15 new fantasy and science fiction books to read in September 2025

This list will set your September up for an enchanting fall season.
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon, Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan, Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon, Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood | Penguin Random House, Bloomsbury Publishing

A special magic is stirred up with the arrival of autumn, and it awakens a yearning for escapism. Book lovers often find that autumn is their favorite season because of this magic.

The season may not technically start until September 22, but many of us are already dreaming of the smell of new books, fallen leaves, and pumpkin spice. There is also a feeling of nostalgia and connection to ancient magic and myths. Here is a list of the newest fantasy and science fiction books, releasing in September 2025, to help you achieve your escape from reality and into the mystical realm of folklore this season.

A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig book cover
A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig | Penguin Random House

A Land So Wide by Erin A. Craig — Sept. 2

A Land So Wide may be Erin A. Craig's debut into the adult genre, but if her YA novels are anything to go by, this novel is elegantly crafted. Craig uses folklore and fairytales as backdrops for her stories, and A Land So Wide is no different.

Using Scottish folklore, Craig weaves a dark and mysterious tale of one woman's search for freedom and love. The premise sounds similar to M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, where a town is kept isolated to protect its inhabitants from monsters in the woods. However, the protagonist, Greer, ventures out of her home to search for her lover and save him from the horrific creatures that chased him away.

What follows is her wilderness survival story and the unraveling of her town's dark secrets. I was left disappointed by the twist at the end of The Village, but this book sounds as if it will do its story justice.


Like everyone else in the settlement of Mistaken, Greer Mackenzie is trapped. Founded by an ambitious lumber merchant, the village is blessed with rich natural resources that have made its people prosperous—but at a cost. The same woods that have lined the townsfolks’ pockets harbor dangerous beasts: wolves, bears, and the Bright-Eyeds—monsters beyond description who have rained utter destruction down on nearby settlements. But Mistaken’s founders made a deal with the mysterious Benevolence: the Warding Stones that surround the town will keep the Bright-Eyeds out—and the town’s citizens in. Anyone who spends a night within Mistaken’s borders belongs to it forever.

Greer, a mapmaker and eccentric dreamer, has always ached to explore the world outside, even though she knows she and her longtime love, Ellis Beaufort, will never see it. Until, on the day she and Ellis are meant to finally begin their lives together, Greer watches in horror as her beloved disappears beyond the Warding Stones, pursued by a monstrous creature. Determined to rescue Ellis, she figures out a way to defy Mistaken’s curse and begins a trek through the cold and pitiless wilderness. But there, Greer is hunted, not only by the ruthless Bright-Eyeds but by the secret truths behind Mistaken’s founding and her own origins.

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The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez book cover
The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez | Macmillam Publishers

The Maiden and Her Monster by Maddie Martinez — Sept. 9

Another story based on folklore, The Maiden and Her Monster plays on Jewish myths about golems. Golems are creatures made of clay, mud, or other earthy substances and brought to life through divine magic. And Malka, the heroine of The Maiden and Her Monster, develops a relationship with a female golem she meets in the woods.

Even though this golem is an alleged murderous monster, Malka is pulled into a world of terrifying secrets as she tries to help the golem. She comes to learn that the most monstrous among us are human beings. I've heard a lot of people saying that this is on their TBR, and I am excited for it too.


The forest eats the girls who wander out after dark.

As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the curse of the woods has plagued her village, but when the Ozmini Church comes to collect their tithes, they don’t listen to the warnings about a monster lurking in the trees. After a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes a bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings him the monster, he will spare her mother from execution.

When she ventures into the blood-soaked woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only after Malka helps her free the imprisoned rabbi who created her.

But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain begins to unravel, a much more sinister threat, protecting her people may force Malka to endanger the one person she left home to save—and face her growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.

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The Macabre by Kosoko Jackson book cover
The Macabre by Kosoko Jackson | HarperCollins Publishers

The Macabre by Kosoko Jackson — Sept. 9

The Macabre is a dark fantasy with gothic horror vibes, written by bestselling author Kosoko Jackson. This is Jackson's debut in the fantasy genre, and it tells the story of a man facing the challenge of finding his ancestor's magical paintings. These paintings are far from picturesque pastoral scenes, and the powers that they hold could destroy the world.

While the plots themselves don't have much to do with each other, The Macabre evokes thoughts of The Picture of Dorian Gray, with the paintings having supernatural powers. This book is listed as a dark fantasy, but just how much fantasy versus horror fills the pages is something I look forward to finding out.


A picture is worth a thousand nightmares.

Art has always been an escape for struggling painter Lewis Dixon. But other than his mom, who has recently passed away, no one has ever praised his work. If he is being honest, there’s really no one in his life. So he is shocked when the British Museum shows an unusual interest in his art. This is his chance to show the world what he’s capable of…he just has no idea that he might also be saving the world at the same time.

As Lewis soon learns, he has not been invited to participate in a curated show, but rather a test: to see if the fugue-like exhilaration he experiences when painting is actually magic, a power that allows him to enter nine very special paintings—paintings made by his great-grandfather. Spread across the globe, these paintings have unbelievable eldritch abilities…and not necessarily beneficial ones. In terms of power, these are the most valuable works of art in the world, and there are those out there who would do anything to possess just one.

And Lewis, upon passing the test, has been asked to destroy them all.

Partnered with an alluring agent in museum’s employ, Noah Rao, Lewis must travel to Japan, Australia, Nigeria—and the past—plunging himself into a world of black markets, gothic magic, ancient history, and cursed objects to save those unlucky enough to call any of the paintings their own—or to free the world from those who would misuse the power of the paintings. In doing so, he will need to discover if he has what it takes to truly be an artist, the confidence to finally open himself up to someone who could give his lonely life meaning, and the strength to enter and navigate a reality where magic is everywhere.

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Sunward by William Alexander book cover
Sunward by William Alexander | Simon & Schuster

Sunward by William Alexander — Sept. 16

Sunward is William Alexander's debut science fiction novel that takes from the popular emerging genre of cozy fantasy. It may be futuristic and set in space, but it deals with themes often found in cozy fantasy, like love and found family.

The story follows Tova, a trainer of teenage AI bots, and her newest bot, Agatha. Tova's family is part of the dark political universe, and Tova and Agatha get caught up in the trouble. I love reading cozy fantasy and am really excited to read my first cozy science fiction novel. And found family is one of my favorite tropes because it feels healing. This book sounds like a breath of fresh air and a case of the warm fuzzies all rolled up into a space adventure.


Captain Tova Lir chose a life as a courier rather than get involved in her family’s illustrious business in politics. Set in humanity’s far future, hiring a planetary courier is essential for delivering private messages across the stars.

Encouraged by friends, Tova begins mentoring baby bots, juvenile AI who are developmentally in their teens, and trains them how to interact within society, essentially becoming their foster mom. Her latest charge, Agatha Panza von Sparkles, named herself on their first run from Luna to Phoebe station. But on their return, they encounter a derelict spaceship and a lurking assassin, igniting a thrilling chase across the solar system.

Tova and Agatha’s daring actions leave Agatha’s mind vulnerable, relying on Tova’s former AI pupils for help. As Tova starts gathering her scattered family around her, she is chased through the solar system by forces who want her captured and her family erased. This debut science fiction novel by National Book Award–winning author William Alexander is a must-read for fans of Becky Chambers and Ursula K. Le Guin. Lovers of poignant science fiction, where the bonds of found family, the evolution of AI, and the building distrust of centuries of bias, come together in this visionary look at humanity’s future.

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The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey book cover
The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey | HarperCollins Publishers

The Formidable Miss Cassidy by Meihan Boey — Sept. 16

Fantasy mixes with historical fiction in The Formidable Miss Cassidy. Miss Cassidy is more than just a governess. She also saves her students and families from hauntings and supernatural creatures.

Set in 1890 Singapore, the novel has a rich cultural backdrop while also dealing with the paranormal. With her newest family, Miss Cassidy must fit in banishing evil spirits between etiquette lessons and marriage prep. All of the different historical and fantasy aspects combine to make this story one of the top entries on my TBR list.


A Scottish governess arrives in Singapore to take up her new post, only to find a host of problems await that require her very unique skills in this award-winning and incredibly entertaining historical fantasy novel.

There has never yet been a crisis that Miss Leda Cassidy hasn’t been able to fix, be it a lovelorn young charge, perpetually distracted students, or an unruly and malevolent ghost. When she arrives at her new employer’s home and discovers the family is being terrorized by a vampiric spirit, she sets about righting the situation without delay.

But it seems that as soon as she puts one supernatural creature to rest, another appears to take its place. A woman’s work is truly never done, is it?

When she meets Mr. Kay, a widower whose greatest worry appears to be making matches for his twin daughters, she is happy to take a post that might provide her a bit of respite from her more “spirited” friends. But she soon realizes that the Kays are in far more trouble than she realized—and that her presence in their home might have put the family she’s grown to cherish in even more jeopardy. Will she be able to save them all before it’s too late, or has she finally stumbled upon the one problem she isn’t able to solve?

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Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill book cover
Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill | Tachyon Publications

Audition for the Fox by Martin Cahill — Sept. 16

Audition for the Fox is a fantasy novella that delves into mythologies of trickster fox gods. The story of Audition for the Fox is about Nesi, a girl with divine blood who needs one of the gods to be her chaperone to heaven.

After being rejected by nearly 100 gods, Nesi desperately turns to the fox god of tricks. Rather than focusing on one specific culture or myth, Cahill creates a fable from the amalgamation of many different tales of cunning foxes and trickster gods. But, just like his tricky character, Cahill will keep the readers wondering what mischief he will play next.


Nesi is desperate to earn the patronage of one of the Ninety-Nine Pillars of Heaven. As a child with godly blood in her, if she cannot earn a divine chaperone, she will never be allowed to leave her temple home. But with ninety-six failed auditions and few options left, Nesi makes a risky prayer to T’sidaan, the Fox of Tricks.

In folk tales, the Fox is a lovable prankster. But despite their humor and charm, T’sidaan, and their audition, is no joke. They throw Nesi back in time three hundred years, when her homeland is occupied by the brutal Wolfhounds of Zemin.

Now, Nesi must learn a trickster’s guile to snatch a fortress from the disgraced and exiled 100th Pillar: The Wolf of the Hunt.

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The Faerie Morgana by Louisa Morgan book cover
The Faerie Morgana by Louisa Morgan | Orbit

The Faerie Morgana by Louisa Morgan — Sept. 16

The Faerie Morgana is an Arthurian tale from the perspective of Morgana, a magical priestess and advisor to King Arthur. Many stories throughout history have given their ideas of who and what Morgana was, but Louisa Morgan creates an authentic portrayal of the legendary woman.

I've read several of Morgan's previous books, which are also about witches and magical women, and I enjoy the growth and strength her characters portray. I'm excited for Morgan's version of Morgana and to see the character become more than a villain or side character in Arthur's story.


To the other priestesses of the Nine, a powerful council at the Lady’s Temple, Morgana is haughty and arrogant as she performs feats of magic no human should be capable of. Rumors start that she must be a fearsome fae.

To King Arthur, Morgana is a trusted and devoted advisor, but his court is wary of her and her prodigious talent at divination. But his wife sees Morgana as a rival and a malevolent witch.

To Braithe, Morgana’s faithful acolyte, she is simply the most powerful priestess Camelot has seen.

Morgana doesn’t know why she’s so different from everyone else, and she doesn’t much care. But when she aids Arthur to ascend the throne before his time, she sets off a series of events that will change everything Morgana believes about her power.

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The Summer War by Naomi Novik book cover
The Summer War by Naomi Novik | Penguin Random House

The Summer War by Naomi Novik — Sept. 16

The Summer War is a novella from Naomi Novik, the author of beloved fantasies such as Spinning Silver, Uprooted, and the Scholomance Trilogy. In this story, a witch named Celia accidentally cursed her brother and must spend years trying to break the curse. While on her quest, Celia learns more about the war between her people and a group of immortals.

If you're new to Novik's writing, this could be a great introduction. But be warned: you will get addicted and want to read all of her other works!


Celia discovered her talent for magic on the day her beloved oldest brother Argent left home. Furious at him for abandoning her in a war-torn land, she lashed out, not realizing her childish, angry words would suddenly become imbued with the power of prophecy, dooming him to a life without love.

While Argent wanders the world, forced to seek only fame and glory instead of the love and belonging he truly desires, Celia attempts to undo the curse she placed on him. Yet even as she grows from a girl to a woman, she cannot find the solution—until she learns the truth about the centuries-old war between her own people and the summerlings, the immortal beings who hold a relentless grudge against their mortal neighbors.

Now, with the aid of her unwanted middle brother, Celia may be able to both undo her eldest brother's curse and heal the lands so long torn apart by the Summer War.

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To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth book cover
To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth | Macmillam Publishers

To Clutch a Razor by Veronica Roth (Curse Bearer #2) — Sept. 16

Veronica Roth's sequel to When Among Crows, To Clutch a Razor, continues Dymitr's story with Slavic folklore. Dymitr must return home for a funeral, but he is preoccupied with pacifying Baba Jaga, the mythical figure he spent the first book looking for.

This novella brings in new characters from Slavic tales, adding to Dymitr's secrets and increasing the dangers he must face. Veronica Roth is most known for the Divergent science fiction series, but her fantasy works are brilliant in their own right. I need to read When Among Crows before To Clutch a Razor releases because I need to know what happens to Dymitr.


A funeral. A heist. A mission born of desperation.

When someone in Dymitr’s family dies, he’s called back home for the Empty Night, a funeral rite intended to keep evil at bay.

The secret Dymitr is keeping from them makes returning home downright dangerous, but if he wants to get his hands on a book of curses that might appease Baba Jaga’s blood lust, he has no choice. And when that same funeral brings ferocious creature-of-legend Niko to town for his own bloody purposes, Dymitr’s charade becomes impossible to maintain.

Family gatherings can be brutal. Dymitr’s might just be fatal.

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Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon book cover
Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon | Bloomsbury Publishing

Among the Burning Flowers by Samantha Shannon — Sept. 16

Among the Burning Flowers is a prequel to Samantha Shannon's bestselling novel, The Priory of the Orange Tree. This novella takes place just a few years before the events in The Priory of the Orange Tree, and it expands on some of the stories of the main novel's supporting characters.

Shannon's high fantasy world will completely immerse you, and you'll gain all the lore you wished was part of The Priory of the Orange Tree. Among the Burning Flowers can also be a good introduction into the world, if you are looking for a shorter read.


It has been centuries since the Draconic Army took wing, almost extinguishing humankind. Marosa Vetalda is a prisoner in her own home, controlled by her cold father, King Sigoso. Over the mountains, her betrothed, Aubrecht Lievelyn, rules Mentendon in all but name. Together, they intend to usher in a better world.

A better world seems impossibly distant to Estina Melaugo, who hunts the Draconic beasts that have slept across the world for centuries.

And now the great wyrm Fýredel is stirring, and Yscalin will be the first to fall . . .

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Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood book cover
Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood | Penguin Random House

Uncharmed by Lucy Jane Wood — Sept. 16

Uncharmed is the cozy fantasy sequel to Lucy Jane Wood's Rewitched about a perfectionist witch who has to learn to adapt when things don't go perfectly. Wood is a relatively new author, with Uncharmed being her second book, but both of her books are highly rated on Goodreads.

As a perfectionist myself, I relate to the protagonist, Annie. Having kids throw off all of your plans is also completely relatable. I'm excited to read about Annie's journey and to see how magic helps or hinders her.


Annie Wildwood is practically perfect in every witch way. Her life is a haze of pink, magic and impossibly high standards. But, when she is tasked with mentoring a troubled teenage witch with extraordinary powers, Annie’s charmed existence is quickly thrown into utter chaos…

Set in the same enchanting world as Rewitched, Uncharmed celebrates found family, unconditional love, and the joy of swapping perfectionism and people-pleasing for being your true magical self.

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Alchemised by SenLinYu — Sept. 23

Alchemised by SenLinYu book cover
Alchemised by SenLinYu | Penguin Random House

If you love dark fantasy, Alchemised is definitely dark. The war has ended, and the bad guys won. All that's left for Helena is prison and torture. The enemy fears that she is not just a simple alchemist, but part of the Resistance's comeback. So, they send in their top necromancer to search Helena's mind.

A dangerous relationship forms between captor and captive, but don't hold out too much hope on a happily ever after. Because in the world of Alchemised, hope is long gone.


“What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.”

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed.

In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.

According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit?

To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

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What We Can Know by Ian McEwan book cover
What We Can Know by Ian McEwan | Penguin Random House

What We Can Know by Ian McEwan — Sept. 23

From the author of Atonement, Ian McEwan, comes the dystopian science fiction novel, What We Can Know. Set in the 22nd century, Tom Metcalfe finds hope for humanity in historical archives.

Learning about a world that existed before major climate crises and that held democratic values convinces Tom that they could build that world again. But the key to such change is in a poem that has been lost. What We Can Know is a social commentary that will have us all introspective.


2014: A great poem is read aloud and never heard again. For generations, people speculate about its message, but no copy has yet been found.

2119: The lowlands of the UK have been submerged by rising seas. Those who survive are haunted by the richness of the world that has been lost.

Tom Metcalfe, an academic at the University of the South Downs, part of Britain’s remaining island archipelagos, pores over the archives of that distant era, captivated by the freedoms and possibilities of human life at its zenith. When he stumbles across a clue that may lead to the lost poem, a story is revealed of entangled loves and a crime that destroys his assumptions about people he thought he knew intimately well.

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Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei
Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei | Macmillam Publishers

Saltcrop by Yume Kitasei — Sept. 30

Another environmental science fiction entry, Saltcrop deals with three sisters' journey to save one another and the world. Nora, the oldest sister, has gone missing after searching for a way to save the withering crops. Skipper and Carmen must sail across the toxic and chaotic sea to find their sister before the people who want her silenced do.

While the science fiction elements are essential to the story, it is the characters and their relationships with each other that really shine.


In Earth's not too distant future, seas consume coastal cities, highways disintegrate underwater, and mutant fish lurk in pirate-controlled depths. Skipper, a skilled sailor and the youngest of three sisters, earns money skimming and reselling plastic from the ocean to care for her ailing grandmother.

But then her eldest sister, Nora, goes missing. Nora left home a decade ago in pursuit of a cure for failing crops all over the world. When Skipper and her other sister, Carmen, receive a cryptic plea for help, they must put aside their differences and set out across the sea to find―and save―her. As they voyage through a dying world both beautiful and strange, encountering other travelers along the way, they learn more about their sister's work and the corporations that want what she discovered.

But the farther they go, the more uncertain their mission becomes: What dangerous attention did Nora attract, and how well do they really know their sister―or each other? Thus begins an epic journey spanning oceans and continents and a wistful rumination on sisterhood, friendship, and ecological disaster.

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Fate's Bane by C.L. Clark book cover
Fate's Bane by C.L. Clark | Tor Publishing Group

Fate's Bane by C.L. Clark — Sept. 30

The newest release from C.L. Clark, Fate's Bane is a sapphic novella that tells the story of two women from enemy clans. The women's forbidden love must be hidden, but things become more complicated when the women discover a magic that has legendary consequences.

I'm interested in knowing exactly how they weave their magic into the leatherworks, and I want to learn more about the insidious Fate's Bane legend. And, can these two women save their love as well as their clans?


Warring clans. Burning hearts. Deadly fate.

The clans of the fens enjoy a tenuous peace, and it is all thanks to Agnir, ward and hostage. For as long as she can remember she has lived among the enemy, learning their ways, growing strong alongside their children. When a burgeoning love for the chieftain's daughter lures them both to a hidden spring, a magic awakens in them that could bind the clans under one banner at last--or destroy any hope of peace. By working their intentions into leather, they can weave misfortune for their enemies... just like the Fate's Bane that haunts the legends of the clans.

Ambitions grow in their fathers' hearts, grudges threaten a return to violence, and greedy enemies wait outside the borders, seeking a foothold to claim the fens for themselves. And though their Makings may save their families, the legend that gave them this power always exacts its price.

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And that's the list of fantasy and science fiction releases for September! Which world are you going to escape into?

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