The Best New Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books Out June 2023
With summer right around the corner, it’s time to start planning which books you’ll want to bring with you on vacations or free moments you want to spend with a good story. This June, there’s plenty of book releases to look forward to. This list brings together 10 of the best science fiction and fantasy books out this month from middle grade to YA and adult fiction.
Whether you’re interested in atmospheric and robot-filled dystopian futures, murder investigations at a school for young magicians, or a joyfully unusual imagining of first contact, you’ll find a variety of stories to enjoy. Each section is organized by age group to help you find book recs for you and the readers in your life.
Once you’ve found recs to look for at your local bookstore or library, you’ll no doubt be wondering what other books you can look for this year. That’s where Book Riot’s New Releases Index comes in. By signing up for a Book Riot Insiders subscription, you get instant access to a curated list of books out through the year. You’ll find a blurb about what makes each release exciting, and you can organize the index by genre and release date.
Follow the link here to get started!
Middle Grade SFF
The Sinister Secrets of Singe by Sean Farrell (June 6)
When 11-year-old Noah discovers a hidden message left by his father, a disgraced inventor, he runs away from home with his robot friend Elijah to find him. But outside the home that Noah’s never left before is a dangerous world — and when he finds his father, he is not at all who Noah imagined him to be.
Conjure Island by Eden Royce (June 27)
Although Delphina Baker and her Gramma move often, she doesn’t mind. Home is wherever she and Gramma are together.
But when Gramma gets sick, Delphina is sent away to live with her Nana Rose — a woman she’s never met before who runs a school for magic in South Carolina. While getting over the shock that magic is real, Delphina seeks answers to family secrets that Gramma never shared with her.
Spellbinders: The Not-So-Chosen One by Andrew Auseon (June 27)
Seventh grader Ben struggles to feel at home after moving to a new city and coping with his parents’ divorce. If only making new friends could be as easy as playing his favorite role-playing games.
When Ben falls through an interdimensional portal, he enters a strange fantasy realm where a girl named Niara claims he’s the Chosen One. Soon he discovers that, while his gaming knowledge is useful, saving the world is a lot more complicated in real life.
Young Adult SFF
The Grimoire of Grave Fates, edited by Hanna Alkaf and Margaret Owen (June 6)
A murder has been committed on the grounds of the Galileo Academy for the Extraordinary in this dark academia short story collection. Each chapter takes place from the perspective of a student determined to solve it — and through which the reader can vicariously try to figure out what happened themselves.
Saint Juniper’s Folly by Alex Crespo (June 6)
Josie, Theo, and Taylor are three teens whose lives are brought together by a haunted house in the middle of Saint Juniper’s Folly — a forest rumored to be cursed. Escaping the Folly will mean working together, as none of the teens have the strength to face its dangers alone.
Sing Me to Sleep by Gabi Burton (June 27)
Saorise Sorkova is a siren in hiding among her fellow soldiers, knowing that if others found out, they would likely kill her. When she becomes the crown prince Hayes’ bodyguard, she not only has to navigate the complicated romantic feelings that emerge, but also work harder to hide her magical powers and her secret job as an assassin in a group of mercenaries Prince Hayes asks her to track down.
Adult SFF
Shanghai Immortal by A.Y. Chao (June 1)
Lady Jing, a ward to the King of Hell, is determined to expose a group of traitorous courtiers targeting the King’s dragon pearl. Her journey to thwart their plot will take her from the magical Shanghai she’s known to the realm of the living where she’ll be working alongside a mortal with whom, against all odds, she forms a bond.
The Moon Represents my Heart by Pim Wangtechawat (June 6)
Born into a family of time travelers, twins Tommy and Eva search for unanswered questions to why their parents disappeared into the past. While Eva copes with her grief by trying to make a place for herself in the present, Tommy is drawn to a woman named Peggy living in London’s Chinatown nearly a century ago.
The First Bright Thing by J.R. Dawson (June 13)
Amidst the lingering trauma of World War I, Rin and her wife Odette run a magical circus troupe that offers escapism from the troubling outside world. But with the threat of another war on the horizon, a second, more sinister circus emerges. And its cruel ringmaster brings dangers from Rin’s past back into her life.
On Earth As it Is On television by Emily Jane (June 13)
What if first contact was briefer and more perplexing than anyone expected? When a fleet of spaceships disappear as quickly as they arrived, people around the world are left with existential questions. With humanity’s place in the universe small, finding meaning in life can take absurd but nonetheless hopeful turns.
For more sci-fi/fantasy recs as you make summer reading plans, try:
