The 5 new sci-fi and fantasy books to read (May 2026)

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to befriend a crow (let alone an entire murder of them)? Or what would happen if your favorite fantasy novel suddenly came to life, dragons included? Are you curious to know what everyone’s favorite Dungeon Crawler and his pal Princess Donut have been up to?

To say that there are some truly stellar sci-fi and fantasy books hitting shelves during the month of May would be an understatement. From Sarah Gailey to Matt Dinniman, there’s a lot to be excited about, and truly something for everyone.

Image: Tor Books

Written in chapters that alternate between a ghost-infested Kowloon during World War II and a period 33 years earlier, days before Japan’s invasion, The Girl with a Thousand Faces by Sunyi Dean tells the story of Mercy Chan, a young woman who washes ashore in Hong Kong with no memories.

Since then, Mercy has built a life for herself on the cramped and dangerous streets of Kowloon, working as a ghost-talker for the local triad. But when a ghost that claims to know her begins to drown innocent people, Mercy must choose between her new life and knowing the truth about her forgotten past.

Sunyi Dean’s debut novel, The Book Eaters, was a strange and compelling take on vampires which leads us to believe that The Girl with a Thousand Faces will be a fresh and exciting spin on what a ghost story can be.

The Girl with a Thousand Faces is available on May 8 for $29.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org

Image: Penguin Random House

Carl and Princess Donut are off to the races (quite literally) in the 8th installment of Matt Dinniman’s bestselling LitRPG series, A Parade of Horribles.

Having finally made it to the 10th floor, Carl and Princess Donut are faced with a series of seemingly normal races to complete. At the end of each, they’re allowed to upgrade their vehicle before the next challenge begins. Sounds simple enough, right? But with glitches happening more and more frequently and something on the eleventh floor that the AI system mysteriously calls “a parade of horribles” without explanation, Carl has no choice but to meet the challenges head-on, and with his signature flair.

A Parade of Horribles is the 8th book in Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl series. While it's not the best place to start, there’s still plenty of time to brush up on your DCC knowledge by reading the first seven books before Seth MacFarlane’s television show airs and the official TTRPG based on the books is available for fans to play.

A Parade of Horribles is available on May 12 for $27 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org

Image: Tor

Fans of Sarah Gailey know that she doesn’t shy away from making her readers squirm, and her upcoming wellness retreat-inspired horror novel, Make Me Better, is no exception.

Kindred Cove, an isolated, cult-like community, sits in the middle of a salt-water lake, surrounded by a vast and beautiful coral reef (which we’re sure is perfectly normal and not strange or sinister at all), is an isolated. Outsiders are not welcome on the island unless they have been allowed by its residents to witness their annual Salt Festival, and it just so happens that Celia — tired of being alone in the world and desperate for a family of her own — has just garnered an invitation.

Make Me Better is available on May 12 for $28.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org

Image: MCD

Set during the summer of 1941 in Lithuania at the height of the German blitzkrieg, Ray Nayler’s upcoming horror novel, Palaces of the Crow, tells the story of four children from different walks of life who find themselves unexpectedly protected by a strange and extremely intelligent community of crows that inhabit the Lithuanian forest near their homes.

Nayler explores the horror of WWII through the eyes of a Jewish girl, a young Polish deserter who is on the run from the Red Army, a Roma horse trader, and a mysterious boy who cannot speak, as they learn to survive together, seamlessly weaving the uncanny with historical fiction. While Nayler has chosen to write about a particularly bleak point in time, Palaces of the Crow, is ultimately a story about found family, survival, redemption, and hope for the future and one that should not be missed. Besides, what’s not to love about a murder of highly intelligent crows who protect children as if they were one of their own?

Palaces of the Crow is available on May 19 for $29 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org

Image: Tor

Billed to readers as “The Truman Show meets Game of Thrones”(with a little bit of Westworld sprinkled in), The Franchise by Thomas Elrod, promises to be one of the strangest and perhaps most entertaining fantasy novels coming out this spring.

Some years after the death of its creator, a strange new technology allows a movie studio to recreate the beloved fantasy world of Malicarn on a remote island in order to create a series of blockbuster films. While this seems like a dream come true for the studio, there’s a catch: Malicarn’s inhabitants are all fans of the series who have had their memories erased and now believe that their fantasy lives, wizards and all, are very real.

With chapters that take place at different moments in time and are told from a variety of points of view, Elrod cleverly explores what might happen when a society is, in fact, a simulation, controlled and exploited by a higher power.

The Franchise is available on May 12 for $28.99 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org