Top Ten Best Recent Speculative Books

I get asked a lot what I’m currently reading or whether I’ve read any good speculative books lately. As a speculative author, I try to keep up with what is being published. I like to read what other authors are doing and what types of stories are getting traction in the market. Plus, I just like to read a good story!

Here are the top ten speculative fiction books I’ve read that have come out in the past few years. In a couple of cases, I’ve included all the books in the series as all of them are worthwhile reads. Many of them are award winners, so I'm not the only one bringing attention to these titles.

And, at the bottom, I’ve added in one bonus non-speculative title that I really enjoyed. It hit me square in the feels, so I wanted to share it as well.

The List

In reverse order, here are my favorite recent speculative fiction reads:

10. The Bewitching (2025) by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – If you liked Mexican Gothic, you’ll enjoy The Bewitching which also pulls heavily on the folklore of Mexico. A bit of a slow burn at the beginning as we learn each of the three main characters and their different situations at different points in history, SMG weaves a thrilling tale bringing them all together.

9. Nettle & Bone (2023) by T. Kingfisher – T. Kingfisher has many novels that are really enjoyable, and Nettle & Bone is one of the better ones. A younger royal daughter is sent to a convent to avoid any secondary claims to the royal line. But when her older sister becomes ill and things are off in the kingdom, she realizes she is the only one who can help.

8. Lone Women (2023) by Victor Lavelle – Part historical western and part horror, Lavelle blends a chilling tale of family responsibilities, racism, and entitlement in the old west. A unique setting with unique characters, Lavelle presents strong women fighting against a monster both horrific and beautiful in a setting where the weather alone would test the toughest of men.

7. The September House (2024) by Carissa Orlando – When Margaret realizes her just-purchased Victorian home is haunted, she embraces the chilling quirkiness of her home, willing to put up with difficult Septembers when the house screams and the walls drip blood for eleven other months of relative peace and an idyllic setting—that is, until her husband goes missing. An unusual and gripping story.

6. Red Rabbit (2023) / Rose of Jericho (2024) by Alex Grecian – Both books relate stories of the witch Rose and her odd young apprentice Rabbit, a girl with strange powers who rarely speaks. Based in the American old west in the late 1800s, magic and supernatural creatures intermix with steam trains, an expanding frontier, and an ever-changing definition of ‘family.’

5. The Mercy of Gods (2025) / The Faith of Beasts (2026) by James SA Corey – From the authors of The Expanse, this new epic series follows a group of survivors of an alien invasion of Earth and how they must carve out a niche to survive inside a ruthless galactic empire. Each book takes a bit to get underway, but both hit a moment where it’s hard to put the book down.

4. King Sorrow (2025) by Joe Hill – A mash of urban fantasy, Faustian folklore, and modern greed, Joe Hill writes a tale about a group of friends who try to make the world a better place. They learn quickly, however, that it’s never wise to make a deal with a dragon, particularly one named King Sorrow.

3. The Tainted Cup (2024) / A Drop of Corruption (2025) / A Trade in Blood (2026) by Robert Jackson Bennett – A wholly unique fantasy series set in a world beset by kaiju-like leviathans whose strange bodily makeup powers all types of organic magic. Ana, a brilliant thinker whose hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli can overwhelm her brain, and Din, her autistic investigator with the ability to remember everything, solve the most difficult crimes in the realm.

2. The Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025) by Stephen Graham Jones – A well-researched, expansive tale set during America’s expansion into Native American lands. Told in transcribed interviews by a Blackfeet named Good Stab, who shares the narrative of his peculiar life and an historic massacre over a series of confessional visits. Keep the light on after reading this.

1. The Devils (2025) by Joe Abercrombie – One of the best stories I’ve read in years, it follows a team of supernatural mercenaries sent by the pope to protect a young woman traveling across Europe who can heal the great schism in the church. A motley crew with funny and heart-breaking stories of how they’ve landed in the pope’s service, they discover they’re not quite the monsters everyone believes them to be. Some of the best characters and funniest dialogue I’ve come across.

So, here are fourteen books for the price of ten, and since I prefer rounded numbers, here’s one more.

Bonus

Though a modern mystery instead of speculative fiction, this fifteenth book is one of the best writing examples of character development and backstory integration, i.e. only present what you need when you need it, that I’ve read.

Once There Were Wolves (2022) by Charlotte McConaghy – As a woman works to reintroduce wolves to the Scottish highlands, she fights against local ranchers who fear the wolves will kill their sheep. When one farmer is brutally killed in the woods, she must fight through past family trauma and current personal complications to prove her wolves weren’t the culprit.

All of these books belong on the TBR (to be read) stack of anyone who loves speculative fiction and good stories. I hope you enjoy them. Let me know in the comments what other recent books caught your attention.