As BookTok continues to generate an increased interest in literature, especially from young people, the book market has seen such interesting and innovative releases over the past few years.
2025 appears to be no different, with a heap of new releases announced. I’ve been eager to get my hands on a new novel, so I’ve been browsing the new releases, and I’m impressed with what I’ve seen!
The year has barely started, and I already have way too many 2025 releases on my to-be-read list. Here are five new books coming out this year that I can’t wait to dive into.
1. Katabasis by R.F. Kuang
I first heard about this novel at a book signing by R.F. Kuang in 2022, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting its release ever since.
Katabasis follows two rival graduate students, Alice and Peter, whose ambition leads them on a journey down into Hell to save their professor’s soul.
But Hell is not what they’ve been led to believe — and all journeys come with sacrifices.
The Poppy War, Kuang’s renowned debut fantasy trilogy, is hands down one of the best series I’ve ever read. Kuang’s world development and characters are unlike anything I’ve seen before.
Her other books also include Babel and Yellowface, and following these masterpieces, I can’t wait to see her Dante’s Inferno-inspired tale — with a teased rivals-to-lovers romance!
Safe to say, I’m literally frothing at the mouth waiting for Katabasis’ release on Aug. 26.
2. Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil follows the stories of three women — all having lived in different time periods and different countries — who are all buried in the same soil.
Their stories are all different, yet interwoven like roots, and while all of them grow separately, “all of them grow teeth.”
This novel promises such an intriguing and unique concept from an author that I know is an expert in delivering phenomenal novels. Having written extremely popular books, including The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, the Shades of Magic trilogy, and the Villains duology, Schwab has an undeniable talent for defying genre and creating narratives that you simply can’t tear yourself away from.
V.E. Schwab is one of my all-time favourite authors — I’d read her grocery list if she published it. I pre-ordered this book as soon as I learned about it!
This hefty novel (coming in at almost 600 pages!) is set to be released on June 10, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it ASAP!
3. Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Set in the 1980s, Atmosphere tells the story of a female astronomer, Joan Goodwin, who receives the opportunity to join NASA’s space shuttle program as one of the first woman scientists.
As they prepare for their space journey, Joan becomes unlikely friends with her fellow candidates. In the midst of this, she also discovers a life-changing love. However, after mission STS-LR9 in December of 1984, nothing is ever the same.
It’s coming out on June 3, just in time to add it to your summer list!
Taylor Jenkins Reid is the author of multiple commercially and critically acclaimed books, including The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & The Six, Malibu Rising, Carrie Soto is Back, and One True Loves.
I personally adored both The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo and Daisy Jones & The Six. Reid has such an undeniable talent for creating messy yet lovable characters who have complex relationships with each other. Her novels draw you in and never let you go.
A story of human relationships, both platonic and romantic, and the transformative nature of love, Atmosphere already sounds like it’s going to destroy me emotionally, and I can’t wait.
4. Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
Another Hunger Games prequel from the queen of YA dystopia? Yes, please!
Details of this book have been kept under wraps since it was announced, but supposedly Sunrise on the Reaping follows Haymitch Abernathy, Katniss’ mentor, and his reaping and Games.
This would be set 24 years before the first Hunger Games, during the Second Quarter Quell, where twice the regular amount of tributes are selected for the Games.
I’ve always loved Haymitch as a character and after seeing how Collins told Snow’s backstory in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, I’m so excited for her to tell us Haymitch’s story.
With a release date of March 18, 2025, and a movie adaptation already set for release in 2026, I can’t wait to see what Suzanne Collins has up her sleeve!
5. The Unworthy by Agustina Bazterrica
From the author of Tender is the Flesh, a haunting novel about a dystopian society where a virus has led to the legal consumption of human meat, comes a brand new dystopian horror novel.
The Unworthy follows a woman who is part of a secret and violent religious order with no memory of her life before it. Meanwhile, the world outside of this convent has fallen into disaster and chaos.
Outside is dangerous. Inside the convent, she is safe. Controlled, but safe.
Her sheltered life is forever changed when a stranger suddenly joins the order and causes the narrator to upend everything she believed about her past as well as everything she thought she knew about the order.
With a release date of March 4, this novel about the climate crisis, ideological extremism, and the dark side of human nature is sure to be a timely and poignant read in our current era.
I know the year has hardly started, but I’m already counting down the days to the publication dates of all of these books. I can’t wait to explore these new reads from authors that I already know and love and from authors that are new to me!
Nothing fills me with more impatience than waiting for a book that I already know I’m going to love. I’m excited to update my Goodreads account, and I hope I’ve introduced you to a new book to add to your TBR!