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The Most Anticipated Fantasy, Science Fiction, and Horror Books of 2024
“Speculative fiction” has emerged as the classy consensus term for that clustering of genres that treats our everyday reality as optional—a starting place, at best. It’s adventurous reading for adventurous readers, and we love it.
We’ve gathered here a roundup of the most anticipated 2024 books in the major speculative fiction categories of adult science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The collection is largely informed by tracking which titles Goodreads members are adding to their Want to Read shelves. These are novels, mostly, but you’ll find new novellas and short fiction collections, too.
Veteran readers will recognize several Big Names dropping new titles this year. Leigh Bardugo (Ninth House) delivers some intriguing historical fantasy with The Familiar. The writing team pseudonymously known as James S.A. Corey (the Expanse series) launches their next hard SF series with The Mercy of Gods. And over in horror, look for a new short story collection from alpha cryptkeeper Stephen King.
Trendwise, we’re seeing an interesting slow-motion collision of horror and romance (horrormance?) with novels like An Education in Malice and My Darling Dreadful Thing. Sci-fi continues its drift into interesting new spaces with the highly anticipated debut Womb City, set in future Botswana. If you like your genre boundaries extra blurry, check out Robert Jackson Bennett’s sci-fi-fantasy-eco-murder-mystery The Tainted Cup. (Cool cover art, too!)
Finally, if you're seeking more romantasy titles, hop on over to our coverage of anticipated 2024 romances.
Click through the book cover images for more details about each title. You can keep track of your own wish list with your Want to Read shelf.
The Most Anticipated Fantasy Books of 2024
The Most Anticipated Science Fiction Books of 2024
The Most Anticipated Horror Books of 2024
Sound off! Let us know YOUR most anticipated new speculative fiction releases for 2024 in the comments below!
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Dec 29, 2023 01:27AM
What a fab list, 2024 TBR groaning already!
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SJM's new book looks great! I won't be picking up anything from TJ Klune, though.
Who is going to tell GoodReads that Sunlit Man has been out for a few months, and us Sanderfans are WAY MORE excited about Stormlight 5 in December of 2024?
The Mars House by Natasha Pulley for me. The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo looks good too.
I loved My Darling Dreadful Thing and can't wait to get my hands on Murder Road! It seems like 2024 is going to be another great year for reading.
I got an ARC of An Education in Malice, it's sooo GOOD - I don't know how the author topped A Dowry of Blood, but she did.
Why is it that this site always overlooks The Claire Saga's five Amazon bestselling books, especially when it comes to Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Where The Ley Lines Meet, book 5 of TCS, drops on April 16th, and is already charting regularly in the top 100 on Amazon. Check it out.
Looking forward to the new Charlie Parker novel by John Connolly
It would be great if there was an easy way to separate out the Romantasy so the rest of us can see more fantasy we would be interested in.
Dont see anything to get excited about here
I absolutely love TJ Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea, one of my favorites in recent years, so I'm looking forward to Somewhere Beyond the Sea. Klune's one of my must-reads as of late.
I really enjoyed Other Dimensions: A Bookstore. It needs to be on your list. It's told by the proprietor of a bookstore built over a dimensional portal. Fun and games!
Derek wrote: "Who is going to tell GoodReads that Sunlit Man has been out for a few months, and us Sanderfans are WAY MORE excited about Stormlight 5 in December of 2024?"ditto.
Law wrote: "SJM's new book looks great! I won't be picking up anything from TJ Klune, though."Why is that? I read two books from him last year and both were fantastic. I read the second one 3 times. You are missing out.
Jaime wrote: "Law wrote: "SJM's new book looks great! I won't be picking up anything from TJ Klune, though."Why is that? I read two books from him last year and both were fantastic. I read the second one 3 time..."
Because he routinely steals other people's culture as inspiration for his books. He did an interview about House where he said he was "inspired" by the 60s Scoop, which was a horrific time for Native Americans, particularly in Canada. He wondered to himself if he should tell the story because it wasn't his to tell and he made it a happy, found-family Fantasy story instead of the horrific history that is children being separated from their families by the government due to racism. He's essentially whitewashing that trauma by having the stand-ins end up happily with the adopted parents. He's also done this with his YA series where he is pro-cop and has a Black character who is pro-cop. He also did this when he fell into the Magical Negro trope in Under the Whispering Door and said some really fucked up things in that book about Asian-American parents wanting to be "American" but being unable to shake "certain habits". I have the quote saved on a highlight somewhere, but he essentially blamed Mei's relationship with her parents on them being Asian and having superstitious beliefs regarding being a reaper when plenty of American parents have stigma around mental health and death customs, as well.
No one is saying anything about his writing ability. But he's repeatedly taken traumatic events or problematic tropes from cultures he is not a part of and messed it up.
"Because he routinely steals other people's culture as inspiration for his books. He did an interview about House where he said he was "inspired" by the 60s Scoop, which was a horrific time for Native Americans..."I haven't read any of his books yet, but always get weird red flags by the descriptions. Thank you for pointing this all out, I'm gonna go do more research and weigh out if I really "need" to read his books or not... my heart says no, but the bookseller brain says I gotta know the material to criticize it.
Whitney wrote: Because he routinely steals other people's culture as inspiration for his books."Isn't that what writers have been doing forever? So only Jews or Germans can write about the Holocaust? Folks who have snagged fairy tale based plots must always be French or Russian? All of that Viking stuff that's popular should only be accepted if the writer is Scandinavian? James Clavell was wrong to have set books in Japan? Oops, Wilbur Smith, obviously European, has written all of those historical novels set in ancient Egypt. And as for getting bits "wrong," Klune writes fiction, not history. Has he been disrespectful of those cultures? I've only read one of his books and didn't connect it to borrowed cultural elements--other than the supernatural characters appeared to have come from various cultures.
Great list! Only missing Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson. Guess its not on the list because there isn't a cover yet...
I just read Womb City. The description makes it sound awesome (and the cover is fantastic!), but it is genuinely the worst book I have ever read. I am not exaggerating. Avoid at all costs.
My most anticipated titles for 2024:An Instruction in Shadow - Benedict Jacka (Inheritance of Magic 2)
The Strength of the Few - James Islington (Hierarchy 2)
Of Empires and Dust - Ryan Cahill (The Bound and the Broken 4)
Untitled - Michael R. Miller (Songs of Chaos 4)
Witch Queen of Redwinter - Ed McDonald (Redwinter 3)
Warlords of Wyrdwood - RJ Barker (The Forsaken 2)
Black Tide Son - HM Long (The Winter Sea 2)
Stephen King's newest novel is my most anticipated every year and I enjoy his collections.
thecriticalreader wrote: "I just read Womb City. The description makes it sound awesome (and the cover is fantastic!), but it is genuinely the worst book I have ever read. I am not exaggerating. Avoid at all..."Thanks for sharing. It seems like a disappointing read.
Could you also please start promoting something other than mostly YA books? Also not all of us are interested only in mainstream books. Would be nice to hear about something unknown.
I think YOU just did that.Derek wrote: "Who is going to tell GoodReads that Sunlit Man has been out for a few months, and us Sanderfans are WAY MORE excited about Stormlight 5 in December of 2024?"
Bea wrote: "Could you also please start promoting something other than mostly YA books? Also not all of us are interested only in mainstream books. Would be nice to hear about something unknown."99.99ad infintum% of YA are dystopians to boot. Reading dystopian SFF SEEMS to make REALITY more like what's going on in the novels... .
Folks fail to understand what this list is about--"most anticipated" refers to the total number of folks who have tagged a particular book as "want to read." You want different books included? Tag all of your favorites as "want to read" as soon as you hear about them.
The new Skulduggery Pleasant (number 16) by Derek Landy in April
Bea wrote: "Could you also please start promoting something other than mostly YA books? Also not all of us are interested only in mainstream books. Would be nice to hear about something unknown."read the title😭
