Bookclubbing – The Year Ahead: What to expect in 2021

Nevi: 2020 was a crazy year for bookclubbing articles. We’ve had a lot of Warhammer 40,000 coverage including plenty of Horus Heresy stories. And while I want to continue that into 2021, I also want to branch out slightly.

Gav: Star boy here, reporting for duty. I’ve been diving back into the Star Wars canon with some of their books, starting with Chuck Wendig’s Aftermath. I’m going to continue looking into the novels produced in the lead-up to the sequel trilogy releases (starting with the other two in the Aftermath trilogy) and see what I find. In the spirit of Nevi’s game-adaptation Bookclubbing, I’ll also be investigating the two Battlefront novels, really the only connecting point between the games focus of Bits & Pieces and my new project so far. There’s also the introduction of the new High Republic setting, starting in January (and god knows what else with all the spinoffs announced in the last month!) Expect more Star Wars bookclubbing articles from me throughout 2021.

Gav: On a more serious note, I’d like to investigate some books written about games. The game-punter public at large (myself included) don’t often engage with academic game criticism, so I’m going to give it a shot and try to expand my understanding of the medium. I bought some Humble Book Bundles a long time ago with some game studies stuff from MIT Press and a whole load of individual game histories from Bossfight Books, so watch this space.

Nevi: I also want to step back into the Halo universe next year. Alongside a retrospective series on the video games, I’m planning to jump back into the Halo novels in 2021 starting with Halo: Cryptum and the rest of the Forerunner Trilogy. 

Nevi: In 2020, I experienced my first Assassin’s Creed story through Assassin’s Creed: Gold. And while it isn’t amazing, it was good enough to convince me to pick up some paperbacks and audiobooks. So in 2021 you can expect coverage of at least the first few Assassin’s Creed novels starting with Assassin’s Creed: Renaissance. 

Nevi: And don’t worry there will be lots more Warhammer bookclubbing coming up in 2021. You can’t stop me continuing my journey through The Horus Heresy and we’ll be visiting Fallen Angels, A Thousand Sons and Nemesis soon. I’m also planning more short story coverage with anthologies like Tales of Heresy. Back in regular Warhammer 40,000, I want to continue exploring the life of Ciaphas Cain in The Traitor’s Hand and finish the Eisenhorn Trilogy. And I’m looking forward to more Death Guard in The Lords of Silence. 

Nevi: Finally, I want to spend some time with Warhammer Fantasy/Age of Sigmar. I only managed to cover a single book from this franchise last year, Soul Wars. And I want to learn more. I’ve got the first few books of the Realm Gate Wars ready to go and after that I’m looking forward to more Nurgle with Hallowed Knights: Plague Garden. After that, I’m not sure where to explore next so let me know if you have any suggestions.

Nevi: And that’s a very rough plan of some of the books we are planning to cover in 2021. I didn’t even mention the fact that I have the Metro Trilogy ready and waiting for the right moment or that I’ve been tempted to revisit The Witcher series. It’s going to be an exciting year in bookclubbing, so watch this space and take care.

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