10 2025 Books Whose Releases I’m (Still!) Counting Down To
Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish and is now hosted by Jana at That Artsy Reader Girl. Check out upcoming Top Ten themes on Jana’s blog!
This week’s prompt is all about the books we’re most excited for in the second half of the year. You can check out my Unmissable list for every SFF release I’m most looking forward to this year…but if I had to pick just 10, from July to December?
The only way I could do it was to not include books I’ve already read and/or am currently reading – which is why Audition For the Fox and Works of Vermin aren’t here, despite my rabid love for both!
I don’t think there’s any surprises on this list, if you’ve been here a while; these are all books that you’d expect me to look forward to, all but one already on my Unmissable list. But I like making lists, so I’m listing them again!
Moonrising by Claire Barner Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: MLM Middle Eastern MC, M/M, Middle Eastern love interest (separate romance)
Published on: 8th July 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Moonrising", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Claire Barner", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
A debut near future romance, where Sea of Tranquility meets Winter's Orbit, told against the backdrop of the Moon's first lunar colony, with a multicultural and LGBTQ+ cast, about a cynical agronomist and charming Emirati businessman who fall in love, and battle eco-terrorists.
In 2073, controversial agronomist Dr. Alex Cole has dedicated her life to mutagenetic food, the only solution to feeding a world torn apart by climate change. When fierce opposition from radical environmentalists wipes out her lab funding, a surprising lifeline appears in the form of Mansoor Al Kaabi, a charismatic Emirati businessman who needs a sustainable food supply for his guests on the Moon’s first hotel.
Alex moves to the Moon colony with Mansoor, and they immediately dive into the challenging work. As she smuggles in illegal chickens, fights a vexing tomato fungus, and dreams of olive groves on the Moon, Alex is surprised to find herself falling in love not just with the lunar colony, but with Mansoor, whose vision for the future of the Moon extends far beyond luxury hotels.
Back on Earth, eccentric genius Victor Beard and Mansoor’s younger brother Rashid fight to push the Homestead Act through Congress. Without the support of the US government, they’ll never be able to achieve their goal to relocate humanity to the Moon and secure a second chance for life on Earth.
When eco-terrorists threaten the lunar colony, Alex, Mansoor, Victor, and Rashid must choose what they’re willing to die for–and what they’re really living for. Is it their grandiose visions of saving the planet–or is it each other?
I can’t help it, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Moonrising since I first heard of it. I blame the whole ‘smuggling chickens’ thing!
Daughters of Flood and Fury (Stormbringer #2) by Gabriella Buba Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Filipino-coded cast and setting, sapphic MC, F/F, bisexual MC
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Daughters of Flood and Fury (Stormbringer #2)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Gabriella Buba", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
In this powerful sequel to Saints of Storm and Sorrow, Lunurin and Alon struggle to unify the archipelago against the returning Codicíans, while Inez embraces her power and makes new allies among the ruthless pirates of the South Sea.
Enthralling Filipino-inspired fantasy for fans of The Hurricane Wars, R.F. Kuang and Tasha Suri.
Several years after the defeat of the Codicíans in Aynila, Lunurin and Alon are fighting to solidify their alliances across the archipelago. But petty rivalries, suspicion and conflicted loyalties threaten to undermine their efforts.
Inez has been training as a tide-touched healer with Alon, but the gentle side of Aman Sinaya's gift does not come naturally to her. When she hears a rumour that her sister Catalina is living among a group of missionaries on a nearby island, Inez embarks on a dangerous journey over the sea. Aboard a pirate ship, she meets Umali, the boat's fierce fire-tender captain. Umali has never been gentle, and she burns brighter than anyone Inez has ever known.
Lunurin and Alon are desperate to follow Inez, but the Codícians are closing in with a powerful armada to retake Aynila. To stand any chance, Lunurin must unify the disparate factions of her forces before the festival of the eclipse, when the world's magic will be at its strongest.
Three goddesses stand behind them. But without human allies, even that power may not be enough to save their islands and the people they love.
Saints of Storm and Sorrow, book one of this duology, blew me away, and I am WILDLY excited for the finale! It’s honestly kind of a relief to find a fantasy series that so vehemently says ‘no, violence against oppressors is FINE, actually!’
Hemlock & Silver by T. Kingfisher Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Published on: 19th August 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Hemlock & Silver", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "T. Kingfisher", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
From New York Times bestselling and Hugo Award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes Hemlock & Silver, a dark reimagining of “Snow White” steeped in poison, intrigue, and treason of the most magical kind.
Healer Anja regularly drinks poison.
Not to die, but to save— seeking cures for those everyone else has given up on.
But a summons from the King interrupts her quiet, herb-obsessed life. His daughter, Snow, is dying, and he hopes Anja’s unorthodox methods can save her.
Aided by a taciturn guard, a narcissistic cat, and a passion for the scientific method, Anja rushes to treat Snow, but nothing seems to work. That is, until she finds a secret world, hidden inside a magic mirror. This dark realm may hold the key to what is making Snow sick.
Or it might be the thing that kills them all.
There’s a snake made of plants on the cover and you expect me NOT to be excited??? I think not! Seriously though, I think this is the first of Kingfisher’s trad-pubbed books I’ve gotten excited about. I did fall in love with Sorceress Comes to Call, but only after I picked it up on a whim; I wasn’t looking forward to its release, you know? For the most part, I massively prefer the books she self-publishes (or self-publishes first and that then go trad); in comparison, I’ve found the books of hers that go straight to trad are way less…exuberant? They feel restrained, tamer. But I’ve been hearing such great things about Hemlock and Silver – and again, there’s a plant-snake on the cover!!! – and I ended up loving Sorceress. So I’m very hopeful that I’m going to adore this one too!
Slow Gods by Claire North Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 16th September 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Slow Gods", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Claire North", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
From one of the most original and dazzling voices in speculative fiction comes an intergalactic tale of conspiracy, war and the fall of empires.
My name is Mawukana na-Vdnaze, and I am a very poor copy of myself.
In telling my story, there are certain things I should perhaps lie about. I should make myself a hero. Pretend I was not used by strangers and gods, did not leave people behind.
Here is one out there in deep-space, in the pilot's chair, I died. And then, I was reborn. I became something not quite human, something that could speak to the infinite dark. And I vowed to become the scourge of the world that wronged me.
This is the story of the supernova event that burned planets and felled civilizations. This is also the story of the many lives I've lived since I died for the first time.
Are you listening?
Discover this thrilling and breathtakingly imaginative space opera from the multi-award-winning Claire North, perfect for fans of Ann Leckie, Adrian Tchaikovsky and Arkady Martine.
Under another penname (she has had MANY) Claire North wrote the Matthew Swift series, which is, not to put too fine a point on it, the best urban fantasy ever written in English. And that was DECADES ago; she’s only become a better and better writer since then, still with the most incredible imagination. So HELLS YES I want to see her take on a space opera!!! This is going to blow us all away, I just know it.
Queen Demon (The Rising World, #2) by Martha Wells Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Brown cast, queer MC, secondary F/F
Published on: 7th October 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "Queen Demon (The Rising World, #2)", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Martha Wells", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
From the breakout SFF superstar author of Murderbot comes the remarkable sequel to the USA Today and Sunday Times bestselling novel, Witch King. A fantasy of epic scope, Queen Demon is a story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.
Dahin believes he has clues to the location of the Hierarchs' Well, and the Witch King Kai, along with his companions Ziede and Tahren, knowing there's something he isn't telling them, travel with him to the rebuilt university of Ancartre, which may be dangerously close to finding the Well itself.
Can Kai stop the rise of a new Hierarch?
And can he trust his companions to do what’s right?
Follow Kai to the end of the world in this thrilling sequel to the USA Today-bestselling Witch King.
I fell head over heels for Witch King, the first book, and I SHRIEKED when I heard we were getting a sequel! I don’t even care what the plot is, SIA NEEEEEDS!
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 21st October 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Isle in the Silver Sea", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Tasha Suri", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
From World Fantasy Award-winning author Tasha Suri comes The Isle in the Silver Sea, a heart-shattering romantasy of sapphic longing, medieval folklore and a love that spans the centuries.
In a Britain fuelled by stories, the knight and the witch are fated to fall in love and doom each other over and over, the same tale retold over hundreds of lifetimes.
Simran is a witch of the woods. Vina is a knight of the Queen's court. When the two women begin to fall for each other, how can they surrender to their desires, when to give in is to destroy each other?
As they seek a way to break the cycle, a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs. To survive, the two will need to write a story stronger than the one that fate has given to them.
But what tale is stronger than The Knight and the Witch?
NEW TASHA SURI!!! I’ve been obsessed with Suri’s prose since Empire of Sand, and reading about the influences on Silver Sea has me absolutely certain that I’m going to love it!
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Published on: 28th October 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Everlasting", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Alix E. Harrow", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Starling House, Alix E. Harrow, comes a moving and genre-defying adventure through time – as a reluctant lady knight and a not-so-heroic-historian will fight through time and space to rewrite their tragic fates . . . and finally reveal the truths hidden beneath the greatest legend ever told.
It begins where it ends: beneath the yew tree – a girl not yet a knight, and a boy without a story.
It is where she pulls a sword from the heartwood and becomes a legend.
And it is where, more than a thousand years later, he will find her – and lose her – and find her – and lose her again.
It is where a new story will be written – but whose will it be?
Harrow has yet to release a novel or short story I haven’t adored, so obviously The Everlasting is a book I’m making grabby-hands at! Apparently this grew out of her story The Six Deaths of the Saint, which was fantastic. I wonder how different the reading experience of Everlasting will be for those who’ve read Six Deaths and those who haven’t?
The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver by Rafael Torrubia Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer MCs
Published on: 30th October 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Rafael Torrubia", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
MEET YOUR NEW EPIC FANTASY OBSESSION
No one remembers the calamity that killed the gods and stole the names of their people. Now Shipwright and Shroudweaver are known only by their professions.
She's a master of magical shipbuilding. He's a maker of the gilded gods that fuel their sails, stitched from the souls of dead sailors.
When a chance to save their world sets the horizon alight, they decide they'll stop at nothing to vanquish the ultimate evil, embarking on a deadly race against time to beat the grief-wracked sorceress Crow-kisser to the notorious mountain kingdom in the legend-infested north before she unleashes the ancient evil entombed at its heart - the one that could destroy them all.
The Shipwright and the Shroudweaver introduces the most exciting new voice in Scottish fantasy with an epic adventure set in a post-apocalyptic landscape of god-fuelled ships, goth-as-hell villains, shadow-warping assassins, effortless queerness, and well-worn love - unmissable for fans of by Jay Kristoff, The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon, and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson.
I’m beginning to worry we’re not going to get this this year, but as long as the official release date says 2025, it’s going to be on my most-anticipated list! I have Google alerts set up for this one and everything; I’ve been obsessed since I first saw the pub deal announcement. It just sounds so entrancingly different!!!
The Wolf and His King by Finn Longman Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
Published on: 27th November 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "The Wolf and His King", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Finn Longman", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
Madeline Miller meets Angela Carter in this spellbinding queer retelling of the 12th-century tale of Bisclavret the werewolf—unmissable for fans of Uprooted by Naomi Novik, Swordcrossed by Freya Marske, and The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden.
A noble knight hiding the beast inside. A lonely king isolated by his courtiers. Between them an impossible gulf surmountable only by the twists and turns of relentless destiny in this spellbinding retelling of Marie de France’s classic 12th-century tale of romance and adventure.
The wolf-sickness strikes always without warning, stealing Bisclavret’s body and confusing his mind. Since boyhood he hasn’t dared leave his isolated holdings—not to beg the return of his father’s lost estate, not to seek brotherhood among the court, not even to win the knighthood he yearns for. But when a new king ascends, Bisclavret must deliver his kiss of fealty or answer for the failure.
Half an exile himself, the young king is intrigued by this uneasy, rough-hewn nobleman. Bisclavret seems a perfect knight: bold, strong, and merciful. But he keeps his secrets close, and the king’s longings are not for counsel alone. As his fascination grows, the barriers between them multiply, until the king battles desperation and grief. Then Bisclavret vanishes beyond reach, just as the greatest threats to the kingdom converge. Only duty to his people stands between the king and ruin—duty, and the steady loyalty of the strangest wolf . . .
Following Longman online has been so fascinating: he’s a professional historian, and he’s talked about how much of that has gone into his debut. Plus, lycanthropy as a metaphor for chronic pain! With all that plus the stunning cover, I think the odds are excellent that this is solidly Fantasy, not Romantasy.
We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope by Annalee Newitz, Karen Lord, Malka Older Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 2nd December 2025
Goodreads
{ "@context":"https://schema.org", "@type":"Review", "datePublished": "2025-06-24T07:18:51+00:00", "description": "If you force me to pick just 10, then I guess it's this 10!", "publisher": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Every Book a Doorway" }, "url": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/10-2025-books-whose-releases-im-still-counting-down-to\/", "itemReviewed": { "@type": "Book", "name": "We Will Rise Again: Speculative Stories and Essays on Protest, Resistance, and Hope", "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Annalee Newitz, Karen Lord, Malka Older", "sameAs": "" }, "isbn": "" }, "author": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Sia", "sameAs": "https:\/\/everybookadoorway.com\/" }, "reviewRating": { "@type": "Rating", "ratingValue": false, "bestRating": "5" }}
From genre luminaries, esteemed organizers, and exciting new voices in fiction, an anthology of stories, essays, and interviews that offer transformative visions of the future, fantastical alternate worlds, and inspiration for the social justice movements of tomorrow.
In this collection, editors Karen Lord, Annalee Newitz, and Malka Older champion realistic, progressive social change using the speculative stories of writers across the world. Exploring topics ranging from disability justice and environmental activism to community care and collective worldbuilding, these imaginative pieces from writers such as NK Jemisin, Charlie Jane Anders, Alejandro Heredia, Sam J. Miller, Nisi Shawl, and Sabrina Vourvoulias center solidarity, empathy, hope, joy, and creativity.
Each story is grounded within a broader sociopolitical framework using essays and interviews from movement leaders, including adrienne maree brown and Walidah Imarisha, charting the future history of protest, revolutions, and resistance with the same zeal for accuracy that speculative writers normally bring to science and technology. Using the vehicle of ambitious storytelling, We Will Rise Again offers effective tools for organizing, an unflinching interrogation of the status quo, and a blueprint for prefiguring a different world.
I love this concept and I love this line-up of authors – I’m as excited for the essays as I am for the stories! Hoping the latter are in the same sorta mode as Everything For Everyone!
Which books are you most looking forward to in the next six months?
The post 10 2025 Books Whose Releases I’m (Still!) Counting Down To appeared first on Every Book a Doorway.
