The Best SFF Still to Come in 2025

If Gothic fiction is your jam, then the novels of Isabel Cañas must be on your bookshelf. Her previous books, The Hacienda and Vampires of El Norte blended historical fiction and Gothic aesthetics with a Mexican ethos, and her latest title, The Possession of Alba Díaz promises to be a similarly macabre ride. Set in an 18^th-century silver mine, the novel explores forbidden desire and demonic possession in hauntingly vivid prose.

Release Date: August 19

Following the sensational success of Babel and Yellowface, R.F. Kuang returns with another dark academia title, Katabasis. It’s due to be released in late August and follows the story of two rival students who must risk everything to descend to the depths of Hell to rescue their professor’s soul—and also collect their much-needed recommendation letters. 

Like Babel, this one is also deeply concerned with the power politics at fancy academic institutions and the personal sacrifices one makes for professional success within a magical setting. Moreover, this one also promises an enemies-to-lovers romance, so romantasy readers take note!

Release Date: August 26

Mona Awad’s Bunny was quite the literary sensation—a dark academia satire featuring a Mean Girls-esque clique in a posh Ivy League institution, with a meta-commentary on the creative process and phantasmagorical prose that made you doubt the narrator’s version of events even as you remained entranced by the telling. 

The sequel promises to be an interesting (meta) conversation with the strange events depicted in Bunny—Samantha, our previous narrator, is now an acclaimed author who is bound up by her frenemies and forced to listen to their versions of events. Like Bunny, this one also promises to be just as trippy, delirious and unputdownable. 

Release Date: September 23

With her last two novels, The Deep Sky and The Stardust Grail, Yume Kitasei has proven herself as a bankable author, capable of combining character-driven narratives against stellar sci-fi backdrops. The Deep Sky focused on a deep space mission gone terribly wrong while The Stardust Grail managed to be an entertaining space heist with strong anti-colonial undertones. 

Now, Kitasei returns to her familiar themes of environmentalism and family bonding in Saltcrop, that tells the story of two sisters searching for their third sibling, through a near-future ecologically-ravaged Earth. Poignant and gripping, Saltcrop is an exciting choice for fans of cli-fi and dystopian tales. 

Release Date: September 30

Tatiana Schlote-Bonne’s debut techno-horror novel, Such Lovely Skin is a perfect blend of doppelganger lore, video games and YA action. Her next book, The Mean Ones, is also slated to be a horror thriller, aimed at adults, narrating the story of Sadie, a seemingly normal 29-year-old physical therapist who starts hearing voices in her head. The author has already proved that she’s a master at pacing, and combined with her breezy and lucid prose, I’m hoping that The Mean Ones is going to be another terrific, suspense-driven read.

Release Date: September 30

I was lucky enough to read an eARC of Marske’s upcoming novella, Cinder House, a deliciously sapphic retelling of Cinderella. In this short read, our main protagonist is a girl, a ghost and a haunted house, trying to make the most of her tragic circumstances. Despite being murdered by her stepmother, Ella finds a way to keep persisting—she befriends a fairy, attends the opera, reads academic books on magic and makes a risky bargain to attend the royal ball, in a bid to “feel” alive. Filled with quiet longing and whimsy details, Cinder House’s engaging storyline will keep you hooked till the last page. 

 Release Date: October 7

Tasha Suri’s latest standalone romantasy novel, The Isle in the Silver Sea is definitely slated to be THE sapphic lady knight book of the year. Inspired by medieval folklore and filled with imaginative flourishes, this one tells the story of a knight and a witch who are doomed to fall in love and die at each other’s hands endlessly—until they find a way to break the cycle. 

Release Date: October 21

Alix E. Harrow’s latest, The Everlasting, is a time-loop adventure featuring a lady knight and a historian. It’s actually an expansion of her short story “The Six Deaths of the Saint,” which is one of the most heartbreaking and cleverly- lotted short stories I’ve ever read. I’mexcited to see what extra details and twists she’s added to the novel—and of course, the wondrously evocative prose she’s known for.

Release Date: October 28

The past decade has seen a seen a deluge of mythological retellings, many of which focus on notable figures and events from the Trojan War and even more of which delve into the lives of women from these stories and legends. Author Costanza Casati’s debut novel told the story of Clytemnestra, sister to the famously beautiful Helen and wife to King Agamemnon. 

In her second novel, however, Casati departs from Greco-Roman mythology and introduces readers to Mesopotamian legend. Another complicated female figure from this storytelling tradition, Semiramis, was the wife of two Assyrian kings. In Babylonia, she’s an orphan raised on the outskirts of an empire. Then, one day, she meets a newly appointed governor and after he falls madly in love with her, marries him. But when he takes her to the capital, Semiramis plunges deep into a world of political intrigue and attracts the attention of the newly ascended king himself.

Release Date: January 14

Amal El-Mohtar is probably best-known for her co-written novella, This Is How You Lose the Time War, which is about two time-travelling enemy agents who fall in love. The River Has Roots is her much-anticipated solo debut about two sisters and their connection to Faerie. 

For generations, the Hawthorne family has tended to ancient, magical willow trees—including the two latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel. But when Esther rejects a suitor for a faerie lover, we’ll discover just how deeply the sisters’ relationship goes. In fact, it may even transcend death. 

Release Date: March 4

John Scalzi has established himself as a reliable author of science fiction, and his newest book tackles the old folk tale about the moon being made of cheese and builds an entire premise around it. Imagine one day waking up to discover the moon is now made of cheese. 

How would you handle it and what would you do? Some people might question their faith. Others might try to capitalize on the opportunity. A few might just keep on, keeping on, because that’s the only thing left to do. Since humanity is a diverse and non-cohesive thing, the answers Scalzi draws are as varied and wild as you’d expect.

Release Date: March 25

Joe Abercrombie has a talent of blending morally grey characters with black humor to great effect. His forthcoming novel is no different. In The Devils, Abercrombie leaves the familiar universe of The First Law series and takes readers to Europe. 

Here, Brother Diaz arrives at the Sacred City expecting an important holy assignment. Instead, he’s tasked with overseeing a group of murderers and monsters. The mission? To put a former thief on the throne. And in true Abercrombie fashion, the journey there will be paved with blood.

Release Date: May 6

Details are still sparse about Schwab’s forthcoming novel. We know it spans centuries, continents, and cultures. We know at least one, if not all of them, are vampires. And, based on early reviews, we know the backbone of the novel involves toxic sapphic relationships. 

While Schwab made a splash on the adult market with her Shades of Magic series and Villains duology, it was The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue that really made SFF fans take notice and why Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil has our full attention.

Release Date: June 10

If you’re entranced by Silvia Moreno-Garcia’s bewitching prose, her latest aptly-titled novel The Bewitching must already be on your TBR list. This multigenerational saga focuses on three women from different generations who bear a connection with an obscure horror novel. Filled with dangerous witchcraft, ancient curses and a dash of the supernatural, The Bewitching is guaranteed to be a spine-tingling read, perfect for lovers of spooky tales and historical fiction. 

Release Date: July 29