Summer is the season of sweat, sand, and… sorcery?
While the sun melts the pavement and your will to leave the house, the fantasy genre is experiencing one of its juiciest years in recent memory. From debut novels bursting with chaotic magic to series finales promising emotional damage, this summer’s fantasy line-up is like stepping into a well-stocked apothecary: dark bottles, glowing elixirs, and a label that says “may ruin your weekend plans”.
Whether you’re craving high-stakes kingdoms, sapphic necromancers, or morally questionable queens, Goodreads readers are already whispering about the titles set to dominate the season.
So grab your iced potion of choice, silence the mortal world, and prepare to get bewitched by these ten fantasy novels hitting shelves in Summer 2025.
1. Crueler Mercies by Maren Chase
The second installment in the Saga of the Unfated wastes no time stabbing you where it hurts: the heart. Picking up after the blood-soaked betrayal that ended book one, Crueler Mercies plunges us into a crumbling world where fate is more twisted than a prophecy written in reverse. Expect plenty of political sabotage, eerie magical relics, and just enough romance to ruin your sleep cycle.
Chase’s writing continues to walk the razor’s edge between lyrical and lethal. This is fantasy that hits hard, and every sentence seems to hum with ancient curses. If you like your worlds beautiful but cursed, and your heroines burning with vengeance, welcome home.
Why we recommend it: If you cried during The Poppy War and whispered “good for her” unironically, this is your next emotional support novel. Fans of dark, character-driven epics, this one’s for you.
2. Black Salt Queen by Samantha Bansil
Pirates. Sea gods. Forbidden letters sealed in wax. Black Salt Queen kicks off a new series (Letters from Maynara) with barnacle-crusted flair. We follow a smuggler-turned-reluctant-royal caught in a web of courtly magic, cursed lineage, and saltwater ghosts that don’t stay politely dead.
Bansil builds a rich maritime world where nothing is clean: not the politics, not the history, not even the love stories. The prose slaps like ocean spray and tastes just as briny. Expect to finish this book with seaweed in your soul and zero regrets.
Why we recommend it: For readers who devoured The Bone Ships or The Tide Child Trilogy, this is nautical fantasy with teeth and tenderness. Fans of morally gray protagonists and seafaring curses: ahoy!
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3. Queen of Mercy by Natania Barron
In this third installment of the Queens of Fate saga, Barron tightens her crown and raises the stakes. Magic, rebellion, and dynastic drama collide as the aging Queen finally faces the terrible cost of power, especially when it comes in the form of lost daughters, crumbling alliances, and sorcery that eats memory like candy.
If you’re a sucker for older female protagonists and court intrigue steeped in history and feminist fire, this book will slay you. Literally? Possibly. Spiritually? Definitely.
Why we recommend it: Lovers of Tasha Suri and Katherine Arden will find themselves royally obsessed. Perfect for readers who want their fantasy wise, weary, and just a little wicked.
4. A Forgery of Fate by Elizabeth Lim
Elizabeth Lim returns with a standalone that’s as glittering as it is grim. A lonely calligrapher stumbles upon an enchanted ink that allows her to rewrite people’s destinies, but only at a cost. And yes, that cost escalates from “mildly inconvenient” to “cosmically devastating” very quickly.
This is fantasy in Lim’s trademark fairytale register: lush, tragic, and strangely intimate. There’s romance, mystery, and the kind of twist that makes you put the book down just to whisper “no way” to your houseplants.
Why we recommend it: For fans of Spin the Dawn or Caraval, this is an addictive magical fable with heart, horror, and handwriting that slaps.
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Subscribe to our weekly newsletter5. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
Imagine Interview with the Vampire, but with better boundaries. This gothic gem follows a found family of reclusive blood-drinkers hiding in a moss-covered manor surrounded by moonlight and mushrooms. There’s grief here, but also healing, botany, and banter to make your dark soul giggle.
It’s the kind of book that feels like being gently haunted by your feelings. There are no big battles, just the slow unfurling of trauma and tenderness under a velvet sky. It aches. It comforts.
Why we recommend it: If T. Kingfisher and Nina LaCour wrote a vampire book together, this would be it. Ideal for readers craving soft darkness and existential emo wrapped in moss.
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6. The Witch Roads by Kate Elliott
Kate Elliott delivers a road trip fantasy that’s equal parts rage and redemption. When a band of exiled witches takes to the long-forbidden Witch Roads to reclaim a stolen artifact (and maybe, accidentally, the throne), the result is one long, witchy, blood-soaked vibe.
Packed with feminist fury, dry humor, and some extremely cursed relics, The Witch Roads is for anyone who believes broomsticks should come with GPS and a revenge playlist.
Why we recommend it: Elliott writes with bite, heart, and historical depth. Great for fans of The Locked Tomb series who want less space, more herbs, and maximum rage.
7. This Princess Kills Monsters by Ry Herman
A chaotic good retelling of the classic “monster-slaying princess” trope: except the princess has a sword, a grudge, and absolutely no intention of becoming anyone’s wife. In this summer read, Ry Herman’s breakout blends fairy-tale logic with gritty realism, sapphic tension, and one hell of a twist.
The book balances razor-sharp action with emotional vulnerability in a way that’s honestly unfair. You’ll laugh. You’ll yell. You’ll accidentally become a fan of sword training.
Why we recommend it: Queer readers and fairytale anarchists, this one’s your anthem. A must-read for fans of Gideon the Ninth meets Sleeping Beauty if she woke up swinging.
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8. The Mercy Makers by Tessa Gratton
In a world where divine magic is auctioned off to the highest bidder, one grieving prophetess sets out to destroy the market that made her a killer. The Mercy Makers is a grim, elegant novel about justice, sacrifice, and what mercy really means.
Gratton’s prose has the cadence of scripture and the bite of an unsheathed dagger. The worldbuilding is vast and shadowy, but the emotional stakes are intimate. Nothing here is easy. Everything hurts beautifully.
Why we recommend it: For fans of The Broken Earth trilogy or Piranesi. You want soul-crushing magic and morally messy heroes? It’s all here.
9. A Treachery of Swans by A.B. Poranek
Swans, secrets, and sapphic yearning: what more could you want? This darkly lyrical tale unspools a tangled royal conspiracy through the eyes of a cursed princess-turned-assassin. There’s espionage, enchanted feathers, and one very inconvenient attraction to the enemy.
Poranek’s writing is lush and full of ache. Every chapter is like wading through fog toward a sharp, beautiful danger. Prepare to be emotionally maimed in the most satisfying way.
Why we recommend it: Fans of Girls Made of Snow and Glass or The Priory of the Orange Tree will feel right at home. Recommended for readers who like their fantasy queer, poetic, and bloody.
10. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
R.F. Kuang returns with a mythic plunge into the underworld, literally. In Katabasis, a disgraced revolutionary descends into a labyrinthine hellscape not just to rescue a friend, but to confront every betrayal she’s ever made. And oh boy, there are many.
Told in nonlinear bursts and stitched together with footnotes, folk tales, and ghost voices, this is not a beach read. It’s a brain-scrambler, a heart-breaker, and one of Kuang’s most daring works yet.
Why we recommend it: Required reading for anyone who thought Babel wasn’t devastating enough. For readers who crave ethical dilemmas, literary ambition, and women with fire in their bones.
Summer 2025 proves that fantasy isn’t about escaping reality: it’s about reframing it through myths that punch you in the soul. These ten books challenge, comfort, provoke, and occasionally haunt. They ask better questions. They linger.
So whether you’re soaking up sun or avoiding it entirely, don’t forget to make room in your bag (or black hole tote) for one of these dark delights. Fantasy this good deserves to travel with you, whether you’re headed to the beach or to battle.
