Locus Bestsellers, April 2020
The Locus Bestsellers for April include top titles Agency by William Gibson, Dune by Frank Herbert, Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski, and Forgotten Realms: Timeless by R.A. Salvatore.
| HARDCOVERS | Months on list |
Last month |
|
| 1) | Agency, William Gibson (Berkley) | 1 | – |
| 2) | Penric’s Progress, Lois McMaster Bujold (Baen) | 1 | – |
| 3) | Resurgence, C.J. Cherryh (DAW) | 1 | – |
| 4) | Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tor.com) | 1 | – |
| 5) | The Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alix E. Harrow (Redhook) | 2 | – |
| 6) | Gideon the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tor.com Publishing) | 5 | 1 |
| 7) | The Conference of the Birds, Ransom Riggs (Dutton) | 1 | – |
| 8) | Song of the Risen God, R.A. Salvatore (Tor) | 1 | – |
| 9) | Accepting the Lance, Sharon Lee & Steve Miller (Baen) | 3 | 8 |
| *) | The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 1 | – |
| PAPERBACKS | |||
| 1) | Dune, Frank Herbert (Ace) | 36 | 2 |
| 2) | The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin (Ace) | 12 | – |
| 3) | Neuromancer, William Gibson (Ace) | 3 | – |
| 4) | Through Fiery Trials, David Weber (Tor) | 1 | – |
| 5) | Good Omens, Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (Morrow) | 29 | 4 |
| 6) | Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 4 | – |
| 7) | Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 6 | – |
| 8) | The Consuming Fire, John Scalzi (Tor) | 3 | – |
| 9) | The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 5 | 5 |
| 10) | Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 2 | 5 |
| *) | Words of Radiance, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 5 | – |
| TRADE PAPERBACKS | |||
| 1) | Blood of Elves, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 1 | – |
| 2) | The Three-Body Problem, Cixin Liu (Tor) | 39 | 2 |
| 3) | The Last Wish, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 6 | 4 |
| 4) | The Tower of Swallows, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 1 | – |
| 5) | Tiamat’s Wrath, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US) | 1 | – |
| 6) | Leviathan Wakes, James S.A. Corey (Orbit US) | 28 | 9 |
| 7) | The Fifth Season, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit US) | 37 | 1 |
| 8) | The Lady of the Lake, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 1 | – |
| *) | The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet, Becky Chambers (Harper Voyager US) | 6 | 6 |
| *) | Sword of Destiny, Andrzej Sapkowski (Orbit US) | 2 | – |
| MEDIA & GAMING RELATED | |||
| 1) | Forgotten Realms: Timeless, R.A. Salvatore (Harper Voyager US) | 4 | – |
| 2) | Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron, Alexander Freed (Del Rey) | 3 | – |
| 3) | Star Wars: Thrawn, Timothy Zahn (Del Rey) | 16 | 3 |
| 4) | Star Wars: Resistance Reborn, Rebecca Roanhorse (Del Rey) | 2 | – |
| 5) | Star Wars: Heir to the Empire, Timothy Zahn (Del Rey) | 5 | – |
In its first month of release, William Gibson’s Agency, a novel set in the same world as The Peripheral, leapt to the top of the hardcover list, followed by Lois McMaster Bujold’s Penric’s Progress, an omnibus of her first three Penric novellas. There were no new runners-up. We had 51 nominated titles, up from last month’s 49.
On the paperbacks list, classics reigned with Frank Herbert’s Dune in first place and The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin in second. Our new runner-up was Octavia Gone by Jack McDevitt (Pocket), the eighth book in the Alex Benedict series. 60 titles were nominated, up from 51 last month.
Reflecting the popularity of Netflix’s The Witcher TV show, five books in Andrzej Sapkowski’s series claimed places on our trade paperback list, with Blood of Elves as number one, while The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu retained its second-place position from last month. Book two in the Witcher series, The Time of Contempt, was our new runner-up. We had 65 titles nominated, up from 56 last month.
On the media- and gaming-related books list, R.A. Salvatore’s Forbidden Realms book Timeless tied for the top spot with Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed. Timothy Zahn’s Star Wars: Thrawn came in second. There were no new runners-up. We had 19 nominated titles, up from last month’s 16.
Compiled with data from Bakka-Phoenix Books (Canada), Borderlands (CA), McNally Robinson (2 in Canada), Mysterious Galaxy (CA), Toadstool (NH), Uncle Hugo’s (MN), White Dwarf (Canada).
Data period: January 2020.
Note: book titles and covers on this page link to IndieBound, a network of independent booksellers, such as those that contribute to this list.
From the April 2020 issue of Locus.
While you are here, please take a moment to support Locus with a one-time or recurring donation. We rely on reader donations to keep the magazine and site going, and would like to keep the site paywall free, but WE NEED YOUR FINANCIAL SUPPORT to continue.
