There’s something exciting about figuring out what books will make your TBR list for the new year.
We’ve compiled a list of fantasy novels that you’ll want to keep an eye out for, whether they’re the latest installment in a beloved series, the beginning of a brand new series, or a standalone novel that you’ll want to sink your teeth into.
2025’s fantasy novels are sure to take us on some wonderful adventures.
In order of release date, here are 15 fantasy novels we’re looking forward to reading in 2025:
1. Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan – January 7
After ascending to the throne, Liyen realizes she must form an alliance with the dangerous God of War in order to save her people. Immortal by Sue Lynn Tan releases on January 7.
Book Description: “What the gods did not give us, I would take.”
As the heir to Tianxia, Liyen knows she must ascend the throne and renew her kingdom’s pledge to serve the immortals who once protected them from a vicious enemy. But when she is poisoned, Liyen’s grandfather steals an enchanted lotus to save her life. Enraged at his betrayal, the immortal queen commands the powerful God of War to attack Tianxia.
Upon her grandfather’s death, Liyen ascends a precarious throne, vowing to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortals. When she is summoned to the Immortal Realm, she seizes the opportunity to learn their secrets and to form a tenuous alliance to safeguard her people, all with the one she should fear and mistrust the most: the ruthless God of War. As they are drawn together, a treacherous attraction ignites between them—one she has to resist, to not endanger all she is fighting for.
But with darker forces closing in around them, and her kingdom plunged into peril, Liyen must risk everything to save her people from an unspeakable fate, even if it means forging a dangerous bond with the immortal… even if it means losing her heart.
2. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao – January 14
Hana Ishikawa has taken over ownership of a magical pawnshop, but her first day is off to a rough start when she realizes someone has broken into the shop, stolen something valuable, and potentially kidnapped her father. Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao hits shelves on January 14.
Book Description: On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only the chosen ones—those who are lost—will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.
Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen, and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike its other customers, for he offers help instead of seeking it.
Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and a night market in the clouds.
But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own—and risk making a choice that she will never be able to take back.
3. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros – January 21
The next installment of The Empyrean series is almost here. Violet travels beyond the wards in order to find people willing to align with Navarre. Onyx Storm by Rebecca Yarros releases on January 21.
Book Description: After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty.
Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.
Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves—her dragons, her family, her home, and him.
Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.
They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find—the truth.
But a storm is coming…and not everyone can survive its wrath.
4. Grave Empire by Richard Swan – February 4
An ancient prophecy might be coming true, and if it is, the Great Silence is beginning and the end of the world is near. This world’s last hope is Renata, a low-ranking ambassador. Grave Empire by Richard Swan hits shelves on February 4.
Book Description: 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…
5. The Dark Mirror by Samantha Shannon – February 25
Paige is out in the free world, but she has no idea how she got there — someone wiped the last six months from her memory. The Dark Mirror, the next novel in the Bone Season series, by Samantha Shannon releases on February 25.
Book Description: Paige Mahoney is outside the Republic of Scion for the first time in more than a decade – but she has no idea how she got to the free world. Half a year has been wiped from her memory.
As she makes her way back to the revolution, her journey takes her to Venice, where she learns a dangerous secret – one that could change the face of the war between humans and immortals. Before she can return to London, she must help the Domino Programme unravel the sinister Operation Ventriloquist.
And it soon becomes clear that the one person who could recover her memories – Arcturus Mesarthim – might also hold the key to saving Italy.
6. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar – March 4
Esther, Ysabel, and the rest of the Hawthorn family care for the enchanted willows. When Esther declines a suitor, her and her sister soon find themselves in danger. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar releases on March 4.
Book Description: “Oh what is stronger than a death? Two sisters singing with one breath.”
In the small town of Thistleford, on the edge of Faerie, dwells the mysterious Hawthorn family.
There, they tend and harvest the enchanted willows and honour an ancient compact to sing to them in thanks for their magic. None more devotedly than the family’s latest daughters, Esther and Ysabel, who cherish each other as much as they cherish the ancient trees.
But when Esther rejects a forceful suitor in favor of a lover from the land of Faerie, not only the sisters’ bond but also their lives will be at risk…
7. Oathbound by Tracy Deonn – March 4
Bree makes a dangerous bargain with the Shadow King in order to learn how to use her powers, and the rest of the Round Table struggles without their leader and their Kingsmage. Oathbound by Tracy Deonn hits shelves on March 4.
Book Description: Severed from the Legendborn. Oathbound to a monster.
Bree Matthews is alone. She exiled herself from the Legendborn Order, cut her ancestral connections, and turned away from the friends who can’t understand the impossible cost of her powers. This is the only way to keep herself—and those she loves—safe.
But Bree’s decision has come with a terrible price: an unbreakable bargain with the Shadow King himself, a shapeshifter who can move between humanity, the demon underworld, and the Legendborn secret society. In exchange for training to wield her unprecedented abilities, Bree has put her future in the Shadow King’s hands—and unwittingly bound herself to do his bidding as his new protégé.
Meanwhile, the other Scions must face war with their Round Table fractured, leaderless, and missing its Kingsmage, as Selwyn has also disappeared. When Nick is detained by the Order’s Merlins, he invokes an ancient law that requires the High Council of Regents to convene at the Northern Keep and grant him an audience. No one knows what he will demand of them…or what secrets he has kept hidden from the Table.
As a string of mysterious kidnappings escalates and Merlins are found dead, it becomes clear that no matter how hard Bree runs from who she is, the past will always find her.
8. Holy Terrors by Margaret Owen – April 1
Vanja, or rather the Pfennigeist, is being framed for the murders of various royalty, and Vanja is determined to clear her name. Unfortunately for her, the Order of the Prefects has assigned Journeyman Prefect Emeric Conrad to the case. Holy Terrors, the final book in the Little Thieves trilogy, by Margaret Owen releases on April 1.
Book Description: It’s been nearly two years since Vanja brought down the cult she started, and she’s still paying the price. As the Pfennigeist, she bucks the law in order to help the desperate and haunt the corrupt all across the empire—and no matter what, she works alone.
But an impossible killer is tearing through royalty, and leaving Vanja’s signature red penny on every victim. Suddenly the Pfennigeist is no longer a folk hero but a nightmare. When even the Blessed Empress falls, the empire’s seven royal families must gather to elect her successor within a matter of weeks, or risk the collapse of reality itself… even though it puts every house in the killer’s sights.
Vanja tells herself she’s wading into the royalty’s vicious games only to save the name she made, and the loved ones also in jeopardy. But the Order of Prefects has also put their sharpest official on the case, the one who swore he’d always find Vanja—until she broke his heart. Journeyman Prefect Emeric Conrad may no longer be the boy Vanja knew, but they’ll have to work together one last time to have any chance of surviving the deadly catastrophe coming for them all.
With bloody conspiracy, sinister magic, and old adverseries closing in, it will take everything Vanja has to save not just the people she loves, but the future she’s fought for.
9. The Floating World by Axie Oh – April 29
A former soldier who takes an odd job as a mercenary and an acrobat with secret powers soon find their paths converging, and neither of them is prepared for the truth behind their connection. The Floating World by Axie Oh hits shelves on April 29.
Book Description: Sunho lives in the Under World, a land of perpetual darkness. An ex-soldier, he can remember little of his life from before two years ago, when he woke up alone with only his name and his sword. Now he does odd-jobs to scrape by, until he comes across the score of a lifetime—a chest of coins for any mercenary who can hunt down a girl who wields silver light.
Meanwhile, far to the east, Ren is a cheerful and spirited acrobat traveling with her adoptive family and performing at villages. But everything changes during one of their festival performances when the village is attacked by a horrific humanlike demon. In a moment of fear and rage, Ren releases a blast of silver light—a power she has kept hidden since childhood—and kills the monster. But her efforts are not in time to prevent her adoptive family from suffering a devastating loss, or to save her beloved uncle from being grievously wounded.
Determined to save him from succumbing to the poisoned wound, Ren sets off over the mountains, where the creature came from—and from where Ren herself fled ten years ago. Her path sets her on a collision course with Sunho, but he doesn’t realize she’s the girl that he—and a hundred other swords-for-hire—is looking for. As the two grow closer through their travels, they come to realize that their pasts—and destinies—are far more entwined than either of them could have imagined…
10. The Devils by Joe Abercrombie – May 13
Brother Diaz’s latest task involves being in charge of a flock of murderers, monsters, and dark magic practitioners, but he’ll need them and their skills to survive. The Devils by Joe Abercrombie releases on May 13.
Book Description: Holy work sometimes requires unholy deeds.
Brother Diaz has been summoned to the Sacred City, where he is certain a commendation and grand holy assignment awaits him. But his new flock is made up of unrepentant murderers, practitioners of ghastly magic, and outright monsters, and the mission he is tasked with will require bloody measures from them all in order to achieve its righteous ends.
Elves lurk at our borders and hunger for our flesh, while greedy princes care for nothing but their own ambitions and comfort. With a hellish journey before him, it’s a good thing Brother Diaz has the devils on his side.
11. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh – May 13
Being the director of a magic academy is not easy, especially when part of the job involves protecting the school from demons. However, the demons might not be the school’s most pressing threat. The Incandescent by Emily Tesh releases on May 13.
Book Description: “Look at you, eating magic like you’re one of us.”
Doctor Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood Academy and one of the most powerful magicians in England. Her days consist of meetings, teaching A-Level Invocation to four talented, chaotic sixth formers, more meetings, and securing the school’s boundaries from demonic incursions.
Walden is good at her job―no, Walden is great at her job. But demons are masters of manipulation. It’s her responsibility to keep her school with its six hundred students and centuries-old legacy safe. And it’s possible the entity Walden most needs to keep her school safe from―is herself.
12. The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig – May 20
From the author of The Shepherd King duology comes a new duology that follows Sybil, a Diviner who predicts the future. Sybil is forced to team up with a rude knight after Diviners begin to vanish. The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig hits shelves on May 20.
Book Description: 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.
13. A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury – June 3
August enlists Virgil’s help to infiltrate a secret society to get answers about her brother’s disappearance and learn more about the mysterious monster who attacked her. A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury releases on June 3.
Book Description: When August’s brother disappears before his sophomore semester, everyone thinks the stress of college got to him. But August knows her brother would never have left her voluntarily, especially not after their mother so recently went missing.
The only clue he left behind was a note telling her to stay safe and protect their remaining family. And after August is attacked by a ten-foot-tall creature with fur and claws, she realizes that her brother might be in more danger than she could have imagined.
Unfortunately for her, the only person with a connection to the mysterious creature is the bookish Virgil Hawthorne…and he knows about them because he is one. If he doesn’t find a partner to help control his true nature, he’ll lose his humanity and become a mindless beast—exactly what the secret society he’s grown up in would love to put down.
Virgil makes a proposition: August will join his society and partner with him, and in return, he’ll help her find her brother. And so August is plunged into a deadly competition to win one of the few coveted candidate spots, all while trying to accept a frightening reality: that monsters are real, and she has to learn to master them if she’s to have any hope of saving her brother.
14. A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim – June 3
Tru can paint the future, which is useful but not enough to pay back her family’s debts, so she agrees to marry a dragon lord to ensure a fresh start for her family. However, by marrying him, Tru also ends up agreeing to help him on a dangerous mission. A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim releases on June 3.
Book Description: Truyan Saigas didn’t choose to become a con artist, but after her father is lost at sea, it’s up to her to support her mother and two younger sisters. A gifted art forger, Tru has the unique ability to paint the future, but even such magic is not enough to put her family back together again, or stave off the gangsters demanding payment in blood for her mother’s gambling debts.
Left with few options, Tru agrees to a marriage contract with a mysterious dragon lord. He offers a fresh start for her mother and sisters and elusive answers about her father’s disappearance, but in exchange, she must join him in his desolate undersea palace. And she must assist him in a plot to infiltrate the tyrannical Dragon King’s inner circle, painting a future so treasonous, it could upend both the mortal and immortal realms. . . .
15. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab – June 10
V.E. Schwab’s latest book is set in the dazzling and mysterious world of vampires. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab hits shelves on June 10.
Book Description: Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532.
London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.
One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.
And all of them grow teeth.
—
Which books are you looking forward to reading? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Allison Nichols
Allison is in a love affair with books and television that doesn't seem to be letting up anytime soon. Slightly damaged fictional characters are her weakness. She loves to spend her free time curled up with a cat and a book to read or a show to watch. Allison is a Tomatometer-approved critic (Rotten Tomatoes).
