Free Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books to Read in July 2025

At the turn of the twentieth century, few would believe that mankind is being watched from above. But millions of miles from Earth, the lords of the Red Planet prepare their armies for invasion, waiting for the moment to strike. When they land in the English countryside, baffled humans approach, waving white flags, and the Martians burn them to a crisp. The war has begun, and mankind doesn’t stand a chance. As Martian armies roll across England, one man fights to keep his family safe, risking his life—and his sanity—on the front lines of the greatest war in galactic history.

H. G. Wells’s groundbreaking novel, adapted to radio and film, among other mediums, by visionary artists from Orson Welles to Steven Spielberg, remains one of the most chilling, unforgettable works of science fiction ever written.

With the arrival of a Witchland envoy making demands of Demonland’s chief lords, peace between the two lands is irrevocably shattered. The chief lords Juss and Spitfire send their brother Goldry to defeat the witch king. Though he is initially victorious, Goldry ultimately gets captured, leaving it up to his brothers to rescue him. So begins a fantasy adventure whose influence has endured for nearly a century.

The Worm Ouroboros is an undisputed classic of fantasy literature, and has been an avowed influence on the likes of J. R. R. Tolkien, C. S. Lewis, and Ursula K. Le Guin. Entirely immersive and written in near-Elizabethan tongue, the novel takes readers on an unforgettable ride across the plane of Mercury, flanked by soaring hippogriffs, with an unforgettable finish that impresses as much now as it did nearly a century ago.

Carthoris of Mars, prince of Helium, has inherited the strength and heroism of his Earth-born father, John Carter. Though he has fallen in love with Thuvia, princess of Ptarth, she has already been promised to Kulan Tith, Jeddak of Kaol. And on the planet of Barsoom—known to humans as Mars—only death can break an engagement. When Thuvia is kidnapped, Carthoris is blamed. But while rising tensions bring the red planet to the brink of war, it is Carthoris who flies to her rescue.

In the untamed south of Barsoom, Carthoris pursues Thuvia’s captors into the ancient land of Lothar, home to a mysterious race of aliens with the ability to conjure phantom armies with their minds. Now Carthoris must fight a seemingly infinite number of enemies to save Barsoom from planetary war and win the love of Thuvia.

This collection features some of M. R. James’s greatest tales of the supernatural world crossing over into our own. In “Number 13,” an inn that previously belonged to an alchemist changes dimensions in the night. “The Mezzotint” features a painting of a house reenacting a gruesome scene from the house’s history. In “The Treasure of Abbot Thomas,” an antiquary who has discovered the location of a treasure gets far more than he bargained for.

James’s tales of the terror that hides beneath the prosaic continue to stun more than a century after they were written.