Fantasy · December 2026
7 New Fantasy Books Coming in December 2026
A moon heading for impact, a magically controlled soldier, an unexpected familiar bond and several unfinished fights. Seven December releases, with their earlier books explained.
December brings some long-running stories to a close. Warrior of the Shards finishes Sarah Hawley’s trilogy, and Chosen Son returns to Maris and Luca after Fallen City. James Rollins is ending Moonfall too. His characters are trying to stop the moon from hitting their world.
There are new stories here as well: a soldier whose loyalty is enforced by magic, two exorcists investigating their university, and a matchmaker who unexpectedly becomes part of the match. The dates below are scheduled US releases. A sequel’s setup can give away where an earlier book ends, so bear that in mind if you are still catching up.
At a glance
Which fantasy books are coming in December 2026?
A Fist of Molten Fire, Call Me Traitor, My Unfamiliar, When Shadows Burn and This Crimson Ruin are scheduled for December 1. Warrior of the Shards follows on December 8, then Chosen Son on December 15. This list mixes new stories with direct sequels and finales; the reading notes below explain which earlier books matter.
01 · Epic fantasy · series finale
A Fist of Molten Fire
By James Rollins
· US · Tor Books
The moon is falling toward a planet already being torn apart by earthquakes and storms. Nyx and her companions are trying to reach two enormous engines deep inside the world, which might restore its rotation and push the moon back into orbit. They need a lost key, and an ancient bronze enemy wants the same power for very different reasons.
The journey leads toward the Fist, a volcanic stronghold beyond the Mýr swamps, while war continues around them. This is the biggest-scale story in the selection, with strange creatures and ancient machinery alongside the threat to the whole planet. The engines offer a way to stop the disaster, but the race for the key means that reaching them is only part of the problem.
Moonfall, book 4. The Starless Crown, The Cradle of Ice and A Dragon of Black Glass come first, in that order.
02 · Sapphic romantic fantasy
Call Me Traitor
By Everina Maxwell
· US · Tor Books
En has battle spells carved into her skin and a loyalty to the archmagi that is magically enforced. She is sent to recover a group of exiled traitors who should not have survived in the dangerous Far Peninsula. To get anywhere, she has to work with Tamol, a soldier who is much better at magic than at behaving like a soldier.
Their growing attraction complicates an assignment that is already hard to trust. Tamol is connected to the people En has been ordered to retrieve, while something monstrous in the peninsula threatens both the exiles and the empire pursuing them. En has the power to fight, but very little freedom to decide whom she is fighting for.
No earlier Maxwell novel is required. Winter’s Orbit and Ocean’s Echo are separate stories, not books one and two of this adventure.
03 · Cozy young adult romantic fantasy
My Unfamiliar
By Mara Rutherford
· US · Wednesday Books
Winnie Green makes her living matching mages with animal familiars, despite having no magic of her own. Bastian Triplehorn arrives grieving his previous familiar and needing a new partner. Instead of finding an animal, he forms a magical bond with Winnie herself. Neither of them was looking for that arrangement.
They agree to work together while trying to understand the connection, with a royal mage competition offering a possible way forward. Winnie gets to experience magic from inside the bond, while Bastian has to deal with feelings he cannot dismiss as a matchmaking problem. The animal familiars, competition and awkward partnership give this one a gentler starting point than the wars and infected cities elsewhere on the list. There is still grief behind Bastian’s visit, so cozy does not mean the characters arrive without anything weighing on them.
A new story with no earlier Rutherford book required.
04 · Young adult fantasy · dark academia
When Shadows Burn
By Vanessa Le
· US · Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)
Exorcism in Yennington takes two people: a caller to draw a demon out and a slayer to kill it. Kiet Sren left Phenbridge University but remains an unusually skilled caller. Song Sarna is still there, at the top of her class as a slayer. Together they run Inkspill Agency, balancing their working partnership with Song’s place inside the university.
A job from Kiet’s estranged family sends them after an aberrant demon and into an investigation of a group working against Phenbridge. The more they uncover, the less clear it becomes whether the university is simply a target. Song is still part of the institution they are investigating; Kiet has already left it. Their work depends on each partner doing a job the other cannot, while family ties and a developing romance make the investigation personal.
This begins a new duology. No earlier Vanessa Le novel is needed.
05 · Underwater steampunk fantasy · sapphic romance
This Crimson Ruin
By Rebecca Thorne
· US · Tor Books
Sergeant Nix Marr and her ex, Kessandra, are stranded in the domed underwater city of Fall after the journey that brought them there goes disastrously wrong. The city is largely deserted, some of the people still moving through it are infected, and the dome is flooding. Finding out what happened is part of finding a way to survive.
Nix is also being threatened from within, as an evil presence presses into her mind. That puts another strain on a partnership already carrying the history of a broken relationship. The setting makes the danger unusually physical: there is an ocean overhead and a failing barrier between it and the characters. The mystery of the empty city gives them something to investigate while the flooding limits the time they have to do it.
The Titan's Wrath Trilogy, book 2. This Gilded Abyss comes first. Nix and Kessandra’s story carries straight on from that book.
06 · Dark fae romantasy · trilogy finale
Warrior of the Shards
By Sarah Hawley
· US · Ace
Kenna of Blood House has backed a candidate to rule Mistei, but the fragile agreement between its factions breaks down into civil war. She and the two rebel princes are captured, leaving the throne open to two particularly ruthless faeries. Her political mistake has consequences for people who were looking to her for a different future.
Kenna is fighting to stay alive, but also to hold on to the reasons she wanted the kingdom to change. Each attempt to keep fighting risks pushing her further from the humanity she is trying to preserve. The romance continues within that struggle, carrying forward the relationships built through Servant of Earth and Princess of Blood. A change of ruler has become a question of whether the kingdom can change at all.
The Shards of Magic, book 3. Servant of Earth and Princess of Blood come first. This finale continues Kenna’s existing relationships and loyalties.
07 · Romantic fantasy · duology conclusion
Chosen Son
By Adrienne Young
· US · Saturday Books
Maris and Luca are on opposite sides of Isara’s gates after the fall of the city. Maris puts on enemy armor to make her way back toward the man she loves. Inside, Luca is questioning both his place in the war and whether the gods have been using him. Reaching each other now means moving through a conflict that has changed them both.
Fallen City introduced their love story within a rebellion; this second book follows what comes after the city’s collapse. The military disguise, divided loyalties and divine demands make the reunion more complicated than simply getting through a gate. Luca has been a symbol of the Loyal Legion, but Maris’s absence has made that role harder for him to accept.
Fallen City, book 2. Read Fallen City first; this is the conclusion of the same story.
Different kinds of December fantasy
The scale varies a lot across these seven. Moonfall is facing a planetary disaster, while My Unfamiliar starts with a very personal matchmaking problem. Call Me Traitor and When Shadows Burn both involve dangerous magical institutions, but one follows an imperial retrieval mission and the other a two-person investigation. The remaining sequels return to an underwater city, a fae civil war and lovers separated by a fallen city. Earlier reading makes the biggest difference with those continuing stories.
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