan. After a doctor is killed by a werewolf, their town gets even more hostile toward people of the monster variety.
Mar. 5, 2019, Triangle Square
Buy the Book
Once and Future
Ruse by Cindy Pon (Want #2)
Zhou and Lingyi are in recovery mode after driving Jin Corp out of Taipei. But when Jin kills Lingyi’s childhood friend and steals her tech, the two friends fly to Shanghai to stop him. Things get more complicated when Daiyu, Jin’s daughter and Zhou’s secret girlfriend, turns up in China as well.
Mar. 12, 2019, Simon Pulse
Buy the Book
Ruse
Internment by Samira Ahmed
In the not-too-distant future, Muslim Americans are having their property destroyed, their bodies numbered, and are forced into internment camps. Layla witnesses the brutality of the camp director and knows she has to find a way fight back. She, her new camp friends, and her non-Muslim boyfriend work together to foment a revolution.
Mar. 19, 2019, Little, Brown
Buy the Book
Internment
The Weight of the Stars by K. Ancrum
Ryann’s life has always been hard. Maybe that’s what draws her to Alexandria, the daughter of an astronaut on a one-way journey into the space hosted by SCOUT, a privately funded company. Their mutual interest in space exploration and their shared experience of losing their parents draws them together in ways neither expect.
Mar. 19, 2019, Imprint
Buy the Book
The Weight of the Stars
Alex Brown is a high school librarian by day, local historian by night, author and writer by passion, and an ace/aro Black woman all the time. Keep up with her every move on Twitter and Insta, or follow along with her reading adventures on her blog.
