Top Ten Tuesday: 2023 Debut Books I’m Excited About

New month, new Top Ten Tuesday!! Today I’m going to share some of the 2023 debut books I’m excited about. I’m thankful for these kinds of topics, because normally I’m so bad at keeping track of new releases! But these make me actually look up new releases and write them down haha.

Thank you to Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting/organizing Top Ten Tuesday! Find my past Top Ten Tuesday posts here.

WOULD YOU LOOK AT ALL THOSE STUNNING COVERS!!!!!!!!!

Firstly, we have To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose. This is a fantasy about an indigenous woman who goes to a colonizer-run dragon school. I’m so here for this!! I mean come on, who doesn’t love dragons? ALSO IT’S QUEER!!!!! (release date: May 9th, 2023)

Next up: That Self-Same Metal by Brittany N. Williams. Black girls!! Fae!! SWORDS!!!!!! And a main character who can control metal! Shakespeare!! Sign me the heck up! (release date: April 25th, 2023)

Third, we have The Jasad Heir by Sara Hashem. This is all about forbidden magic, deadly tournaments, and fighting to reclaim your home. The synopsis also screams enemies to lovers to me. We all know how much I’m a sucker for that trope!! (release date: July 6th, 2023)

Okay this one!! THIS ONE!! I’M SO SO EXCITED!! Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell is a standalone YA debut that is, according to Goodreads, “Perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Tamora Pierce“. IT’S ME!! I’M FANS OF TAMORA PIERCE!!!! It’s also described as a cottagecore fantasy romance which sounds wonderful. Also I think the main character has plant magic!! Another thing is that the release date is one week after my birthday. So I’m not saying it’s made for me, but I’m not NOT saying that. (release date: March 14th, 2023)

The Archive Undying by Emma Mieko Candon is about robotic AI gods who associated with cities. When the gods die, the cities die with them. It sounds epic and intense. I have an ARC of it (thank you TorDotComPub) so look out for a review soon! And obviously by “soon” I mean sometime between now and June, probably closer to June haha. (release date: June 27th, 2023)

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa follows a woman who simply wants to be left alone to run her tea business. However, things don’t work out that way. She ends up on a mission to rescue her sibling, one that takes her to the heart of the conquering empire. THE AUTHOR STUDIED ASTROPHYSICS!!!!! JUST LIKE ME!!!! (release date: July 11th, 2023)

So guess what? This next one aka The Daughters of Izdihar by Hadeer Elsbai is actually already released! It features elemental magic, and the ATLA fan in me LOVES that. It’s also inspired by modern Egyptian history. I definitely haven’t read enough Egyptian books, so I’m really excited to get this one. Oh and it’s queer, heck yeah! (release date: January 10th, 2023)

The Surviving Sky by Kritika H. Rao takes place in a world that has floating living cities above jungle planet plagued by storms. HOW COOL IS THAT?? The two main characters are also a married couple, which is awesome. I feel like we rarely get to see that! I’ve seen the author posting about this book on Twitter, and I’m STOKED. (release date: June 13th, 2023)

Next we have Forged by Blood by Ehigbor Okosun. There’s blood magic! A tyrannical regime! A quest for vengeance! An enemy prince! And hints of Nigerian mythology! So basically, give it to meeeee *grabby hands* (release date: August 8th, 2023)

And last but not least, we have The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero-Lacruz. This one is inspired by mythology of South America. I’m not sure where exactly, but the author is from Venezuela. We follow the paths of two women striving to belong. And f/f!! I’m so excited! (release date: July 25th, 2023)

Are any of these on your radar? What other debuts are you looking forward to?