Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  I run this segment in conjunction with the Can’t-Wait Wednesday meme that is currently running at Wishful Endings. Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them. For this week’s Waiting on Wednesday, I check out an upcoming novel which I recently predicted will get a full five-star rating from me, Queen of Storms by Raymond E. Feist.

Queen of Storms is one of those books that I know I am going to absolutely love well before I actually read it. This is mainly because it is written by one of my favourite authors of all time, Raymond E. Feist. Feist is easily one of the best fantasy authors of the last 40 years, having created an amazing body of work with his long-running overarching fantasy series, The Riftwar Cycle, which started way back in 1982 with his iconic debut novel, Magician. I am a massive fan of these books, as it was one of the first big fantasy series that I ever got into. I particularly enjoyed Magician (I did a re-read of it a few years ago and it still holds up) and I routinely reread The Empire trilogy (co-written with Janny Wurts), every couple of years. Feist finished The Riftwar Cycle back in 2013 (it featured 30 books by the end) and has now moved on to a whole new series.

Queen of Storms is the second book in The Firemane Saga, which is completely separate from the events of The Riftwar Cycle and started in 2018 with King of Ashes. King of Ashes was an incredible book which presented an excellent new fantasy adventure in a compelling new world. I really enjoyed the amazing story that was featured within this novel, and it did a great job of introducing the universe, the main characters and the overarching series narrative. As a result, I am exceedingly excited to check out Feist’s sequel and I cannot wait to see where he takes the story next. Queen of Storms is set for release on 14 July 2020, although a detailed plot synopsis and two impressive covers are currently available.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Hatushaly and his young wife Hava have arrived in the prosperous trading town of Beran’s Hill to restore and reopen the fire-damaged Inn of the Three Stars. They are also preparing for the popular midsummer festival, where their friends Declan and Gwen will be wed.

A series of horrific events shatters the peace of Beran’s Hill, bringing death and devastation and unleashing monstrous forces. Once more, the Greater Realms of Tembria are threatened—and nothing will ever be the same again.

This sounds like it is going to be an outstanding novel, and after reading the above synopsis, I am sure that Feist is going to produce another compelling tale of magic, intrigue and adventure. There is honestly no chance that I am not going to absolutely love Queen of Storms, and I am going to have a hard time waiting until July to get this book.