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!

Starstruck, by Aimee Ogden (Psychopomp / 2025)

Prish has always been a radish who knows what she’s about; chiefly, her wife, Alsing, a literal and figurative fox. They’ve woven together a cozy life organized around welcoming other starstruck beings into the world—plants and animals ensouled by a falling star—but when the stars stop falling, all of that unravels. Prish gives in to Alsing’s longing to move on, and their new path leads them to two unlikely companions: an abandoned human child, and, impossibly, a brand-new starstruck who is neither a plant nor an animal, but rather a chunk of anthropomorphized granite with delusions of destiny.

Psychopomp, by Maria Dong (Dark Matter INK / 25th March 2025)

On the penal colony of Hibiscus Station, no positions are as key as the Pomps, who direct the dangerous mining operations to remove highly valuable—and volatile—crystal from the moon's crust.

Young was previously in training to be a Pomp until a depressive episode, mental break, and a suicide attempt. She doesn’t need the other convicts on her work team to suspect she’s unraveling again, so when she suddenly hallucinates visions of the unstable crystals in the tunnel walls around her—along with the potential danger they hold—she keeps her mouth shut.

And then their newly dug tunnel explodes, killing her crew.

During her reassignment, her new lover, Gyu, makes her an offer: he can pull some strings and help her finish her Pomp training. If Young decides to take the gamble that her new secret visions are accurate, she can prevent further accidents and pay off the penal debt keeping her from going home.

However, the more she trains, the more her paranoia convinces her that the collapse wasn’t an accident at all, and that everyone—her new crew, the station staff, and even Gyu—are all hiding secrets. If she doesn’t figure out what’s real before her mental health implodes, she might not survive the next “accident.”

Grave Empire, by Richard Swan (Orbit Books / 4th February 2025)

From critically acclaimed author Richard Swan, Grave Empire begins the epic tale of an empire on the verge of industrial revolution, where sorcery and arcane practices are outlawed – and where an ancient prophecy threatens the coming end of days.Blood once turned the wheels of empire. Now it is money.

A new age of exploration and innovation has dawned, and the Empire of the Wolf stands to take its place as the foremost power in the known world. Glory and riches await.

But dark days are coming. A mysterious plague has broken out in the pagan kingdoms to the north, while in the south, the Empire’s proxy war in the lands of the wolfmen is weeks away from total collapse. 

Worse still is the message brought to the Empress by two heretic monks, who claim to have lost contact with the spirits of the afterlife. The monks believe this is the start of an ancient prophecy heralding the end of days—the Great Silence. 

It falls to Renata Rainer, a low-ranking ambassador to an enigmatic and vicious race of mermen, to seek answers from those who still practice the arcane arts. But with the road south beset by war and the Empire on the brink of supernatural catastrophe, soon there may not be a world left to save...   

Death in the Aviary, by Victoria Dowd (Datura Books / 9th September 2025)

A ‘locked lift’ mystery for Golden Age crime fans, from award-winning author Victoria Dowd.

December 1929, and young back-room journalist Charlotte Blood is sent to the isolated Ravenswick Abbey in the wilds of Dartmoor to investigate the murder of the heir to the Ravenswick fortune. She faces a locked room mystery like no other, a crime impossible to solve. Almost a year ago, on New Year’s Eve, nine members of the Ravenswick household stepped into a vast, ornate lift installed for the ailing head of the family, Lord Ravenswick. The power failed. The lift stopped. In the darkness, a single shot was fired. As the light returned, the occupants were met with the sight of Charles Ravenswick, the heir, dead on the floor, the gun lying in the centre of the lift. No one could have got in. No one could have got out. All have motives. None have alibis.

Charlotte Blood arrives under the pretence of reporting on the family's infamous ravens. She finds a house haunted by suspicion and secrets. She must unravel the mystery and with it the terrible truth behind the Ravenwicks. Her search will not only lead her down a dangerous path, it will reveal some of the dark secrets that lurk in her own life...

Meet the enigmatic protagonist Charlotte Blood for the first time in this new gothic crime series, The Blood Chronicles...

Dark Crescent, by Lyndsey Croal (Luna Press Publishing / June 2025)

An omen of spirits dance across the sky. A lonely woman befriends a sea witch as the world ends. The last whale in the world travels north in search of hope. A grandmother seeks revenge on the sea monster that took her family.

DARK CRESCENT is a collection of seasonal tales inspired by Scottish folklore, landscape, superstitions, and omens. In this book, readers will find reinterpretations of common folklore creatures and phenomenon, like the Kelpie, Selkie, and Will-o’-the-Wisps, as well as lesser known, such as the Sea Mither, Ceasg, Marool, Sluagh, Ghillie Dhu, Nuckelavee, Baobhan Sith, and The Frittening, all with dark and strange lore around them.

Moving through the seasons, from a darker Autumn and Winter to a more optimistic Summer, the often-interconnected stories cover a wide range of genres, including gothic, weird horror, speculative, dark fantasy, and solarpunk. Many of the tales are also inspired by nature, climate, and the environment, with feminist and eco themes throughout.

This House Isn't Haunted but We Are, by Stephen Howard (Wild Hunt Publishing / 3rd April 2025)

Simon and Priya’s young daughter has died in a tragic accident. Determined to heal their fracturing marriage, the couple move to the North Yorkshire Moors to renovate a dilapidated rural cottage. However, they just can't process their grief as increasingly eerie events unfold. A child’s ghostly figure appears on the moors, doors lock themselves, and a mysterious stain grows from the loft. Is it their daughter haunting them or something else?

Starve Acre meets Linghun in this story of grief, marriage and haunting.

One Message Remains, by Premee Mohamed (Psychopomp / 11th February 2025)

Pageantry, pomp, pretense, and peril—”The General’s Turn,” originally published in The Deadlands, drew readers into the dark world of a ceremony where Death herself might choose to join the audience… or step onto the stage.

Award-winning author Premee Mohamed presents three brand new stories set in this morally ambiguous world of war and magic. In “One Message Remains,” Major Lyell Tzajos leads his team on a charity mission through the post-armistice world of East Seudast, exhuming the bones and souls of dead foes for repatriation. But the buried fighters may have one more fight left in them—and they have chosen their weapons well.

In “The Weight of What is Hollow,” Taya is the latest apprentice of a long-honored tradition: building the bone-gallows for prisoners of war. But her very first commission will pit her skills against both her family and her oppressor.

Finally, in “Forsaking All Others,” ex-soldier Rostyn must travel the little-known ways by night to avoid his pursuers, for desertion is punishable by death. As he flees to the hoped-for sanctuary of his grandmother’s village, he is joined by a fellow deserter—and, it seems, the truth of a myth older than the land itself.

Six Wild Crowns, by Holly Race (Orbit Books / 10th June 2025)

The king has been appointed by god to marry six queens. Those six queens are all that stand between the kingdom of Elben and ruin. Or so we have been told.

Each queen vies for attention. Clever, ambitious Boleyn is determined to be Henry's favourite. And if she must incite a war to win Henry over? So be it.

Seymour acts as spy and assassin in a court teeming with dragons, backstabbing courtiers and strange magic. But when she and Boleyn become the unlikeliest of things - allies - the balance of power begins to shift. Together they will discover an ancient, rotting magic at Elben's heart. A magic that their king will do anything to protect.

A captivating epic fantasy filled with dragons, court politics and sapphic yearning, perfect for fans of The Priory of the Orange Tree and House of the Dragon. 

Project Hanuman, by Stewart Hudson (Angry Robot Books / 11th November 2025)

Blending Indian mythology and classic space opera, Project Hanuman is a bold new science-fiction novel from Stewart Hotston, perfect for fans of Adrian Tchaikovsky.

The ship needed to hear voices, to know he was not alone. The pilot thought they were going to fight an enemy, to find someone responsible and mete out justice. The Interlocutor thought they were going to help. The ship only wanted to hear the chaos of life and know he wasn’t alone among the stars.

The Arcology is a pan galactic utopia whose people live entirely online. Tired of paradise, Praveenthi ‘Prab’ Saal had herself printed into the physical world of Sirajah’s Reach, working as an Interlocutor – a go between for the Arcology and the cultures it meets in flesh and blood.

One evening after a call with her family – who are pressuring her to abandon her body and rejoin the Arcology, the city stops. Stops completely – nothing electronic works anymore. Terrified that the Arcology has just up and disappeared, she receives a call for help from a ship in dock whose pilot, Kercher, is a prisoner printed into a body to serve out his sentence in the physical world. Between them they discover it’s not just her planet, but the entire Arcology that’s gone missing. If they don’t find out what’s going on it could be the end of everyone and everything that calls the Arcology home.

Their only resource is their living ship, into which all the knowledge and culture of the Arcology has been downloaded. Asked to be a life raft for the Arcology, the ship, a frigate without a name, is dying – slowly being swallowed whole by the literal universe of information it’s been asked to carry.

Featuring worlds made entirely from gold, an enemy who has no consciousness, allies made of lichen and the grand Ring World of Akhanda – the physical heart of the Arcology. Prab and Kercher will need to put aside their dislike of each other and the Arcology if they’re to help their ship and save anything at all. Can they restore the possibility of hope to their lives?  

Dumort, by Michelle Tang (Ghost Orchid Press / Summer 2025)

A gaslamp horror novella in which a woman haunted by an angry phantom seeks the help of an infamous occultist with a dark secret.

The Killing Spell, by Shay Kauwe (Solaris / November 2025)

Combining the creative worldbuilding and anti-colonial themes of R.F. Kuang’s Babel with the clever, intricate world building of Naomi Novik’s A Deadly Education, The Killing Spell is a fresh, exciting urban fantasy novel based on Hawaiian culture and mythology.

Kealaokaleo Petrova is an unlicensed spell smith in an alternate California where each language is its own school of magic. Content to raise her cousins and chickens near the seaside, Kea’s life is violently upended when a politician in nearby LA is killed—with Hawaiian magic. As the only smith on the West Coast that specializes in the obscure language, all signs point to Kea. But she doesn’t write death spells. Not that anyone believes her.

To prove her innocence, Kea is given an impossible task: track down the assassin and reverse-engineer their spell, or LA’s governing Board will dissolve her clan and seize their land. Worse, she’s been saddled with a guard dog in the form of LA’s most dangerous (and most alluring!) man. Fearful for her family’s safety, Kea scours the city to stop a killer who’s wielding her language and culture for their own selfish ends. When the evidence leads her back home to her Hawaiian community, Kea will need to unite the rival clans and fight back before they’re swallowed up by LA.

Cry, Voidbringer, by Elaine Ho (Solaris / Autumn 2025)

A jaded warrior, conscripted by a kingdom battling their imperialist masters, accidentally rescues a child whose existence can easily turn the tide of a war. To survive, they must navigate the games kingdoms play, where their captors look to reclaim a memory of an empire, but the cities they reconquer don’t want their version of liberation.

For fans of The Unbroken and The Jasmine Throne, Cry, Voidbringer will be released in autumn 2025.

Miserere, by T. Hofrock (21st January 2025)

Everything has a price, and those who deal with the devil pay dearly in this enthralling dark fantasy about redemption, sacrifice, and a Hell-bound battle between good and evil.

Exiled exorcist Lucian Negru made a choice that has haunted him for years. He abandoned his lover, Rachael, to Hell to save the damned soul of his sister, Catarina. But Catarina doesn't want to be saved. Now a prisoner in his reviled sister’s home, Lucian is being used as a tool to help fulfill Catarina’s wicked dreams: unleash the demons of the underworld to wage a war above.

Lucian's first step in thwarting Catarina’s plan is to make amends with the past. Escaping captivity, he is determined to find Rachael even if it means entering the gates of Hell itself. Only then does he cross paths with a young girl fleeing from her own terrors. With the frightened foundling in tow, Lucian embarks on a journey to right a terrible wrong, to protect the innocent, and to rescue the woman he loves.

But no one escapes Catarina’s wrath. She’s just as driven in her pursuit: to track down her brother wherever it leads. And when she finds him, and she will, she vows to turn his heart to glass, grind it to powder, and crush the souls of everyone he loves.

The Knight and the Moth, by Rachel Gillig (Orbit Books / 20th May 2025)

From BookTok sensation and NYT bestselling author Rachel Gillig, comes the next big romantasy phenomenon: a gothic, mist-cloaked tale of a prophetess who is forced beyond the safety of her cloister on an impossible quest to defeat the gods with the one knight whose future is beyond her sight.

Sybil Delling has spent nine years dreaming of having no dreams at all. Like the other foundling girls who traded a decade of service for a home in the great cathedral, Sybil is a Diviner. In her dreams she receives visions from six unearthly figures known as Omens. From them, she can predict terrible things before they occur, and lords and common folk alike travel across the kingdom of Traum's windswept moors to learn their futures by her dreams.

Just as she and her sister Diviners near the end of their service, a mysterious knight arrives at the cathedral. Rude, heretical, and devilishly handsome, the knight Rodrick has no respect for Sybil's visions. But when Sybil's fellow Diviners begin to vanish one by one, she has no choice but to seek his help in finding them. For the world outside the cathedral's cloister is wrought with peril. Only the gods have the answers she is seeking, and as much as she'd rather avoid Rodrick's dark eyes and sharp tongue, only a heretic can defeat a god.  

The Second Death of Locke, by V.L. Bovalino (Orbit Books / 1st September 2025)

Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice.

Grey Flynn has dedicated her life to her mage, Kier.

She will be his blade on the battlefield, his healer and protector. The deep well of raw power inside her is Kier's to use. Grey would do anything for Kier - be anything for him - if he would only ask.

When a quest to protect the child of an enemy kingdom pulls them into the dangerous heart of their nation's war, Grey and Kier will need to decide what they are willing to sacrifice to protect their secret.

For Grey is no ordinary magical well, but heir to the lost island of Locke - the root of all power. If she dies, all magic dies with her.

The Second Death of Locke is a devastatingly romantic epic fantasy and about the undying bond between a knight and their mage, perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and The Six Deaths of the Saint.  

The Isle in the Silver Sea, by Tasha Suri (Orbit Books / 30th October 2025)

World Fantasy Award-winning author Tasha Suri's next standalone novel about a knight and a witch who must change the fate of magic and the world by altering the end of their story, pitched as Green Knight meets THE STARLESS SEA with reincarnation,

The Stones of Landale, by Cat Cavendish (Flame Tree Press / 14th January 2025)

A mysterious, psychological thriller from the ever-enthralling Cat Cavendish

‘Fear her now, fear the queen,

As in her stone she reigns supreme…

’When Jonathan agrees to accompany his girlfriend, Nadia, on a trip to Landane, he imagines a short relaxing break in the countryside. But he quickly discovers that Nadia isn’t just drawn to the ancient Neolithic stone circle, she is obsessed by the megaliths. One in particular holds a fascination for her. Within hours, her personality begins to change, and it isn’t long before Jonathan starts to fear for her sanity.

Reaching far back into the past and up to the present day, those same stones have demonstrated powers beyond reason and, as Jonathan’s girlfriend becomes increasingly distant from reality, some of the ghosts of the past begin to reappear.

Now it isn’t only Nadia who is in danger.  

The Red Winter, by Cameron Sullivan (Tor UK / 12th August 2025)

The Red Winter is a debut historical fantasy drawing on the little-known werewolf origin story The Beast of Gevaudan about a small mountain village in 18th-century France that was terrorized by a mysterious creature. Written as a memoir by the immortal narrator Sebastian, it’s full of sorcery, demons, and debauchery, but most of all it’s a love story about one man who will live for ever and the nobleman he fell in love with, but may have made into a monster.

The Third Rule of Time Travel, by Philip Fracassi (Orbit Books / 18th March 2025)

Rule Travel can only occur to a point within your lifetime.

Rule You can only travel for ninety seconds.

Rule You can only observe.

The rules cannot be broken.

In this riveting science fiction novel from acclaimed author Philip Fracassi, a scientist has unlocked the mysteries of time travel. This is not the story you think you know. And the rules are only the beginning.

Scientist Beth Darlow has discovered the unimaginable. She's built a machine that allows human consciousness to travel through time—to any point in the traveler's lifetime—and relive moments of their life. An impossible breakthrough, but it's not the traveler has no way to interact with the past. They can only observe.

After Beth's husband, Colson, the co-creator of the machine, dies in a tragic car accident, Beth is left to raise Isabella—their only daughter—and continue the work they started. Mired in grief and threatened by her ruthless CEO, Beth pushes herself to the limit to prove the value of her technology.

Then the impossible happens. Simply viewing personal history should not alter the present, but with each new observation she makes, her own timeline begins to warp.

As her reality constantly shifts, Beth must solve the puzzles of her past, even if it means forsaking her future.  

Metamorphosis, by Ross Jeffery (Truborn Press / 14th January 2025)

Metamorphosis is a haunting exploration of grief, obsession, and transformation. Cynthia, a woman who once thrived in her autonomy, now finds herself ensnared by a relentless desire to reclaim what she has lost.

Living a double life, she meticulously plans a path that blurs the lines between love and madness. Armed with a mask that reflects her inner turmoil, Cynthia descends into a world where reality and fantasy intertwine, revealing the dark depths of her psyche.

Ross Jeffery weaves a chilling narrative that delves into the human mind, questioning the boundaries of sanity and the transformative power of grief. Metamorphosis is a poignant and gripping tale that will linger with you long after the last page is turned.

Ross Jeffery crafts a mesmerizing story that captures the reader’s imagination and pulls them into a world where the human spirit confronts its darkest fears and desires.

The Maiden and Her Monsters, by Maddie Martinez (Tor / 9th September 2025)

A sapphic fantasy reimagining the Jewish myth of golem for fans of Katherine Arden, Naomi Novik, and Ava Reid.

When a young woman is forced to venture into a cursed forest to capture the monster hunting the girls of her village, she discovers a disgraced golem ready to confess, but only if she agrees to help fulfill an ancient promise first — a bargain that unravels a much more dangerous threat to her people, and forces her to face growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.  

The Ashfire King, by Chelsea Abdullah (Orbit Books / 15th April 2025)

 A merchant and a prince trapped in the crumbling realm of jinn must figure out how to save one world to return to their own in The Ashfire King, the second book in the Sandsea Trilogy.Neither here nor there, but long ago…

After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.

The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. Amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion is on the rise. When Loulie assists a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.

Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?  

Dear Stupid Penpal, by Rascal Hartley (Tenebrous Press / Winter 2025)