From Leigh Bardugo to Keanu Reeves, here are the science fiction, fantasy and horror books we've loved this year.
Please not that Romantasy titles can be found on our Best Romantasy Books of 2024 blog.
Many titans of fantasy returned in 2024 with both spellbinding stand-alone works and further compelling entries in established series. From Deborah Harkness spinning the fifth instalment of the All Souls series to Olivie Blake's bewitching collection of fresh stories, dive into fabulously fantastical worlds courtesy of our hand-picked selection.
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The fifth exhilarating instalment of Harkness' seminal All Souls series finds Diana turn to a magical great-aunt she never knew existed in a bid to finally confront her family's dark past.
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The mega-selling author of the Atlas Six series delivers a luminous collection of short stories that take the reader on mesmerising journeys through revised fairytales, present day heists and absurdist poetry.
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From the bestselling author of Ninth House and Hell Bent comes a scintillating dark fantasy set during Spain's Golden Age, as a servant girl with magical powers strives to hide her Jewish blood from the deadly gaze of the Inquisition.
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The bestselling author of the Rivers of London series spins a mesmeric tale involving an Englishman in jazz-age New York, the rather quirky case of an old saxophone, and musical magic and mayhem in the downtown shadows.
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The opening instalment in the Long London series, The Great When finds the creative genius behind Watchmen, From Hell and Jerusalem weave an intricate tale of sorcerers, booksellers and the occult in a mystical version of the capital.
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Brilliantly mining the dark magic at the heart of one of Shakespeare's most intriguing anti-heroes, this bravura reimagining of Lady Macbeth from the bestselling author of A Study in Drowning is steeped in witchcraft and deadly power games.
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The pulsating conclusion to the first arc of the Stormlight Archive finds the Knights Radiant preparing for war, as Dalinar Kholin challenges the evil god Odium to a contest of champions.
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Dawson's bestselling Her Majesty's Royal Coven series continues with the thrilling origin story of the secret government department, as accusations of witchcraft swirl around Tudor England.
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The beguiling sequel to DallerGut Dream Department Store finds Penny embracing the wider remit of the dream industry, such as the Civil Complaint Center and how to lure back unsatisfied regulars.
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The breathtaking sequel to the hugely acclaimed Godkiller finds Kissen reluctantly putting her faith in a sea god whilst still attempting to devise a way to destroy the mercurial god of white lies, Skedi.
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Dark academia at its most intoxicating, Blood Over Bright Haven finds a slighted highmage and a hunter-turned-janitor join forces in a quest to uncover the deadly secrets swirling around the University of Magics and Industry.
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Gothic, passionate and darkly irresistible, Evocation spins a entrancing tale of curses, magic and deals with the devil.
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Following an unforgettable group of passengers on the way through the barren wasteland between Beijing and Moscow, Brookes’ enchanting period novel is a thrilling tale of mystery and danger on the Trans-Siberian Express.
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Truly haunting and deeply moving, this blazing historical fantasy from the author of The Bear and the Nightingale mines the horrors of the First World War to generate a story of ghostly soldiers and a potion that can engender oblivion.
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The author of The Eyre Affair delivers the long-awaited sequel to Shades of Grey, as two citizens of a world whose hierarchies are based on the colour spectrum strike out on a quest looking for answers.
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The opening volume in a new series from the fantasy titan and author of the bestselling Riftwar and Darkwar sagas, A Darkness Returns leads the reader into a shadowy, sublime world full of magic and danger.
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Aveyard's stellar Realm Breaker trilogy comes to a thrilling climax as Corayne sets out on the ultimate showdown with a man who would burn kingdoms to the ground.
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Seamlessly blending fantasy and whodunit, White's enthralling novel follows the voyage of the heirs of Concordia as a killer stalks the deck picking off the privileged one by one.
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Perfect reading for all fans of The Binding and A Discovery of Witches, Brown's electrifying fantasy sends a New York bookseller on a spectacular adventure upon receipt of a highly mysterious volume.
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A sparkling tribute to a highly popular subgenre of manga, Seolyeon's entrancing tale finds a young woman reflecting on both the hard work and challenges that being a magical girl entails and the growing climate crisis.
Shortlisted for the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize and much-loved by booksellers, Kaliane Bradley's The Ministry of Time redefined what science fiction could do with a multi-layered plot that also took in romance, history, espionage and high comedy. Elsewhere, screen legend Keanu Reeves teamed up with the great China Mieville for The Book of Elsewhere and Grace Curtis followed up Frontier with the equally endearing Floating Hotel.
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Revolving around the titular establishment set up to bring expatriates from the past to near-future London, this extraordinarily assured debut blends love story, time-travelling tale and state-of-the-nation commentary to terrifyingly clever and ferociously funny effect.
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Deftly combining the blockbuster instincts of Keanu Reeves with the cerebral literary style of China Mieville, The Book of Elsewhere tells the compelling story of US special forces operative B. through two intertwining plot strands.
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From the author of the acclaimed space opera Frontier comes another inclusive and utterly charming slice of science fiction set onboard an interstellar hotel full of quirky mysteries and its devoted manager who is struggling to let go.
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From the author of the Children of Time series comes a deliciously witty dystopian thriller, in which a domesticated robot murders their owner after becoming infected with a dangerous new program.
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Perfect reading for all fans of Becky Chambers, August's wonderfully beguiling cosmic tale features an Archivist and their brother investigate the ruins of destroyed worlds accompanied by their memorably violent cat Pumpkin.
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A decade after Vandermeer's acclaimed Southern Reach Trilogy comes the blockbuster fourth instalment, in which crucial questions are answered about the true nature of Area X.
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The master of epic space opera and author of The Neutronium Alchemist delivers the first part of a breathtaking duology about tyranny amongst the stars and one brave traveller who yearns to explore more of the universe.
You Like It Darker heralded the triumphant return of the ultimate master of horror Stephen King, with a fresh collection of a dozen short and sinister stories. Meanwhile, Jay Kristoff delivered the second part of his enthralling Empire of the Vampire series and the author of the acclaimed Hide retold the story of one of Dracula's first victims.
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Twelve delightfully dark miniatures from the master storyteller, You Like It Darker once more mines Stephen King's uncanny ability to unnerve, disturb and terrify.
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The pulsating sequel to Kristoff's mega-selling Empire of the Vampire sets Gabriel and the Grail off on a thrilling quest to destroy the Daysdeath once and for all.
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From the author of the bestselling horror Hide comes a deliciously gothic spin on the character of Lucy Westenra – one of Dracula's first victims – as she finds herself undead and unmoored in twenty-first-century London.
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A chilling urban legend about a killer witch turns all too real for the residents at Camp Castaway in this pulse-quickening slasher novel.
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This sublimely dark slice of folk horror from the author of Starve Acre centres on the titular village of Barrowbeck on the Yorkshire-Lancashire border whose inhabitants are plagued by an unforgiving presence from the past at its eeriest.
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The author of the acclaimed The Lighthouse Witches returns with another exquisite chiller steeped in the superstitions of the past, as two women separated by four centuries find themselves inexplicably bound by the same mysterious volume.
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Mixing the macabre with the everyday and dark magic with the all-too-real reverberations of Argentina's tumultous past, this hypnotic short fiction collection from the author of the International Booker nominated The Dangers of Smoking in Bed finds Enriquez at the height of her powers.
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