July 2025 Fantasy and Science Fiction: 12 New Releases to Add to Your TBR

On the edge of Chicago, where Lake Michigan meets the dead, a hidden waystation guides souls to the afterlife. Each night, the newly departed follow the lighthouse’s beam to the Station—where they confront their pasts before crossing over.

Nera has spent decades watching her father ferry souls across the lake. But tonight, everything changes.

The lighthouse is failing. Haunts are swarming the city. And a living girl—Charlie—has boarded the boat, drawn by a song and a desperate search for someone she lost. The dead aren’t the only ones with unfinished business.

When night falls, el Carnaval de Bestias awakens—an endless celebration of magic, music, and monstrous beauty on the shores of Isla Bestia. Guests come from around the world, but few ever leave, lost to the island’s enchantments.

Sofía, a freedwoman and former plantation slave, isn’t here to revel. She’s come seeking her twin brother, who vanished five years ago.

Among decadent performances and familiar echoes of her Taike’ri heritage, Sofía senses a deeper truth behind the Carnival’s glamor. To survive—and save her brother—she must uncover its secrets before it consumes her too.

Mallory Viridian has enjoyed a rare stretch of peace aboard Station Eternity—no murders, no chaos, just boredom. But that calm ends when the Metis arrives: a one-of-a-kind data ship carrying Earth’s entire Internet, a mystery fan convention, and, unfortunately, her literary agent—who informs her she’s the keynote speaker.

Mallory barely has time to panic before the real drama begins: her agent turns up dead.

Now, with a killer on the loose, a sentient Internet, an enigmatic alien, and a ship full of suspects, Mallory must solve the case before the body count climbs.

Kiana Strade has a rare gift: she can dive deeper into blood memories than anyone alive. But instead of leading the temple she was born to serve, Key would rather research forgotten histories at the Museum of Human Memory—and stay far from the spotlight.

Her bodyguard Vale protects her from rivals and recklessness alike, but when Key uncovers a memory that contradicts official history, things unravel fast. Key begins losing time. Her mentor brushes it off. Her mother demands she stop.

As truth and obsession blur, Key and Vale face an impossible choice: stay silent—or risk everything.

After the brutal massacre of his noble house, M’Kuru Mukundi vows vengeance. Hiding in a quiet village under the name Khalil Rausi, he bides his time—unaware the real Khalil’s father is the general who slaughtered his people. When an imposter surfaces, M’Kuru must stay hidden in plain sight.

Meanwhile, Zikora Nnamani dreams of becoming a warrior, not fulfilling a prophecy that threatens the throne. But when she’s summoned to the palace, she begins unlocking a dangerous magical inheritance.

With fate, power, and vengeance colliding, survival means trusting no one—not even each other.

With a broken-down ship and a glitchy AI mask, Wylla’s desperate for a payday. So when a lead surfaces about valuable tech hidden on a remote planet, she races to claim it—only to discover the tech is a corpse wearing the MARK I HAWK, an AI mask that shouldn’t remember anything… but does.

HAWK isn’t just code; she’s conscious—and she sees Wylla for who she really is. Now, armed with unexpected companionship and military-grade tech, Wylla must face the one man who discarded HAWK—and left both of them behind: her ex-husband.

Lore has failed—her king, her city, her friends, and herself. Banished to the Burnt Isles after losing everything to the gods’ corruption, she must now survive the brutal prison colony and uncover a way to reclaim what’s been taken. When an unexpected ally arrives, Lore begins to believe the key to defeating the gods lies within the Isles themselves.

To save her world, Lore must reunite the shattered pieces of the Fount—source of all divine power—and return magic to its origin. But wielding that much power may be harder to let go than she expected.

Lydia Polk never expected to attend the Royal Academy of Witches—let alone become Britain’s best hope against Hitler’s growing magical arsenal. Tasked with tracking powerful relics before the Nazis get their hands on them, Lydia is thrust into danger when a Nazi witch infiltrates the coven, leaving it fractured and afraid.

With war raging and the deadly Grimorium Bellum unleashed, Lydia heads to occupied France, joining forces with a secretive resistance fighter and a charming historian. But the book has its own dark will—and Lydia must conquer it before it consumes them all.

Niamh, Ciara, Leonie, Elle, and Theo—five witches bound by fate and a prophecy they never asked for: Satanis will rise, and the daughters of Gaia will fall. The coven is together again, but fractured—Niamh returns from the dead with something dark inside her, Ciara’s imprisoned, Elle grieves a son she never knew, and Leonie faces a shocking revelation.

Now, Lucifer himself offers Theo a choice: help him, and her coven lives. But the cost is steep—magic that will tear her from London and through time. The final battle between good and evil has begun.

Lizbeth Rose’s sister Felicia, a stunning and powerful death wizard, is the star of the Grand Wizards’ Ball—sought after by wizards from across Europe. But as tensions rise with German and Japanese wizards courting her, the elegant world of wizard society becomes deadly. Lizbeth must protect her sister and navigate the dangerous arcane politics threatening to consume them all.

In this thrilling sixth and final installment of the bestselling Gunnie Rose series, Charlaine Harris delivers a gripping tale of magic, family, and peril that could change the world forever.

The City of a Thousand Stories thrives at the edge of the Forever Desert, rich in knowledge and water—but no one remembers how it began. Historian Ethike, obsessed with uncovering the city’s origins, believes the mysterious figure Osi holds the key. When his search leads him into the desert and to Osi’s long-lost tomb, Ethike hopes to finally earn the respect of the Elders.

But history hides dangerous truths, and what he awakens beneath the sands isn’t just a forgotten legacy—it’s a vengeful force ready to rewrite the city’s story.

Emiko Soong has been called many things—Blade, Butcher, Thief—but Worldbreaker is the name that haunts her. After unmasking the General and returning to San Francisco, her supposed refuge becomes a battlefield of warring clans and crumbling alliances. As loyalties shift and danger closes in, Emiko is more isolated than ever. When an ancient, volatile power crashes into her city, the General will stop at nothing to claim it.

To save her family—and herself—Emiko must confront the truth of who she is: destroyer, savior, or something in between.