Spring feels like a season of magic, and the best fantasy books of April 2025 definitely capture that feeling. The month’s new releases include highly-anticipated sequels from Robert Jackson Bennett, Hanna Kaner, and more. Or, if you’re interested in starting a whole new adventure, pick up this month’s titles from Antonia Hodgson, Olivie Blake, and plenty of others.
Get your shopping list or library card ready — here are our picks for the best fantasy books of April 2025!
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
Release date: April 1
Read it if: You’d like a tinge of mystery in the best fantasy books of April 2025. An eccentric detective investigates magical murder and theft.
Publisher’s synopsis: In the canton of Yarrowdale, at the very edge of the Empire’s reach, a Treasury officer has disappeared into thin air—vanishing from a room within a heavily guarded tower, its door and windows locked from the inside.
To solve the case, the Empire calls on its most brilliant and mercurial detective, the great Ana Dolabra. At her side, as always, is her bemused assistant Dinios Kol.
Ana soon discovers that they are investigating not a disappearance but a murder—and one of surpassing cunning, carried out by an opponent who can pass through warded doors like a ghost.
Worse still, the killer may be targeting the high-security compound known as the Shroud, where the Empire harvests fallen titans for the volatile magic found in their blood. Should it fall, the Empire itself will grind to a halt, robbed of the magic that allows its wheels of power to turn.
Din has seen his superior solve impossible cases before. But as the death toll grows and their quarry predicts each of Ana’s moves with uncanny foresight, he fears that she has at last met an enemy she can’t defeat.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Faithbreaker by Hanna Kaner
Release date: April 1
Read it if: You’ve been eagerly awaiting the finale to this epic series! Scattered heroes, mortals, and gods battle it out in one final, fateful act.
Publisher’s synopsis: War has come. The fire god Hseth is leading an unstoppable army south, consuming everything in her path. Middren’s only hope of survival is to unify allies and old foes against a common enemy.
Elo navigates an uneasy alliance with Arren—his friend, his enemy, and his king. Now they each must decide how much they’re willing to sacrifice to turn the tides of war.
Meanwhile, Inara joins her mother on their ship, the Silverswift, to seek aid. Still grappling with her powers, Inara must reconcile who she is and where she belongs, while Skediceth has to question if their bond will be enough to keep them safe.
Kissen has no allegiance to the old ways of Middren. But, as she tries to find her family, she is forced to question what, and whose, future she is fighting for.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Gifted & Talented by Olivie Blake
Release date: April 1
Read it if: Your idea of the best fantasy books of April 2025 includes Succession-esque sibling drama. Three magical siblings battle for control of their late father’s empire.
Publisher’s synopsis: Thayer Wren, the brilliant CEO of Wrenfare Magitech and so-called father of modern technology, is dead. Any one of his three telepathically and electrokinetically gifted children would be a plausible inheritor to the Wrenfare throne.
Or at least, so they like to think.
Meredith, textbook accomplished eldest daughter and the head of her own groundbreaking biotech company, has recently cured mental illness. You’re welcome! If only her father’s fortune wasn’t her last hope for keeping her journalist ex-boyfriend from exposing what she really is: a total fraud.
Arthur, second-youngest congressman in history, fights the good fight every day of his life. And yet, his wife might be leaving him, and he’s losing his re-election campaign. But his dead father’s approval in the form of a seat on the Wrenfare throne might just turn his sinking ship around.
Eilidh, once the world’s most famous ballerina, has spent the last five years as a run-of-the-mill marketing executive at her father’s company after a life-altering injury put an end to her prodigious career. She might be lacking in accolades compared to her siblings, but if her father left her everything, it would finally validate her worth―by confirming she’d been his favorite all along.
On the pipeline of gifted kid to clinically depressed adult, nobody wins―but which Wren will come out on top?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Wind Weaver by Julie Johnson
Release date: April 8
Read it if: You want the best fantasy books of April 2025 to include prophecies, fate, and forbidden love. A kidnapped “halfling” discovers her role in a powerful prophecy.
Publisher’s synopsis: Fear of maegic plagues war-torn Anwyvn. Halflings like Rhya Fleetwood are killed on sight. But Rhya’s execution is interrupted by an unexpected savior—one far more terrifying than her would-be killers. The mysterious and mercenary Commander Scythe. In the clutches of this new enemy, Rhya finds herself fighting for her life in the barren reaches of the Northlands. Yet the farther she gets from home, the more she learns that nothing is as it seems—not her fearsome captor, not the blight that ravages her dying realm, not even herself.
For Rhya is no ordinary halfling. The strange birthmark on her chest and the wind she instinctively calls forth means she is a Remnant, one of four souls scattered across Anwyvn, fated to restore the balance of maegic…or die trying.
But mastering the power inside her is only the beginning. Desire for the Commander—a man she can never trust, a man with plans of his own—burns just as fiercely as the tempests beating against her rib cage for release. Rhya must choose: smother the flames…or let them consume her.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
House of Blight by Maxym M. Martineau
Release date: April 8
Read it if: You prefer your fantasy books with a gothic vibe. A magical healer hones her magic at the behest of a powerful family with secrets of their own.
Publisher’s synopsis: Edira Brillwyn is a threadmender. She holds a rare, lifesaving power that can cure disease and heal injuries in the blink of an eye. But magic always comes with a cost, and saving anyone sacrifices a sliver of her own life. She’s always kept her abilities hidden…until the powerful Fernglove family discovers her secret.
The Ferngloves are charming and beautiful, possess powerful magic, and don’t take no for an answer—especially Orin, the head of these ruling elites. When Edira’s brothers unexpectedly contract blight—an incurable virus killing people throughout the town, and an illness too strong for her to heal them both—Orin offers to help. Together at his estate they’ll research a cure while Orin slows their sickness and Edira hones her magic. His kindness and honesty surprises Edira, as does her undeniable attraction to him.
But the other Ferngloves are suspicious of her power and may be more dangerous than the ever-present disease. The longer Edira stays within the confines of the Manor, the more the family’s pristine exterior begins to crack—until Edira discovers a terrifying secret and must choose who she can save and at what cost…
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Firebird by Juliette Cross
Release date: April 8
Read it if: You want alternate histories and dragon magic in the best fantasy books of April 2025. In a magical ancient Rome, a shapeshifting general falls for a mysterious woman.
Publisher’s synopsis: A conqueror captivated…
A witch prophesied to save them all…
A world where dragons rule Rome.
From the moment Roman general and nephew to the emperor Julianus Dakkia laid eyes on Malina, he was enthralled by the Dacian dancer. Years later, the fierce beauty stands before him on a scarred battlefield, her life in danger. He instinctively shifts into his fierce dragon form to save her, an action that may mean his head on the imperial gate. But he and his dragon know one thing: she belongs to them.
Malina can’t believe that the centurion who had once bestowed a secret talisman on her is the Roman general of legendary brutality. His prowess as a warrior cannot be denied, yet they don’t reveal the secret he hides. All Malina knows is his protection and gentle touch. And she cannot deny how her soul has always seemed to answer his.
As they navigate a world where flying deathriders conquer and burn, their love will ignite a firestorm that can only end in heartbreak or death. Or both.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Gods Time Forgot by Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez
Release date: April 8
Read it if: You’re interested in Gilded Age settings and Irish mythology. An amnesic debutante and a rebellious lord can’t understand why they feel they’ve met before.
Publisher’s synopsis: Manhattan, 1870. Rua knows only two things: her name, and that she has no memories. So when the wealthy Harrington family mistakes Rua for their missing daughter, Emma, Rua goes along with the charade, hoping for answers about who she really is. As she tries to blend into a society she doesn’t remember, she’s drawn to a firmly off-limits man: the Lord of Donore, a newcomer to Manhattan society who is somehow familiar to Rua.
Finn is new to this side of the Atlantic and knows that the best way to fit in as Lord of Donore is to make friends in high places and play by the rules of society. He knows he shouldn’t become involved with a mysterious, recently missing debutante, but he’s intrigued by Emma Harrington, and Finn has an uncanny feeling that this isn’t the first time they’ve met.
With societal pressures mounting on both sides, Rua is determined to discover the truth about the missing Harrington daughter and her own past. But when her memories begin to return, they’re of a world far stranger than New York and traced in dark magic.
As ancient secrets unfurl in Rua’s memory, Rua and Finn are forced to uncover the mystery of their past and try to save their future. In this gritty and glittering romantasy, nothing and no one is as they seem.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Release date: April 15
Read it if: An epic, academia-tinged tale is on your wish list for the best fantasy books of April 2025. When someone murders an emperor’s potential successor, the High Scholar must uncover the truth.
Publisher’s synopsis: Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, the reign of Bersun the Brusque has come to an end. In the dizzying heat of midsummer, seven exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists compete to replace him.
When one of them is murdered, it falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer and fight for the throne. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.
If she succeeds, we will win an empire. If she fails, death awaits her. But we won’t let that happen.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Violence of Sound by Jeff Wheeler
Release date: April 15
Read it if: You love tales of magical universities, epic battles, and equally epic love. As ancient sorcerers wage war on humanity, a professor and his wife could hold the key to stopping them.
Publisher’s synopsis: What humankind feared the most has come to pass: the Awakening of the Aesir, an ancient race who rose with an implacable vengeance to wage war on mortals through bombardments and plague. Two people gifted with magic and ingenuity strive to stop them.
Professor Robinson Hawksley, an elocutionist in the Invisible College, prepares to exhibit his invention to the world. Using sound to defeat the enemy could change the course of the war. It’s invaluable to the military. Even more so to a conniving rival who’ll do anything to prove its patent as her own. An extraordinary obstacle could stand in the way: Robinson’s new wife, McKenna, robbed of her hearing by an Aesir scourge, is otherwise blessed with mysterious powers she’s only beginning to comprehend. She’s also harboring a secret that could get her killed.
As a very human war escalates inside the Invisible College, a supernatural one with the Aesir rages outside. But are love and sorcery enough for Robinson and McKenna to conquer both?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Gentleman and His Vowsmith by Rebecca Ide
Release date: April 15
Read it if: You’d like some queer romance and mysterious plots in the best fantasy books of April 2025. A lord must marry for his family, but he’s soon trapped with his betrothed and his ex when a murder occurs.
Publisher’s synopsis: Lord Nicholas Monterris is trapped. The only heir to a declining dukedom, Nic is destined for a marriage of convenience. What he doesn’t expect is for his bride to be Lady Leaf Serral, daughter of his father’s hated rival.
Tradition dictates the families are confined together while the marriage contract is crafted, which should be the worst part. Until Nic learns the Serrals’ head negotiator is master vowsmith Dashiell sa Vare—beautiful, perfect Dashiell sa Vare—an old flame he has neither forgiven nor forgotten. Nic’s only defense is false smiles and too much wine.
When a dead body turns up, tension within the castle thickens. The first death is brushed off as an unfortunate accident, but a second reveals something sinister is unfolding at Monterris Court. As accusations fly and long-buried secrets surface, Nic must work with his former lover and his future bride to uncover a devious mastermind before they claim another victim.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Ashfire King by Chelsea Abdullah
Release date: April 15
Read it if: You love reading about crumbling empires and magical mythology. A merchant and a prince flee to the world of jinn, only to find a world about to collapse without magic.
Publisher’s synopsis: After fleeing a patricidal prince, legendary merchant Loulie al-Nazari and banished prince Mazen bin Malik find themselves in the realm of jinn. But instead of sanctuary, they find a world on the cusp of collapse.
The jinn cities, long sheltered beneath the Sandsea by the magic of its kings, are sinking. Amid the turmoil, political alliances are forming, and rebellion is on the rise. When Loulie assists a dissenter—one of her bodyguard’s old comrades—she puts herself in the center of a centuries-old war.
Trapped in a world that isn’t her own and wielding magic that belongs to a fallen king, Loulie must decide: Will she carry on someone else’s legacy or carve out her own?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Amalfi Curse by Sarah Penner
Release date: April 29
Read it if: You’re craving a combination of pirate lore, romance, and Italian folk magic. While investigating strange shipwrecks, an archaeologist uncovers an ancient story of sorcery and love.
Publisher’s synopsis: Haven Ambrose, a trailblazing nautical archaeologist, has come to the sun-soaked village of Positano to investigate the mysterious shipwrecks along the Amalfi Coast. But Haven is hoping to find more than old artifacts beneath the azure waters; she is secretly on a quest to locate a trove of priceless gemstones her late father spotted on his final dive. Upon Haven’s arrival, strange maelstroms and misfortunes start plaguing the town. Is it nature or something more sinister at work?
As Haven searches for her father’s sunken treasure, she begins to unearth a centuries-old tale of ancient sorcery and one woman’s quest to save her lover and her village by using the legendary art of stregheria, a magical ability to harness the ocean. Could this magic be behind Positano’s latest calamities? Haven must unravel the Amalfi Curse before the region is destroyed forever…
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
Release date: April 29
Read it if: You love undersea folklore, historical settings, and forbidden romance. In 20th-century NYC, a blacksmith falls for the merman whose cage he unknowingly built.
Publisher’s synopsis: Benigno “Benny” Caldera knows an orphaned Boricua blacksmith in 1910s New York City can’t call himself an artist. But the ironwork tank he creates for famed Coney Island playground, Luna Park, astounds everyone, especially the eccentric side-show proprietor who commissioned it. Benny’s work earns him an invitation to join the show’s eclectic crew of performers—his first welcome in the city—and share in their astonishing secret: the tank Benny built is a cage for their newest exhibit, a living, breathing, in-the-flesh merman stolen from the banks of the East River under a gleaming full moon.
The merman is more than a mythic marvel, though. Benny comes to know Río as a clever philosopher, an observant traveler, and a kindred spirit more beautiful and compassionate than any human he’s ever met. Despite their different worlds, what begins as a friendship of necessity deepens to love, leading Benny’s heart into uncharted waters where he can no longer ignore the agonizing truth of Río’s captivity—and his own.
A cage is no place for a merman to survive. Though releasing Río means betraying his new family, bankrupting their home, and losing his soulmate forever, Benny must look within for the courage to do what’s right, and find a love strong enough to free them both.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
