Can’t Wait Wednesday: The Sleep of Empires by David Annandale

Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Wishful Endings to share upcoming book releases that we’re excited about! This meme is based on Waiting on Wednesday, which was created and hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

I stumbled across The Sleep of Empires on a trawl of publishing catalogs on Edelweiss a few weeks back and thought the cover was pretty cool. The synopsis also rather caught my attention – a world full of humans, elves, and skeletal beings called kaul? It gives T’lan Imass vibes and they were one of my favorite parts of the Malazan series. The Sleep of Empires sounds epic and dark, with two POV characters I would love to read about! The author is also well known for writing in the Warhammer 40K universe and while I haven’t read any of those I am somewhat familiar with the world (my game night group is desperately trying to get me to pick a combat patrol to assemble and paint). This will be released September 16, 2025.

This debut installment in The Book of the Null series will appeal to readers who enjoy The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, and the like.

Eloran is a world of imperious elves, fractious human realms, and the hated, skeletal kaul—with each nation poised to grasp at any advantage over the others.

When Latanna Forgrym’s despised father tries to betroth her to the youngest son of a powerful, manipulative family, she forges a new path by instead marrying a man she respects but doesn’t love. A chance encounter with a pair of mercenaries leads Latanna to a lost crown, a relic of forces the world has tried desperately to forget, and gives her the means to break free from her corrupt family—but at a terrible price.

A kaul mercenary travels through the human realms with a companion of no nation, no identifiable species, and no memories—not even the memory of his own name. Latanna’s crown sets the warrior on the path to recovering first his name—Vorykas—and then fragments of his past. As he searches for clues to himself, his connection to the crown and the suppressed lore it represents become clear.

When a forbidden book resurfaces, threatening to reveal the knowledge Vorykas seeks, enemy forces move to conceal the book and any hint of its contents, by whatever means necessary. Latanna and Vorykas must unite to defend the realm and reveal the truth. But what they learn has the power to shake the world . . . and make the gods tremble.