Every month , io9 compiles a list of the new sci-fi, fantasy, and horror books coming out that we think will excite our readers the most. As we started looking back on all the pages and pages that hit bookshelves in 2025, we dreamed up a fun spin on the annual “Best Books of the Year” lists you start to see everywhere in December.

io9 reached out to current sci-fi, fantasy, and horror authors that we admire and asked them to name which sci-fi, fantasy, or horror book (or books , as the case may be) they loved the most this year.

Read on for the responses we got, and you’ll no doubt be beefing up your personal reading list with these glowing recommendations. Thanks to all the writers who helped us out—be sure to check out their books, too!

Shroud by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I greatly

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