February is here, so it’s time for me to take a quick look at the cool new novels being published this month by Aconyte Books – this time around we’ve got two new books, set in the worlds of Legend of the Five Rings and Descent: Journeys in the Dark! After last month’s extended article, with its recap of all of Aconyte’s 2020 releases, I’m back to the usual format again, so I’ll give you the publisher’s synopsis for the two new novels for February, talk a little bit about each of them, and link out to my author interviews for both books and a review for one of them. I’ve now read 11 of Aconyte’s novels, and they just keep turning out fantastic books – if you haven’t yet taken the plunge, I really can’t recommend them enough!
February’s releases
To begin with, let’s take a look at the two new novels that are published this month. As usual, the publishing schedule sees the ebook and US paperback released first, followed by the UK paperback a little bit later (I think there’s a bit more of a delay than usual, presumably for Covid/Brexit reasons):
- 2nd February 2021: global ebook and US paperback
- 15th April 2021: UK paperback
Here’s the publisher’s synopsis for each book, along with links out to my author interview for each one.
Legend of the Five Rings – The Night Parade of 100 Demons by Marie Brennan
Chaos has broken out in the isolated Dragon Clan settlement of Seibo Mura. During the full moon, horrifying creatures rampage through the village, unleashing havoc and death. When the Dragon samurai Agasha no Isao Ryōtora is sent to investigate, he faces even greater danger than expected. To save the village, he must confront his buried past – not to mention an unexpected Phoenix Clan visitor, Asako Sekken, who has his own secrets to hide. The quest to save Seibo Mura will take the two samurai into the depths of forgotten history and the shifting terrain of the Spirit Realms… and bring them face to face with an ancient, terrifying evil.
I’ve read this one, and I can confirm that it is WONDERFUL! I absolutely loved the first two Legend of the Five Rings novels I read – Curse of Honor and Poison River – and this one continues with the incredibly high standard, exploring more of this intriguing world while managing to be a very different story to the first two. You could, in fact, argue that it takes elements of both – supernatural action, and an intriguing sense of mystery, for example – and combines them into something all of its own. I would highly recommend this to pretty much anyone!
Check out my review of The Night Parade of 100 Demons
Check out my interview with Marie Brennan about The Night Parade of 100 Demons
Descent: Journeys in the Dark – The Shield of Daqan by David Guymer
The once-glorious Barony of Kell is a ruin of its former self, assailed by banditry and famine; its noble Baron Frederic is caught between saving his people and defending his borders. Yet worse is to come… for a new Darkness is rising. Sadistic warrior-priestess, Ne’Krul, spying an opportunity to wreak bloody vengeance on behalf of her demonic masters, leads her Uthuk warband into a brutal invasion. Kell’s only hope lies in holy warrior, Andira Runehand, and legendary hero, Trenloe the Strong, both drawn to Kell to defeat an alliance of evil unprecedented in Terrinoth. They must not fail.
I very much enjoyed Aconyte’s first Descent: Journeys in the Dark novel – The Doom of Fallowhearth – so I’ve got high hopes for this one too, especially as it’s coming from an author whose writing is pretty familiar to me. If you’ve read and enjoyed David’s Warhammer writing, then this seems like an ideal opportunity to check out what he can do with a different IP, and support him at the same time! After all, what fantasy fan isn’t going to be tempted by this awesome-sounding, action-packed, dragon-featuring adventure?!
Check out my interview with David Guymer about The Shield of Daqan
Recap on January’s Releases
In case you missed my Aconyte roundup from last month, you can find links below to author interviews for both of January’s releases. Sadly I haven’t been able to read and review either of these (yet – I definitely want to!) but they both sound excellent. Hopefully I’ll be able to read them before their UK paperbacks are published, which are due on the 18th March.
Arkham Horror – Mask of Silver by Rosemary Jones
Marvel: Heroes of Asgard – The Sword of Surtur by CL Werner
Coming in March
To finish off, let’s take a quick look at what’s coming next month – at the moment it looks like there’s just the one book lined up for March, but we’ll see if anything else gets announced too between now and then. Even if not, it promises to be a pretty cool new novel…
- Marvel: Xavier’s Institute – First Team by Robbie MacNiven – the second X-Men novel from Aconyte, which I was lucky enough to exclusively reveal back in November.
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As usual, I hope this has been useful, and has maybe inspired you to give one of these cool new books a try. Whether you’re a fan of IP fiction already (Warhammer, Star Wars, Star Trek, whatever) or you just fancy some entertaining SFF or horror fun, I would really recommend you take a look at what Aconyte are doing!
I’d love to know what you think about this article, and whether there’s anything you would like to see more or less of in future. Likewise, whether you’ve read any Aconyte novels recently and want to chat about them! Let me know in the comments below, or find me on Twitter and say hi…
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