Summer is still in full swing and it’s hot, but it’s not as hot as this month’s selection of new science fiction and fantasy books! Trust me, you’re going to look back on your August 2026 reading one day and say, “Wow, that was a good time!”
What’s happening this month? Well, there’s the story of a young girl in a dungeon (as told by a talking skull); the brilliant third book in one of the best new speculative mystery series; a widow who must fight an empire when she wants to start a democracy on a new planet; a queen who hires a warrior bodyguard to protect her during peace negotiations; a young woman searching for the missing twin sister no one believes exists; a salt apocalypse spreads around the world; a young girl discovers a magical library; and much more.
The Best New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Out in August 2026
A Trade of Blood: An Ana and Din Mystery by Robert Jackson Bennett (Del Rey, August 4)
You’ve probably already heard me say it: This is one of the best SFF books of the year. Each book in this series about an unusual detective duo is better than the last, and that’s saying something, because they’re all fantastic. But RJB has outdone himself with this one, a wildly imaginative and smart case of an heir accused of murder that unfolds into so much more.
The Infinite State by Richard Swan (Tor Books, August 4)
In this start to a new epic sci-fi series, the widow of a known fascist party member plans to buy a new world with her inheritance. But the Empire does not approve of her plans to make a better place for society, so she’ll have to secretly recruit members to join her rebellion, to help her achieve her goal.
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The Dungeon Book by Gareth Hanrahan (Orbit, August 11)
This fantasy adventure—narrated by a skull!—is about a young girl who has been imprisoned and forgotten in a dungeon. As the years pass, she befriends all the things in the dark that scare people, and eventually wonders whether she is now one of them.
The Inevitable Undoing of Zahara Douglass by Leslye Penelope (Redhook, August 11)
This thrilling fantasy takes readers all the way back to just before Y2K in 1999, when the world wondered if the changing of the calendar would cause the computers to crash. Zaharais a young woman navigating the anticipation as she searches for her missing twin sister…who only she believes ever existed.
The Queen’s Bodyguard by Lauren Blackwood (Delacorte, August 18)
Lauren Blackwood makes her adult debut with this romantasy about a queen who hires a warrior bodyguard to protect her during negotiations with her kingdom’s enemy. But to keep his identity a secret, they must pretend to be married.
I Punched an Alien and Now We’re in Couples Therapy by Kimberly Lemming (Berkley, August 18)
I never get tired of the hilarious titles of Kimberly Lemming’s books. Blair has been kidnapped in a spaceship and brought to an alien planet (where dinosaurs still exist). As if that isn’t enough, she then learns she’s expected to mate with the king of the planet as part of an alien research program. Let the punching commence!
The Salt King by Natasha Pulley (Bloomsbury Publishing, August 18)
In this queer apocalyptic novel, a doctor and a priest team up to find out why a salt cure is healing and then killing people in their town and all around the globe. As the salt apocalypse grows, the priest begins to question whether the Salt King can save them.
The Demon Overlord’s Retirement Plan by M. H. Foster (Grand Central Publishing, August 25)
In this funny cozy fantasy, a demon gets more than he bargained for when he decides to retire. Spending his retirement on a turnip farm in a small village sounded ideal to Galornus Prime, but he soon learns that even small villages have their battles.
The Best New Children’s and YA Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Out in August 2026
Death Card by Jasmine Smith (G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers, August 11)
In this YA debut, it’s supposed to be business as usual when teenager Mikaela Broussardtakes her shift in her family’s occult shop. But while reading tarot cards for a customer, she has a vision of being murdered by a beautiful stranger, and she’ll have to do everything she can to keep it from really happening.
The Magic Library of Waterfall Way by Julie Abe (Bloomsbury Children’s Books, August 25)
Lyra is a young girl looking to be accepted into a guild and finally feel like she belongs somewhere. When she finds the Guild of Scholars in Waterfall Way, it sounds like the perfect one for her. They have so many books! But in order to join, Lyra must first find the guild’s lost crystal in their library’s cursed halls.
We by Christelle Dabos, translated by Hildegarde Serle (Europa Editions, August 25)
From the author of the Mirror Visitor quartet comes a new dystopian YA adventure for fans of The Giver! In this world, everyone is a “We” with a specific purpose to make the “We” as a whole work. To stray from that purpose could have consequences for everyone. But when students start to disappear, secrets about the “We” are uncovered, throwing the whole world into turmoil.
Kiki and the New Magic: A Kiki’s Delivery Service Novel by Eiko Kadono, illustrated by Yuta Onoda, and translated by Emily Balistrieri (Delacorte Press, August 25)
And last but not least, there’s a sequel to Kiki’s Delivery Service, the charming middle grade fantasy that inspired the classic Hayao Miyazaki movie. In her new adventure, young witch Kiki faces new challenges in the world of magic and friendship.
Bonus New Science Fiction and Fantasy Books Out in August 2026
Because I can’t just stop at 12 books: in August, be sure to also watch for (Mostly) Human Resources by Grace Viall, The Whitechapel Full Moon Society by Elizabeth DeLozier, Bound by Fury by Noelle Monét, Barbie: Dreamscape by Alex Aster, The Season of Light and Darkness by Jillian Cantor, and Makeshift by Peter Rock.
There are also sooo many excellent sci-fi and fantasy titles out in paperback this month, including Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games) by Suzanne Collins, This Is the Year by Gloria Muñoz, The Nightblood Prince by Molly X. Chang, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V. E. Schwab, House of the Beast by Michelle Wong, Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree, Lessons in Magic and Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders, Automatic Noodle by Annalee Newitz, and Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland.
And don’t forget the sequels! Amazing continuations of great stories are hitting the shelves, like Eyes of Kings by Chloe Gong, Season of the Serpent by Suyi Davies Okungbowa, The City of Slaughter by Aden Polydoros, Adversary to the Villain by Hannah Nicole Maehrer, and A Fellowship of Curses & Cats by J. Penner.
For more fun science fiction and fantasy reads, check out these lists of the best queer sci-fi books of the century (so far) and great new books for sci-fi and fantasy beginners. Also, 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 magicalNew Release Index, carefully curated by your favorite Book Riot editors, organized by genre and release date.
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