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.  In this slightly belated Waiting on Wednesday article I take a look at one of my most anticipated fantasy releases for 2022, the awesome and epic upcoming The Voyage of the Forgotten by impressive author Nick Martell.

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Over the last two years, fantasy fans have been absolutely blessed by the incredible talent of new author Nick Martell who has already made a substantial impact on the genre in a very short amount of time.  Debuting in 2020, Martell started his fantasy journey with the first The Legacy of the Mercenary Kings novel, The Kingdom of Liars.  This impressive novel told the captivating tale of Michael Kingman, the troubled scion of a formerly great house in the Kingdom of Hollow whose fortunes were erased after Michael’s father apparently killed the King’s oldest son.  Determined to prove his father’s innocence, Michael investigates the Hollow court in an attempt to find out who was truly responsible.  Along the way, he clashes with fractious royals, dangerous magic users, powerful mercenaries, and insidious hidden immortals, all of whom want him dead, while also trying to come to grips with his new magical abilities that slowly result in the loss of his memories.  Michael was eventually able to discover who was responsible for the murder, but only after he was framed for the death of the current king, narrowly avoiding execution.  I had an outstanding time with this exceptional novel’s brilliant story and powerful characters, and The Kingdom of Liars ended up being one of my favourite books (and audiobooks) of 2020, as well as one of the best debuts of the year.

While I was already suitably impressed with Martell’s first novel, the author amazed me even more last year when he released the sequel, The Two-Faced Queen.  The Two-Faced Queen was an exceptional follow-up to The Kingdom of Liars that masterfully expanded on the events of the first novel.  Not only where several intriguing new story elements introduced, such as a notorious serial killer, dragons and even more immortals, but we also got some great new characters, substantial world building, and even more fantastic twists and revelations.  The most substantial of these characters was Michael’s love interest, the queen of Hollow, Serena (the titular Two-Faced Queen), who spends most of the novel trying to kill Michael for the death of her father.  This resulted in a pretty complex and exceptional novel that I powered through extremely quickly as I tried to see how everything unfolded.  In many ways, The Two-Faced Queen surpassed Martell’s first novel, and it was easily one of the best books and audiobooks of 2021.

After having such an exceptional time with the first two books in The Legacy of the Mercenary King series (which is such an excellent series name), I have naturally been extremely keen to read the third book in this series.  This third novel is The Voyage of the Forgotten, which is currently set for release in November 2022.  While I was a little disappointed that its release date was knocked back towards the end of the year, I am still very excited for this novel and I have been eagerly waiting to find all the details I can about it.  Not only do we have a synopsis for it, but they have also released both of the covers for it, which look extremely awesome, and distinctive (I think I like the above UK cover more than the US cover below, but both are great in their own way).

Synopsis:

In this twistingly beautiful and epically thrilling conclusion to the fantasy trilogy The Legacy of the Mercenary King, Michael, the infamous Kingkiller, and Serena, the Hollow Queen, race against the odds to have the future they’ve worked so hard to protect…or risk bringing about the end of the world.

Michael Kingman has discovered his destiny, but the distance to what he wants, namely a life with Serena, the queen of Hollow kingdom, is as wide as the world, and just as cruel.

Meanwhile, Dark, the realm’s most fearsome mercenary, Michael’s sometime mentor, and son of his nemesis, Angelo, is trying to keep Michael in line, for his own purposes as he too has a hidden agenda. Michael comes to realize that he is outclassed by powers that have been working for centuries to bring about a fresh end to the world filled with those he loves. But when has merely being overpowered ever stopped Michael from getting what he wants?

To prevent what may bring about the end times Michael must gather his remaining allies and push himself to achieve the impossible because the alternative is worse than he can imagine: it’s not just the beginning of the end of the world, it’s being alone and forgotten.

In this epic conclusion, The Voyage of the Forgotten brilliantly wraps up the stories fans have fallen in love with as the characters struggle against odds that seem impossible to overcome.

I really like the sound of the above synopsis, and it is pretty clear that The Voyage of the Forgotten is set to be a pretty awesome read.  While some of the details here seem a little vague, it is clear that Martell looks set to bring together many key storylines here.  In particular, it looks like the plans of several of the major antagonists or villains he has faced in the previous books are about to start coming together, forcing Michael to step in and stop them.  I hope that we get some vital answers to certain plot points here as well as further explanation of who the key players are and what their motivations are, which will be great to see.

One of the things I find most interesting about this synopsis is the fact that The Voyage of the Forgotten is apparently going to be the final book in the series.  This is a bit surprising to me; due to the sheer number of storylines, interesting supporting characters and major plot arcs, I honestly thought/hoped this would be a longer series.  I am actually a tad worried that Martell may have trouble wrapping everything up in a single book, there are just that many story elements to conclude, but I have learnt to rely on Martell’s writing ability, so I am sure that this will come up really well.  I am actually very tempted to go back and do a reread of Martell’s first two novels to make sure I have all the particulars in my head before I read the final story (they are just that detailed).  I cannot wait to see how everything comes together and I am hoping for a very satisfying and captivating conclusion, no doubt filled with tragedy, intense action and impressive magical inclusions.

Look, I think it is very clear from the lengthy introductory paragraphs above that I am particularly keen to grab The Voyage of the Forgotten.  Nick Martell has already so deeply impressed me with his first two books that I know I am going to deeply enjoy this epic read.  I am very eager to see how this outstanding series concludes, and I am extremely confident that The Voyage of the Forgotten is going to end up being one of the best books of 2022.