Best Fantasy Novels Hitting Bookstores This October: Stephen King, Sarah J. Maas and More

As we edge closer to moving from September to October, maybe you’re imagining a perfect fall evening consisting of curling up with a good book and escaping to somewhere magical. If that’s the case, next month has got you covered with the best fantasy novels offering everything from ancient gods and murderous magical books to enchanted kingdoms, deadly competitions and a return to Alice’s Wonderland.

Some of fantasy’s biggest names are leading the way. Stephen King completes the trilogy he began with the late Peter Straub more than four decades ago in Other Worlds Than These, while V.E. Schwab brings her Villains series to an end with Victorious. Sarah J. Maas returns to the wildly popular world of A Court of Thorns and Roses with A Court of Splintered Harmony, the beginning of an ambitious new story arc she’s calling the Valkyrie Cycle.

There are plenty of new worlds to discover, too. October’s fantasy lineup includes Tarot-inspired magic and a deadly tournament, alchemists studying in modern-day Paris, dragonriders, a romance between the god of healing and the Death God, and Heather Fawcett’s aforementioned darker-but-cozy return to Disney’s Wonderland.

What follows is a guide to nine new fantasy books arriving in October that deserve a spot on your fall reading list.

‘Other Worlds Than These’ (October 6)

Authors: Stephen King and Peter Straub
Publisher: Scribner

What it’s about: More than 40 years after Stephen King and Peter Straub introduced Jack Sawyer in The Talisman, his story reaches its conclusion. Jack was only 12 when he first crossed America and entered the Territories, a parallel world filled with magic and danger, on a quest to save his dying mother. He returned as an adult in Black House, where his battle against a child killer brought him into conflict with the Crimson King and revealed stronger connections between the Territories and King’s sprawling Dark Tower mythology. In Other Worlds Than These, an older Jack is living in Mid-World—the place he once knew as the Territories—but can return to our world only for short periods without becoming dangerously ill. Nevertheless, he’s forced back into action when a rampaging group of infected teenagers threatens America while the mysterious Gullet poses an even greater danger at the edge of Mid-World. With Jack’s ka-tet, or group bound together by fate, beginning to fracture, he faces a nearly impossible mission whose outcome could determine the fate not simply of one world, but all of them.

Stephen King says: “That the Talisman trilogy needed a final volume was a foregone conclusion, because Black House ends with a cliffhanger. Jack, although healed in the Territories, can only go back to America for short periods or he’ll sicken and die. I wanted to go back to Mid-World, which was always the Territories by another name.” (Esquire)

‘Victorious’ (October 6)

Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Tor Books

What it’s about: The third and final novel in V.E. Schwab’s Villains series brings the story of former college friends Victor Vale and Eli Ever to its conclusion. Years earlier, the two discovered that people who survive near-death experiences can sometimes return with extraordinary abilities. Their experiments transformed both men into ExtraOrdinaries, or EOs, but also turned the once-close friends into bitter enemies: Victor can control pain, while Eli possesses extraordinary regenerative powers. Now EON, the organization created to hunt and contain EOs, is changing under a dangerous new director, forcing Victor, Sydney, Mitch and their allies out of hiding and toward EON headquarters. Waiting at the end is a final reckoning between Victor and Eli that has been building since Vicious, the novel that started it all.

V.E. Schwab says: “I’ve always thought of it as three installments. I think when we say ‘trilogy,’ it gives a really specific structural expectation. I wanted each book to stand in its own light and to do its own thing. I had a vision for how it would end; I had a vision for who would be left standing and what the situation would be. It was just a matter of, ‘How do I want to get from where I ended Vengeful to that moment?’”

“A lot of [Victorious] opens in the first chapters on the concept of aftermath, specifically what happens when you no longer have a purpose. Everyone is a little bit adrift. They’re still in a purgatory. They’re still hiding. They’re not living normally… This one is counting down to the end… Book 3 is a book about psychology. It’s about control, it’s about the illusion of control and it’s about our own perception of our own reality.” (Entertainment Weekly)

‘Wondrous’ (October 6)

Author: Heather Fawcett
Publisher: Disney Press

What it’s about: Timed to the 75th anniversary of Disney’s animated Alice in Wonderland, this YA sequel catches up with Alice at 18, when she finds herself much happier in Wonderland than in the real world. But something strange is happening even by Wonderland standards: dozens of other teenage girls named Alice have begun appearing there. According to a prophecy believed by the Queen of Hearts, one of them is destined to save Wonderland from three monstrous mock dragons that have invaded from another realm. Whoever succeeds will be declared “the Alice,” while the others will be exiled from Wonderland forever. Determined to prove herself, Alice sets out armed with an enchanted tea set and reluctantly joins forces with a mysterious boy connected to the legendary Jabberwock. But is she really the Alice in Wonderland or merely one Alice among many?

Heather Fawcett says: “I love writing YA and had so much fun returning to the genre with a story that’s so close to my heart. Alice in Wonderland was one of my favorite stories as a child, and [this] is a slightly darker yet thoroughly cozy follow-up to the Disney film. I’ve always been drawn to the whimsy and weirdness of Alice.”

‘The Thrice-Bound Fool’ (October 13)

Author: Christopher Buehlman
Publisher: Tor Books

What it’s about: Christopher Buehlman returns to the darkly funny fantasy world of The Blacktongue Thief and its prequel, The Daughters’ War, where goblin wars have devastated kingdoms and thieves are trained by the powerful and ruthless Takers Guild. At the center of the new adventure is Kinch Na Shannack, a wisecracking thief with a talent for getting himself into impossible situations. This time he’s saddled with a stolen sentient book that repeatedly attempts to kill him—even when he’s not reading it. Unfortunately, the murderous tome may also contain the secret to stopping the forces threatening the queen. Reunited with warrior Galva, Kinch finds himself pursued by the Takers Guild and other dangerous enemies, sending the thief and knight on a journey beyond the borders of their known world. Along the way, they’ll encounter new lands, strange magic and dangers that may make a homicidal book seem like the least of their problems.

Christopher Buehlman says: “I’m attracted to dark places; the spaces under the subways in New York, the lonely highways of America in social upheaval, a world where all the horses and most of the men have been killed by goblins in an existential struggle with humankind. I don’t know why, but I’ve always been more Halloween than Christmas.”

‘Mothsblood’ (October 13)

Author: Lynn D. Jung
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

What it’s about: In Lynn D. Jung’s dark-academia fantasy, alchemy is real, immortality may be attainable and the legendary Nicholas Flamel is very much alive—or at least he is when ambitious young alchemist Lark arrives in Paris to study at the prestigious university he oversees. Lark hopes the school will give her the knowledge and power she has spent her life pursuing, but her plans are upended when the supposedly immortal Flamel is murdered. Investigator Violaine suspects the killing is connected to the Promethean Genesis, a secretive alchemical cult that Lark knows far better than she would like to admit. As the university descends into suspicion and chaos, Lark is drawn into the investigation while the return of a former mentor offers her another path to the power she desperately wants. Surrounded by dangerous experiments, forbidden knowledge and people with their own agendas, Lark must decide how far she’s willing to go—and what she’s willing to sacrifice—to become the alchemist she’s always dreamed of being.

Lynn D. Jung says: “My book, which is nicknamed MOTHS, is a dark academia adult fantasy set at a graduate school for alchemists in modern-day Paris. I am currently studying education, and while the core of this book is the main character’s journey of self-discovery and reclamation, I also wanted to take a hard look at academia, particularly ‘prestige’ institutions. Why do we put so much stock in institutions (for example, Ivy Leagues) that have been founded on pillars of racism, sexism, and classism, and largely continue to perpetuate inequity to this day? What happens when a marginalized individual—in the case of MOTHS, a queer Korean-American woman—buys into this myth and almost destroys her life while trying to fit into a space that was designed to keep people like her out? These are some questions I was interested in exploring.”

‘The Void Dragon’ (October 13)

Author: Annabel Campbell
Publisher: Orbit

What it’s about: Annabel Campbell’s The Void Dragon continues the epic fantasy story begun in The Outcast Mage, set in a world where magical ability can be both a gift and a dangerous liability. After the destruction of Amoria, Naila is on the run, struggling to understand a mysterious power growing inside her—one that appears to be getting stronger and more difficult to control. Hunted by dragonriders, she heads for the great library of Awasef in search of answers about what she’s becoming and why. Meanwhile, the kingdom of Dahran is being pushed toward civil war as political conspiracies deepen and the powerful Wazira begins forcibly recruiting mages to its cause. Among those caught in its grasp is Naila’s friend Haelius Akana, leaving the two facing dangers on separate fronts. As their paths become entangled with the struggle for Dahran’s future, Naila must uncover the truth about her powers before they, or the enemies pursuing her, destroy everything she’s trying to protect.

‘The Tarot Trials: A Novel’ (October 20)

Author: Katee Robert
Publisher: Tor Books

What it’s about: In a world where power is tied to the Tarot, Kestrel has spent her entire life preparing for the Tarot Trials, a brutal competition in which champions representing the cards battle for survival and the chance to become one of the Cinque, the five people who rule the realm. For Kestrel, however, winning is about more than power. Twenty-two years earlier, her mother survived the Trials and earned a place among the Cinque, only to be executed for treason. Now competing as Champion of the Moon, Kestrel sees the Trials as her chance to uncover the truth about what happened to her mother. But there’s one major complication: the magical abilities she develops aren’t the ones she’s spent years training to use. Suddenly wielding powers of shadow and illusion she doesn’t fully understand, Kestrel must learn to control them while navigating deadly challenges, shifting alliances, betrayal and competitors who won’t hesitate to kill her. And the deeper she gets into the Trials, the closer she comes to secrets that could change everything she believes about her mother—and the people who rule her world.

‘A Court of Splintered Harmony’ (October 27)

Author: Sarah J. Maas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

What it’s about: Sarah J. Maas returns to Prythian, the magical realm of Fae courts introduced in her bestselling A Court of Thorns and Roses series, for the sixth installment and the beginning of a new story arc called the Valkyrie Cycle. This time the threat is Koschei the Deathless, an ancient and powerful being who has been imprisoned at a mountain lake for thousands of years. As his influence begins spreading across the Fae territories, he attracts dangerous allies determined to reclaim the human lands. Stopping them won’t be easy. Prythian is still recovering from the devastating Hybern War, while betrayals and newly revealed truths have created deep divisions among those who rule and protect the Night Court. With enemies gathering and old alliances fractured, its members must find a way to trust one another again and unite the Fae courts before Koschei’s growing power threatens both their world and the human realm.

Sarah J. Maas says: “Part one was this huge, huge thing, and I eventually realized I was writing a book told in four parts. It’s basically going to be, like, three physical volumes, but it’s like one thing altogether that no amount of glue in, like, any publisher’s factory could ever hold this.” (Call Her Daddy)

‘To Dream in Darkness’ (October 27)

Author: Ann Liang
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

What it’s about: Ann Liang’s romantic fantasy unfolds in a reimagined ancient China where gods walk among mortals and travel between the human, celestial and underworld realms. Rujia is the god of healing, devoted to preserving life, which makes her destined encounter with the Death God particularly troubling. According to fate, he is the deity who will eventually kill her. When their paths cross, however, Rujia refuses to simply accept her death. She strikes a bargain: give her one more month to live and, in return, she’ll help him break the mysterious curse that has plagued him for a century. But Rujia’s attempt to rewrite her destiny has consequences neither anticipates, contributing to the collapse of the Celestial Palace and the disappearance of its crown prince. With the balance among the three realms threatened, healer and bringer of death are forced to journey together in search of answers—while confronting curses, gods, dangerous secrets and the growing possibility that the fate binding them together may not be quite what either believed.