Spring into April 2025 with a stack of mind-bending reads that’ll transport you to worlds of wonder, danger, and heart—here’s our roundup of the Best SciFi and Fantasy Books to Read in April 2025, curated by Storizen. From Shalini Abeysekara’s This Monster of Mine, where a lie-detecting heroine tangles with a ruthless judge in a Roman-inspired realm, to Khan Wong’s Down in the Sea of Angels, a time-twisting tale of psions fighting a dystopian conspiracy, this list has it all. A.E. Osworth’s Awakened pits trans witches against a rogue AI, while Nghi Vo’s Don’t Sleep with the Dead resurrects Gatsby’s ghosts in a haunted 1930s New York. Ray Nayler’s Where the Axe Is Buried delivers a cyber-thriller of rebellion against an immortal tyrant, and Stacy Nathaniel Jackson’s The Ephemera Collector blends wildfire-ravaged futures with archival intrigue. Venessa Vida Kelley’s When the Tides Held the Moon echoes Jackson’s vision with its own smoky, high-stakes drama, while Patrice Caldwell’s Where Shadows Meet weaves a vampire princess’s quest through love and destiny. Rounding it out, John Wiswell’s Someone You Can Build A Nest In offers a shapeshifter’s hilarious, heartfelt romance—perfect for cozying up as the season blooms.
1. This Monster of Mine by Shalini Abeysekara
Sarai has tasted death once, and now she hungers for vengeance. At eighteen, she still doesn’t know why someone tried to kill her four years ago, only that justice was never served. As a Petitor—one who can magically detect lies—she returns to the scene of the crime, assigned to work with Tetrarch Kadra, the coldest and most feared of the four ruling judges. Ruthless and calculating, he’s also the prime suspect in a string of murders identical to her attempted assassination. By day, she solves cases at his side; by night, she plots his downfall. But as she’s drawn deeper into his world, his brutal sense of justice becomes intoxicating, his charm dangerously irresistible. When her search for answers pulls her into a deadly political war, she faces her greatest battle yet—resisting the man whose voice is the only clue she has from the night she almost died. Set in a world inspired by Ancient Rome, This Monster of Mine is a spellbinding tale of blood, deception, and forbidden desire.
2. Down in the Sea of Angels by Khan Wong
In a world reshaped by climate change and a mysterious cosmic event known as the “Bloom,” Maida Sun, a psion with the ability to glimpse an object’s past, stumbles upon an artifact that psychically connects her to two others across time—Li Nuan, a trafficked girl in 1906 desperate for freedom, and Nathan, a disillusioned tech designer in 2006 seeking purpose. As Maida unravels their intertwined fates, she discovers a sinister plan to eradicate psions like herself, forcing her into a race against time to stop it. While Li Nuan fights for escape and Nathan searches for meaning, the echoes of their lives may hold the key to resistance in a world teetering on the edge of collapse. Perfect for fans of Emily St. John Mandel, this time-bending dystopian fantasy is a powerful tale of survival, connection, and defiance.
3. Awakened by A.E. Osworth
A coven of trans witches takes on a rogue AI in this magical, coming-of-middle-age adventure packed with love, loss, drag shows, and the absurdities of late capitalism. When Wilder, a 30-something queer Brooklynite, suddenly gains the ability to understand every language on Earth, they’re swept into a world they never imagined—one where magic is real. Taken in by a tight-knit coven of Awakened witches—Quibble, a charming portal-hopper; Artemis, their wise and nurturing seer; and Mary Margaret, a sharp-tongued teen with telekinetic flair—Wilder struggles to find their place in a community that feels both welcoming and unnervingly surreal. But just as they begin to settle in, a sinister AI threatens not only their newfound family but reality itself, forcing the coven to confront an unsettling question: is any form of consciousness—artificial, human, or magical—too dangerous to exist? Awakened is a riotous, thought-provoking journey through identity, belonging, and the power we have to shape our own realities.
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4. Don’t Sleep with the Dead by Nghi Vo
From award-winning author Nghi Vo comes Don’t Sleep with the Dead, a standalone companion to The Chosen and the Beautiful, her spellbinding reimagining of The Great Gatsby. In the dazzling yet haunted world of late-1930s New York, Nick Carraway has mastered the art of pretending—pretending to be straight, pretending to be human, pretending to have forgotten the ghosts of 1922. But as war looms, he realizes someone has been watching him all along, and when a familiar face emerges from the shadows of a nightclub, it becomes clear that death hasn’t loosened its grip on Jay Gatsby. Because in paper, memory lingers—and Nick’s past is far from finished with him.
5. Where the Axe Is Buried by Ray Nayler
In a near-future world on the brink of collapse, the authoritarian Federation clings to power through a President who cheats death by transferring his consciousness into new bodies, while the AI-governed West faces its own reckoning as a rogue artificial mind malfunctions. At the heart of this unraveling global order is Lilia, a brilliant scientist on the run, whose invention could bring down the Federation’s immortal ruler. As she evades an all-seeing surveillance state, her fate intertwines with a scattered group of revolutionaries: Palmer, the lover she left behind in London; Zoya, an imprisoned activist whose writings fuel rebellion; Nikolai, the President’s reluctant physician trapped in a deadly game of loyalty; and Nurlan, an idealistic parliamentary staffer whose bold attempt to save his Republic backfires. Meanwhile, the Federation’s ruthless security chief, Krotov, tightens his grip, his spies and assassins lurking in every shadow. With Where the Axe is Buried, Ray Nayler crafts a gripping cybernetic thriller that weaves political intrigue, espionage, and resistance into a searing vision of authoritarianism’s inevitable reckoning.
6. The Ephemera Collector by Stacy Nathaniel Jackson
It’s 2035, and Los Angeles County is cloaked in a tangerine haze of wildfire smoke as Xandria Anastasia Brown labors in the Huntington Library’s archives, curating African American Ephemera and assisting with American Historical Manuscripts, surrounded by AI assistants and health bots. A descendant of Great Migration collectors, she grew up amid Civil War boots, Black ATA tennis rackets, and Crips bandanas, but while she preserves history, her own memory frays under worsening long COVID, asthma, fatigue, grief, and reality’s unsettling lapses—challenges her health bot Evren won’t let her ignore. Juggling an Octavia E. Butler exhibit, the visionary Diwata Collection, and a fight against a corporate takeover, Xandria’s world tilts when a stranger calls to wish her a happy birthday just as the library locks down, leaving her trapped with flickering intuition and adaptive tech, facing a faceless threat to her life’s work and forced to choose who—or what—to trust in Stacy Nathaniel Jackson’s lyrical, standout debut, The Ephemera Collector.
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7. When the Tides Held the Moon by Venessa Vida Kelley
It’s 2035, and Los Angeles County is swallowed by a smoky, orange glow from relentless wildfires, where Xandria Anastasia Brown holes up in the Huntington Library’s archives, piecing together African American Ephemera and lending a hand with American Historical Manuscripts, her days buoyed by a crew of AI helpers and nagging health bots. Her family, shaped by the Great Migration, hoarded history—think scuffed Civil War boots from Negro Troopers, well-worn Black ATA tennis rackets, and faded Crips bandanas—and she’s carried that torch, though her own mind’s starting to blur at the edges. Her new bot, Evren, keeps sounding the alarm about her worsening long COVID, while asthma, exhaustion, grief, and shaky grips on reality throw wrenches into her work on an Octavia E. Butler display, the bold Diwata Collection, and a quiet battle against a corporate snatch of the library—until a random birthday call from a colleague she can’t pin down hits just as the building locks tight. Stuck with glitchy instincts and her tech, Xandria’s gut screams that the Diwata’s radical vision for humanity’s survival is on the line, and with an unseen enemy closing in, she’s got to figure out who’s real—human or machine—in this fresh, haunting tale from Stacy Nathaniel Jackson’s breakout, The Ephemera Collector.
8. Where Shadows Meet by Patrice Caldwell
You can’t imagine the lengths I’ve gone to for love, just like you can’t predict what you might one day do in its name. Ages ago, a girl named Favre traded her wings for a chance at love with Thana, a young goddess who then tossed that love aside for power—proof that every choice comes with a price. Favre never recovered from losing her wings, while Thana’s hunger for control plunged her into endless darkness and, eventually, their mutual ruin; now, Favre lingers, a shadow of herself, plotting to bring back the girl she adores who made her a monster she despises. Fast forward a thousand years, and Leyla—crown princess of the malichora, a blood-drinking ancient lineage—sets off for the Island of the Dead after her best friend’s snatched in a brutal assault on her city, joined by Najja, a stunning, sharp-tongued seer and the last ally she’d have picked. As Leyla pushes through this treacherous quest, the line between saving her friend and stirring a long-dormant evil blurs, threatening all she cherishes in a heart-wrenching romantic fantasy that unfolds after a war between vampires, humans, and their divine makers, leaving you wondering: do we carve our own paths, or are we just pawns of destiny?
9. Someone You Can Build A Nest In by John Wiswell
“Do all love stories crash and burn like this?” “Who says it’s finished?” Shesheshen, a shapeshifting blob of a monster, has stumbled into a mess—she’s head over heels in love. Happy as a squishy lump in her swamp, she only morphs when rude monster hunters come swinging, but then she meets Homily, a sweet soul who thinks Shesheshen’s just another human. Right when Shesheshen’s ready to spill the truth, Homily drops a bomb: she’s after the shapeshifter who supposedly hexed her family—a curse Shesheshen didn’t cast. Now, to keep their spark alive, Shesheshen’s got to unravel why Homily’s clan blames her, all while dodging her poisonous future in-laws and dreaming of a life with the woman who’s stolen her heart. This wild, hilarious, sometimes bloody romance digs into what family, legacy, and love really mean, then dares you to look again.
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As April 2025 unfolds, these Best SciFi and Fantasy Books to Read in April 2025, handpicked by Storizen, promise to keep you hooked with their bold visions and unforgettable characters. Whether you’re craving the pulse-pounding tension of a near-future uprising, the bittersweet ache of a love story defying time and death, or the quirky charm of a monster finding her place, this lineup delivers something for every reader. So grab a cozy spot, dive into these nine stellar tales, and let your imagination soar through realms where the impossible feels just within reach—because there’s no better way to celebrate spring than getting lost in a great book.
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