{"id":19384,"date":"2026-01-01T10:36:22","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T15:36:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/?p=19384"},"modified":"2026-01-01T12:42:32","modified_gmt":"2026-01-01T17:42:32","slug":"the-covers-of-2025-fantasy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/archives\/19384","title":{"rendered":"The Covers of 2025: Fantasy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here are my favorite covers of the new-to-me books I read this year.<\/p>\n

Stone and Sky<\/em><\/a> \u00a0(2025) Ben Aaronovitch<\/a> (Rivers of London #10)<\/h4>\n

\"Stone<\/a>DAW<\/p>\n

Cover by Stephen Walter & Patrick Knowles<\/p>\n

Of course the new Rivers of London cover was going to make it on here.<\/p>\n

I adore everything about these covers.<\/p>\n

Mystery, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

Peter Grant: Midnight Riot<\/a><\/em> (2011), Moon Over Soho <\/a><\/em>(2011), Whispers Under Ground<\/a><\/em> (2012), Broken Homes<\/a><\/em> (2014), Foxglove Summer<\/a><\/em> (2014), The Hanging Tree<\/a><\/em> (2017), The Furthest Station<\/a><\/em> (2017), Lies Sleeping<\/a><\/em> (2018), False Value<\/a><\/em> (2020), Amongst Our Weapons<\/a><\/em> (2022)<\/p>\n

Rivers of London: The October Man<\/a><\/em> (2019), Tales from the Folly: A Rivers of London Short Story Collection<\/a><\/em> (2020), What Abigail Did That Summer<\/a><\/em> (2021), Winter’s Gifts<\/em><\/a> (2023), The Masquerades of Spring<\/em><\/a> (2024)<\/p>\n

Rogue Community College<\/em><\/a> (2024) David R. Slayton<\/a> (Liberty House #1)<\/h4>\n

\"Rogue<\/a>Blackstone Publishing<\/p>\n

Cover design by Sarah Riedlinger<\/p>\n

This cover doesn’t tell you much about the contents of the story (it’s in the same world as the Adam Binder books, by is barely urban fantasy, taking place mostly in a pocket\/crossover\u00a0 space in that world). But I don’t care.<\/p>\n

But look at the details: the glowing brickwork! the felt! the stitching! the dinosaurs!<\/p>\n

Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

Adam Binder: White Trash Warlock<\/a><\/em> (2020), Trailer Park Trickster<\/a><\/em> (2021), Deadbeat Druid<\/em><\/a> (2022)<\/p>\n

Fae & Human Relations by Sarah Wallace<\/a> and S.O. Callahan<\/a>:<\/h4>\n

\"Fire<\/a> \"Shade<\/a><\/p>\n

Fire Spells Between Friends<\/em><\/a> (#2) (2024), Shade Spells with Strangers<\/em><\/a> (#3) (2025)<\/p>\n

Self-published<\/p>\n

Cover by Caras Alexandra<\/p>\n

I picked up the first book in this series because of the cover, and these books continue the trend.<\/p>\n

You get the feel of the story (historical fantasy) as well as the interactions between the characters: in the first book is a friends to marriage story, with a non-binary romantic lead.\u00a0The second is strangers who aren’t quite sure if they fully trust each other with their feelings or if they can overcome the class differences between them.<\/p>\n

Historical<\/em>, Romance<\/em>, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

Fae & Human Relations: Breeze Spells and Bridegrooms<\/em><\/a> (2024)<\/p>\n

Viscounts & Villainy<\/em><\/a> \u00a0(2025) Allie Therin<\/a> (Roaring Twenties Magic #3)<\/h4>\n

\"Viscounts<\/a>Carina Press<\/p>\n

As always, cover artists for Harlequin titles are unlisted and seem to be unfindable. Which is incredibly annoying<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Allie Therin has gotten such excellent covers for this series, I really wish the artist(s) were credited<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mystery, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

Magic in Manhattan: Spellbound<\/a><\/em> (2019), Starcrossed<\/a><\/em> (2020), Wonderstruck<\/a><\/em> (2021)<\/p>\n

Roaring Twenties Magic: Proper Scoundrels<\/a><\/em> (2021), Once a Rogue<\/a><\/em> (2023), Viscounts & Villainy<\/em> (2025)<\/p>\n

Can\u2019t Spell Treason Without Tea<\/em><\/a> (2022) Rebecca Thorne<\/a> (Tomes & Tea #1)<\/h4>\n

\"Cant<\/a>Self-published<\/p>\n

Cover by Irene Huang<\/p>\n

To be completely honest, this cover feels a little busier than I prefer (I wish the title stood out just a but more) but it so completely depicts the feel of the story I’m more than willing to let that slide.<\/p>\n

It’s cozy, but you can see one character has her sword at easy reach by her side, even as she relaxes with her cup of tea.<\/p>\n

Cozy, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

The Monster of Lightower Library<\/em><\/a>: A Lamplight Short Story (2025) Morgan Stang<\/a> (Lamplight Murder Mysteries #1.5)<\/h4>\n

\"The<\/a>Self-published<\/p>\n

Cover design by Etheric Design<\/p>\n

I love a border on a fantasy book. It’s a simple cover but the artist did an fantastic job with those few elements, making the whole thing eye-catching and lovely.<\/p>\n

Steampunk, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

Lamplight Murder Mysteries: Murder at Spindle Manor<\/em><\/a> (2022), The Monster of Lightower Library: A Lamplight Short Story (2025), Murder on the Lamplight Express<\/em><\/a> (2023), Murder on Hunter\u2019s Eve<\/em><\/a> (2024)<\/p>\n

Bookshops & Bonedust<\/em><\/a>\u00a0 (2023) Travis Baldree<\/a> (Legends & Lattes #1)<\/h4>\n

\"Bookshops<\/a>Tor<\/p>\n

Cover by Carson Lowmiller<\/p>\n

Travis Baldree has again won the cover lottery.\u00a0 We’ve got Viv, Fern, and Potroast–and Potroast is perfect<\/em> here. I mean, the look in his eyes as he stares at the baked good in Viv’s hand!<\/p>\n

We also get the cozy feel of the book store, while Viv’s sword remains prominent (she’s at the start of her days of adventuring here, not the end as in Legends & Lattes<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

Delightful.<\/p>\n

Cozy, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

Legends & Lattes<\/a><\/em> (2022)<\/p>\n

All Accounts Settled<\/em><\/a> (2025) Drew Hayes<\/a> (Fred the Vampire Accountant #9)<\/h4>\n

\"All<\/a>Self-published<\/p>\n

Cover by A.M. Ruggs<\/p>\n

This is clearly a Fred book, with the books and blood, but is also distinct from the previous covers. No accounting on this cover, but then there’s not really any accounting in this story as we wind up the series.<\/p>\n

Fred, the Vampire Accountant: The Utterly Uninteresting and Unadventurous Tales of Fred, the Vampire Accountant<\/a><\/em> (2014), Undeath & Taxes<\/a><\/em> (2015), Bloody Acquisitions<\/a><\/em> (2016), The Fangs of Freelance<\/a><\/em> (2017), Deadly Assessments<\/a><\/em> (2018), Undeading Bells<\/a><\/em> (2019), Out of House and Home<\/a><\/em> (2021), Posthumous Education<\/a><\/em> (2022)<\/p>\n

Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD: The Thin Blue Ley-Line<\/em><\/a> (2025) Keith R. A. Decandido<\/h4>\n

\"Supernatural<\/a>Blackstone Publishing<\/p>\n

Cover by Jeff Wong<\/p>\n

I just now saw the similarity between this cover and Rogue Community College<\/em><\/a>. In this case it’s a fabric police badge rather than a banner, but the stitching details are there. Do I think they’d have a werewolf on their badge? Not really, but it does make it clear this is an urban fantasy rather than straight-up police procedural.<\/p>\n

Mystery, Queer<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Help Wanted<\/em><\/a> (2018) J. Emery (Ashveil Academy #1)<\/h4>\n

\"Help-Wanted\"<\/a>Self-published<\/p>\n

Cover by Eva I<\/p>\n

This is another cover that caught my eye and convinced me to read the description.<\/p>\n

It’s a simple cover with only a few elements, but it’s put together all but perfectly to catch the eye and make me wonder what is happening here.<\/p>\n

Queer, Romance<\/em><\/p>\n

Once again, self-published books swept the fantasy cover category, with six covers making my favorites list, and Blackstone media coming in second and Harlequin with a dunce cap in the corner for not listing the artist.<\/p>\n

The Books of 2025<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are my favorite covers of the new-to-me books I read this year. Stone and Sky \u00a0(2025) Ben Aaronovitch (Rivers of London #10) DAW Cover by Stephen Walter & Patrick Knowles Of course the new Rivers of London cover was going to make it on here. I adore everything about these covers. Mystery, Queer Peter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2,1090],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books-reading","category-years-favorites"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pefxA-52E","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19384"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19384\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19436,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19384\/revisions\/19436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/notreally\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}