Epic Fantasy on a Reliable Schedule: A Chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyons
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Covers by Lars Grant-West
Bestselling fantasy dominates modern bookshelves in a way I could only dream about as a young reader. George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire and Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicle are the two biggest examples in recent memory. Of course, both are also unfinished, and the latest installments are both long overdue. Makes you wonder what they could have accomplished if the publishing magic that fueled them had also included a reliable schedule.
Tor is trying something impressive with their latest big-budget epic fantasy. If things unfold as scheduled, Jenn Lyons’ ambitious 5-volume series A Chorus of Dragons will be released in rapidfire sequence. Here’s what Lyons said on her website last year.
The series is on a nine month release schedule. That means that, should everything go to plan, Tor will be releasing a book in the series every nine months or so. Two this year, one next year, two the year after that (again, if all goes to plan.) Is this stunningly ambitious? Yes. Is this going to kill me? Quite possibly…
So far, Jenn (and Tor) have hit the deadlines. The Ruin of Kings was published in February 2019, The Name of All Things in October, and Book 3, The Memory of Souls, is now scheduled to arrive on August 25, 2020.
The series has been a critical hit as well as a commercial one; the first novel scored a rare publishing quadruple crown, with starred reviews from Library Journal (“Stunning”), Booklist (“Dazzling”), Publishers Weekly (“intricate epic fantasy”) and Kirkus Reviews (“Un-put-down-able”). Tor has been leaking news about the third book since October. I’ll be very curious to see if the buzz built up after the release of the first two volumes continues once the third arrives.
Read the complete first chapter of The Ruin of Kings at Tor.com, and see all our recent New Treasures here.
As you know, John, I’m wary of starting a series until I know it will be finished, and prefer to wait until all the books can be gotten in hand before reading a single page. I got caught with Michael Sullivan’s trilogy that turned out to be 6 books (wrapping up this month) and swear, never again.
But the concern is, will the earlier books still be available when the last book comes out?
R.K,
I appreciate your concern. I’ve been stung by the same problem a few times — the earlier volumes are hard to get by the time the final book shows up.
However, these books are best sellers, and Tor is highly unlikely to make that mistake. When a new series goes out of print these days, it’s usually a signal the publisher is done with the series, and no more volumes will be forthcoming. I doubt that’s the case here.