This post contains affiliate links, where we may receive a percentage of any sale made from the links on this page. Prices and availability accurate as of the time of publication.
May is here, and that means it’s time to refresh your TBR pile and get cracking on some new books! April had a ton of great new releases across the fantasy and science fiction space, and May promises to be no different. In fact, our list includes a few more books than usual this time around.
Whether you’re out for deep space sagas, fantastical adventures, dystopian futures or gritty dark fantasies, there’s plenty to choose from this month. Here are 13 books to check out:
LORDS OF UNCREATION by Adrian Tchaikovsky (The Final Architecture #3) — May 2
This month will see the release of the final volume in Adrian Tchaikovsky’s The Final Architecture trilogy. The epic story that began in Shards of Earth with the enhanced human soldier Idris and a fateful discovery amidst the stars is speeding toward an explosive conclusion.
The alien Architects have returned, pushing humanity toward extinction. The second novel, Eyes of the Void, saw Idris return to the battlefield to help humanity fight for survival. The conflict has been devastating, and soon, we’ll be able to read how it all ends in Lords of Uncreation.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
May will be a busy month for Tchaikovsky. Beyond the release of Lords of Uncreation, this month will also see the release of his fantasy novel City of Last Chances, which came out late last year in the UK but will be making its US debut on May 2. You know you’re churning out novels when you’ve got two coming out on the same day.
Dragonfall by L.R. Lam (The Dragon Scales Trilogy #1) — May 2
Dragonfall by L.R. Lam is a fantasy tale that combines staples of the genre like magic, romance, dragons and politics. At the center of the book is a queer enemies-to-lovers story. One of the people in that relationship is a dragon, which is sure to make the whole thing very complicated and impossible to put down.
Long ago, humans betrayed dragons, stealing their magic and banishing them to a dying world. Centuries later, their descendants worship dragons as gods. But the “gods” remember, and they do not forgive.
Thief Arcady scrapes a living on the streets of Vatra. Desperate, Arcady steals a powerful artifact from the bones of the Plaguebringer, the most hated person in Lumet history. Only Arcady knows the artifact’s magic holds the key to a new life among the nobles at court and a chance for revenge.
The spell connects to Everen, the last male dragon foretold to save his kind, dragging him through the Veil. Disguised as a human, Everen soon learns that to regain his true power and form and fulfill his destiny, he only needs to convince one little thief to trust him enough to bond completely–body, mind, and soul—and then kill them.
Yet the closer the two become, the greater the risk both their worlds will shatter.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
THE SERPENT AND THE FIREFLY by Courtney Davis — May 2
Sticking with romance, consider Courtney Davis’ new urban fantasy book The Serpent and the Firefly. It’s got magical item shops, a forbidden tryst with the King of Hell, and a prophecy that will seal the fate of various warring realms. This book sounds like a perfect fit if you enjoyed shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Jade is in witness protection and finds herself in possession of a store full of magical items. Her presence there alerts her existence to Baal, a serpent shifter and the first king of Hell. He arrives to kill her before she can become what has been prophesied and kill him, but he is enchanted by what he finds. She is everything he feared she would be, but she is also enticingly beautiful and pulls at something deep within him. She has no idea what she is, and he decides to try and use her for his own plans.
Jade tentatively trusts Baal as she embraces her new powers and his reasons for seeking the keys to a gate in Hell. She agrees to help him, but along their journey she discovers that four planes of existence have crashed together; the fae realm, the angel realm, the demon realm and the earth realm. They are all fighting for control of earth and its inhabitants.
She is the one prophesied to choose the winner. She is the one prophesied to kill the first king of Hell.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
THE SWORD DEFIANT by Gareth Hanrahan (Lands of the Firstborn #1) — May 2
Next we head into the realm of dark fantasy for Gareth Hanrahan’s The Sword Defiant. It’s hard to be an aging fantasy hero, especially when those you used to call allies succumb to the darkness and become your enemies. Sir Aelfric has his work cut out for him, literally.
Many years ago, Sir Aelfric and his nine companions saved the world, seizing the Dark Lord’s cursed weapons, along with his dread city of Necrad. That was the easy part.
Now, when Aelfric – keeper of the cursed sword Spellbreaker – learns of a new and terrifying threat, he seeks the nine heroes once again. But they are wandering adventurers no longer. Yesterday’s eager heroes are today’s weary leaders – and some have turned to the darkness, becoming monsters themselves.
If there’s one thing Aelfric knows, it’s slaying monsters. Even if they used to be his friends.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
THE BOOK THAT WOULDN’T BURN by Mark Lawrence (The Library Trilogy #1) — May 9
Saying Mark Lawrence is one of the most prolific fantasy authors working today feels like an understatement; he’s perhaps best known for The Broken Empire trilogy, but has since wrapped up a slew of other trilogies such as The Red Queen’s War, Book of the Ancestor, Book of Ice, and Impossible Times; and that’s not even taking into account his short fiction or other works.
Some of those previous series are set in interconnected fantasy worlds, but with The Book That Wouldn’t Burn, Lawrence is embarking on a new adventure with new characters and a new setting. Given the title, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that a vast, ancient library features prominently in this one. The Book That Wouldn’t Burn sounds like a love letter to reading.
The boy has lived his whole life trapped within a book-choked chamber older than empires and larger than cities.
The girl has spent hers in a tiny settlement out on the Dust, where nightmares stalk and no one goes.
The world has never even noticed them. That’s about to change.
Their stories spiral around each other, across worlds and time. This is a tale of truth and lies and hearts, and the blurring of one into another. A journey on which knowledge erodes certainty and on which, though the pen may be mightier than the sword, blood will be spilled and cities burned.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
TO SHAPE A DRAGON’S BREATH by Moniquill Blackgoose (Nampeshiweisit #1) — May 9
Dragons are never out of style, but To Shape a Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose is set to explore them in a way that feels incredibly fresh and intriguing in this indigenous-inspired fantasy novel. After young Anequs bonds with a dragon, she must enter into an academy run by those who colonized her people’s lands. She’s faced with challenges at every turn on her path to help foster her new draconic companion; and the stakes are its life.
The remote island of Masquapaug has not seen a dragon in many generations—until fifteen-year-old Anequs finds a dragon’s egg and bonds with its hatchling. Her people are delighted, for all remember the tales of the days when dragons lived among them and danced away the storms of autumn, enabling the people to thrive. To them, Anequs is revered as Nampeshiweisit—a person in a unique relationship with a dragon.
Unfortunately for Anequs, the Anglish conquerors of her land have different opinions. They have a very specific idea of how a dragon should be raised, and who should be doing the raising—and Anequs does not meet any of their requirements. Only with great reluctance do they allow Anequs to enroll in a proper Anglish dragon school on the mainland. If she cannot succeed there, her dragon will be killed.
For a girl with no formal schooling, a non-Anglish upbringing, and a very different understanding of the history of her land, challenges abound—both socially and academically. But Anequs is smart, determined, and resolved to learn what she needs to help her dragon, even if it means teaching herself. The one thing she refuses to do, however, is become the meek Anglish miss that everyone expects.
Anequs and her dragon may be coming of age, but they’re also coming to power, and that brings an important realization: the world needs changing—and they might just be the ones to do it.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
THE MALEVOLENT SEVEN by Sebastien de Castell — May 11/May 16
The Malevolent Seven by Sebastien de Castell takes a group of morally unscrupulous characters and sends them on a suicidal mission to wipe out seven powerful mages. The catch? Those mages sound like they just want to improve the world. That’s right, we’re hanging out with a troupe of villains this time around. And based on the back-of-book description, it sounds like a raucous tale that’ll fit right in with stories like Nicholas Eames’ Kings of the Wyld or Joe Abercrombie’s The First Law.
‘Seven powerful mages want to make the world a better place. We’re going to kill them first.’
Picture a wizard. Go ahead, close your eyes. There he is, see? Skinny old guy with a long straggly beard. No doubt he’s wearing iridescent silk robes that couldn’t protect his frail body from a light breeze. The hat’s a must, too, right? Big, floppy thing, covered in esoteric symbols that would instantly show every other mage where this one gets his magic? Wouldn’t want a simple steel helmet or something that might, you know, protect the part of him most needed for conjuring magical forces from being bashed in with a mace (or pretty much any household object).
Now open your eyes and let me show you what a real war mage looks like . . . but be warned: you’re probably not going to like it, because we’re violent, angry, dangerously broken people who sell our skills to the highest bidder and be damned to any moral or ethical considerations.
At least, until such irritating concepts as friendship and the end of the world get in the way.
My name is Cade Ombra, and though I currently make my living as a mercenary wonderist, I used to have a far more noble-sounding job title – until I discovered the people I worked for weren’t quite as noble as I’d believed. Now I’m on the run and my only friend, a homicidal thunder mage, has invited me to join him on a suicide mission against the seven deadliest mages on the continent.
Time to recruit some very bad people to help us on this job . . .
You may have noticed that The Malevolent Seven has two release dates listed here; that’s because the ebook is listed to release on May 11, while the hardcover won’t hit shelves until May 16. (Unless some excited bookseller puts it out early; street dates are an illusion.)
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
THE LOST WAR by Justin Lee Anderson (The Eidyn Saga #1) — May 16
Justin Lee Anderson’s novel The Lost War was originally a self-published book that gained a ton of acclaim after winning the 2020 Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off (SFPBO). This month The Lost War is being re-released by Orbit Books, kicking off a new era for The Eidyn Saga trilogy.
The Lost War is a quest fantasy story with a party of characters that each have their own complicated dynamics and big personalities, which would probably make it a great fit for anyone who loved movies like Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
The war is over, but peace can be hell.
Demons continue to burn farmlands, violent mercenaries roam the wilds, and a plague is spreading. The country of Eidyn is on its knees.
In a society that fears and shuns him, Aranok is the first mage to be named King’s Envoy. And his latest task is to restore an exiled foreign queen to her throne.
The band of allies he assembles each have their own unique skills. But they are strangers to one another, and at every step across the ravaged land, a new threat emerges, lies are revealed, and distrust could destroy everything they are working for. Somehow, Aranok must bring his companions together and uncover the conspiracy that threatens the kingdom—before war returns to the realms again.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
THE WILL OF THE MANY by James Islington (Hierarchy #1) — May 23
James Islington is best known for writing The Licanius Trilogy, a time-bending fantasy saga that recalls The Wheel of Time. This month Islington returns with the start of a brand new trilogy in The Will of the Many. With Roman-inspired worldbuilding and an interesting take on the magic school trope, The Will of the Many delves into the deep corruption behind the government running the world where protagonist Vis Telimus lives. Reminiscent of Red Rising, Vis will have to take it down from the inside.
The Catenan Republic—the Hierarchy—may rule the world now, but they do not know everything.
I tell them my name is Vis Telimus. I tell them I was orphaned after a tragic accident three years ago, and that good fortune alone has led to my acceptance into their most prestigious school. I tell them that once I graduate, I will gladly join the rest of civilised society in allowing my strength, my drive and my focus—what they call Will—to be leeched away and added to the power of those above me, as millions already do. As all must eventually do.
I tell them that I belong, and they believe me.
But the truth is that I have been sent to the Academy to find answers. To solve a murder. To search for an ancient weapon. To uncover secrets that may tear the Republic apart.
And that I will never, ever cede my Will to the empire that executed my family.
To survive, though, I will still have to rise through the Academy’s ranks. I will have to smile, and make friends, and pretend to be one of them and win. Because if I cannot, then those who want to control me, who know my real name, will no longer have any use for me.
And if the Hierarchy finds out who I truly am, they will kill me.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
PRESET by Sarina Dahlan — May 23
We head next to a post-apocalyptic utopia in the Mojave Desert. Sarina Dahlan’s debut novel Reset was a thought-provoking literary sci-fi story which asked the question: can you still love someone you don’t remember?
In the Four Cities, people’s memories are wiped every four years. The idea is that are forced to shed their attachments, traumas, and preconceptions, society will run better. This month Dahlan is back with a prequel novel called Preset, which explores how the Four Cities came to exist in the first place. There were quite a few mysteries left on the table at the end of Reset; perhaps the answers lie in the past?
After the Last War destroyed most of the world, survivors formed a new society in four self-sustaining cities in the Mojave Desert. To halt extinction, everything in the Four Cities is carefully predicted and carefully controlled … even love.
But how can you control love and freedom? In the engrossing prequel to Reset, Preset weaves the tales of Eleanor, the Crone, and Eli, the Planner, before and after the creation of the Four Cities. Much has changed in the world and their relationship, but there are some truths that have yet to come to light.
Fighting for change yet still loving her husband Eli, the scientist Eleanor travels to Elara, the lone city resisting fully bending to Eli’s control. There she must separate reality from lies, memories from desires, as she tries to piece together the truth about what is happening in the Four Cities.
But the gulf between love and freedom, between the past and the now, between what we remember and what we strive to become can be as vast as the break between two hearts bound together. It is here, in the dark fissure left by loss, where Eleanor discovers the true cost that has been paid to save humanity.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
THE BLIGHTED STARS by Megan E. O’Keefe (The Devoured Worlds #1) — May 23
Megan E. O’Keefe’s last series The Protectorate, which began with Velocity Weapon, engrossed readers with its space opera worldbuilding, vivid characters, and tightly plotted twists and turns. Now O’Keefe is expanding into a different fictional universe with The Blighted Stars, the beginning of a new trilogy that’s accessible for longtime fans and new readers alike.
The Blighted Stars features a badass heroine and a bookish hero exploring a desolate planet to uncover the mystery of what led to its decline. And while they may be at odds, they’ll have to work together to surmount impossible odds.
She’s a revolutionary. Humanity is running out of options. Habitable planets are being destroyed as quickly as they’re found and Naira Sharp thinks she knows the reason why. The all-powerful Mercator family has been controlling the exploration of the universe for decades, and exploiting any materials they find along the way under the guise of helping humanity’s expansion. But Naira knows the truth, and she plans to bring the whole family down from the inside.
He’s the heir to the dynasty. Tarquin Mercator never wanted to run a galaxy-spanning business empire. He just wanted to study rocks and read books. But Tarquin’s father has tasked him with monitoring the settlement of a new planet, and he doesn’t really have a choice in the matter.
Disguised as Tarquin’s new bodyguard, Naira plans to destroy the settlement ship before they make land. But neither of them expects to end up stranded on a dead planet. To survive and keep her secret, Naira will have to join forces with the man she’s sworn to hate. And together they will uncover a plot that’s bigger than both of them.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
OF LIGHT AND SHADOW by Tanaz Bhathena — May 23
If you like a bit more romance in your fantasy, Of Light and Shadow by Tanaz Bhathena might be for you. Drawing inspiration from Indian mythology, Bhathena’s latest novel is a standalone fantasy about a bandit leader and a prince who become caught up in schemes to reorient the political landscape of their country.
Roshan Chaya is out for justice. Abandoned by her parents at birth and adopted by the kingdom of Jwala’s most notorious bandit before his brutal murder, she is now leader of the Shadow Clan, a gang of farmers-turned-bandits impoverished by the provincial governor’s atrocities and corruption. Roshan’s goal: to avenge her adoptive father and earn back rights and dignity for her people.
Prince Navin has always felt like an outcast. Second in line for the throne, he has never been close to his grandmother, Queen Bhairavi of Jwala. When a night out drinking with friends leads to his capture by the infamous Shadow Clan, Navin schemes to befriend Roshan and use her as a means to escape. His ploy, however, brings Navin closer to the corruption and poverty at the heart of Roshan’s province, raising questions about its governor and Navin’s own family.
To further complicate things, the closer Roshan and Navin get, the harder it becomes to fight their growing attraction. But how can they trust each other when the world as they know it starts to fall apart?
Set in a magical world inspired by the badlands of 17th century India, this standalone epic fantasy novel by Tanaz Bhathena is packed with political tensions, dangerous schemes, and swoon-worthy romance that asks the age old question: can love conquer all?
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
WITCH KING by Martha Wells — May 30
We end with the start of a brand new series from Martha Wells, the author behind the phenomenal Murderbot Diaries sci-fi stories. While Murderbot may be what Wells is best known for, she’s been writing for quite a while now; long before Murderbot captivated readers, Wells was already making a name for herself with her The Books of Raksura fantasy series.
In May, Wells is returning to the genre with her first new fantasy novel in more than a decade. And while it may be a departure from Murderbot, it’s sure to include all the wit, charm and adventure that have made Wells’ work so beloved. Witch King is the story of Kai, a demon who finds himself tied against his will to a mage.
“I didn’t know you were a… demon.”
“You idiot. I’m the demon.”
Kai’s having a long day in Martha Wells’ WITCH KING….
After being murdered, his consciousness dormant and unaware of the passing of time while confined in an elaborate water trap, Kai wakes to find a lesser mage attempting to harness Kai’s magic to his own advantage. That was never going to go well.
But why was Kai imprisoned in the first place? What has changed in the world since his assassination? And why does the Rising World Coalition appear to be growing in influence?
Kai will need to pull his allies close and draw on all his pain magic if he is to answer even the least of these questions.
He’s not going to like the answers.
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
And thus concludes our round-up of new fantasy and sci-fi books releasing in May! What are you adding to your TBR?
To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.
Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels