I will be honest, I'm quite excited for 2025; so many great books are releasing, so why not take a look, and maybe put some in your radar.

For this list, I decided to mix traditionally published, indie published and self-published; I will miss many books because trust me, I can't be as exhaustive as I would like, but let's dive in!

If The Stars Are Lit, by Sara K. Ellis (Luna Press Publishing / 15th April 2025)

If the Stars Are Lit is a speculative mystery exploring the implications of AI, memory, and loss.

When the starship ferrying her to Earth is gutted by an explosion, Joss Carsten is left alone and adrift, struggling to reestablish contact with humanity. But her health is fading fast, and her isolation is triggering painful hallucinations of Alice, her long-estranged wife.

In an act of self-preservation, the ship's onboard system generates a gemel - a sentient holographic AI, born from Joss's own psyche. The catch? This one is a ringer for Alice.

Now, trapped with an "Alice" who knows all her secrets, Joss must confront her old ghosts as they race to unravel the mystery behind the ship's destruction.

The Gryphon King (The Chaos Constellation #1), by Sara Omer (Titan Books / 7th July 2025)

The first in a stunning Southwest Asian-inspired epic fantasy trilogy brimming with morally ambiguous characters, terrifying ghouls and deadly monsters.

Combining cut-throat dynastic politics with expansive worldbuilding and slow-burning romance, this book is perfect for fans of Godkiller and Samantha Shannon.

Bataar was only a child when he killed a gryphon, making him a legend across the Red Steppe. As an adult, he is the formidable Bataar Rhah, chosen by god to rule the continent that once scorned his people. After a string of improbable victories, he turns his sights on the wealthy, powerful kingdom of Dumakra, whose princesses rule the skies from the backs of pegasuses.

When rumours reach the capital that the infamous warlord is moving on Dumakra, Nohra Zultama prepares to face him. She and her sisters are feared warriors, goddess-blessed and mounted on winged, man-eating horses. But as deceit and betrayal swirl through her father's court, Nohra soon learns the price of complacency. With her city under Bataar’s rule, Nohra vows to take revenge. But her growing closeness to Bataar’s wife, Qaira, threatens to undo her resolve.

When rioting breaks out and mythic beasts incite panic, Nohra must fight alongside Bataar to keep order, her mixed feelings towards the man she’s sworn to kill becoming ever more complicated. Old evils are rising. Only together will Nohra and Bataar stand a chance against the djinn, ghouls, and monsters that threaten to overrun their world.

Inspired by the diverse Turkic cultures of Southwest Asia, this gorgeously written fantasy is sure to sweep readers off their feet.  

City of Jackals (Ghosts of Ethuran #2), by Aman J. Bedi (Gollancz / 13th March 2025)

Kavi's people were once warriors who acted as the vanguard to an imperial invasion. Now, they drive steam rickshaws.

But when the most dangerous gang in the city takes control of the Imperial Rickshaw Company, Kavi's people are cast out again, and Kavi is forced to work for the gang as a low-level enforcer. Her only hope lies in the annual Blade and Warlock tournament at the Vagola - the prize money from which will buy back the company and her people's future.

But the shadow of the Kraelish Empire still hangs over the city, and as conspiracies unfold on the Raayan border and dark truths come to the surface, Kavi finds an insidious new desire slither its way into her heart. One that she cannot ignore. One that will leave blood flowing through the gutters of her city.

Vengeance.  

Lady Drakeslayer (The Divine Godsqueen Coda #2), by Bill Adams (5th February, 2025)

An orphan, having uncovered the truth of her past, shuns the destiny of the blood coursing her veins. Despite slaying a goddess, the path to Eminence slowly shackles her as the other seals beckon.

A drake, burdened by the loss of his ward, can think of none more unworthy to bear the holy horns of a wardkeeper. Hounded by failure, he clings to the hope of repaying the gods' faith.

A princeps, saddled by grief, drowns his sorrow at the bottom of a mug. Hounded by the specter of his dead beloved, he shrinks from his duty, only to be drawn into the fight for his homeland.

A captain, fearless, dashing, and egoless, remains as confident and committed to enhancing her renown. But her legend may end abruptly when she takes on her most damnable contract to date.

Old nemeses return. Age-old plans rekindle. A daemon horde marches on the Golden Throne of Kalderim, while a blooddrake hunts another seal in the City of Sin. Split and broken by their failings, each must rise, but one thing remains: blood rules all.  

The Cut, by C.J. Dotson (St. Martin Press / 8th April, 2025)

 In this chilling supernatural horror novel set in a mysterious hotel, a woman fleeing her abusive ex finds herself running from more than just her past.

A historic hotel long past its prime and huddled along The Cut, a questionable Lake Erie beach, isn’t Sadie Miles’ ideal place to raise a toddler while also navigating her second pregnancy. After finally fleeing her abusive ex-fiancé, though, Sadie’s new housekeeping position and free room at L’Arpin Hotel are the best she can manage.

On her first night, Sadie runs to help a guest struggling in the hotel’s pool only to find the water calm and empty when she gets there, leaving her with a lingering unease. When a guest then goes missing and her manager insists they simply left without checking out, Sadie suspects he’s covering up darker goings-on in the hotel.

After her ex, Sadie won't let anyone convince her that what she’s experiencing isn’t real again. So, she keeps digging, quickly uncovering suspicious interactions with the staff, mysteriously vanishing security cameras, more missing guests, and things that go bump in the night...and drip in the walls, slither in the tub, and squirm in the halls. Everything isn't as it seems within the dim hallways of L’Arpin. Sadie has nowhere to go and nowhere to hide; she'll need to keep her wits about her to survive and keep her toddler and unborn child safe from whatever lurks nearby.  

The Starving Saints, by Caitlin Starling (Harper Voyager / 20th May 2025)

From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror.

Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration.

Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls.

As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.   

A Song Of Legends Lost, by M.H. Ayinde (Orbit Books / 10th April 2025)

The first book in the series, A SONG OF LEGENDS LOST, will be published in spring 2025 and launches a gripping tale of revenge and rebellion in a vividly drawn world inspired by multiple pre-colonial cultures.

In the Nine Lands, only those of noble blood can summon the spirits of their ancestors to fight in battle. But when Temi, a commoner from the slums, accidentally invokes a powerful spirit, she finds it could hold the key to ending a centuries-long war. But not everything that can be invoked is an ancestor. And some of the spirits that can be drawn from the ancestral realm are more dangerous than anyone can imagine.  

The Divine Flesh, by Drew Huff (Dark Matter INK / 4th March 2025)

Jennifer Plummer and the Divine Flesh have exactly three things in 1) they're trapped inside Jennifer's body; 2) they despise each other; and 3) they're in love with Daryl Plummer, Jennifer's ex-husband.

But when Jennifer takes an experimental wonder drug to free herself from the Divine Flesh's control, it only makes things worse. Expelled from Jennifer's body, the Divine Flesh can now "love" everyone in existence to death, which in this case, means being assimilated forever into the beast.

With time running out, it's somehow up to Jennifer and Daryl to save the universe from complete and total destruction. Can a dysfunctional drug mule and an electrician from rural Idaho stop the cosmic abomination before it's too late? Jennifer thinks, maybe.  

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association, by Caitlin Rozakis (Titan Books / 27th May 2025)

Two mundane parents and their recently-bitten-werewolf daughter they try to fit into a privileged society of magic aristocracy. But deadly terrors await them – ancient prophecies, remorseless magical trials, hidden conspiracies and the PTA bake sale. Big Little Lies goes to magic school, perfect for fans of T. Kingfisher, Olivia Atwater and Heather Fawcett.

When Vivian's kindergartner, Aria, gets bitten by a werewolf, she is rapidly inducted into the hidden community of magical schools. Reeling from their sudden cross-country move, Vivian finds herself having to pick the right sacrificial dagger for Aria, keep stocked up on chew toys and play PTA politics with sirens and chthonic nymphs and people who literally can set her hair on fire.

As Vivian reels from hellhounds in the school corridors and demons at the talent show, she races to keep up with all the arcane secrets of her new society – shops only accessible by magic portal, the brutal Trials to enter high school, and the eternal inferno that is the parents' WhatsApp group.

And looming over everything is a prophecy of doom that sounds suspiciously like it's about Aria. Vivian might be facing the end of days, just as soon as she can get her daughter dressed and out of the door…

Aunt Tigress, by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin (DAW Books / 18th March 2025)

From debut author Emily Yu-Xuan Qin comes a snarky urban fantasy novel inspired by Chinese and First Nation mythology and bursting with wit, compelling characters, and LGBTQIA+ representation. Readers of Seanan McGuire, Ilona Andrews, and Ben Aaronovitch will devour this gory story—and the sweet-as-Canadian-maple-syrup sapphic romance at its monstrous heart

Tam hasn’t eaten anyone in years. She is now Mama’s soft-spoken, vegan daughter — everything dangerous about her is cut out, repressed. Medicated.

But when Tam’s estranged Aunt Tigress is found murdered and skinned, Tam inherits an undead fox in a shoebox and an ensemble of old enemies. The demons, the ghosts, the gods running coffee shops by the river? Fine. The tentacled thing stalking Tam across the city? Absolutely not. And when Tam realizes the girl she’s falling in love with might be yet another loose end from her past? That’s just the brassy, beautiful cherry on top.

Because no matter how quietly she lives, Tam can’t hide from her voracious upbringing, nor the suffering she caused. As she navigates romance, redemption, and the end of the world, she can’t help but wonder…

Do monsters even deserve happy endings?

With worldbuilding inspired by Chinese folklore and the Siksiká Nation in Canada, LGBTQIA+ representation, and a sapphic romance, Aunt Tigress is at once familiar and breathtakingly innovative.  

Every Dark Cloud, by Marisca Pichette (Ghost Orchid Press / 25th March 2025)

Living in a post-climate disaster world protected by a layer of artificial cloud, Mallory knows every shade of darkness, their world lit sparingly by bioluminescence. But when Rein stumbles across their path—radioactive light bleeding from their teeth, their skin twisted and burned—Mallory’s worldview implodes, and the true cost of their survival becomes all too clear.

A haunting cli-fi novella ideal for fans of Tiffany Morris and Stephanie Feldman, EVERY DARK CLOUD combines a dystopian setting and class-conscious narrative with a glimmer of hope for our shared humanity.  

Idolfire, by Grace Curtis (DAW / 11th March 2025)

Idolfire is an epic sapphic fantasy inspired by the fall of Rome from the author of the Frontier and Floating Hotel.

ON ONE SIDE OF THE WORLD, Aleya Ana-Ulai is desperate for a chance. Her family have written her off as a mistake, but she's determined to prove every last one of them wrong. 

ON THE OTHER, Kirby of Wall's End is searching for redemption. An ancient curse tore her life apart, but to fix it, she'll have to leave everything behind.

Fate sets them both on the path to Nivela, a city once poised to conquer the world with the power of a thousand stolen gods. Now the gates are closed and the old magic slumbers. Dead - or waiting for a spark to light it anew . . .  

The Witch Roads, by Kate Elliott (Tor Books / 10th June 2025)

Status is hereditary, class is bestowed, trust must be earned.

When an arrogant prince (and his equally arrogant entourage) gets stuck in Orledder Halt as part of brutal political intrigue, competent and sunny deputy courier Elen―once a child slave meant to shield noblemen from the poisonous Pall―is assigned to guide him through the hills to reach his destination.

When she warns him not to enter the haunted Spires, the prince doesn’t heed her advice, and the man who emerges from the towers isn’t the same man who entered.

The journey that follows is fraught with danger. Can a group taught to ignore and despise the lower classes survive with a mere deputy courier as their guide?

The Witch Roads is the latest epic novel by fan favorite, Kate Elliott.  

The Dead's Man Empire, by W.P. Wiles (Angry Robot Books / 23rd September 2025)

The upstart League has seized the God Mountain that is the source of all magic, pitching the world into crisis. But even they are threatened by the resurgence of the fabled, and utterly insane, Elven race.  As rivalries and conspiracies consume the ancient Empire of Miroline, it’s not a good time to be a reluctant, fantastically bolshie and resentful princess about to be married off to seal an alliance between two old enemies.

Meet Syzenne. Unfortunately for the world Syzenne is not just a princess with an attitude. She’s also a Scourge – born with the ability to kill with a glance. . And across the world another young Scourge is flexing her powers and deciding whether she is a weapon in the service of a nascent religious war or a power that can dictate things for herself.

The Dead Man’s Empire revisits the characters and the trials of The Last Blade Priest and adds powerful new characters and plot twists into the growing crisis that is sweeping the world.

The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver, by Rafael Torrubia (Gollancz / 26th June 2025)

No one remembers the calamity that killed the gods and stole the names of their people. Now Shipwright and Shroudweaver are known only by their professions.

She's a master of magical shipbuilding. He's a maker of the gilded gods that fuel their sails, stitched from the souls of dead sailors.When a chance to save their world sets the horizon alight, they decide they'll stop at nothing to vanquish the ultimate evil, embarking on a deadly race against time to beat the grief-wracked sorceress Crow-kisser to the notorious mountain kingdom in the legend-infested north before she unleashes the ancient evil entombed at its heart - the one that could destroy them all.

The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver introduces the most exciting new voice in Scottish fantasy with an epic adventure set in a post-apocalyptic landscape of god-fuelled ships, goth-as-hell villains, shadow-warping assassins, effortless queerness, and well-worn love - unmissable for fans of by Jay Kristoff, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.

Lightfall, by Ed Crocker (St. Martin Press / 14th January 2025)

An epic fantasy of vampires, werewolves and sorcerers, Lightfall is the debut novel of Ed Crocker, for fans of Jay Kristoff’s Empire of the Vampire and Richard Swan’s The Justice of Kings.

No humans here. Just immortals: their politics, their feuds—and their long buried secrets.

For centuries, vampires freely roamed the land until the Grays came out of nowhere, wiping out half the population in a night. The survivors fled to the last vampire city of First Light, where the rules are simple. If you’re poor, you drink weak blood. If you’re nobility, you get the good stuff. And you can never, ever leave.

Palace maid Sam has had enough of these rules, and she’s definitely had enough of cleaning the bedpans of the lords who enforce them. When the son of the city’s ruler is murdered and she finds the only clue to his death, she seizes the chance to blackmail her way into a better class and better blood. She falls in with the Leeches, a group of rebel maids who rein in the worst of the Lords. Soon she’s in league with a sorcerer whose deductive skills make up for his lack of magic, a deadly werewolf assassin and a countess who knows a city’s worth of secrets.

There’s just one problem. What began as a murder investigation has uncovered a vast conspiracy by the ruling elite, and now Sam must find the truth before she becomes another victim. If she can avoid getting murdered, she might just live forever. 

Blackjack Interstellar, by Alla Zaykova (Orbit Books / 1st July 2025)

 Levi, an interstellar con artist, is all charm, no conscience. His only real love is his spaceship—his symbol of status and freedom—which he is forced to surrender as loan collateral. Desperate to get his ship back, Levi swindles a valuable antimatter-tech blueprint from an alien diplomat, which he plans to sell to the highest bidder.

To decode the document, Levi hires Vera, a programmer whose inherited debt to the local mafia keeps her trapped on an asteroid in the galactic backwaters. Certain that Levi is merely using her, she plans to steal the blueprint for her creditors and finally gain her freedom. Their alliance is plagued by fiery tension, betrayals, and an impossible choice when they learn that an alien government intends to use the stolen technology to plan humanity’s genocide and that they will stop at nothing to retrieve their plans.  

Puppet's Banquet, by Valkyrie Loughcrewe (Tenebrous Press / 14th May 2025)

Married couple Celia and Martin are brutally attacked on their drive through the Irish countryside. The attack leaves Celia with a violent schism in her mind, seemingly existing in two places at once: one the “real” world, the other a howling maelstrom of abstract monstrosity.

Of her husband, there is no trace…

until weeks later, when Martin is discovered in a hospital for rare and abnormal diseases, his body spliced together with that of an unknown woman.And they are very pregnant.

PUPPET’S BANQUET is a “diseased Gothic”; a hallucinatory treatise on medical abuse; the systemic disease of colonialism and patriarchy; and the limits of human perception.  

The Vengeance, by Emma Newman (Solaris Books / 6th May 2025)

Morgane grew up at sea, daughter of the fierce pirate captain of the Vengeance, raised to follow in her footsteps as scourge of the Four Chains Trading Company. But when Anna-Marie is mortally wounded in battle, she confesses to Morgane that she is not her mother.

The captain of the enemy ship reveals he was paid to kill Anna-Marie and bring Morgane home to France and her real family. Desperate to learn the truth about her lineage, Morgane spares him, leaving the Vengeance and everything she knows behind.

Her quest reveals a world of decadence and darkness, in which monsters vie for control of royal courts and destinies of nations. She discovers the bloody secrets of the Four Chains Trading Company, and the truth about her real mother’s death, nearly twenty years before...  

Dance of Shadows, by Gourav Mouhanty (Head of Zeus / 25th February 2025)

A season of peace is the finest time to plant the seeds of war.

A pirate-queen discovers the only gold around is in the bars of her cage.

A temple-courtesan's heart dances for the archer she was tasked to destroy.

A librarian learns how to steal to save the world from an ancient plague.

As the Conclave of Peace dawns in the Tree Cities of the East to decide the future of the realm, deaf swordswomen and exiled snakelings, spoilt heroes and lovesick princes, immortal assassins and their apprentices will find no sun to light their path.

For the Son of Darkness rises, boiling over with a wrath that all the oracles in the world cannot hope to stop. After all, seeing the future is one thing, changing it is quite another…Unless it is through a heist.  

The Devils, by Joe Abercrombie (Gollancz / 6th May 25)

Europe stares into the abyss.

Plague and famine stalk the land, monsters lurk in every shadow and greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions. Only one thing is certain: the elves will come again, and they will eat everyone.

Sometimes, only the darkest paths lead towards the light. Paths on which the righteous will not dare to tread . . .

And so, buried beneath the sacred splendour of the Celestial Palace, is the secret Chapel of the Holy Expediency. For its congregation of convicted monsters there are no sins that have not been committed, no lines that will not be crossed, and no mission that cannot be turned into a disastrous bloodbath.

Now the hapless Brother Diaz must somehow bind the worst of the worst to a higher cause: to put a thief on the throne of Troy, and unite the sundered church against the coming apocalypse.

When you're headed through hell, you need the devils on your side.