We’re more than halfway through 2025 and we’re quickly approaching the biggest publishing season of the year. If you’re behind on the Read Harder Challenge, there’s still plenty of time to catch up—but you might want to start planning how to do it! There are lots of new releases coming out by the end of the year that check off tasks, and I’m highlighting just a few here.
If you’re impatient, don’t worry: there are plenty of August releases here, so you don’t have too long to wait. There are BIPOC new releases, a queer mystery, a biography about obsession, weird horror, a cozy fantasy by an author of color, nature essays, and more upcoming titles to grow your Read Harder TBR.
Task #1: Read a 2025 release by a BIPOC author.
Katabasis by R.F. Kuang (August 26)
This is one of the easiest tasks of the challenge this year, so let’s highlight one of the overall most-anticipated books of 2025!
After Babel and Yellowface, it’s clear that anything R.F. Kuang releases is going to be fire. This book is no exception. Two students desperate for academic success go rogue, traveling into the underworld to retrieve their advisor, an acclaimed professor, to ensure that all their torturously hard work was worth it and their needed recommendation letters come through. It’s unhinged in all the best ways, exposing the brightest and worst of the academic world, all while giving intriguing characters, a magical system based on crafting paradoxes, and an impeccably shivery version of hell. —Liberty Hardy
Task #3: Read a queer mystery. AND Task #16: Read a genre-blending book.
The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran, translated by Gene Png (August 12)
Check off two tasks at once using this queer mystery that’s also genre-blending. When police officer Su-Yeon learns that four elderly people have died from jumping out a sixth story window at a hospital, she takes the case personally: Grandma Eun-Shim lives on that floor, and Su-Yeon is determined to stop her from facing the same fate. The rest of the police force dismisses the deaths as suicides, but as Su-Yeon investigates, she meets Violette, who claims to be a vampire hunter looking for her ex-girlfriend, Lily. When the next body is found drained of blood, Su-Yeon begins to believe Violette. It’s a vampire murder mystery!
Task #4: Read a book about obsession.
Positive Obsession: The Life and Times of Octavia E. Butler by Susana M. Morris (August 19)
Most books about obsession are about the dangers of it, but this one explores “positive obsession” in the life of one of the most celebrated SFF authors of all time.
There’s nothing like reading your first Octavia E. Butler novel. Her insight and wisdom shine on every page. So of course, I’ll be savoring this in-depth look at the life of one of America’s best novelists. Author Susana M. Morris delves into Butler’s life and the philosophy behind her writing, giving readers an inside look at history and context behind Butler’s work. —Kendra Winchester
Task #6: Read a standalone fantasy book.
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri (October 21)
There are so many books to choose from for this task, but one of my most-anticipated fantasy books of the year is this standalone from the author of The Jasmine Throne.
World Fantasy Award–winning author Tasha Suri is back with this sapphic romantasy. Britain, in this story, is powered by narratives—and also by tropes, expectations, and destiny. But when Vina, a noble knight of the Queen’s court, falls for a witch, Simran, who she’s supposed to kill, the stories start to get a bit tangled. And some sort of assassin is targeting their story. Vina and Simran have to figure out how to break out of their pre-written story and stay alive—without losing one another. This cover says it all for me; I can’t wait for the mutual yearning! —Liberty Hardy
Task #11: Read a work of weird horror.
A Game in Yellow by Hailey Piper (August 12)
I’m excited about all the weird horror coming out in the fall, including this one and Moonflow by Bitter Karella. A Game in Yellow follows Carmen and Blanca, who are getting bored of their kinky sex life, until they discover a play called The King in Yellow. Reading it will drive you mad… but sample just a few pages, and you’ll experience euphoria. As they play on the razor’s edge between pleasure and the void, Carmen starts to yearn to escape into the world of the play. Queer Lovecraftian erotica horror? Why not!
Task #13: Read a nonfiction book about nature or the environment.
The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2025 by Susan Orlean (October 21)
If you’re exploring a new genre, you can’t go wrong with the Best American Writing series. They collect some of the best writing of the year, curated by experts in the field. This year’s Best American Science and Nature Writing is edited by Susan Orlean, bestselling nonfiction author of The Library Book and The Orchid Thief, among others. Not only will you read some of the best nature and science essays of the moment, but you’ll also be introduced to new authors to follow to their own books!
Task #18: Read a “cozy” book by a BIPOC author.
The Keeper of Magical Things by Julie Leong (October 14)
One of my favourite subgenres is queer cozy fantasy, so I’m really looking forward to this one. Look at that cute cover! It has a flying cat! It follows Certainty, a struggling novice mage, who is paired with the brilliant and cold Mage Aurelia to help out in a small, non-magical town. As they work together, Aurelia and Certainty begin to question the Mage Guild’s hoarding of magic, which could be put to use to make the lives of the people in this town better.
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