The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Books to Read in Summer 2024

The first book in the Kingdom of Eternal Night trilogy, The Eternal Trade introduces us to 18-year-old Victoria, a girl who finds little purpose in life. That is, until the mysterious letter she found among her belongings transports her through time to a dark, dangerous kingdom. She's quickly forced into an engagement with Dominic, a loyal and handsome prince, who also happens to be a vampire. 

As she navigates this sinister new world, she realizes that not only was her arrival pre-meditated, but she's also been here many time before—she just can't remember it. Prince Dominic and his family are a threat, but they also hold the key to her secret past, and to her future. She just needs to survive long enough to uncover it. 

While the audio version (narrated by The Hate You Give's narrator Bahni Turpin) is critically acclaimed, so is the story of Zélie itself. A fantasy debut inspired by West African lore, The Children of Blood and Bone begins with Zélie, whose entire life changed when a ruthless king killed her mother, slain her fellow maji, and took their magic away. 

With the help of a rogue princess, she has one chance to bring back magic and strike against the monarchy. But to do it, she'll have to outwit and outrun the crown prince who is determined to get rid of magic for good. Orïsha is a dangerous place; but between struggling to control her powers, and her growing feelings for an enemy, Zélie herself might be more dangerous. 

In 2012, Robin Sloan exploded onto the literary scene with the breakout bestseller Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore. Now he’s back to expand “the Penumbraverse to new reaches of time and space in a rollicking far-future adventure” (Reactor). 

The result is an “ingenious” (Kirkus Reviews) new book “with the flavor of a classic coming-of-age adventure or a complicated video game” (Publishers Weekly) that will make for page-turning summer reading for fans both old and new. 

Combining a revisionist retelling of the myth of Persephone with a dazzlingly imagined alternative history of West Africa, O. O. Sangoyomi’s debut novel “paints a vibrant picture of the people, the colors, and the sights of the era” (Booklist), while telling the unforgettable story of Ododo, a blacksmith who is abducted from her homeland and whisked across the Sahara to become the unwilling bride of a warrior king. 

Along the way, she must find her own identity and make her own destiny as a leader amid the turmoil of court, and a world quite unlike any she has ever known. 

The first book in the Letters of Enchantment duology, “Divine Rivals is another absolute winner from author Rebecca Ross, who is rapidly proving there’s very little she can’t do in the realm of fantasy fiction” (Paste). 

In a world where the gods are at war, two rival newspaper columnists find their fates intertwined by a magical letter as Iris seeks to find out what happened to her missing brother on the front lines of the war in this enemies to lovers story that is an “ardent romance and a harrowing exploration of war’s horrors and heartbreaks” (Publishers Weekly). 

A New York Times bestseller, “The Familiar highlights all of the things that make Bardugo so well loved: a romance with maddening chemistry, an artfully built world, side characters with their own deep backstories, and a plot full of dark twists and spiderweb connections” (Booklist). 

A scullery maid with an aptitude for minor magic becomes embroiled in political intrigue as her talents are discovered by the disgraced advisor to a desperate king in this work filled with “lush, gorgeous, precise language and propulsive plotting” that sweeps readers into “a story as intelligent as it is atmospheric” (Kirkus Reviews). 

In modern day Manhattan, two rival families of witches have been enjoying a tenuous peace for more than a decade. But a brutal betrayal and a chance encounter will change all of that in this “whirlwind of fantasy and romantic suspense” (Barnes & Noble) that’s filled with “witty dialogue, exciting twists, and excellent pacing” (Booklist). Read it to see why Tor.com calls Olivie Blake a “master of writing extremely sexy and dangerous women.” 

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue has already collected a dizzying array of accolades. This “rich and satisfying” (Kirkus Reviews) book is a New York Times, USA Today, and Washington Post bestseller, not to mention making the list of recommended reading and “best of” books from Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Slate, Oprah Magazine, CNN, Goodreads, Bustle, and many, many more. 

Telling the story of a woman who makes a Faustian deal for immortality with the caveat that no one she meets will ever remember her, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue tells a story that is, in the words of Hugo-winning author Alix E. Harrow, “ironically – unforgettable.” 

Bestselling author Holly Black is already beloved as a writer of books for teens and YA readers, thanks to series like the Spiderwick Chronicles and many others. In Book of Night, she makes her adult debut with a “dark romp full of danger and shadows with a razor sharp heroine and vivid magic” (Zoraida Cordova, author of The Inheritance of Orquidea Divina). 

Charlie Hall is a thief who has spent most of her life working for “gloamists,” dangerous wizards who utilize powerful, shadowy magic. Now, however, she’s trying to turn over a new leaf, but it won’t be easy in this book that Pulitzer Prize finalist Kelly Link calls “smart, decadent fun.” 

“A delightfully weird exploration of motherhood, queerness, and escaping patriarchal norms.” That’s how Buzzfeed describes this story of a woman born into a family of unusual individuals on the Yorkshire Moors. There, people consume books as food – and retain every piece of information contained in those books they have eaten. 

When her son is born with a different, and potentially more dangerous hunger, she finds herself cast into a perilous place in this “powerful queer story about difference that refuses to flinch away from difficult choices or the impact of trauma, both generational and inflicted” (Booklist). 

Oraya is the adopted human daughter of a vampire king. Her rival is a bloodthirsty vampire, pitted against her in a deadly tournament organized by the goddess of death. 

In the first book in Carissa Broadbent’s Crowns of Nyaxia series, the combo leads to a “suspenseful, unputdownable novel” (Woman’s World) that “fans of dark romantasy won’t want to miss” (Publishers Weekly), filled with political turmoil, dangerous liaisons, and “a heart-pounding, ultra-slow-burn romance” (Bustle). 

The only way to travel across the Wastelands is aboard the Trans-Siberian Express in this “nerve-wracking but empathetic first-class read for lovers of the strange and uncanny” (Library Journal). 

As the train sets out to make another voyage, a cast of strangers have been assembled on board, most of them harboring secrets. But the train harbors secrets of its own in this “immersive fantasy” that is “highly recommended for its many mysteries, fascinating cast of characters, and beautifully strange Wastelands” (Booklist).