Locus Bestsellers, September 2023
The Locus Bestsellers for July include top titles: Witch King by Martha Wells (Tordotcom), Dune by Frank Herbert (Ace), and Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US), and Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (Wizards of the Coast).
| HARDCOVERS | Months on list |
Last month |
|
| 1) | Witch King, Martha Wells (Tordotcom) | 1 | – |
| 2) | In the Lives of Puppets, TJ Klune (Tor) | 3 | 2 |
| 3) | Babel, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager) | 11 | 7 |
| 4) | Translation State, Ann Leckie (Orbit US) | 1 | – |
| 5) | A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers (Tordotcom) | 17 | 3 |
| 6) | Tress of the Emerald Sea, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 3 | 4 |
| 7) | The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien (Houghton Mifflin) | 13 | – |
| 8) | Red Team Blues, Cory Doctorow (Tor) | 2 | 8 |
| 9) | A Day of Fallen Night, Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury US) | 4 | 5 |
| 10) | The Malevolent Seven, Sebastien de Castell (Jo Fletcher) | 2 | 10 |
| PAPERBACKS | |||
| 1) | Dune, Frank Herbert (Ace) | 76 | 1 |
| 2) | The Name of the Wind, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW) | 45 | 4 |
| 3) | The Way of Kings, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 95 | 4 |
| 4) | Mistborn, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 31 | 2 |
| 5) | Hyperion, Dan Simmons (Bantam Spectra) | 11 | 6 |
| 6) | Good Omens, Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett (Morrow) | 37 | – |
| *) | Oathbringer, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 17 | 6 |
| 8) | The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams (Del Rey) | 3 | – |
| 9) | The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Neil Gaiman (Morrow) | 4 | – |
| 10) | Rhythm of War, Brandon Sanderson (Tor) | 9 | – |
| *) | The Wise Man’s Fear, Patrick Rothfuss (DAW) | 37 | – |
| TRADE PAPERBACKS | |||
| 1) | Children of Time, Adrian Tchaikovsky (Orbit US) | 10 | 7 |
| 2) | Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree (Tor) | 8 | 5 |
| 3) | The Mountain in the Sea, Ray Nayler (Picador) | 1 | – |
| 4) | This Is How You Lose the Time War, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone (Saga) | 15 | 2 |
| 5) | A Court of Thorns and Roses, Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury US) | 14 | 1 |
| 6) | A Court of Wings and Ruin, Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury US) | 8 | 4 |
| 7) | A Court of Mist and Fury, Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury US) | 11 | 3 |
| 8) | The Priory of the Orange Tree, Samantha Shannon (Bloomsbury US) | 17 | – |
| 9) | A Court of Silver Flames, Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury US) | 4 | – |
| *) | House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas (Bloomsbury US) | 14 | – |
| MEDIA & GAMING-RELATED | |||
| 1) | Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight, Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman (Wizards of the Coast) | 3 | – |
| 2) | The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, Anonymous (Dark Horse) | 1 | – |
| 2) | Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel, Beth Revis (Random House Worlds) | 3 | – |
Witch King, Martha Wells’s new standalone fantasy, topped our hardcover list with a hefty lead over TJ Klune’s In the Lives of Puppets. The first book in Mark Lawrence’s new fantasy series, The Book That Wouldn’t Burn (Ace), was our new runner-up. We had 46 nominated titles, down from 54 last month.
For the fourth month in a row, Frank Herbert’s Dune and a book by Brandon Sanderson – The Way of Kings this month – took first and second place on our paperback list. Dune was the clear favorite, garnering almost twice as many votes as the Sanderson. There were no new runners-up. Fifty-eight titles were nominated this month, down from last month’s 73 titles.
After months on-and-off the trade paperback list, Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky jumped into first place with a respectable lead over Legends & Lattes, Travis Baldree’s ‘‘novel of high fantasy and low stakes.’’ There were no new runners-up, with 69 nominated titles, down from 81 titles last month.
On the media and gaming-related list, after an over 30-year hiatus, Dragonlance: Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman returned to the bestsellers list, barely edging out our two, tied second-place finishers – The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia and Beth Revis’s Star Wars: The Princess and the Scoundrel. We had 19 nominated titles, down from 24 last month.
Compiled with data from: Bakka-Phoenix (Canada), Book Moon (MA), Borderlands (CA), McNally Robinson (two in Canada), Mysterious Galaxy (CA), Toadstool (two in NH), White Dwarf (Canada).
Data period: June 2023.
Note: book titles and covers on this page link to IndieBound, a network of independent booksellers, such as those that contribute to this list.
See this listing and more like it in the September 2023 issue of Locus.
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