Did you know that July is one of the slowest months of the year for book publishing? Between the publishers taking vacations and the idea that people don't want to read books when they could be out having fun in the sun, new releases are a bit more sparse. The good news for us bibliophiles is that some authors went against publishing advice, and there are still new books coming that can sate our cravings for fantasy and science fiction.
The fantasy offerings this month range from cozy fantasy to retellings of fairytales and Arthurian legend, while the science fiction is apocalyptic and dystopian. There are also quite a few that delve into historical fiction and alternate histories. So, even if there are fewer new releases, these books will keep you content throughout the month.
The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance by Chiara Bullen — July 7
Chiara Bullen understands the publishing industry, as she did her postdoctoral research in literature and publishing studies, yet she wasn't afraid of the alleged summer slump when releasing her debut novel. Her days are full of the academic and business side of the industry, while her nights are spent writing her fantasies and playing D&D.
Bullen combined her experience as a research scholar and her love of fantasy adventure in her novel, The Inn at the Foot of Mount Vengeance. The main character, Ainsworth, is called to Mount Vengeance to research the mysteries that surround it and the people who seek to reach the peak. It's a cozy fantasy perfect for grad students, researchers, and lifelong learners.
Mount Vengeance is legendary. For most, it’s an adventure or a quest to prove themselves worthy of fame and glory. For Ainsworth Gladsly, it’s the perfect thesis material.
Ainsworth is an ambitious research fellow and up-and-coming historian, finally ready to make his mark on the world. When his supervisor learns of the rumored Misnich Inn at the foot of Mount Vengeance, she sends Ainsworth to be the first to document the exploits of the bold adventurers who seek to face the perils of the mountain and the dragon said to inhabit it.
The inn is far from the sophisticated city life he’s grown to love, but even as he grudgingly warms to its rustic charm—and its lovely innkeeper, Honey—the mystery of the mountain refuses to reveal itself. Worse, Ainsworth can’t find evidence that anyone has ever undertaken the climb. Even the bravest warriors who stay at the inn turn away from Mount Vengeance the next day.
With Ainsworth’s reputation on the line, he can’t allow this mystery to remain unsolved—even if he has to push the adventurers up the mountain himself.
The Eye of Leviathan by M.A. Carrick — July 14
M.A. Carrick is the pen name for two co-authors, Marie Brennan and Alyc Helms, who became friends after an archeological dig in Wales and Ireland. They had a lot of success with the previously written Rook & Rose trilogy and are now starting off their The Sea Beyond duology with The Eye of Leviathan.
The Eye of Leviathan tells the story of two people, one human and one faerie, living in each other's worlds. It is set during the Spanish Golden Age, the nearly 200-year period of artistic, literary, and cultural expansion that began in 1492. But, in this story, faerie magic exists and either helps or harms the Spanish mortals in their quests for knowledge and culture. Can the human and faerie work together while worlds apart to save everything they hold dear?
In an alternate Spanish Golden Age, the Council of the Sea Beyond has risen to unrivaled power, exploiting the Otherworld's most precious resources for their own gain. Estevan seeks to uncover their secrets, but he risks the exposure of his own: that he is a faerie, masquerading as a mortal.
The Hungry Girl is the human whose place he took. Lost among the fae and desperate to find some purpose for her existence, she leaps at the chance to help a group of Spanish explorers in the Sea Beyond ... only to be horrified at the atrocities they commit.
A faerie pact has separated them--but only together can they bring down Spain's worlds-spanning empire and save the homes they have both come to love.
Not with a Bang by Temi Oh — July 14
Using her degree in neuroscience to write complex and intriguing science fiction, Temi Oh has experience as both an author and screenwriter. She has written stories for Doctor Who and Castlevania: Nocturne, as well as her first two novels, Do You Dream of Terra-Two? and More Perfect. Her latest novel, Not with a Bang, takes on mental health, conspiracy theories, and the apocalypse.
The premise of Not with a Bang involves a family struggling with different mental health conditions. But the conspiracy theories and paranoia that plague them are more than what they seem. When the end of the world happens, the Minton family must band together and use their strengths to survive.
"Our father had imagined the end of the world so often that, for a while, he believed that he summoned it."
The Minton family is in crisis. After losing his job, Marcus begins stockpiling cans, running evacuation drills, and digging a doomsday bunker in the back garden. At the same time, his daughters are unraveling in their own ways – Chantale is being haunted by dreams of disaster, and Briar’s obsession with a missing classmate draws her deeper into the seductive world of a UFO cult. Meanwhile, no one is aware of the diagnosis their mother has been trying to keep hidden.
When, on the morning of the eldest daughter’s wedding, an extinction-level event tears the world apart, the Mintons must fight their way through a devastated city—back to safety, survival, and each other.
The Dragon Has Some Complaints by John Wiswell — July 14
John Wiswell's first two books, Someone You Can Build a Nest In and Wearing the Lion, are hilarious and wholesome, the latter being a great feat when writing about monsters, death, and violence. His newest novel, The Dragon Has Some Complaints, seems to follow in the same vein, blending wit and laughter with heart and deep emotion.
The Dragon Has Some Complaints follows a dragon with three heads trying to heal after the fourth head was slain. After sneaking into a dragon riders' camp, they are paired with the misfit rider among the group. All three dragon heads and their rider must learn to trust one another to save themselves and their kingdom from the enemies who killed one of the dragon heads.
Garrodigh was once a four-headed dragon, among the most powerful in Kardoša. After an unfortunate incident, he now has three heads, one stump, and a daily whirlwind of internal bickering. Centerhead wants to rain death upon all humanity, Bottomhead is like a feral cat, and Upperhead is under the delicate delusion that he is, in fact, human.
When a nearby battle goes awry, Garrodigh sneaks into an elite dragon rider academy, pretending to be tame to get free food and a warm bed. Lucky for him, rider Rania Charvátová is desperate enough for a dragon of her own that she overlooks his eccentricities.
As Garrodigh recovers under Rania’s care, all three heads start to turn, for the first time, in the same direction. Each wants to protect her from the invaders who killed their fourth head—the same invaders who seek to conquer Kardoša. When the academy comes under attack, can this wild dragon and his wilder rider save their homeland together?
This cozy fantasy intertwines epic battles with loving friendships, sharing an utterly unique perspective on what it means to be a “monster.”
The Lord of the Wood by E.M. Anderson — July 21
Interested in a cozy, queer, Beauty-and-the-Beast-type tale? The Lord of the Wood by E.M. Anderson will be right up your alley. Anderson has older characters take the main stage in each of their books, and there is queer and neurodivergent representation in each novel as well. Other works by Anderson include The Keeper of Lonely Spirits and The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher.
The Lord of the Wood tells the story of Arthur, a quiet man with an unremarkable life who winds up in an enchanted forest that took his father years ago. He finds the Lord of the Wood, whom Arthur thought was only mythical, and learns that this lord is transforming into a beast. He must help the lord with this curse and save the dying magic of the forest. It's a tale of love and the many different forms it takes.
Clockmaker Arthur Throckmorton lives a quiet life with his sister and her children, only dreaming of adventure. So when a wealthy client offers him a job that involves traversing Shiftleaf--an enchanted forest that claimed his father decades ago--he reluctantly accepts. The forest is treacherous, but the money will change his family's lives.
The journey quickly turns perilous. Fleeing from monstrous birds, Arthur stumbles upon a hidden vale where he meets the Lord of the Wood--a figure from his father's many stories. Instead of the fairy prince Arthur always imagined, Ira is a morose man, slowly transforming into a beast, his power over a dying forest waning.
Arthur enjoys the safety of the vale and Ira's company. But he yearns for his family. To safely return home and rescue Ira from a cursed and lonely existence, Arthur and Ira must reach the heart of the wood to heal the forest. Except the further they venture from the vale, the more beastly Ira becomes. If they can't complete their mission before he turns completely, Arthur could lose the man he's falling for--and never see his family again.
Null Entity by Seth Haddon (Volatile Memory #2) — July 21
The Volatile Memory duology by Seth Haddon is a sapphic love story intertwined with a science fiction dystopia. Null Entity continues Wylla and Sable's story as they work to take down the corrupt mega-corporation that powers the galaxy. The thrill of adventure balances well with the romance between the two minds inhabiting one body.
Haddon is a queer Australian author of both science fiction and fantasy. Under his actual name, he has also written the series, The World of the Reforged. This and Volatile Memory are more intellectual novels, with the romance taking a back seat to the action. If you're looking for more erotic and spicy romantasy, he also writes under the pen name Lucien Burr.
With her identity erased from the Corporate Federation, Wylla is a ghost in the machine: untraceable, unpredictable, and fueled by vengeance. She fights alongside Sable, the digital consciousness she loves in ways no system could ever define. Together, they’ve built a reputation for tearing through VisorForge’s carefully constructed lies.
But notoriety has a cost.
When one of their attacks draws the attention of the Edenic Order—a clandestine eco-resistance whose insurgents bloom with Old Earth flora—Wylla and Sable are offered something more than revenge: a chance to dismantle VisorForge from the roots up.
As they fall deeper into the Order’s radical vision, tensions rise. Wylla: aching to change the world yet seduced by thoughts of a quiet life, free of bloodshed. Sable: pushed to her moral limits when what she’s wanted since death is at her fingertips.
To survive, they’ll need to embrace what makes them dangerous: two minds, one body, and a shared resolve to bring down a corporatized dystopia—no matter the cost.
The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H.G. Parry — July 21
From H.G. Parry, author of The Magician's Daughter, The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door, and The Shadow Histories series, comes a new take on Arthurian legend. The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood delves into the myth that King Arthur would return to save the British people and restore Britain to the glory days of his reign, but reality isn't as majestic.
The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood sees the British people dreaming of King Arthur during World War II. They begin to believe the dreams are premonitions of the legendary king's return. But Elaine doesn't dream about Arthur. Nimue, the Lady of the Lake, appears to Elaine each night and shows a future much darker than what the Germans have done to London.
Wales, 1941.
As the second world war ravages the globe and bombs fall from the sky, people all over the world begin to dream of King Arthur. The dreams spread like a fantastical plague, flooding people's sleep night after night. Whispers arise of wonders and unexplained sights--dragons in the London Underground, and strange lights over Stonehenge. Self-proclaimed prophets claim they are miracles, heralding Arthur's return at the time of Britain's greatest need.
Elaine Ambrose has never dreamed of Arthur, and she doesn't believe in miracles. A librarian at the British Museum, she wants only to protect the museum's collection from the London Blitz, and is frustrated to be sent instead to catalogue a reclusive professor's private library on the coast of North Wales. But all is not as it seems. Soon Ellie must confront what she's tried to ignore: she dreams not of Arthur, but of Nimue--the Lady of the Lake. And her dreams promise not salvation, but a return to the darkness of the last days of Camelot.
A Tangled Magic by Andrea Eames — July 28
Andrea Eames brings us a Rapunzel retelling that's much darker than Disney's version but more feminist than the Brothers Grimm fairy tale. Just giving Rapunzel a personality is way more progressive than the original anyway, but A Tangled Magic gives the main character an active role in her own life.
Netta is, thankfully, not named after lettuce, but she has lived her whole life in a tower and has long, magical hair. Her mother, a powerful witch, disappears after their tower is attacked, and Netta must leave her home to find her. The magic of her hair is not the same as in the Disney movie, though you'll have to read A Tangled Magic to learn what powers Netta's hair actually holds.
All her life, Netta has only known the Tower—its musty shelves of books she cannot read, ink-splattered quills, and endless scrolls of paper. Her mother, ambitious and analytical, has spent decades perfecting her greatest masterpiece: a spellbook of unspeakable power. Netta’s only companions are her long red Hair, which moves of its own accord, and a telepathic raven named Baldbeak. Her only amusement lies in crafting intricate embroidery from scraps of silk and thread.
When attackers storm the Tower, her mother and the spellbook vanish. Determined to find her, Netta ventures into a kingdom on the brink of civil war. The monarch lies dying, while pious Temple fanatics and the noble elite scheme for the throne, forging secret alliances and building hidden armies. For reasons she cannot yet fathom, all these factions seek Netta—and the dangerous, uncontrollable magic in her Hair.
But whom can she trust? The sharp-eyed pickpocket bent on revolutionizing the use of magic? The elusive black-market trader known only as the Book Man? The charming magician who slips between shadow and light? From masked carnivals to opulent ballrooms, from hidden monasteries to catacombs, Netta must untangle a web of lies and intrigue—not only to find her mother, but also to uncover the true nature of the power that has shaped her life.
Fishbone Cinderella by Elizabeth Lim — July 28
Elizabeth Lim is both an author and a composer for films and video games. She spent years focused on music but missed writing so much that she decided to switch to novels. Fishbone Cinderella is her debut adult novel, but she's written several YA books, including the Six Crimson Crane duology, The Blood of Stars duology, and Her Radiant Curse.
Fishbone Cinderella is a historical fantasy set both in World War II China and San Francisco two decades later. Marigold is shocked to see her mother magically vanish and comes to learn secrets of her mother's past that seem unbelievable. Ha Yut Ying, Marigold's mother, has kept her Cinderella story locked away for years, but now she'll have to trust her daughter with her darkest moments.
1940s Hong Kong
When Japanese soldiers invade her hometown, Ha Yut Ying makes an unlikely escape—by turning invisible. But her miraculous survival is only the beginning. After the war is over, she’s sent to Hong Kong to live with her distant father and glamorous stepmother, who end her dreams of becoming a singer and turn her into the family’s servant. As the years pass, Yut Ying learns the hard truths of betrayal and ambition, of forbidden love and devastating loss, and discovers that sometimes the only way to endure is to disappear.
1960s San Francisco
Marigold has always had a knack for uncovering secrets, but nothing prepares her for the day she accidentally witnesses her mother vanish before her eyes. The moment fractures their bond, leaving questions that shadow her entire childhood. But when her mother’s condition suddenly deteriorates, Marigold is convinced she’s the only person who can save her. To do so, she must journey into the secrets her mother never shared and uncover the tragic, fairytale-tinged history their family has fought to forget.
A story of mothers and daughters, the scars they inherit and the magic that binds them, Fishbone Cinderella is a tender and enchanting exploration of what it means, at last, to be seen.
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