I have to say that Kang’s timing with this release—after having just won the Nobel Prize in Literature—is A++. We Do Not Part is like The Vegetarian in that it’s also surrealist horror steeped in social issues and history. In it, Kyungha gets a call from her friend whose been injured and is in a hospital in Seoul. She wants Kyungha to go to her home on Jeju Island to save her pet bird, Ama. But a snowstorm greets Kyungha once she gets to Jeju Island. The terrible wind slows Kyungha from getting to her friend’s house, and the cold becomes all-encompassing. What’s more, there is an abject darkness that awaits Kyungha once she gets to the house and reality starts to blur.

This is one of my most anticipated books of 2025, and it’s all because of how much Tan’s Daughter of the Moon Goddess had me shook in 2022. While Immortal is set in the same Chinese mythology-inspired world, instead of a moon goddess’s daughter, we’re following the heir to the Tianxian throne. Liyen’s world suddenly gets turned upside down when she gets poisoned, which is bad enough, but it’s when her grandfather saves her that things really hit the fan. In saving her, he angers the immortals, whose queen sends the God of War to attack Tianxia, which leads to Liyen experiencing great loss, and even love, as she tries her best to save her people.

This tells a fictionalized story of the very real Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, a Black woman born into slavery in Mississippi and adopted by a wealthy Quaker woman. It’s Elizabeth’s adoptive Quaker mother who educated her and encouraged her to pursue her musical interests. And she does, even when her mother’s white cousins contest her inheritance and leave her with few options once her mother dies. A random performance she does on a Buffalo, New York-bound steamboat leads to great opportunities for Elizabeth, and soon she’s on the path to becoming a history-making opera singer.

Perry has followed up the 2022 National Book Award-winning South to America with a look at the color blue and its relationship with Black folks. She looks at the blue cloths of West Africa that were traded for human beings in the 16th century, the Blues, as a genre and general feeling, and even at the more personal—the blue flowers she planted while grieving.

This book is starting 2025 with a buzz. In it, Suchi’s and Haiwen’s childhood friendship sweetens into teenage love in 1940s Shanghai, and it seems like their futures are laid out in tandem. But then Haiwen secretly signs up for the army to spare his brother from the draft, and that shared future is fractured. Their lives diverge for decades, except for one day when Haiwen is grocery shopping in L.A., looks up, and sees Suchi. It feels like they have a second chance at what should have been, but all of the living they’ve done weighs on them, and it’s not clear that they will be able to make something new and worthwhile.

This book is starting 2025 with a buzz. In it, Suchi’s and Haiwen’s childhood friendship sweetens into teenage love in 1940s Shanghai, and it seems like their futures are laid out in tandem. But then Haiwen secretly signs up for the army to spare his brother from the draft, and that shared future is fractured. Their lives diverge for decades, except for one day when Haiwen is grocery shopping in LA, looks up, and sees Suchi. It feels like they have a second chance at what should have been, but all of the living they’ve done weighs on them, and it’s not clear that they will be able to make something new and worthwhile.

“Take Hindu mythology and fantasy romance and smush them together, and you get The Legend of Meneka. Meneka has been trained as a weapon, and her assignment is to seduce a human sage. Even though completing the mission will mean she doesn’t have to take anymore, she finds herself hesitant to finish, as fascination evolves into something like love. This is the first book in a series, so I’m not sure if it can stand alone, but it sounds like a great start. ” — Jessica Pryde

“Drawing comparisons to Emily St. John Mandel, this debut dystopian novel is about trying to preserve human history in a dying world. Noni, her family, and a group of researchers live in a world where the melting of the glaciers has flooded the world. She and the others live in an empty (and so far, dry) NYC. They work to save all the collections in the Natural History Museum, where they also reside on the roof, to help preserve some record of humankind’s past. But when the water breaches the barriers of the city, they must hurry to save what they think is most important before it is lost to the water. At the end of the world, what will they consider the most important things?” — Liberty Hardy

“From the author of the Celestial Kingdom series comes a standalone fantasy romance! Liyen is a mortal royal who vows to end her kingdom’s obligation to the immortal guards when she takes the throne. She is now the leader after the death of her grandfather, whose death she plans to avenge. When she is called to the Immortal Realm, she cozies up the one immortal she thinks can best help her agenda: the dangerous God of War. But as she forges ahead with her plans, she must also now fight an attraction to the God of War, or risk jeopardizing her life and her kingdom.” — Liberty Hardy

“For readers of eye-opening nonfiction and true crime memoir.

Pagan Kennedy dove not only into the history of how the rape kit came to be—Marty Goddard was working in a Chicago teen crisis center when she observed that many of the teens had fled sexually violent homes which kicked off her path—but also into what happened to Goddard, who seemed to disappear in the late ’80s.” — Jamie Canavés

“Opera singer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield has performed on renowned stages, even putting on a performance at Buckingham Palace. Eliza, born into slavery but adopted by a wealthy woman who raised her in the shelter of a Quaker community, has lived a relatively charmed life. But then her mother dies and her white cousins contest her inheritance, leaving her with few choices. Her mother always wanted her to pursue her gift for music, and when a performance on a steamboat in Buffalo sets her on a path toward stardom, she leaps at the chance. But for an educated, free Black woman, even fame and success are not enough to convince everyone she deserves the remarkable life she builds for herself.” — Rachel Brittain

“Here’s a new one from Han Kang, author of The Vegetarian. When Kyungha’s friend Inseon injures herself in an accident, she begs Kyungha to go to her home in Jeju Island and rescue her pet bird Ama. But when she makes her way to the island, she is bombarded with ice and snow. What awaits her at Inseon’s home is nothing Kyungha could have anticipated, and she finds herself uncovering ghosts of South Korea’s past.” — Emily Martin

“In this historical drama, terminally ill Sakoto is determined to marry well so her family will continue to flourish when she dies. But when an assassin tries to kill her, Sakoto is only able to save her own life by asking him to marry her. Can she still find a way to do right by her family?” — Eileen Gonzalez

“Imani Perry, author of South to America, delves into the historical connection between Blackness and the color blue. From the indigo trade in West Africa to blues music, Perry examines the historical and cultural significance of the color with all of her characteristic insight and attention to detail.” — Kendra Winchester

“Estrella (Noche) Villanueva is grieving the loss of her girlfriend Dante, who accidentally drowned. During the day, Noche is that girl, plus the nerdiest science kid ever. But at night, Noche is a Lechuza, an owl who guides the dead into the afterlife. Noche can’t do that, though, with Dante. Instead, she visits Dante every night to spend just a little more time together with her spirit. That puts both of them in danger.

When Jax moves to town, Noche is almost immediately smitten. He loves science, too, and now she’s beginning to wonder if she can move on from the tragic end of her relationship with Dante.

But there might be other things in the cards for Noche, as well as both Jax and Dante. Noche may have gone too far off the course of being a Lechuza in her pain.” — Kelly Jensen

“Wise’s vibrant illustrations accompany Gorman’s new poem. Right now, being a woman in the world feels very demoralizing, but Gorman has written a rallying ode to girlhood and a reminder that uplifting other girls is the best way to move forward. It’s a message I definitely welcome hearing right now and will be happy to share with my daughter as she grows.”—Rachel Rosenberg

This award-winning book follows siblings Greta and Valdin as they contend with an eccentric, multiracial family, queerness, and just trying to figure it all out. Valdin is doing superficially well after having been dumped by his boyfriend a year ago—his colleagues are only occasionally weird about his Maaori heritage, and he has intermittent sad sex with a friend—when work sends him from New Zealand to Argentina, where his ex is. Meanwhile, Greta has her own bubbling sadness. She’s experiencing unrequited pining, and her family is in a state made even more perplexing by her brother’s sudden, secretive move to South America. —Erica Ezeifedi

In this M/M historical baseball romance, Mark is a reporter in the 1960s who’s stuck interviewing the obnoxious New York shortstop for his whole first season. Eddie is having a tough enough time on the team, so he’s also reluctant, but neither of them is exactly given a choice. Mark is still mourning the death of his partner, the one no one knew about. He’s vowed never to have a secret relationship again—but now Mark and Eddie are falling for each other…

Like a lot of fantasy lovers, I’ve read my fair share of King Arthur-related novels. So many of them take themselves very seriously, portraying these majestic and austere knights as the fierce protectors of the land. But Grossman’s version of Camelot is different. It’s funny, delightfully ridiculous in so many ways. Like his take on magical schools in the magicians, The Bright Sword pokes fun at stories of Arthurian legend as much as it also celebrates it. But we, the readers, are in on the joke, understanding that this story is in conversation with the many previous tales of King Arthur and his knights.

If you’re looking for a humorous yet simultaneously heartfelt, funny, and queer-inclusive story from the world of Camelot, The Bright Sword may be the pick for you. —Kendra Winchester

Alan Hollinghurst is the Booker Prize-winning author of The Line of Beauty, The Swimming-Pool Library, and many other acclaimed novels. Our Evenings is about Dave, a mixed-race queer child who receives a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school and experiences the opportunities and cruelties of this turn of fate. We follow him from the 1960s through his coming of age, including first love affairs, a career on stage, and a late-in-life marriage.

It’s always nice when one of the biggest literary fiction titles of the year is queer. This is a bestseller that comes highly recommended by authors like Tommy Orange, Lauren Groff, John Green, Clint Smith, and more. It follows Cyrus, a twentysomething queer poet who has been numbing his pain with drugs and alcohol. His mother was killed when her plane was shot down over Tehran in a senseless act of violence by the U.S. military. His father recently died of a heart attack. As he becomes sober, Cyrus goes looking for meaning, and he finds it by researching martyrs. When he hears about an artist dying of cancer in an exhibition at a museum, he is determined to meet her.

In The New York Times Notable list, they categorize this literary fiction title with a bisexual main character as “Sexy Perimenopause Fiction” and recommend it for fans of Big Swiss by Jen Beagin. The top 10 list describes it as “the talk of every group text — at least every group text composed of women over 40” and “the first great perimenopause novel.”

I am wicked excited about this because I love any chance to talk about the Boston Celtics! Celtics star Jaylen Brown is an NBA championship winner, a Finals MVP, and a National Basketball Players Association vice president. But did you know he’s also a genius? It’s true! He is the youngest person to ever hold a lecture at Harvard, and NASA wanted him to work for them. (And it’s not at all surprising that his idol is Bill Nye the Science Guy.)

Brown also has his own line of shoes, 741, and the company just released a line of science fiction-inspired clothes. “I love science fiction, I love futurism, so I’m expressing myself creatively through that,” said Brown. I don’t think I can justify spending $125 on a hoodie, but if I was going to splurge, I would definitely get the Rover sneakers because, oooo shiny.

Molly Templeton, one of my favorite internet writers, has a new essay up at Reactor about small press science fiction and fantasy books. “Small presses are in some ways facing a version of the same thing any book publisher is: nearly vanished books coverage in major media, endless competition for everyone’s eyeballs, the vagaries of trends, the limits of distribution, the foibles of that one retail website I wish we never had to talk about again. But they’re doing it with smaller staffs and fewer resources. They are the classic underdog, and I feel like SFF readers could do a little more rooting for them. It’ll take a little effort on our part. It’s effort well worth making.” My only reading goal for 2025 is to read more small press books, and this essay further cemented that goal in my brain.