Top 5 anticipated reads for Q4 2026

Publication date: 27 October 2026

I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS BOOK IS FINALLY HERE.

I feel like I’ve been waiting approximately seventeen thousand years for the next book in this series. Which might be a slight exaggeration, but honestly, it doesn’t feel like one.

But also, because it was only announced recently (approximately 5 minutes in book time) I genuinely can’t believe that it’s here already. Does that even make sense?

There’s something particularly frustrating about loving a fictional world and knowing there are still stories to be told within it, but having absolutely no control over when you get to read them.

Frankly, it’s rude.

And while I have many feelings about the characters in this series (some considerably more positive than others), I’m genuinely excited to return to Prythian.

I want the politics. I want the relationships. But mostly I want the inevitable emotional devastation that comes from characters making terrible decisions while being absolutely convinced they’re doing the right thing.

Really, though, I just want to be back in this world.

After all this waiting, I almost don’t know what to do with the fact that the next book is finally within reach.

Apart from read it, obviously.

Publication date: 13 October 2026 (Australian edition)

Speaking of books that have been a LONG time coming…

Victorious. THE FINAL VILLAINS BOOK.

I have been waiting for this series to be complete for so long that I deliberately put off reading Vengeful, the second book. Because I know myself.

I know what happens when I get invested in morally questionable characters who make increasingly catastrophic decisions. I inhale the book, become emotionally compromised and then spend the next several years being deeply offended that I can’t immediately find out what happens next.

So I decided to be sensible. I waited.

And waited.

And now that Victorious is finally on the horizon, I have absolutely no excuse not to read Vengeful. Which means I’m actually anticipating TWO books here.

Victor Vale and Eli Ever have been waiting very patiently for me to return to their particular brand of morally complicated chaos.

Well, patiently might be a stretch. I’m not sure the morally charcoal characters are capable of patience.

But I’m ready. I think. I may need a Vicious reread first.

Publication date: 27 October 2026

Oh, this one is going to hurt. I can already tell.

C.G. Drews has a remarkable talent for writing characters who crawl directly into my heart, make themselves comfortable and then proceed to emotionally destroy me.

And apparently I keep volunteering for this experience.

I love the way their stories explore vulnerability, complicated relationships and characters who are desperately trying to survive circumstances that seem determined to break them.

There’s often something beautifully tender underneath all that pain, which somehow makes the emotional devastation WORSE.

Because hope is dangerous. Hope makes you care.

And then C.G. comes along and does something unforgivable to a character you’ve become attached to.

I am approaching Scorpion Deep with the full expectation that my heart will be ripped out, examined and possibly handed back to me in several pieces.

Naturally, I cannot wait.

Publication date: 13 October 2026

THE FINAL VOLUME. I have so many feelings about this.

I’ve loved following Rachel Smythe’s interpretation of Hades and Persephone, and one of the things I’ve always appreciated about Lore Olympus is the way it takes familiar figures from Greek mythology and gives them complicated, messy, deeply personal stories.

These aren’t distant mythological characters who exist purely to fulfil their established roles. They’re people.

Well, gods. You know what I mean.

And after spending so much time with them, reaching the final volume feels like a genuinely significant moment.

There’s the excitement of finally having the complete story, of course. But there’s also that slightly bittersweet feeling that comes with finishing a series you’ve followed for years.

I want to know how everything comes together. I also don’t want it to end.

Reader problems.

Publication date: 15 October 2026

And finally, we have Travis Baldree.

At this point, I think it’s fair to say that I will read absolutely anything he writes in this world. Including a recipe book and shopping list for all the delicious things a certain Ratkin bakes.

Give me cosy fantasy. Give me interesting characters. Give me little glimpses into the lives of people who inhabit a world that somehow manages to feel both magical and wonderfully familiar.

Give me the sort of storytelling that makes me want to curl up somewhere comfortable with a cup of tea and forget that the real world exists for a few hours.

I am HERE FOR IT.

One of the things I love most about Baldree’s books is that they remind me fantasy doesn’t always need an enormous world-ending catastrophe to be compelling.

Sometimes the smaller stories are the ones that stay with us. The friendships. The unexpected connections. The people who find themselves building a life they never imagined having. And sometimes, of course, there’s a little chaos.

I’m particularly excited about the opportunity to spend more time in the Territory and revisit the kind of storytelling that made me fall in love with this world in the first place.

Honestly, Travis Baldree could probably publish a book about someone reorganising the pantry in a fantasy tavern and I’d preorder it.

Actually… I’d probably really enjoy that book.