Debuts
These are the debut novels I’d like to read and have read already, organised by year. This list is still under progress. Any books marked as Abandoned are not counted.
Legend: (Read) (Bought) (ARC) (Top Anticipated) (Abandoned)
Score: 50/103
2006
- Gentleman Bastard #1: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
2008
- The Hunger Games #1: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
2009
- Sabina Kane #1: Red-Headed Stepchild by Jaye Wells (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
2010
- Bel Dame Apocrypha #1: God’s War by Kameron Hurley (ARC)
- Chronicles of Siala #1: Shadow Prowler Alexey Pehov (Bought)
- Chronicles of the Tree #1: Tymon’s Flight by Mary Victoria
- Inheritance Trilogy #1: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Legend of Adam Caine by John C. Scott
- Milkweed Triptych #1: Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Obsidian & Blood #1: Servant of the Underworld by Aliette de Bodard (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Spellwright #1: Spellwright by Blake Charlton (Bought)
- The Shiva Trilogy #1: The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Warrior Priest by Darius Hinks
2011
- A Brush of Darkness by Allison Pang
- Aracadia Bell #1: Kindling the Moon by Jenn Bennett
- Broken Empire #1: Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence (Bought)
- Dark Breed #1: Ascension by Sable Grace
- Deadworld by J. N. Duncan
- Fire and Thorns #1: The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
- Half-Light City #1: Shadow Kin by M. J. Scott
- Katharoi #1: Miserere, An Autumn Tale by Teresa Frohock (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Lays of Anuskaya #1: The Winds of Khalakovo by Bradley P. Beaulieu (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Low Town by Daniel Polansky
- Malory’s Knights of Albion #1: The Savage Knight by Paul Lewis
- McKenzie Lewis #1: The Shadow Reader by Sandy Williams
- Mirror Maze by Michaela Jordana
- No Hero by Jonathan P. Wood
- No Proper Lady by Isabel Cooper
- Rivers of London #1: Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch
- Shattered Sigil #1: The Whitefire Crossing by Courtney Schafer (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Society of Steam #1: The Failing Machine by Andrew Mayer
- Soul Trapper by F.J. Lennon
- Subterrene War Trilogy #1: Germline by T. C. McCarthy (Bought)
- Tales of the Kin #1: Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- The Armageddon Chord by Jeremy Wagner
- The Fey and the Fallen #1: Of Blood and Honey by Stina Leicht (ARC)
- The Gildar Rift by Sarah Cawkwell (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- The Grigori Legacy #1: Sins of the Angels by Linda Poitevin
- The Noble Pirates by Rima L. Jean
- The Panama Laugh by Thomas S. Roche
- Tower and Knife #1: The Emperor’s Knife by Mazarkis Williams (Bought)
- Underworld Detection Agency #1: Under Wraps by Hannah Jayne (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Vault of Heaven #1: The Unremembered by Peter Orullian
- Veiled Worlds #1: Debris by Jo Anderton (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Wall of Night #1: The Heir of Night by Helen Lowe (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Wild Hunt #1: Songs of the Earth by Elspeth Cooper (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
2012
- Alex Verus #1: Fated by Benedict Jacka
- Babylon Steel by Gaie Sebold (ARC)
- Blackwood by Gwenda Bond (Top Anticipated)
- Blood and Feathers by Lou Morgan (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Bloodsounder’s Arc #1: Scourge of the Betrayer by Jeff Salyards (ARC)
- Books of Raziel #1: Archon by Sabrina Benulis
- Books of the Shaper #1: Seven Princes by John R. Fultz
- Collector #1: Dead Harvest by Chris F. Holm (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Crescent Moon Kingdoms #1: Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Darkest London#1: Firelight by Kristen Callihan
- Deacon Chalk, Occult Bounty Hunter #1: Blood and Bullets by James R. Tuck (Top Anticipated)
- Donovan Graham #1: Faustus Resurrectus by Thomas Morrissey
- Edie Spence #1: Nightshifted by Cassie Alexander
- Empire State by Adam Christopher (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Faith by John Love
-
Geekomancy by Michael R. Underwood (Top Anticipated)
- Jessica McClain #1: Full Blooded by Amanda Carlson (ARC)
- Joe Sunday #1: City of the Lost by Stephen Blackmoore (Bought) (Top Anticipated)
- Kat Redding #1: To Walk the Night by E.S. Moore
- Lotus War #1: Stormdancer by Jay Kristoff (ARC)
- Machine Dynasty #1: vN by Madeline Ashby (ARC)
- Miriam Black #1: Blackbirds by Chuck Wendig (ARC)
- Night’s Masque Volume 1: Alchemist of Souls by Anne Lyle (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Osiris Project 1: Osiris by E. J. Swift (ARC)
- Pantomime by Laura Lam (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Particle Horizon by Xisto Selso (ARC)
- Poltergeeks by Sean Cummings (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Sentinels of New Orleans #1: Royal Street by Suzanne Johnson
- Shadow Ops #1: Control Point by Myke Cole (Bought)
- Shift by Kim Curran (Top Anticipated)
- Tales of Easie Damasco #1: The Giant Thief by David Tallerman (ARC)
- The Assassin’s Curse by Cassandra Rose Clarke (ARC)
- The Croning by Laird Barron
- The Dead of Winter by Lee Collins (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
- The Seduction of Phaeton Black by Jillian Stone
-
Year Zero by Rob Reid (Top Anticipated)
2013
- Broken by A. E. Rought (Top Anticipated)
- Chronicles of Light and Shadow #1: A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz (ARC)
- Cracked by Eliza Crewe (Top Anticipated) (ARC)
- Dire Earth Cycle #1: The Darwin Elevator by Jason M. Hough (ARC)
- Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- John Lynch #1: Penance by Dan O’Shea (ARC)
- No Return by Zachary Jernigan (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Pimm and Skye: The Constantine Affliction by T. Aaron Payton (Top Anticipated)
- Playing Tyler by T. L. Costa (Top Anticipated) (ARC)
- Powder Mage #1: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan (Top Anticipated) (ARC)
- ®Evolution #1: Gemsigns by Stephanie Saulter (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Rojan Dizon #1: Fade To Black by Francis Knight (Top Anticipated) (ARC)
- Seven Eyes #1: Exile by Betsy Dornbusch (ARC)
- Shattered Kingdoms #1: Blood’s Pride by Evie Manieri (ARC)
- Tangled Axon #1: Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi (ARC)
- The Daedalus Incident by Michael J. Martinez (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- The Holders by Julianna Scott (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- The Lives of Tao (ARC) (Top Anticipated)
- Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins (ARC)
- Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon (Top Anticipated) (ARC)
Shadowhawk's Shade 
The Legend of Adam Caine? Lol
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That was last year right?
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August 2010 it was published.
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Awesome… just seen it!
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Bel Dame Apocrypha #1: God’s War by Kameron Hurley – Read it, thought it interesting, but lots of other folks liked it
Milkweed Triptych #1: Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis Read it, loved it, most impressive debut of 2010
Spellwright #1: Spellwright by Blake Charlton Read, it thought it OK
Broken Empire #1: Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence Read it, loved it, loved it some more, standout debut for 2011
Seed by Rob Ziegler – Read it, enjoyed it. Impressive over all
Blackwood by Gwenda Bond Read it, loved it. My inner teen had a crush on protagonist Miranda when I read it
Books of the Shaper #1: Seven Princes by John R. Fultz Read about 1/3, DNF
Crescent Moon Kingdoms #1: Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed Read it, loved it, can’t wait for the second book.
Shadow Ops #1: Control Point by Myke Cole Read it, loved it, favorite debut of 2012
Blood’s Pride by Evie Manieri Read it, very disappointed. Started well but fizzled quickly
Fade To Black by Francis Knight Read it, enjoyed it, a little uneven
Powder Mage #1: Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan Read it, thoroughly enjoyed it, currently most impressive debut of 2013 for me
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I definitely agree about Promise of Blood! 2013 is a really strong year for debuts so far. With God’s War and SEED, they were both DNF for me. I just could not get into the writing and it was really frustrating. I have yet to read Spellwright, Bitter Seeds, Blackwood, Throne of the Crescent Moon, Fade to Black, and Seven Princes. I started on the latter last month, but have put it aside for the moment. Blood’s Pride started slow for me and picked up towards the end. In the main, I enjoyed it. Prince of Thorns was one of the worst reads for me last year. I just could not get into the premise, the world-building was rather sparse, and did not like the main character at all, who was uncomfortable to read at the best of times. Control Point was a good novel, and fortunately, the sequel is much, much better!
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Throne of the Crescent Moon was amazing! Easily one of my favorite books of last year, original and just plain fun.
Shadow Prowler I couldn’t really get into. It’s a solid story, and the Russian influence gave a nice twist on familiar tropes, but it felt too similar to other fantasy books I’ve read. A Russian import I enjoyed much more was The Scar by Sergey and Marina Dyachenko. That one went on my favorites list.
I read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms when it first came out and had the dual impression that 1) the writing was rich and beautiful, the structure ambitious, and the story itself which broke out of genre conventions so much that I was surprised at every turn – super refreshing, and 2) there was something in the characters/setting/storyline I just couldn’t connect to quite as much as I do with more traditional fantasies. Still, I was super impressed. I will read more of Jemisin’s works!
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Have you read Bradley P. Beaulieu’s The Winds of Khalakovo. That one is Russian-themed as well and is really good!
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