Our top 2025 sci-fi and fantasy reads
Fantastic escapades to revel in
My favourite thing about using Libby to borrow ebooks from the library is the Timeline feature. View all the titles you have gone through in the year. Click on one to see how long you took to finish it (or not). If I feel like bringing an extra device, I’ll read on my Kobo e-reader, else the smartphone is good, too.
Some of titles below are hugely popular with a long waiting list at NLB. If you can’t wait (and already have a Kobo), Kobo is offering 25% discount on all ebooks for Singapore readers. The promotion ends today, so head to the Kobo website and use the code (BYE2025) before the year. And without further ado, here are our top five sci-fi and fantasy books of 2025.
The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow
The Everlasting is a Groundhog Day-like love story that takes a hard look at the myths around nation-building, and how they are used as propaganda to prod a nation down a certain path. I was also reminded of a roguelite game, though in this case, it’s the antagonist who keeps restarting the story in order to get the right chain of events. All that aside, what anchors this time-looping tale is the love between a lady knight and the historian who’s tasked to create the legend around her death. Arguably my favourite read of the year, though it could also be recency bias.
The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson
Just when I thought I had a grasp of The Raven Scholar, there was yet another twist that turned things around. This fantasy debut from British historical crime writer Antonia Hodgson is chockful full of surprises. It also plays with multiple genres and tropes. You get a tournament between different houses set in a fantastical world and filled with interesing characters, including a very flawed main character. Not to mention that there’s a murder mystery waiting to be solved. It’s also the first in a series, and I can’t wait for the next one.
A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett
Robert Jackson Bennett has become one of my must-read authors in recent years. His Divine Cities trilogy was, well, divine. And he has only gotten better with the Ana and Din books, which are murder mystery novels set in an unusual biopunk world. A Drop of Corruption is a sequel to last year’s The Tainted Cup, which recently won the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novel.
And you can bet that the new book will be in the running next year. The plot is even more convoluted — a locked-room mystery — and the stakes are as high as it ever gets. But it remains entertaining to see how our Sherlockian duo Ana and Din work together to solve the mystery.
Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
You are what you eat, even if you’re a vampire. Drink the blood of animals exclusively, and a vampire will lose its original human form. It’s an interesting premise, though Buffalo Hunter Hunter, takes its time to get there. Instead, this fantastical horror story starts off with a diary with a startling confession, and goes quite in-depth on Blackfeet culture, an Indigenous North American tribe. It’s a captivating and tragic tale with great prose that transports you to a world when herds of American buffalos still roamed the country.
The Strength of the Few by James Islington
The second book in the Hierarchy series, The Strength of the Few, expands the Roman-inspired world in the bestselling The Will of the Many, a book that grippled me with its take on the wizarding school trope. Our protagonist — now replicated in three alternate worlds — must navigate new challenges and quickly get to grips with the different cultures in the two additional worlds.
I’ll admit this twist was a bit jarring at the start, but the plot (and there is a lot of it) keeps it interesting. Fans of Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn and Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series will enjoy this.
In our recent tech reviews, we tested Plaud’s AI-powered voice recorder, watched plenty of shows using BenQ’s new 4K projector, and had a blast on the Nintendo Switch 2 with the latest Metroid Prime 4: Beyond.
Using a dedicated AI-powered voice recorder seems like a luxury when you could do the same with your smartphone. But the Plaud Note Pro stands out with its sleek premium design and ease of use. Besides the transcription, you will also get an AI-generated summary with extras like a mind map and follow-up questions. It can also switch seamlessly between capturing your audio calls and your in-person meetings. Downside: Subscription required.
BenQ’s latest 4K projector delivers the goods, including 3,000 ANSI Lumens brightness, HDR10+ support, and low input lag. All in a compact package powered by Google TV. You can get up to 100 inches screen size, while its auto keystone feature gets it right most of the time. It is, however, not cheap at S$2,399.
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond changes it up with a first-person view and a detailed 3D world. But its metroidvania gameplay is similar to previous entries, with lots of exploration, boss fights and backtracking. The controls, though, are not great, and make boss fights even more challenging. But if you can adapt to these controls, there’s a great game underneath.