reactormag.com
Notable Young Adult Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror of 2025
Books
Best of 2025
Notable Young Adult Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror of 2025
Check out 30 of the best young adult titles of the year
By Alex Brown
|
Published on December 16, 2025
Comment
0
Share New
Share
It’s that time of year: best of list time! “Best” is such a subjective term, so I like to craft my list more like a “most notable” or “top picks.” I’m less interested in star ratings and more at books that compelled me, moved me, made me think of the world in a new way, had interesting or creative narrative styles, that sort of thing. Some of these were bestsellers while some were released with little fanfare.
There were around 300 young adult speculative novels traditionally published in 2025, and after a lot of research, reading, and hemming and hawing, I narrowed them down to 30 must-haves.
Science Fiction
Coldwire by Chloe Gong
(The StrangeLoom Trilogy #1) In a world ravaged by climate change and economic disparity, there are two main societies: the privileged who reside upcountry in virtual reality and everyone else in the harsh real world of downcountry. Several teens from both social stratuses are pulled into the cold war raging between two upcountry nations. Espionage, murder, kidnapping, and mass surveillance abound.
The L.O.V.E. Club by Lio Min
A couple years ago, Elle disappeared, and the L.O.V.E. Club—best friends Liberty, O, Vera, and Elle—shattered. Now the three survivors find themselves sucked into a video game that seems to have been built by Elle. Each level seems designed specifically for each girl, and the boss fights test their relationships with each other as much as their physical strength. All the traumas the girls experienced in the real world bubbles up in the virtual one, with deadly consequences.
Titan of the Stars by E.K. Johnston
(Titan of the Stars #1) Celeste and Dominic don’t have much in common other than both traveling on the maiden voyage of the spaceship Titan. She is a dirt poor engineer hoping for new opportunities on Mars, and he is the privileged and bored son of the ship’s builder who dreams of going to art school. Someone releases ancient aliens onto the ship, and the luxury liner becomes a killing floor. To survive, Celeste and Dominic must set aside their class differences and work together.
Fantasy
Among Ghosts by Rachel Hartman
Several years ago, Eileen escaped her abusive noble husband with her young son, a knight, a lapsed nun, and a dragon in human form. They wound up in the perpetually muddy village of St. Muckle’s and rebuilt their lives. Now, the deaths of several of Charl’s bullies in an abandoned abby kick off a series of unfortunate events. A plague races through the villagers, a dragon burns the town down, and enemies threaten Charl and his mother. He’ll need the help of some grumpy ghosts and a guilt-ridden ex-nun to save the day. Although a standalone novel, this is set in the same vaguely medieval European world as Hartman’s other YA fantasies.
I Am Not Jessica Chen by Ann Liang
At the prestigious Havenwood Academy, Chinese American cousins Jenna and Jessica are always being compared, Jenna less favorably. So when Jenna wakes up one day in Jessica’s body, she thinks she’s won the lottery. Except now she’s stuck in a life that isn’t hers and one she doesn’t actually want to live. Worse, everyone seems to be forgetting the real Jenna even existed.
The Leaving Room by Amber McBride
This novel-in-verse begins in death. Teenage Gospel helps newly dead children move onto whatever comes next. As a Keeper of the Leaving Room, her whole world is contained in the small closet lined with shelves of jars with memories from those who have passed through. She doesn’t know what came before she entered that room, only that the rules say she can never leave. Everything changes when Melodee, another Keeper, leaves her room and enters Gospel’s.
Love at Second Sight by F.T. Lukens
Cam expected his sophomore year of high school to be boring. Instead, his best friend and witch-in-training Al ditched them right when he discovered he was psychic. Now he, his werewolf crush Mateo, a nemesis who also happens to be an elemental spirit, and a ninth grader who is far too nosy for her own good try to help him save the life of a young woman whose bloody future Cam prophesies. The themes of commentary on queerphobia, how adults try to legislate bigotry by pretending they’re “protecting” children, and the ways parents can push their own fears onto their kids give this cozy fantasy real depth.
Needy Little Things by Channelle Desamours
Sariyah has the uncanny ability to hear what people need, but there is a cost. If she doesn’t get the person what they need soon, she’ll suffer a terrible migraine. After her best friend Deja vanishes in the wake of one of Sariyah helping someone, she feels partly responsible. Her homelife goes chaotic as the secrets of friends and family are exposed. As she searches for Deja, she makes choices that might bring her home or put her in the same danger Deja is in.
Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue
The train Margo boards is supposed to take her to her boarding school in Dublin. Instead, she ends up on a train that can travel between worlds with a strange boy, Moon, who claims he’s an interdimensional salesman. The train goes North, where time is fast, and South, where time slows. Margo’s arrival throws the orderly Southern rules into chaos and puts a target on her back. Moon might be the only one who can keep her safe long enough to return her to Earth.
Horror
And the River Drags Her Down by Jihyun Yun
Soojin has the magical ability to bring the dead back to life, but not without consequences. When she discovers her sister drowned in the river, she makes the impulsive decision to resurrect her. At first Mirae seems fine, but it becomes increasingly clear she came back…wrong. Mirae wants to use her second chance to get revenge on the people she blames for their mother’s death, and there may not be much Soojin can do to stop her bloody rampage.
The Dead of Summer by Ryan La Sala
(The Dead of Summer #1) The vacation destination of Anchor’s Mercy, Maine, is a little slice of heaven for everyone except Ollie. He and his mother return after several months on the mainland where she’s been receiving cancer treatment. When he left he blew up his friendships, and repairing that is at the top of his list now that he’s back. Or, it would be if a terrifying eco-plague wasn’t spreading from the coral and turning people into zombies. The story is told partly in prose and partly through interviews, journal entries, and other ephemera gathered after the pandemic has already claimed the island.
Hazelthorn by C.G. Drews
Evander has spent most of his life trapped on the rundown Hazelthorn estate owned by his ultra wealthy guardian, Byron Lennox-Hall. After Byron’s grandson Laurie tried to kill Evander, he was banned from the gardens and leaving the property, and never allowed to be alone with the only other kid on the estate. When Byron dies a suspicious death, both boys reunite to search for the killer before they strike again.
The Others by Cheryl Isaacs
(The Unfinished #2) Not much time has passed since the events of the first book, and Avery is trying to put that all behind her. But Key, who Avery rescued from imminent death, can’t move on, and other locals are still mourning their loved ones who never returned. Strange shapes begin to appear in reflective surfaces and once again she must draw on the stories of her Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) culture to stop the horrors trying to break free.
Dystopian
All Better Now by Neal Shusterman
Like the next author in this category, Neal Shusterman is one of the all-time greats in YA dystopian fiction. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve also seen several YA books dealing with plagues and mass death. Shusterman does his take on the pandemic with Crown Royale, a virus that, if it doesn’t kill you, makes you permanently ecstatic and easy-going. Of course, capitalism immediately discovers how to exploit that. The stories of three teens, Morgan, Rón, and Mariel, converge as they move through this strange new world.
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
(The Hunger Games) Collins takes readers back to the Hunger Games with this story of Haymitch as a teen. We already knew that Haymitch had won the 50th competition, and now we get to see how. This isn’t a cash grab “how did Han Solo get his last name” story. True to form, Collins fills this prequel with biting commentary on propaganda, authoritarianism, and resistance.
These Vengeful Gods by Gabe Cole Novoa
Sixteen-year-old Crow is one of the last descendants of the God of Death. The others were executed years ago at the behest of the powers that be, so Crow hides his abilities as a Deathchild. After his uncles are arrested, to secure their freedom Crow is forced to participate in the Tournament of the Gods. This takes the trope of highly stratified societies with economic and systemic disparities and runs it through a queer filter.
This Is the Year by Gloria Muñoz
Julieta is a rising senior living in a near-future Florida wracked by climate change. After her sister Ofelia’s death, Juli would do anything to escape. Her lucky break comes with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for the StarCrest’s Cometa Initiative, a private space program that plans to have New American teens establish the first colony on the Moon. The narrative structure is so compelling, part prose and part poetry.
Anthologies
These Bodies Ain’t Broken edited by Madeline Dyer
YA anthologies on disability are few and far between, so it was a relief that this one was so good. Dyer does a good job of covering a variety of disabilities, from neurodivergence to chronic illness to physical disabilities, and often the same disability from multiple perspectives. Looking at disability from a horror perspective is what turns this from a run-of-the-mill premise into something fierce. This is a vital, well-written anthology.
Why on Earth: An Alien Invasion Anthology edited by Vania Stoyanova & Rosiee Thor
I am a sucker for alien stories, especially of the YA variety, so this was practically tailormade for me. The concept revolves around Captain Iona, who is headed for earth to retrieve her brother, an extraterrestrial posing as a movie star. Their ship crashes, spawning eleven fun and funny stories about the aliens and humans dealing with the aftermath. I’ve been describing it as “cozy alien invasion.”
Parallel Universe
Coffeeshop in an Alternate Universe by C.B. Lee
Brenda Nguyễn and Kat Woo both live in Los Angeles, California, just not the same one. Brenda’s is wracked by climate change and underfunding while Kat’s is a magical utopia of wyverns and teleportation. When portals start to go haywire in Kat’s world, the two girls have an accidental meet-cute at Brenda’s father’s cafe. From there, they have to not only sort out who is creating the portals that are destabilizing the boundaries between the two worlds, but also things like college applications, prom, cat-sized dragons and dragon-sized cats, and being the Chosen One.
The Singular Life of Aria Patel by Samira Ahmed
Science nerd Aria broke up with her boyfriend, Rohan, in anticipation of going off to college. After witnessing a terrible car accident, she comes to in a parallel world. Every day she wakes in a new version of her world. The only consistent things are a poem from English class, her ex, and a raging headache. The more things change, the less she’s able to hold onto them, and the more drawn she feels to Rohan. Can she get back to the “real” world or will she spend eternity tumbling through the multiverse?
Dark Fantasy
Moth Dark by Kika Hatzopoulou
A few years ago, ruptures burst forth in our world, connecting it to a place now called the Darkworld. On the other side of the Dark portal are the elves, one of whom, genderfluid Nagau, tries to kill Sascia. The timelines are out of sync between the two worlds, so when Nugau returns, they are younger and have no idea who Sascia is. As the two keep meeting, the mystery begins to deepen, as do Nagau and Sascia’s feelings for each other. With a war between humans and elves on the horizon, their love may not be enough to keep them together.
The Otherwhere Post by Emily J. Taylor
When she was a child, Maeve’s father was embroiled in a terrible tragedy that led to the Written Doors being destroyed and the people in Inverly killed. But when an otherwhere mail carrier delivers a letter to her declaring his innocence, she sets out to clear his name. Maeve scams her way into an apprenticeship at the Otherwhere Post to track down the letter writer and find out what really happened to her father all those years ago.
Twin Tides by Hien Nguyen
A woman’s corpse turns up in Les Eaux, Minnesota, and Aria and Caliste are shocked to learn she is their missing mother. Even more shocked because they didn’t know they had a mother who was missing or that they were identical twins separated as toddlers. Both live very different lives—Caliste is a wealthy influencer with an emotionally distant father, while Aria is working as much as she can to help pay her sick aunt’s medical bills—but they’re forced together to understand why so many people keep dying in Les Eaux and what connection the town has to their mom.
Historical
Costumes for Time Travelers by A.R. Capetta
Calisto lives in the town of Pocket, a place outside time where time travelers often wash up. One of those travelers is Fawkes, a teen on the run from the Time Wardens. They want to destroy all aberrations to their preferred timeline, and that includes Fawkes and many of the folks in Pocket. The two teens jump across time, trying to escape the Time Wardens and to stop a man calling himself Korsika who wants to run time travel through the machinery of capitalism. As their journey takes them farther from home, it pulls them closer together.
Empty Heaven by Freddie Kölsch
In the early 21st century, Darian returns to the small New England village of Kesuquosh. She fled a year earlier after her crush, KJ, was sacrificed to a local god as part of centuries-old ritual. Now she’s back and with the help of her friends she’ll free KJ from Good Arcturus’ control. Except it turns out Good Arcturus has secrets of its own and something even more monstrous than a literal monster has its sights set on KJ.
Monsters
A Feast for the Eyes by Alex Crespo
Shay and Lauren’s small Oregon town has a local legend about a creature, the Watcher, that haunts the local woods. The same woods Shay and Lauren are having a dramatic break-up in when they’re attacked. No one believes the Watcher is real, so Shay enlists the help of a new crush, Zoe, and a couple friends, to set the record straight. It’s all secrets and lies until someone gets hurt.
He’s So Possessed with Me by Corey Liu
After a wild night in a club, Colin loses track of his bestie Ren. When he finally tracks him down, Ren has no memory of what happened while he was lost. All he knows is that he’s suddenly and inexplicably in love. Colin hates his new boyfriend, especially once he realizes the guy isn’t what he claims to be. How do you say no to a book comped as Jennifer’s Body meets Heartstopper?
A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury
(A Mastery of Monsters #1) When August’s older brother Jules disappears from college, she is desperate to get him back. After she’s attacked by a massive, mysterious monster, she’s offered a spot in the secret organization, the Learners’ Society. They’ll teach her how to bond with and control the humans who can shift into monsters…humans like the hot guy who lured August into the society and is struggling to keep his powers in check. The two of them may be the only ones who can find Jules before it’s too late.
The Transition by Logan-Ashley Kisner
Shortly after top surgery, Hunter is attacked by a monster in his backyard. On the plus side, his wounds are healing very quickly. On the negative side, he becomes sensitive to silver and starts his period for the first time in years since going on T. His friends, convinced the monster was a werewolf, join Hunter as they track down the beastie and try to stave off his physical changes. The trans werewolf body YA horror story I’ve always wanted!
The post Notable Young Adult Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror of 2025 appeared first on Reactor.