Must-Have Monday #246
Must-Have Monday is a feature highlighting which of the coming week’s new releases I’m excited for. It is not meant to be a comprehensive list of all books being published that week; only those I’m interested in out of those I’m aware of! The focus is diverse SFF, but other stuff sneaks in occasionally too.
TEN books this week!
(Books are listed in order of pub date, then Adult SFF, Adult Other, YA SFF, YA Other, MG SFF.)
Daughters of Flood and Fury (Stormbringer #2) by Gabriella Buba Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Filipino-inspired setting and cast, sapphic MC, F/F, bisexual MCs, queernorm setting
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
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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.
The first book in this duology made my Best of 2024 list, and although I haven’t finished my early copy yet (sorry!) I strongly suspect Daughters of Flood and Fury will make this year’s list! This is anti-colonial fantasy in a setting inspired by the Philippines, with elemental magics (stormcallers! sea-and-blood manipulators! firebenders!) and queer, badass women EVERYWHERE. (The dedication reads: ‘To all the ones who survived, but healed wrong. They broke our halos so we grew teeth.’)
I think Daughters does work as a standalone, but you’d be missing out IMMENSELY if you skipped Saints, so why would you???
You can read my review of book one, Saints of Storm and Sorrow, here!
The Library at Hellebore by Cassandra Khaw Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Contemporary or Urban Fantasy, Horror, Queer Protagonists
Representation: Queer Asian-American MC
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
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A deeply dark academia novel from USA Today bestselling author Cassandra Khaw, perfect for fans of A Deadly Education and The Atlas Six who are hungry for something a little more diabolical.
The Hellebore Technical Institute for the Gifted is the premier academy for the dangerously the Anti-Christs and Ragnaroks, the world-eaters and apocalypse-makers.
Hellebore promises redemption, acceptance, and a normal life after graduation. At least, that’s what Alessa Li is told when she’s kidnapped and forcibly enrolled.
But there’s more to Hellebore than meets the eye. On graduation day, the faculty go on a ravenous rampage, feasting on Alessa’s class. Only Alessa and a group of her classmates escape the carnage. Trapped in the school’s library, they must offer a human sacrifice every night, or else the faculty will break down the door and kill everyone.
Can they band together and survive, or will the faculty eat its fill?
My DNF review of this was adoring – I only set it down because I’m a horror wimp, not because it’s not fabulous! Much gore, much ick, much dark, fucked-up magic. I want a copy for my bookshelf even if I can never get through it! (Although I am determined to try it again!)
You can read an excerpt here!
Seven Recipes for Revolution (What We Eat Book 1) by Ryan Rose Genres: Adult, Fantasy, High Fantasy
Representation: Japanese-inspired setting and cast
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
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The Bear meets Attack on Titan in this exhilarating, food-based epic fantasy filled with high stakes and monster steaks, perfect for fans of Pierce Brown and Jay Kristoff.
Paprick is a common butcher, carving slabs of meat from gargantuan monsters so elite chefs can prepare magic-granting meals for the rich. But Paprick’s true passion is cooking, and if he can learn the secret art, his dreams of liberating his people and sharing the monsters’ magic with the world could come true. He steals the precious ingredients needed to practise recipes at home, but if he’s caught, he’ll be executed.
As his desperation grows, he ventures into the black market and uncovers a spice imported from unknown lands. Combining it with the last of his stolen meat, he cooks a dish the world has never tasted before, with side-effects he couldn’t have foreseen.
The dish’s magic grows Paprick to kaiju-size, and legends of his powers spread among the people. Immediately, the rulers arrest him, but Paprick convinces them to make him a chef’s apprentice—if they ever want to learn his Recipe. However, his exposure to the world of high cuisine reveals the rot at its centre, and with his new power, rebellion is only a few recipes away…
The idea of a ‘kaiju chef’ is extremely cool, but this book is EXTREMELY gruesome, so bear that in mind if you dive in!
You can read an excerpt here!
Volatile Memory (The Volatile Memory Duology, 1) by Seth Haddon Genres: Adult, Queer Protagonists, Sci Fi
Representation: F/F
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
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Ex Machina meets This is How You Lose the Time War: Seth Haddon's science fiction debut, Volatile Memory, is a heart-filled, vengeful sapphic sci-fi action adventure novella.
With nothing but a limping ship and an outdated mask to her name, Wylla needs a big pay day. When the call goes out that a lucrative piece of tech is waiting on a nearby planet, she relies on all the swiftness of her prey animal instincts to beat other hunters to it.
What you found wasn’t your ticket out—it was my corpse wearing an AI mask. When you touched the mask, you heard my voice. A consciousness spinning through metal and circuits, a bodiless mind, spun to life in the HAWK’s temporary storage. I crystallized, and I was alive.
Masks aren't supposed to retain memory, much less identity, but the woman inside the MARK I HAWK is real, and she sees Wylla in a way no one ever has. Sees her, and doesn’t find her wanting or unwhole.
Armed with military-grade tech and a lifetime of staying one step ahead of the hunters, Wylla and HAWK set off to get answers from the man who discarded HAWK once before: her ex-husband.
I haven’t gotten along with Haddon’s prose in his earlier books, but I’ve seen so much love for this one that I’m willing to give it a try – especially since it’s a novella.
You can read an excerpt here!
We Who Hunt Alexanders by Jason Sanford Genres: Adult, Horror
Representation: Brown cast
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
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Amelia is a ripper, a monster who feeds on violent people who have so thoroughly forsaken love that they’ve burned away their souls. Unseen and unnoticed by most of society and living as both hunter and hunted, the only emotion rippers feel is anger. But Amelia is different from her fellow rippers and also feels happiness and sadness, fear and love. To her mother, Danjay, that makes Amelia the strangest of all monsters.
Driven from their home by religious zealots, Amelia and Danjay must learn to survive in the city of Medea, where violent men rule and kill anyone who opposes them. Worse, Amelia has never hunted on her own, and her mother is ill and growing weaker by the day. Only a chance encounter with a human who can see Amelia gives her any hope that she might be able to save her mother.
To succeed, Amelia must learn to hunt in an increasingly dangerous city brought to the brink of war by the corrupt, rich and powerful. Amelia will also have to discover if her differences from her fellow rippers makes her weak, as her mother believes, or if she can instead be a new kind of monster that the world has never seen before.
Jason Sanford writes excellent nonfiction on news in the SFF space, and I’ve been obsessed with We Who Hunt Alexanders since I first heard about it. Will I be able to read it??? I’m very unsure, but I want to try!
Loki: New & Ancient Norse Tales (Myths, Gods & Immortals) by Matt Ralphs Genres: Adult, Fantasy
Representation: Genderfluid pansexual MC
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
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Loki is a trickster, part god, part giant, brother and nemesis of Thor, now reimagined and reinterpreted with new stories from open submissions.
This latest new book in the Myths, Gods and Immortals series offers an opportunity to explore the many facets of Loki – shapeshifting Norse god, at once an ally of and at odds with the other Aesir. From ancient tales to comics, TV and the movies Loki's tempestuous relationship with the likes of Odin and Thor, his many forms and offspring, and his ambivalent character make him the classic trickster and an inspiration beyond Norse mythology. With a new introduction to the ancient stories, this powerful new title offers fresh perspectives with new perspectives from open submissions across the world. A feast of imagination focused in a classic setting, Loki is a joyful celebration of an enduring character.
I have no idea who that’s meant to be on the cover – since Loki is traditionally red-haired and the axe isn’t one of his symbols – but I’m hoping that this is a decent collection nonetheless!
Sky on Fire (Aether Saga, 2) by E.K. Johnston Genres: Queer Protagonists, Science Fantasy, YA
Representation: Asexual MC
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
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A fast-paced and thought-provoking queer sci-fi/fantasy novel from #1 New York Times bestseller E. K. Johnston.
Morgan Enni has things to do. A science prodigy in a university full of mage-scientists, she’s notable for having no magical ability, which only increases her ambition and drive to prove herself. Her research has the potential to devastate every aetherworker in the galaxy and shake the crumbled foundations of the Stavenger Empire. It's no wonder she can't find anyone who wants to listen to her, much less fund her expedition.
But Morgan is stubborn, and eventually her work catches the attention of a group of rebels, who hope it might turn the tide in their favour. When they try to recruit the young scientist, they get much more than they bargained for. Morgan Enni has secrets of her own.
Set in the world of Aetherbound, E. K. Johnston continues to entwine Arthurian myth and the history of North Atlantic fisheries in a clever, character-driven space fantasy.
Early reviewers are divided on whether or not you need to have read the previous book (set in the same universe but following different characters), though for the record I massively enjoyed book one and do recommend it! Johnston’s prose is always gorgeous, and I was delighted when I heard we were getting another book in her science fantasy setting!
The author has described this as an asexual romance, which we do not see nearly often enough!
You can read an excerpt here!
Evil-ish by Kennedy Tarrell Genres: Fantasy, Queer Protagonists, YA
Representation: Nonbinary MC
Published on: 22nd July 2025
Goodreads
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A disillusioned teen dreams of fame and villainy in this hilarious and heartfelt young adult fantasy graphic novel from debut author/illustrator Kennedy Tarrell.
Hawthorne Vandercast has big plans: join the infamous Brigade of Shade, move into a glamorous castle, and leave their mundane life as a potion barista behind. But when they finally get the chance to join the Brigade, Hawthorne finds themself overshadowed by Maple, a bubbly, bright, flowery girl who could not look further from evil. After an accident ends in death and suddenly Hawthorne is leading the Brigade, they begin to realize that maybe villainy isn't actually all it's cracked up to be.
Evil-ish spins the classic tropes of good and evil on their heads in a hilarious and tender story about a teenager who feels bigger than their job, their town, and their circumstances...and finds out that what they thought they wanted might not be what they actually need.
If you don’t think this sounds delightful, you are simply Incorrect!
The Grizzling Princess and Her Knight (The Tale of... #1) by Amy Burns Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: F/F
Published on: 25th July 2025
Goodreads
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I dreamt I went to fairyland…
Princess Griselda has never wanted for anything since the moment she was born. Loved by her parents and the people of Estevell, she grew up with the knowledge that her family would do anything for her – even produce a new law to make her sole heir to the throne. /Married or not/
Suddenly, war is declared, and Estevell is sent into conflict with a neighbouring kingdom. Out of options, her exiled uncle is called upon to act as the regent in her father’s absence.
Acting in his own interests, her uncle’s nefarious plots become more complex with each year that passes. When her mother falls mysteriously ill, and her trusted protector is sent away to fight in the war, Griselda must find a way to claim back the crown in her father’s name.
Requesting the help of the famous outlaws, her courtly ladies, and some new winged friends, Griselda must strive to be a leader the kingdom can trust.
Whilst trying not to fall madly in love with the unyielding woman her despicable uncle has established as her personal guard.
Early reviewers have described the prose of this one as fairytale-style, so if that’s your thing, maybe check it out!
Forfeiture: Humanity Caught in the Act by JP Nebra Genres: Adult, Sci Fi
Published on: 25th July 2025
Goodreads
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Hunter-gatherers and their shaman flee murderous loggers in the Amazon. An elderly Inuit woman enacts an obscure ritual in the melting ruins of her ancestral Arctic village. Defenseless under the modern onslaught, the indigneous peoples' only hope is a cultural echo. A memory of how to beckon interstellar explorers who, puzzlingly, have not been seen for eons. Do they even exist?
Tracking the distress signals, the aliens speed back to Earth, a planet they consider a temple of Life. And when they discover the paradisial planet is now polluted and beset with extinctions & ecological destruction, they issue an ultimatum. Humanity has one year and one chance to fix things.
But as the powerful alien leader grows warm to present-day humans and their ways, usurpers in her ranks feel no affection for this untrustworthy species and plot a grim judgement. What will be the fate of Life on Earth?
Will this be depressing or cathartic or both??? I do not know, but I want to find out!
Will you be reading any of these? Did I miss any releases you think I should know about? Let me know!
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