12 of the Most Exciting New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books of July 2025

A Witch’s Guide to Magical Innkeeping by Sangu Mandanna (Berkley,‎ July 15)

Once-powerful witch Sera Swan lost her magic abilities and was thrown out of her Guild after she resurrected her great-aunt Jasmine. Now she runs an inn with her no-longer-dead great-aunt and a talking fox, while also searching for a way to restore her powers. And then the answer arrives on their doorstep: guest Luke Larsen, a curmudgeonly historian who knows the spell for restoring magic. But Sera will have to convince him to help her and keep it hidden from the Guild if she wants to be witchy once more.

Volatile Memory by Seth Haddon (Tordotcom, July 22)

In the description of this book, it is being compared to Murderbot, Firefly, Thelma & Louise, Ex Machina, and This is How You Lose the Time War. Those are some big shoes, and I’m already sold! But if you need to know more, it’s a sapphic sci-fi adventure about a space treasure hunter named Wylla who finds a piece of tech that changes her life. It’s an AI mask, HAWK, and the consciousness of the woman who wore it is somehow still alive inside it. The truth behind how this could have happened sends Wylla and HAWK across the stars in search of answers.

The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw (Tor Nightfire,‎ July 22)

The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is attended by humans and the biggest monsters of the universe. Alessa Li is a student there, getting ready to graduate, when things go horribly wrong. On graduation day, the faculty decide to eat the graduating class. Only Alessa and a few of her classmates escape, and they lock themselves in the library. But with no way to get out, and the faculty at the doors demanding more human sacrifices, will anyone survive?

Arcana Academy by Elise Kova (Del Rey,‎ July 22)

Clara Graysword is a thief locked away in prison for making tarot cards, which can only be done by the magical practitioners at Arcana Academy. Resigned to spending her life locked away, she is surprised when she receives a visitor: the academy’s headmaster, Prince Kaelis. He tells Clara she can have her freedom if she steals a tarot card from the king that he needs to gain power. This arrangement leads her to an undercover role at the academy as a student and the prince’s bride-to-be and starts a whole adventure full of danger, romance, and magic.

Beasts of Carnaval by Rosália Rodrigo (MIRA, July 29)

Isla Bestia is a place of partying, music, consumption, beasts, and excess, a place that lures people in and doesn’t let them go. Sofía is a freedwoman from a nearby island who travels to el Carnaval de Bestias to find her twin brother, who has been missing for five years. But can she resist Isla Bestia’s siren song and unravel the mystery behind the place? Or will she be lost to the place too?

Silvercloak by L. K. Steven (Del Rey, July 29)

If you like some magic with your mystery, you’ll want to mark this one down now! It’s a dark romantasy about a young woman seeking revenge for the deaths of her parents. Saffron lies to get into Silvercloak Academy, a school that trains the city’s elite detectives. She wants to find out how to bring down the Bloodmoons responsible for killing her parents. But when she is discovered, she is instead made a spy, where she must infiltrate gangs and commit terrible crimes in order to keep her life and her freedom.

The Memory Hunters by Mia Tsai (Erewhon Books,‎ July 29)

In this romantasy from the author of Bitter Medicine, Kiana Strade is an academic who can read blood memories. She wants to learn more about human history, but her research leads her to uncover a memory that doesn’t correspond with the history she knows. Now Kiana is in danger, but she refuses to stop searching for answers. It will be up to her bodyguard, Valerian IV, to keep her safe as she gets to the bottom of things.

An Encantadora’s Guide to Monstros and Magic by Sarah J. Mendonca (Quill Tree Books,‎ July 8)

Who doesn’t love a magical heist? In this debut, Rosa Coelho must join a band of thieves in order to steal a priceless jewel. She needs the money to pay off her family’s debts, or the Ministério dos Monstros will take their Encantadora shop. But stealing the jewel means going into the belly of the beast by robbing the Ministry. Can she manage to pull off the heist and save her family’s shop?

Fateless by Julie Kagawa (HarperCollins, July 15)

July is a very thieves-heavy month for SFF! From the bestselling author of The Iron Fey series comes a new YA romantasy. Seventeen-year-old Sparrow is a member of a guild of thieves, sworn to follow their orders, no matter what. But when they are given a job by The Circle, a dangerous shadow organization, she and her fellow members are plunged into a dangerous adventure with high stakes that might change her world forever.

Sky on Fire by E.K. Johnston (Dutton Books for Young Readers,‎ July 22)

This is a queer space opera with magic and found family! Morgan Enni is a scientist without magic in a world full of mage-scientists. Because of that, her work is ignored and disregarded—until a band of rebels takes an interest in her work, which could bring down the empire. But the rebels are going to learn that their newest recruit is hiding something and that Morgan is so much more than they anticipated.

The Last Tiger by Julia Riew, Brad Riew (Kokila, July 29)

And last, but not least, this YA fantasy is inspired by the authors’ grandparents’ lives in Korea. It’s a tale of two teens, a servant and a noble girl, who join together to change their fates in their colonized land. But their tentative partnership is broken when they wind up on opposite sides of a war over the last tiger. Can they find a way to remain loyal to one another and each achieve the outcome they want?

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