Fantasy and Science Fiction October 2025 |
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Recent Releases in Fantasy! |
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Land so wide : a novel
by Erin A. Craig
Like everyone else in the settlement of Mistaken, Greer Mackenzie is trapped. Founded by an ambitious lumber merchant, the village is blessed with rich natural resources that have made its people prosperous--but at a cost. The same woods that have lined the townsfolks' pockets harbor dangerous beasts: wolves, bears, and the Bright-Eyeds--monsters beyond description who have rained utter destruction down on nearby settlements. But Mistaken's founders made a deal with the mysterious Benevolence: the Warding Stones that surround the town will keep the Bright-Eyeds out--and the town's citizens in. Anyone who spends a night within Mistaken's borders belongs to it forever.
Greer, a mapmaker and eccentric dreamer, has always ached to explore the world outside, even though she knows she and her longtime love, Ellis Beaufort, will never see it. Until, on the day she and Ellis are meant to finally begin their lives together, Greer watches in horror as her beloved disappears beyond the Warding Stones, pursued by a monstrous creature. Determined to rescue Ellis, she figures out a way to defy Mistaken's curse and begins a trek through the cold and pitiless wilderness. But there, Greer is hunted, not only by the ruthless Bright-Eyeds but by the secret truths behind Mistaken's founding and her own origins.
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A Ruin, Great and Free
by Cadwell Turnbull
It has been nearly two years since the anti-monster riots. The inhabitants of Moon have been very fortunate in the intervening months. Inside their hidden monster settlement, they've found peace, even as the world outside slips into increasing unrest. Monsters are being hunted everywhere, forced back into the shadows they once tried to escape from. Other secret settlements have offered a place to hide, but how long can this half-measure against fear and hatred last?
Over the course of three days, the inhabitants of Moon are tested. The Black Hand continues to search for them and the Cult of the Zsouvox wants to make Moon the last stand in their war against the Order of Asha. This is more than enough to reckon with, but the gods have also placed their sights on Moon--and they bring with them a conflict that may either save or unravel the universe itself.
Convergence Saga #3
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Alchemised
by Senlinyu
"What is it you think you're protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There's no one left for you to save."
Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner--of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed.
In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia's new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.
According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance's final gambit?
To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena's fight--to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self--is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.
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Among the Burning Flowers
by Samantha Shannon
Take your first steps into the epic.
Yscalin, land of sunshine and lavender, will soon be ablaze.
It has been centuries since the Draconic Army took wing, almost extinguishing humankind.
Marosa Vetalda is a prisoner in her own home, controlled by her cold father, King Sigoso. Over the mountains, her betrothed, Aubrecht Lievelyn, rules Mentendon in all but name. Together, they intend to usher in a better world.
A better world seems impossibly distant to Estina Melaugo, who hunts the Draconic beasts that have slept across the world for centuries.
And now the great wyrm Fýredel is stirring, and Yscalin will be the first to fall . . .
Roots of Chaos
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The Baby Dragon Bakery
by Aamna Qureshi
Lavinia has it all. A loving family (complete with adorable pet baby dragon). A place at university training to be a magical animal vet. And a part-time job at the enchanting Baby Dragon Cafe. The only thing she doesn't have is her one true love: Theo.
Theo is the local baker and her best friend. On paper, they're perfect: he's funny, she's witty. He's sweet, and she's a little salty. That's why they've been friends for as long as they can remember. They've never been without one another - and it's clear to everyone that they're meant to be.
Everyone except Theo. Because when Lavinia finally makes her move, he pulls away.
Lavinia is devastated. Has this friendship gone up in smoke? Or will Theo finally realize that he wants them to be more than friends?
Baby Dragon #2
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The Macabre
by Kosoko Jackson
A picture is worth a thousand nightmares.
Art has always been an escape for struggling painter Lewis Dixon. But other than his mom, who has recently passed away, no one has ever praised his work. If he is being honest, there's really no one in his life. So he is shocked when the British Museum shows an unusual interest in his art. This is his chance to show the world what he's capable of...he just has no idea that he might also be saving the world at the same time.
As Lewis soon learns, he has not been invited to participate in a curated show, but rather a test: to see if the fugue-like exhilaration he experiences when painting is actually magic, a power that allows him to enter nine very special paintings--paintings made by his great-grandfather. Spread across the globe, these paintings have unbelievable eldritch abilities...and not necessarily beneficial ones. In terms of power, these are the most valuable works of art in the world, and there are those out there who would do anything to possess just one.
And Lewis, upon passing the test, has been asked to destroy them all.
Partnered with an alluring agent in museum's employ, Noah Rao, Lewis must travel to Japan, Australia, Nigeria--and the past--plunging himself into a world of black markets, gothic magic, ancient history, and cursed objects to save those unlucky enough to call any of the paintings their own--or to free the world from those who would misuse the power of the paintings. In doing so, he will need to discover if he has what it takes to truly be an artist, the confidence to finally open himself up to someone who could give his lonely life meaning, and the strength to enter and navigate a reality where magic is everywhere.
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The maiden and her monster
by Maddie Martinez
The forest eats the girls who wander out after dark.
As the healer's daughter, Malka has seen how the wood's curse has plagued her village, but the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to protect heretics with false stories of monsters in the trees. So when a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka's mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings the monster out, he will spare her mother from execution.
When she ventures into the shadowed woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only if Malka helps her fulfill a promise first and free the imprisoned rabbi who created her.
But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain begins to unravel a much more sinister threat, protecting her people may force Malka to endanger the one person she left home to save--and face her growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.
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The summer war
by Naomi Novik
Celia discovered her talent for magic on the day her beloved oldest brother, Argent, left home. Furious at him for abandoning her in a war-torn land, she lashed out, not realizing her childish, angry words would become imbued with the power of prophecy, dooming him to a life without love.
While Argent wanders the world, forced to seek only fame and glory instead of the love and belonging he truly desires, Celia attempts to undo the curse she placed on him. Yet even as she grows from a girl to a woman, she cannot find the solution--until she learns the truth about the centuries-old war between her own people and the summerlings, immortal beings who hold a relentless grudge against their mortal neighbors.
Now, with the aid of her unwanted middle brother, Celia may be able to both undo her eldest brother's curse and heal the lands so long torn apart by the Summer War.
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Thief of Night
by Holly Black
There'd always been something wrong with Charlie Hall. Crooked from the day she was born. Never met a bad decision she wasn't willing to double down on. She may be good enough to steal a shadow from a tower, but will she be good enough to steal back a heart?
Charlatan Duology #2
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To clutch a razor
by Veronica Roth
A funeral. A heist. A desperate mission.
When Dymitr is called back to the old country for the empty night, a funeral rite intended to keep evil at bay, it's the perfect opportunity for him to get his hands on his family's most guarded relic--a book of curses that could satisfy the debt he owes legendary witch Baba Jaga. But first he'll have to survive a night with his dangerous, monster-hunting kin.
As the sun sets, the line between enemies and allies becomes razor-thin, and Dymitr's new loyalties are pushed to their breaking point.
Family gatherings can be brutal. Dymitr's might just be fatal.
Curse Bearer #2
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Wild reverence : a novel
by Rebecca Ross
True love is more divine than any ruthless god.
Born in the firelit domain of the under realm, Matilda is the youngest goddess of her clan, blessed with humble messenger magic. But in a land where gods often kill each other to steal power and alliances break as quickly as they are forged, Matilda must come of age sooner than most. She may be known to carry words and letters through the realms, but she holds a secret she must hide from even her dearest of allies to ensure her survival. And to complicate matters . . . there is a mortal boy who dreams of her, despite the fact they have never met in the waking world.
Ten years ago, Vincent of Beckett wrote to Matilda on the darkest night of his life--begging the goddess he befriended in dreams to help him. When his request went unanswered, Vincent moved on, becoming the hardened, irreverent lord of the river who has long forgotten Matilda. That is, until she comes tumbling into his bedroom window with a letter for him.
As Fate would have it, Matilda and Vincent were destined to find each other beyond dreams. There may be a chance for Matilda to rewrite the blood-soaked ways of the gods, but at immense sacrifice. She will have to face something she fears even more than losing her magic: to be vulnerable, and to allow herself to finally be loved.
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Anathema
by Keri Lake
Only the banished know what lies beyond the woods...
There are whispers about what lurks in Witch Knell--the forest where sinners go to die. The villagers call it The Eating Woods because what's taken is never given back. Only those who've lost their senses would dare to go near it.
Or the banished.
Maevyth Bronwick knows better than to breach the misty labyrinth of trees, but a tragic turn of events compels her beyond the archway of bones, to a boundary no mortal has crossed before. One that cloaks a dark and fantastical world that's as dangerous as it is alluring.
It's there that he dwells, the cursed lord of Eidolon. The one tasked to keep her hidden from the magehood that seeks to crucify her in the name of an arcane prophesy. Zevander Rydainn, known to his prey as The Scorpion, is the coldest, most calculated assassin in all of Aethyria and he'd sooner toss his feisty ward to a pack of vicious fyredrakes than keep her safe.
If only he could.
Maevyth's blood is the key to breaking his despised curse and vanquishing the slumbering evil in Witch Knell. Unfortunately for Lord Rydainn, fate has other plans for the irresistible little enchantress. And his growing obsession with her threatens to destroy everything. Including himself.
The Eating Woods #1
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Crossroads of Ravens
by Andrzej Sapkowski
Witchers are not born. They are made.
Before he was the White Wolf or the Butcher of Blaviken, Geralt of Rivia was simply a fresh graduate of Kaer Morhen, stepping into a world that neither understands nor welcomes his kind.
And when an act of naïve heroism goes gravely wrong, Geralt is only saved from the noose by Preston Holt, a grizzled witcher with a buried past and an agenda of his own.
Under Holt's guiding hand, Geralt begins to learn what it truly means to walk the Path - to protect a world that fears him, and to survive in it on his own terms. But as the line between right and wrong begins to blur, Geralt must decide to become the monster everyone expects, or something else entirely.
This is the story of how legends are made - and what they cost.
(Standalone for the Witcher series)
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What Fury Brings
by Tricia Levenseller
Let's get something clear, Prince. I have claimed you. That means you belong to me now.
There's a shortage of men in the kingdom of Amarra. After a failed rebellion against the matriarchy, most noblemen in the country are dead. Now the women of Amarra must obtain their husbands (should they want one) by kidnapping them from other kingdoms.
Olerra, a warrior princess vying for the throne, is determined to prove her worth by kidnapping a husband. And not just any husband. To outmaneuver her treacherous cousin, she needs the best. Fortunately, the second-born prince of their greatest enemy is widely known for both his looks and his sweet, docile temperament. He's the perfect choice to secure her claim to the throne.
Sanos, heir to the Kingdom of Brutus, has nothing but contempt for the idea of a society run by women. Trained from birth to fight, lead, and follow in his father's overbearing footsteps, his path has always been set. Until he takes his younger brother's place in a drunken prank and finds himself kidnapped, carted off to the Amarran Palace, and informed that he is to become the husband of Queen Potential Olerra. Sanos needs to escape before anyone learns his real identity, but the more he gets to know his captor, the less sure he is of what he truly wants.
Wrath and Fury #1
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This inevitable ruin
by Matt Dinniman
The ninth floor. Faction Wars. Nine armies enter, led by rich and powerful aliens from across the galaxy. The winning team must capture and hold the castle at the very center of the battlefield. Strategy, alliances, pitched battles, betrayal . . . It all makes for great fun and even greater television.
But thanks to Carl, Donut, and Katia, this season is different.
For the first time ever, the crawlers have their own army. The NPCs, who are normally used as nothing but cannon fodder, have become fully self-aware and have formed an unprecedented team of their own. And it's not just the crawlers who are at risk this Faction Wars. Any combatant who dies on the battlefield stays in the ground.
For Donut and Katia, the stakes are even higher. No matter who wins the war, only one of them will be allowed to leave this level. If they all want to survive, they're going to need a little help from a veteran or two.
This is it. This is what they've been fighting toward. This is war.
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Recently Released in Science Fiction!
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A Philosophy of Thieves
by Fran Wilde
The Canarviers are the premier performance thieves in New Washington, blending astonishing acrobatics, clever misdirection, and daring escapes to entertain their rich patrons. As King Canarvier has always told his children, their work is art. Who else could titillate audiences with illicit history lessons and tease them through the gaps in their much-prized security?
Now that they're adults, King's children feel their divisions more than their bonds. Roosa attends an exclusive finishing university, blending in so well she's unsure where she belongs. Her brother Dax craves a chance to prove himself, stifling under his father's caution.
Then King disappears.
With only days to buy mercy before their father is lost forever, Roo and Dax must compete in a high-stakes Grand Heist, pushing down their resentments to work together. Against a technocrat wagering more than he can lose, a security chief with a taste for pain, and a society beauty with secrets of her own, any misstep promises catastrophic ruin.
But Canarviers are artists. And they perform best when the pressure is on . . ."
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Saltcrop
by Yume Kitasei
In Earth's not too distant future, seas consume coastal cities, highways disintegrate underwater, and mutant fish lurk in pirate-controlled depths. Skipper, a skilled sailor and the youngest of three sisters, earns money skimming and reselling plastic from the ocean to care for her ailing grandmother.
But then her eldest sister, Nora, goes missing. Nora left home a decade ago in pursuit of a cure for failing crops all over the world. When Skipper and her other sister, Carmen, receive a cryptic plea for help, they must put aside their differences and set out across the sea to find--and save--her. As they voyage through a dying world both beautiful and strange, encountering other travelers along the way, they learn more about their sister's work and the corporations that want what she discovered.
The farther they go, the more uncertain their mission becomes: What dangerous attention did Nora attract, and how well do they really know their sister--or each other?
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The heist of hollow London
by Eddie Robson
In games of betrayal everyone loses.
Arlo and Drienne are 'mades'--clones of company executives, deemed important enough to be saved should their health fail. Mades work around the clock to pay off the debt incurred by their creation, though most are Reaped--killed and harvested for organs when their corporate counterparts are in medical need.
But when the impossible happens and the too-big-to-fail company that owns them collapses, Arlo and Drienne find themselves purchased by a scientist who has a job for them.
The reward: Debt paid off, freedom from servitude, and enough cash to last a lifetime.
The job: Infiltrate a highly secure corporate reclamation facility in the heart of dead London and steal a data drive.
They're going to need a team.
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Contact your librarian for more great books!
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