11 exciting SFF book releases to kick off your New Year right this January

The Mask Falling – Samantha Shannon

The fourth book in Samantha Shannon’s massive The Bone Season series, The Mask Falling expands the world of her story into Scion-occupied France, introduces a ton of new characters, and drops a half dozen massive twists and turns that will leave fans both thrilled and frustrated. (As well as eager for more.)

Shannon’s series is slated to encompass seven books, a strange twist in a publishing world whose insistence on duologies and trilogies seems to result in compressing stories rather than expanding them. Shannon’s work is the antithesis of that: Dense, rich, and with a slow burn romance to end all slow burn romances at its center. (Seriously, glaciers move more quickly.)

Now a secret agent for the mysterious Domino Programme, London Underqueen Paige Mahoney must complete a series of dangerous high-risk, high reward missions, which could give her not just necessary allies in the Parisian underground but the sort of access and funding that could give her Mime Order the power to transition from a criminal syndicate to an army capable of truly leading a revolution against Scion.

The official synopsis describes the story as follows.

"Paige Mahoney has eluded death again. Snatched from the jaws of captivity and consigned to a safe house in the Scion Citadel of Paris, she finds herself caught between those factions that seek Scion’s downfall and those who would kill to protect the Rephaim’s puppet empire. The mysterious Domino Programme has plans for Paige, but she has ambitions of her own in this new citadel. With Arcturus Mesarthim – her former enemy – at her side, she embarks on an adventure that will lead her from the catacombs of Paris to the glittering hallways of Versailles. Her risks promise high reward: the Parisian underworld could yield the means to escalate her rebellion to outright war. As Scion widens its bounds and the free world trembles in its shadow, Paige must fight her own memories after her ordeal at the hands of Scion. Meanwhile, she strives to understand her bond with Arcturus, which grows stronger by the day. But there are those who know the revolution began with them – and could end with them."

The Mask Falling is available on January 26.