The 3 best new sci-fi and fantasy books out in April 2026

After a particularly long, dreary winter — at least it felt longer, drearier, and winterier — spring is finally upon us. Birds are singing. The days are growing longer and warmer. Nature is healing. Thank goodness.

With the change in season comes a bevy of new books to keep you busy now or to stock up on until it’s finally time to hit the beach or your local pool. Here are three new sci-fi and fantasy titles coming out in April that are particularly worth adding to your reading pile. SFF pals, let’s do this.

Image: Macmillan

In his debut sci-fi novel, The Subtle Art of Folding Space, Hugo and Nebula Award finalist John Chu pairs a love for quantum physics and dim sum with the constant perils of comically villainous assassination attempts. Chu’s novel is a wild ride from start to finish. Both heartwarming and heart-wrenching, at its core, The Subtle Art of Folding Space is a story about breaking the chains of generational trauma.

Ellie, a young Chinese-American woman who helps maintain the Skunkworks — the machinery that keeps the physics of each existing universe working exactly as it should — struggles to balance taking care of her comatose mother and fending off a sister who is trying to kill her. To make matters worse, a shadowy cabal of sinister engineers is trying to steal the Skunkworks from under her nose. Determined to help her mother, save the world, and maybe eat some comfort food along the way, Ellie is torn between saving her family and saving the universe they live in.

The Subtle Art of Folding Space is available as low as $25.15 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org

A The Killing Spell book cover that depicts a colorful abstract pattern

Set in a future where a catastrophic flood destroyed the Hawaiian Islands and language has literally become magic, 25-year-old Kea Petrova, the youngest of the five Hawaiian clan leaders, has settled in outer Los Angeles. While Kea is innately talented at using language magic, she still struggles to keep her clan safe and afloat, scraping together a living by selling Hawaiian language spells in order to help others.

Her situation takes a turn for the worse when a popular Filipino activist in L.A. is killed with a death spell. While death spells are illegal in other languages, they do still exist within the Hawaiian language, and Kea has to confront some of L.A.’s most dangerous residents to prove her family’s innocence.

The Killing Spell is available for as low as $16.78 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org

A book cover depicting a mysterious green door surrounded by plants

During the course of the Great War, Mouse Dunne has her life turned upside down when her cousin disappears during the Battle of the Somme and her brother returns home with debilitating shell shock. She’s forced to put aside her dreams of one day becoming a renowned Faerie anthropologist in order to take care of him.

When Mouse’s uncle dies, he leaves her Thistlemarsh Hall, his Faerie-blessed, crumbling estate in the English countryside. But it comes with the stipulation that she must restore the old building and its grounds within a month. Mouse feels she has no choice but to leave her brother and return to her childhood home to claim her inheritance. While it seems impossible for her to restore the building to its former glory in so little time, a mysterious Faerie approaches her with a proposition that might make her dreams a reality.

Though it’s not officially out until April 21, Thistlemarsh by Moorea Corrigan and the faeries that inhabit its pages promise to be a delightful addition to the romantasy genre.

Thistlemarsh is available for preorder for as low as $26.40 at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Bookshop.org

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