Go Out with a Bang: 8 Excellent New SFF Books Out December 2024
It’s the last month of 2024—but don’t finalize that list of your favorite books of the year just yet! There are still a bunch more great books coming our way, including some amazing science fiction and fantasy reads. If nerding out in space, or with magical beings, or in other worlds is your thing, you should find plenty to love on this list of excellent new SFF books out December 2024. It’s an epic nerdpurr!
There’s a collection of speculative stories from an indie press; a story of a post-apocalyptic journey of humans, felines, and fowl; a tale of a young woman with no memory and the brooding blacksmith helping her in her travels; a lonely young woman and her magical garden in Victorian London; a Norse mythology-inspired epic fantasy; and more!
Now, my darling little nerfherders, gather up your TBR list, a fuzzy blanket, and get ready to learn about new reads!
The Best New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Out December 2024
How We Know Our Time Travelers: Stories by Anita Felicelli (WTAW Press, December 3)
Why go for one SFF story when you can get a bunch of little ones? This indie press collection takes a look at lives in a post-pandemic world, examining the uses of technology, the damage of climate change, and love and loss in the future. There’s a story about a couple that tracks their fights with an app, a secret occupant in a woman’s home, a group that sells fog, a woman who meets a younger version of her husband, and more!
The Way by Cary Groner (Spiegel & Grau, December 3)
For those of you who feel like the end is nigh, here’s an exciting post-apocalyptic novel! It’s set in 2048, after a virus has wiped out most of the people in the world. Nature has already begun to reclaim the lands, and the remaining survivors are few and far between. One lone man in Colorado decides to make the dangerous journey to deliver a potential cure for the virus, and he is joined by a teenage girl, a cat, and a clever crow on his travels.
The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall (Entangled: Red Tower Books, December 3)
Thriller writer Rachel Howzell Hall makes her romantasy debut with this tale of an amnesiac trying to save the world. Kai wakes with no memory of who she is or where she is from, but she still has one clear memory: she must reach the Sea of Devour or all will be lost. Helping her in her journey is a mysterious blacksmith with a skill for fighting, who also warms the flames of her heart.
The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Iversen (Sourcebooks Landmark, December 3)
Harriet Hunt is all alone in her Victorian manor after the disappearance of her father. Shunned by society for her peculiarities, she spends the days alone in her magical garden. That is, until she is suspected in the disappearance of her father and she must learn to harness her plant powers to help get herself out of trouble.
North Is the Night by Emily Rath (Erewhon Books, December 17)
In this epic Finnish saga, the first in a planned duology, two friends must defy the gods and mortal men in their dangerous lands to survive. After Aina is dragged to the underworld by a death goddess, Siiri will stop at nothing to beat the Witch Queen and the king of the underworld, and get her friend back.
Mechanize My Hands to War by Erin K. Wagner (DAW, December 17)
This dark, smart sci-fi novel takes a look at artificial life in the future and its effects on rural Appalachia, where political extremism is tearing up the lands. Told in several sections, it includes a militia recruiting children, a farm of GMO crops and android workers, a violent confrontation between the FBI and an android, and devastating loss. It’s a cutting look at the world’s need to turn everything over to be run by AI without thinking about the consequences.
Keeper of the Lost Cities: Unraveled (Book 9.5) by Shannon Messenger (Aladdin, December 3)
The Keeper of the Lost Cities series gets more popular (and the books get bigger!) with each installment. This is book 9.5, a look at the series from only one character’s point of view. Follow Keefe as he works out how to control his powers as he traverses the Forbidden Cities. This is a great addition for fans of the series, or a reminder to start it if you haven’t read it yet! (And the beginning of this series is soon to be a major motion picture directed by Ben Affleck!)
Heavenly Tyrant (Iron Widow, #2) by Xiran Jay Zhao (Tundra Books, December 24)
Another highly-anticipated sequel coming in December is Heavenly Tyrant, the follow-up to Iron Widow. Without spoiling too much, the novel continues the story of Zetian, who is now in a new position in Huaxia. She will have to figure out who she can trust as her loved ones are used as pawns in a game against her in a struggle for power.
Bonus New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Out in December
Because I can’t just stop at eight books, in December, be sure to watch for the sequels How to Steal a Galaxy by Beth Revis, Ardent Violet and the Infinite Eye by Alex White, A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon, and A Sky of Emerald Stars by A.K. Mulford.
There are also a bunch of amazing SFF titles out in paperback this month, including Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher, Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase, The Jinn-Bot of Shantiport by Samit Basu, The Parliament by Aimee Pokwatka, and Lake of Souls: The Collected Short Fiction by Ann Leckie.
If you want to learn about more sci-fi and fantasy books, check out Magical Mythromantasy Novels and 5 Great SFF Books Set in the Forest. And be sure to sign up for our SFF newsletter, Swords and Spaceships!
Finally, you can also find a full list of new releases in the magical New Release Index, carefully curated by your favorite Book Riot editors, organized by genre and release date.
