Far off 2022 releases to keep an eye on – YA fantasy edition

In this epic YA fantasy debut, magic, a prized resource, is the only thing between peace and war. When magic runs out, four estranged royal siblings must find a new source before their country is swallowed by invading forces. The first in an Indian-inspired duology that’s perfect for fans of There Will Come a Darkness, The Gilded Wolves, and We Hunt the Flame.

This powerful story is both gripping and beautifully crafted, rich with mythology - perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Children of Blood and Bone.

In the old times, all there was were the Necromancers and the Reapers, who have been at war for thousands of years.

One, a race that ripped the earth apart, raising whole undead armies. The other, a band of scythe-wielding warriors, intent on destroying their seemingly 'evil' counterparts.

Nyx, a young girl born a Necromancer but raised a Reaper, must conceal and wrestle with her identity when she's thrown into a world riddled with prophecies and danger.

No one is safe. Even the dead can die again.

June Hur, critically acclaimed author of The Silence of Bones and The Forest of Stolen Girls, returns with The Red Palace—a third evocative, atmospheric historical mystery perfect for fans of Courtney Summers and Kerri Maniscalco.

To enter the palace means to walk a path stained in blood...

Joseon (Korea), 1758. There are few options available to illegitimate daughters in the capital city, but through hard work and study, seventeen-year-old Hyeon has earned a position as a palace nurse. All she wants is to keep her head down, do a good job, and perhaps finally win her estranged father's approval.

But Hyeon is suddenly thrust into the dark and dangerous world of court politics when someone murders four women in a single night, and the prime suspect is Hyeon's closest friend and mentor. Determined to prove her beloved teacher's innocence, Hyeon launches her own secret investigation.

In her hunt for the truth, she encounters Eojin, a young police inspector also searching for the killer. When evidence begins to point to the Crown Prince himself as the murderer, Hyeon and Eojin must work together to search the darkest corners of the palace to uncover the deadly secrets behind the bloodshed.

Born to rule. Raised to deceive.

The plot: overthrow a kingdom. The goal: world domination. The plan: marriage.

Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes.

Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides - because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal - to bring down monarchies - and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother's grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vestria.

The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans - and their mother hasn't told them all of hers.

Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can't trust anyone - not even each other?

Laura Sebastian stuns in this new trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of Ash Princess. A spellbinding story of three princesses and the destiny they were born for: seduction, conquest, and the crown.

Judy I. Lin's sweeping debut A Magic Steeped in Poison, first in a duology, is sure to enchant fans of Adrienne Young and Leigh Bardugo.

I used to look at my hands with pride. Now all I can think is, "These are the hands that buried my mother."

For Ning, the only thing worse than losing her mother is knowing that it's her own fault. She was the one who unknowingly brewed the poison tea that killed her—the poison tea that now threatens to also take her sister, Shu.

When Ning hears of a competition to find the kingdom's greatest shennong-shi—masters of the ancient and magical art of tea-making—she travels to the imperial city to compete. The winner will receive a favor from the princess, which may be Ning's only chance to save her sister's life. But between the backstabbing competitors, bloody court politics, and a mysterious (and handsome) boy with a shocking secret, Ning might actually be the one in more danger.

The first part of a planned duology where King Arthur meets Peaky Blinders with vampires. Set in a place called Ettenia, which is an amalgamation of 1920s and Victorian London. The story follows a gang of outcasts in a deadly heist led by Arthie Casimir to save her tearoom, which fronts an illegal blood house.

Coming spring 2022.

In this YA fantasy duology, the only hope for a city trapped in the eye of a cursed storm lies with the daughter of failed revolutionaries and a prince terrified of his throne.

Coming spring 2022.

Monsters Born and Made is a YA novel about a girl from a family of sea-monster trainers who will stop at nothing to be the first of her caste to compete in a monstrous chariot race. Winning means saving her family and losing will cost her everything. Publication is slated for summer 2022.

A contemporary reimagining of the royal family pitched as The Princess Diaries with murder.

After a 17-year-old American girl is exposed as the King of England's illegitimate daughter, she soon finds herself in an even bigger royal scandal as the primary suspect in a murder investigation.

Coming 2022.

The Bone Spindle is an #OwnVoices LGBTQ YA fantasy pitched as a gender-flipped Sleeping Beauty meets Indiana Jones, in which a cursed treasure hunter and an axe-wielding huntswoman must team up to rescue the prince sleeping in the Forest of Thorns. Publication is scheduled for spring 2022.

A duology about a young Black woman who must survive deadly trials to become an elite warrior while solving her grandfather's murder, fighting a racist and misogynistic society and keeping her magical blood gift a secret.

Seri's world is defined by very clear rules. The beasts prowl the forest paths and hunt the People. Warriors kill the beasts and gain strength from the armor they make from them. And they explore the unknown world, to find new homes for the People. That was how it had always been, and how it would always be.

Until the day Seri encounters Tsana.

Tsana is a stranger, someone who is – impossibly – not of the People. She comes from the unknown world, from a strange group that speaks a different language, wears metal, and, strangest of all, communicates with beasts. And Tsana's People find Seri's barbaric. Somehow, with the world at the brink of war, Seri will have to find a way to make peace.

This is a world of heroes, and that is what Seri will become.

Violet Made of Thorns is a darkly romantic, fairy tale-inspired YA fantasy, for fans of The Cruel Prince and Serpent & Dove.

Violet is a prophet and a liar, influencing the court as Seer with her cleverly phrased—and not always true—divinations. Honesty is for suckers like the oh-so-not-charming Prince Cyrus, who plans to strip her of her title once he's crowned.

After the king asks her to falsely prophesy Cyrus's love story for an upcoming ball, Violet awakens a dreaded curse about the prince's future bride. Her wits may protect her in the ruthless court, but they can't protect her against fate—nor the doomed attraction growing between her and the prince . . .

“There is always a price for defying destiny.”

Coming fall 2022.

In this #OwnVoices YA fantasy standalone, a young asexual spy is given a vital mission from her Spymistress: infiltrate an enemy country and capture a magic caster, in hopes of restoring her own country's dying magic. Publication is slated for fall 2022.

The heart-pounding sequel to Cast in Firelight, perfect for fans of epic, sweepingly romantic fantasy by Sabaa Tahir, Susan Dennard, and Mary E. Pearson.

After a magical eruption devastates the kingdom of Belwar, royal heir Adraa is falsely accused of masterminding the destruction and forced to stand trial in front of her people, who see her as a monster. Adraa's punishment? Imprisonment in the Dome, an impenetrable, magic-infused fortress filled with Belwar’s nastiest criminals—many of whom Adraa put there herself. And they want her to pay.

Jatin, the royal heir to Naupure, has been Adraa’s betrothed, nemesis, and fellow masked vigilante . . . but now he’s just a boy waiting to ask her the biggest question of their lives. First, though, he’s going to have to do the impossible: break Adraa out of the Dome. And he won’t be able to do it without help from the unlikeliest of sources—a girl from his past with a secret that could put them all at risk.

Time is running out, and the horrors Adraa faces in the Dome are second only to the plot to destabilize and destroy their kingdoms. But Adraa and Jatin have saved the world once already. . . . Now, can they save themselves?

This debut YA fantasy follows a blood-witch whose mission to assassinate the prince she is betrothed to is compromised by the discovery of a deadly plague—and by the beautiful princess intent on stopping it.

Coming fall 2022.

Foul Lady Fortune, the first of two books, is a speculative historical noir surrounding the events of Imperial Japan's expansion into China in the 1930s. It takes place after the events of These Violent Delights. A familiar character is recruited as a national spy, maintaining her false identity by posing as a young married couple with someone who might be the very enemy.

Publication is set for fall 2022.