Every month, io9 compiles a list of the new sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books coming out that we think will excite our readers the most. As we started looking back on all the pages and pages that hit bookshelves in 2025, we dreamed up a fun spin on the annual “Best Books of the Year” lists you start to see everywhere in December.

io9 reached out to current sci-fi, fantasy, and horror authors that we admire and asked them to name which sci-fi, fantasy, or horror book (or books, as the case may be) they loved the most this year.

Read on for the responses we got, and you’ll no doubt be beefing up your personal reading list with these glowing recommendations. Thanks to all the writers who helped us out—be sure to check out their books, too!

Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I greatly enjoyed Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky! There are a lot of different kinds of sci-fi to love, but I will always have a soft spot for good aliens. Adrian Tchaikovsky writes great aliens. Shroud has the kind of mind-bending alien life where I spend half the book trying to figure out what they are and how they work, and then the other half excited to see how they’ll interact with humans. A marvelously twisty read all around. –T. Kingfisher, author of Snake-Eater, What Feasts at Night, and Nettle & Bone

© Ballantine Books, Fenian House Publishing

There Is No Antimemetics Division by qntm

This fantastically dizzying, utterly brain-breaking novel introduces the reader to a very simple idea (“What if some organisms had the ability to just erase themselves from your memory, as a form of camouflage?”) and then instantly sends that reader flying off a cliff. The twists hit so hard and fast that you’ll barely have time to comprehend the implications of one before the next comes crashing in. Not that this is chaos just for the hell of it; everything makes perfect sense within the established rules of the novel’s universe. It’s clear from the opening sentences that this tale is the work of a skilled craftsman. Author Sam Hughes (writing under the pseudonym “qntm”) has a number of such works under his belt as well as an incredible sci-fi horror story formatted as a Wikipedia page but *There Is No Antimemetics Division *seems to have vaulted him into the mainstream. I’d love to see this turned into a film but, if I’m honest, I doubt there are even five directors in the world who could do it justice. –Jason Pargin, author of I’m Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom

2025 was the year I discovered Emily Tesh and wondered why it took me so long. My favorite read though has to be *There Is No Antimemetics Division *by qntm—a hugely entertaining, super smart, witty novel that is also nerve-shreddingly terrifying. While it’s packed with ideas, it puts human connection at its core, with an ending that is both tense and moving. It brought to mind *The Lathe of Heaven *and *The Kraken Wakes—*a timely book that is also one for the ages. –Antonia Hodgson, author of The Raven Scholar

The Stardock Trilogy *(Bearing Gifts, United Fleet, andA Line in the Stars) *by Sean Fenian

This trilogy completed in 2025, so I hope this qualifies. The Stardock Trilogy is, in my opinion, easily one of the best examples of SF that I’ve read in years. This series has aliens (two sets), AI, spaceships, space battles, spectacular explosions, and alien technology. The characters aren’t cliché, and they are intelligent, so there’s no idiot script moments to make you throw the book against a wall.

But mostly it’s about the serial problem solving. The Martian was serial problem solving, the Bobiverse series is about serial problem solving, and so is the Stardock Trilogy. If you like smart characters who don’t trip over their own feet, well-described alien tech, and space battles (did I mention space battles?) this is the series for you. – Dennis E. Taylor, author of We Are Legion (We Are Bob)

© Liveright, Tor Books

Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito

A slender novel that, if you squeeze it too tight, drips blood. But it’s the kind of blood that makes you smile. The violence in here is glorious, is over-the-top, is balletic and frenetic and righteous. But it never forgets to be sticky and disturbing, either. And, I’m no Victorianist, am probably more of a Bret Michaels-ist, but the era captured on the page here, the details, the manners, the attitudes and convictions, the lace doilies and oh-so-proper speech, they transport you right back to these times we like to at least think were more genteel. Virginia Feito has some updates about that, though. Go on, wade into this one. But bring your . . . your whatever “rubber boots” were called back in Dickens-times: Virginia Feito knows. I’m pretty sure she had to wear them, to write this. – Stephen Graham Jones, author of The Buffalo Hunter Hunter, The Only Good Indians, My Heart Is a Chainsaw, I Was a Teenage Slasher, and the upcoming Night of the Mannequins

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott and Don’t Sleep With the Dead by Nghi Vo

The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott—I love Kate Elliott’s work and this new fantasy was just so good and so much fun. Engaging characters and gripping adventure in a wild, original world.

Don’t Sleep With the Dead by Nghi Vo—This was a lush and atmospheric follow-up to her novel The Chosen and the Beautiful, which was also one of my favorites. Vo’s work reminds me a lot of Tanith Lee at her best. – Martha Wells, author of the Murderbot Diaries series (including the upcoming Platform Decay), as well as Witch King, City of Bones, and The Death of the Necromancer

© Tordotcom, S&S/Saga Press

Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz

2025 has been a LOT for everyone, and I think more than anything, it’s shown us the value of community and comfort. Now, while I love everything Annalee Newitz writes, that particular caveat of life in 2025 probably heightened my response to their latest work Automatic Noodle. In this cozy novella, a group of sentient robots come back online in post-war near-future San Francisco to find new meaning in opening a noodle shop. Except a coordinated review bombing threatens the livelihood, and it takes community to save the day. It’s funny and endearing, with beautiful prose and sharp wit, and leaves us with a reminder that even when things are terrible, a bowl of noodles makes things better. – Mike Chen, author of Star Wars: Brotherhood, Here and Now and Then, A Quantum Love Story, and the upcoming The Photonic Effect

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

When I first read The Only Good Indians, I knew Stephen Graham Jones was going to become one of my favorite authors. I had high hopes for The Buffalo Hunter Hunter and he delivered an incredible story in it, making it my book for 2025. His writing is both dreamlike and visceral, intermixing painfully emotional and beautiful moments with gut-wrenching brutality. The story unfolds through the diary of a Lutheran pastor, who records his own unraveling while also writing down the life story of a Blackfeet Indian named Good Stab. What drew me into the story were the narrators, one upfront about his deeds and anger, the other hiding his sins under a mask of harmless conviviality. Bit by bit, the story unfolds as their past is unearthed, and I found that the most horrifying parts of the book weren’t even the bloodiest. This is a book about vengeance and guilt that spans generations, and while the book brings everything to a close, I, the reader, find myself grappling with this story long after the last page. – Bonnie Quinn, author of How to Survive Camping

© Avon, Tor Books

Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer

I read so many fantastic SFF books this year so I have multiple favorites depending on my mood! But one recent read that I really loved was Warrior Princess Assassin by Brigid Kemmerer. This is a swoony poly romantasy featuring three leads I just absolutely fell in love with. The world is interesting, the intrigue twisty, and the magic sparkling, but above all, the characters truly captured my heart. You’ve got the somewhat naive but kind princess, a king with a bad reputation and dangerous secrets, and (my personal favorite) an assassin with a painful past and a secret soft heart. Their relationships with each other grow in such a genuine and sweet way, and I found myself falling in love right alongside them, just in time for some intriguing twists right at the end of the book. I’m eager to read the next one! – Carissa Broadbent, author of the Crowns of Nyaxia series as well as the War of Lost Hearts series, including the newly released Children of Fallen Gods

Red City by Marie Lu

My favorite 2025 release is Red City by Marie Lu! The romance was devastating, the magic was incredibly cool, and the twists had me gasping continuously for the last 25% of the book. I will be reading the sequel as soon as I can get my hands on it, and probably in one sitting. – Hannah Whitten, author of The Foxglove King and, as Hannah F. Whitten, the upcoming Reliquary

© Berkley, Doubleday

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Inkeeping by Sangu Mandanna

2025 was full of beautiful books, but none made me feel as warm and as safe as this one. Sera lost her prodigious magic resurrecting her great-aunt, and now she runs an inn for all the people who’ve been by hurt the world, from a man who refuses to stop wearing plate armor to a talking cursed fox. Sangu Mandanna writes cozy fantasy the way it was mean to be written, deeply inclusive and full of heart. – Tasha Suri, author of The Isle in the Silver Sea

Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson

My pick is Hole in the Sky by Daniel H. Wilson. Part sci-fi, part cosmic horror, and laced with Native American lore and fringe theories, this story follows various people faced with imminent first contact with an alien intelligence, only for them to discover what humanity has awoken may end the world. The narrative has a grand feel and despite its many influences is utterly original, balancing the epic with a story that is deeply personal. It reminded me of why I love reading. I devoured it. – Craig DiLouie, author of Episode Thirteen and My Ex, the Antichrist

© Harper Voyager, Del Rey

Katabasis by R.F. Kuang

Between* Babel* and now Katabasis, I’m starting to think R.F. Kuang might actually be a wizard. I was ensorcelled from page one, and once I started reading it I found myself unable to think about anything else until long after I turned the final page. – John Joseph Adams, series editor of Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy and editor-publisher of Lightspeed

My favorite SFF release this year was Katabasis by R.F. Kuang. There’s nothing more thrilling than the dangers and challenges that arise from a descent into the underworld. Kuang’s reflections on academia as a kind of hell are equal measures poignant, insightful and bitterly amusing. I walked away from Katabasis inspired by the rich narrative and charming characters. As someone who once considered pursuing a doctorate in political science, Katabasis made me grateful I decided to leave any thoughts of pursuing one far behind. I’d definitely be one of those poor souls trapped in the early circles, subjected to torment of my own dissertation making! – Katrina Kwan, author of The Last Dragon of the East and the upcoming The Legend of the Nine-Tailed Fox

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett and Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

The kindest thing I did for myself in 2025—besides a research trip to Amsterdam, Paris, and Barcelona, because sometimes we suffer for our art but sometimes we absolutely luxuriate in it—was making sure I had the sequel to The Tainted Cup before I even started reading it. I don’t usually prepare this well, but for once I had my own back. If I’d read Robert Jackson Bennett’s delightfully bizarre high fantasy Holmes-and-Watson novel while abroad without the sequel on hand, I would have been as miserable as Din watching Ana eat. A Drop of Corruption did not disappoint, building on the foundation of book one with an even sharper and more compelling murder mystery that opened the world in intriguing new ways. I’m eagerly anticipating book three and looking forward to a re-read in preparation.

My other favorite read this year hasn’t come out yet, but please for the love of all that is cozy (but still tautly paced and intricately plotted), put Agnes Aubert’s Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett on top of every TBR list you have. It’s a perfect book, and, like me, you’ll thank yourself for being prepared. – Kiersten White, author of Lucy Undying and the upcoming The Fox and the Devil

© Orbit, Dark Matter Ink

Slow Gods by Claire North

Slow Gods by Claire North—the latest work by one of the genre’s most thought-provoking authors. A story of planetary cataclysm, personal estrangement and alien mystery. North’s ingenuity and intricate worlds never mask the deep human—and posthuman—themes and emotions that run through her work. – Adrian Tchaikovsky, author of Children of Time and Shroud

Chasers by Mariah Darling and Eve Harms, The Divine Flesh by Drew Huff, and A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper

Chasers is an absolute roller coaster ride that looks at the twin horrors of being Black and trans in 2025 America. It skirts the knife’s edge between too-absurd-to-believe and too-absurd-not-to-believe, right up to an explosive ending that peels back the true terror of this filthy world. AND The Divine Flesh, Drew Huff: What the hell is even happening in this one? A surreal, nightmare adventure that must be experienced to be believed, and Huff’s surreal, nightmare prose perfectly simulates the feeling of having a psychotic break. AND A Game in Yellow, Hailey Piper: Piper’s New York always feels like a thin neon veneer of sanity over a dark, teeming, hedonistic morass, making it the perfect backdrop for this story about how deeply you’d dive into pure indulgence before you can’t climb out again. – Bitter Karella, author of Moonflow

© Tordotcom, Bloomsbury Publishing, Orbit

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar

There are books you love because they’re exactly to your taste; you know from the first page that you will enjoy them, the way you know you’ll enjoy devouring a favorite childhood dish. Then there are the books you love because they surprise you; you open them trepiditiously, not sure they’re meant for you, yet you can’t resist, because they issue a challenge. (Oh, you don’t think you like the taste of mushrooms? Well, have you eaten them prepared like this?)

The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar was that unexpected book for me this year. I don’t, as a general rule, gravitate to fairy tales; I would go so far as to say I’m allergic to anything with the word “faerie” in it. Stories centered on ballads, poetry, and music fly straight over my head. And yet, this exquisite gem of a novella enchanted me, because of El-Mohtar’s superlative ability to humanize the numinous. The bond between sisters pulses at the heart of this lyrical fable, and before you know it, you’ve consumed the whole delicious story in one transportive sitting. – Fonda Lee, author of the Green Bone Saga and the upcoming The Last Contract of Isako

The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke

I’ve always felt a strong kinship with Susanna Clarke’s work, mainly because she often focuses on the impossible reconciliation between nature and humanity, sanity and the numinous. Her latest work, The Wood at Midwinter, is like a fresco coming alive, with illustrations that make a Wood speak, a delicious chill. What resonates most with me, though, is a protagonist who is “single-minded in following where love leads that she barely notices she has left sanity behind.” Clarke mentioned in an interview that she cannot write “out of the season.” If that’s true, then The Wood is a story for those who cannot read out of season either and want to experience midwinter in its bleak glory. Be warned, this is a very short read, perfect for whetting one’s appetite for Clarke’s heftier works. – Giovanni De Feo, author of The Secret Market of the Dead

A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett and The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

2025 was an excellent year for genre mashing, and two of my favorites were A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett and The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson. Both are epic fantasies, both murder mysteries, and both excel are creating complex worlds, novel characters, and wonderfully surprising mysteries to unravel. Bennett’s book is the second in his Shadow of the Leviathan series. (The first won the Hugo for Best Novel.) Bennett offers readers a world whose technology is powered on the corpses of dead sea monsters. At the center of the tale is the Holmesian duo of Ana and Din, Ana being the eccentric genius and Din her put-upon, overworked, underpaid, sleep-deprived assistant. Din is a charming narrator, and their banter propels the reader through a truly baffling mystery to satisfying conclusion.

The Raven Scholar is a convincing debut driven by a prickly and controversial scholar named Neema Kraa who has made some questionable choices for sympathetic reasons (an original sin that haunts the story) and now finds herself the prime suspect in a murder. Her only hope is to solve the murder herself first. However, nothing is as it seems, what friends she has can’t be trusted, and someone is clearly more than happy to see her take the fall. But the real stars of the show are the omniscient narrators, the ever-lurking ravens who only want to help, or so they say. A delightful read full of twists and reveals, last one guaranteed to have you ranting in the group chat. – Rebecca Roanhorse, author of the Between Earth and Sky trilogy, Trail of Lightning, and Star Wars: Resistance Reborn

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