To help your ever-growing TBR list, we’ll be highlighting fantasy novels coming out each month that you should put on your radar.
Our picks will be a mix of the latest installment in a beloved series, the beginning of a brand new series, or a standalone novel that you’ll want to sink your teeth into.
November’s picks feature a fortune teller, a curse, deadly games, and more.
In order of release date, here are 5 fantasy novels we’re looking forward to reading in November:
1. Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez – November 5
Inez might have to put her trust (and heart) in Whit to stay in Egypt and finish what she started. Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez concludes the Secrets of the Nile duology and releases on November 5.
Book Description: 1885, Egypt
Inez Olivera is left reeling from her cousin Elvira’s murder, and her mother’s betrayal, and when Tío Ricardo issues an ultimatum about her inheritance, she’s left with only one option to consider.
Marriage to Whitford Hayes.
Former British soldier, her uncle’s aide de camp, and one time nemesis, Whit has his own mysterious reasons for staying in Egypt. With her heart on the line, Inez might have to bind her fate to the one person whose secret plans could ruin her.
2. The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong – November 5
A former thief and an ex-mercenary recruit a fortune teller to find their lost child. The Teller of Small Fortunes by Julie Leong hits shelves on November 5.
Book Description: Tao is an immigrant fortune teller, traveling between villages with just her trusty mule for company. She only tells “small” fortunes: whether it will hail next week; which boy the barmaid will kiss; when the cow will calve. She knows from bitter experience that big fortunes come with big consequences…
Even if it’s a lonely life, it’s better than the one she left behind. But a small fortune unexpectedly becomes something more when a (semi) reformed thief and an ex-mercenary recruit her into their desperate search for a lost child. Soon, they’re joined by a baker with a knead for adventure, and — of course — a slightly magical cat.
Tao sets down a new path with companions as big-hearted as her fortunes are small. But as she lowers her walls, the shadows of her past are closing in — and she’ll have to decide whether to risk everything to preserve the family she never thought she could have.
3. The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri – November 12
The conclusion of the Burning Kingdoms trilogy finds Empress Malini and priestess Priya on opposite sides, but after the arrival of a new enemy, these two women will once again fight alongside one another to protect their kingdoms. The Lotus Empire by Tasha Suri releases on November 12.
Book Description: Malini has claimed her rightful throne as the empress of Parijatdvipa, just as the nameless gods prophesied. Now, in order to gain the support of the priesthood who remain loyal to the fallen emperor, she must consider a terrible bargain: Claim her throne and burn in order to seal her legacy — or find another willing to take her place on the pyre.
Priya has survived the deathless waters and now their magic runs in her veins. But a mysterious yaksa with flowering eyes and a mouth of thorns lies beneath the waters. The yaksa promises protection for Ahiranya. But in exchange, she needs a sacrifice. And she’s chosen Priya as the one to offer it.
Two women once entwined by fate now stand against each other for the sake of their respective homes. But when a new enemy rises, they will once again find themselves fighting together to prevent their kingdoms, and their futures, from burning to ash.
The Lotus Empire brings Tasha Suri’s acclaimed Burning Kingdoms trilogy to a heart-stopping close. As an ancient magic returns to Ahiranya and threatens its very foundations, Empress Malini and priestess Priya will stop at nothing to save their kingdom-even if it means they must destroy each other.
4. We Shall Be Monsters by Alyssa Wees – November 12
Gemma must brave the Fae lands in order to save her mother and break a curse. We Shall Be Monsters by Alyssa Wees hits shelves on November 12.
Book Description: Gemma lives with her mother in an isolated antique shop in Michigan, near a small patch of woods that conceals an enchanted gateway to fairyland. She knows she’s not supposed to go into the woods – her mother Virginia has warned her multiple times about the monsters that lurk there – and yet defiantly, curiously, she goes anyway.
Virginia understands her daughter’s defiance. She knows the lure of the woods all too well. Her own mother warned her about the monsters that resided there, and she also did not listen. Until a witch cursed her true love, Ash – Gemma’s father – into the form of a beast in the days before Gemma’s birth. And if Virginia cannot break the curse before her daughter turns fifteen, Ash will eat Virginia’s heart and Gemma will belong to the witch. So Virginia will do whatever she can to protect her daughter – even if it means stealing Gemma’s memories away.
But everything changes when Gemma inadvertently gets too close to the truth, and the witch steals Virginia away instead. Now it is up to Gemma to venture deep into Fae lands to try and rescue her mother and break the curse.
Told in alternating viewpoints between Gemma and Virginia, this lyrical novel is not only a tale of a girl’s fantastical quest through a darkly magical fairyland, but also an examination of the complex bonds of love and resentment that lie between parents and their children.
5. The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso – November 19
Kembral becomes involved in the Echo games after guests at a party start dying, and she’s forced to rely on her nemesis if she wants to make it out of this game alive. The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso releases on November 19.
Book Description: Kembral Thorne has a few hours away from her newborn, and she’s determined to enjoy herself at the year-turning ball. But when guests start dropping dead, she can’t help sniffing out trouble — she’s a Hound, after all. Especially when her professional and personal nemesis, notorious burglar Rika Nonesuch, is also on the prowl.
Everyone knows you shouldn’t get involved with Echo games. Let alone one involving ancient Echo lords who can turn layers of reality into a gameboard with human lives for pieces. But as the ballroom grows stranger and more otherworldly with each strike of the hour, it’s clearly too late.
Kem knows the rules: One Echo down is no big deal. Stay alert for trouble.
Four Echoes down, there are things with eyes in their teeth, and walls that drip blood. Four is the limit.
As the party plunges through increasingly deadly realities, the rules can’t help Kem anymore. She’ll have to rely on her wits — and Rika — to unravel the most dangerous game of the century before it unleashes catastrophe on their world.
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What will you be reading in November? Share your picks in the comments below!
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Allison Nichols
Allison is in a love affair with books and television that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Slightly damaged fictional characters are her weakness. She loves to spend her free time curled up with a cat and a book to read or a show to watch. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).
