My Top Five Highly Anticipated Books of 2013

It may not feel like it in Britain at the moment but summer is not far away. Alongside (hopefully) the nice weather, lighter evenings and a break from school or university, the summer also brings along the release dates for some of the biggest ‘blockbuster’ books of 2013. And after looking through my ‘recommended’ list on various websites like Amazon, I decided to name the Top Five Books I’m most looking forward to reading this summer.

5. The Fall of Arthur, J. R. R. Tolkien and Christopher Tolkien- 23rd May 2013.

Like many of the Tolkien releases after the Lord of the Rings movies, this new book was started before Tolkien’s death and was eventually finished by his son Christopher. The new Tolkien book was started in the 1930’s in the form of a poem. The book was written before the release of The Hobbit and is not based in Middle-Earth, but instead in the almost fantasy realm of King Arthur. I’m looking forward to reading this new book/poem because it will be interesting to see how the Tolkiens write about history and not just Middle-Earth.

4. Emperor, The Blood of Gods, Conn Iggulden- 23rd May 2013

This is the fifth book in Iggulden’s amazing Emperor Series. It sees us return to Brutus after the murder of his old master Julius Caesar.  Most of us thought that the series was finished with Emperor: Gods of War, however, Iggulden thinks that he ended the series too abruptly with Caesar’s death and thought the story needed tying off with one more novel.

3. Inferno, Dan Brown- 14 May 2013

It will be interesting to see who Dan Brown angers in his new book Inferno. Once again we return to the charismatic university professor Robert Langdon as he travels to Europe to uncover the secrets of one of the world’s most famous literary pieces.

2. Hannibal: Fields of Blood, Ben Kane- 6 June 2013

This is the second book in Ben Kane’s Hannibal series and tells the tale of one of the most famous battles in Roman and world history; the Battle of Cannae. Hannibal: Enemy of Rome was the first book of Kane’s that I ever read and really got me hooked on his novels. So, it will be exciting to return to the series that greatly captured my imagination and see how Kane depicts the infamous battle!

1. Emperor of Thorns, Mark Lawrence- 1 August 2013

This series blew my (and many other’s) mind when I first read it! So much so that I voted the first book in the series Prince of Thorns my favourite book of 2012! I can’t wait to get back to Jorg and see where his grim but epic journey takes him.

Alongside these novels there are some other great books coming out this year! Bernard Cornwell says he expects to get his new book out this year and there are rumours that Patrick Rothfuss might be publishing his final novel of the Kingkiller series. There are also some great books from other great, if less well known authors coming out this year. Currently I’m reading Hank Quense's new book Wotan’s Dilemma, which so far has been great!  I believe Kelley Grealis's new novel The Search is due out this year and I think Gordon Doherty's sequel to Strategos: Born in the Borderlands is also set to be released sometime later this year!

So, 2013 is set to be an exciting year for reading! What books are you guys looking forward to reading over the summer and the rest of the year? Let me know in the comments below or over at my Facebook page by clicking here.