Romantasy’s biggest fandoms will face off this fall

placeholder covers of threshing day by rebecca yarros and acotar book 6 by sarah j maas

For the first time since BookTok took dragon- and faerie-fueled smut viral, the two juggernaut series that are keeping publishing afloat will face off with major new releases in the same season.

Fourth Wing author Rebecca Yarros announced last week that her next book, Threshing Day, will be out September 29.

A collection of 13 stories about Empyrean series characters and their dragons, Threshing Day is a drop-in addition to the universe, NOT the next installment of the series.

The reveal is great news for Yarros’s fans, who have been clamoring for a fix as they await Book 4.

How long the wait will be is anyone’s guess, as Yarros has been quite open about the toll writing Onyx Storm took on her health, telling one commenter in January 2025 that the process “almost killed me.” The fastest-selling adult novel in 20 years at the time of its release, Onyx Storm moved more than 2.7 million units in its first week out.

It’s less exciting, perhaps, for Sarah J. Maas, who is preparing to drop Book 6 in her A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series on October 27.

The as-yet-untitled novel will be the first entry in the blockbuster series since 2021. Book 7, which clocks in at a whopping 928 pages, will follow in January.

Total sales for the Empyrean series and ACOTAR are estimated at around 13 million copies each, meaning Yarros outpaces Maas on a per-book basis.

The big question: how will Yarros fans’ enthusiasm for this breadcrumb stack up to the fever for a new installment in the series? – RJS

NEW RELEASES

Back in the game for one last job

cover of cool machine by colson whitehead

Few authors cover more genre ground than Colson Whitehead, whose catalog includes award-winning speculative historical fiction, an existential zombie novel, a layered and surreal story about New York’s first Black woman elevator inspector, and a drily hilarious memoir about training for the World Series of Poker.

Arguably the best living American novelist, Whitehead treads new territory in every book. Even his Harlem Trilogy, which concludes this week with Cool Machine, changes decades and vibes with each installment.

Cool Machine opens in 1981, as Ray Carney, a furniture salesman who just can’t shake his part-time criminal activities, agrees (once again) to get back in the game and help a friend with one last job. Whitehead captures three decades in the life of New York City throughout the trilogy, as Carney repeatedly attempts to move on up and go straight for good. You don’t need to read Harlem Shuffle and Crook Manifesto first, but you should. They’re a great time, and you can feel Whitehead’s glee the whole time.

Also hitting shelves: a new novel from Claire Vaye Watkins about a young woman who decides to have a child even though the world is burning, a “be careful what you wish for” rom-com about a romance reader who finds herself trapped in her favorite author’s next book, and an award-winning journalist chronicling the realities of scientific research.

📚 Build your TBR with more of the week’s most interesting releases.

TOGETHER WITH ENTANGLED AMARA

Promotional image for Not Good Neighbors

Falling in love was never part of the renovation.

Enemies become lovers in Violet Luman’s Not Good Neighbors, as paper-thin walls, a memorable meet-cute, escalating prank wars, and a DIY disaster force Penny and Jack together.

Perfect for fans of Abby Jimenez, Sarah Adams, and Lynn Painter, this laugh-out-loud romance is packed with witty banter and sizzling chemistry.

ZERO TO WELL-READ

Book vs. Movie: The Odyssey

We always do the homework here at Book Riot, and we won’t even try to pretend that we don’t love it when the homework requires us to see the latest blockbuster.

We’ve already told you everything you need to know about The Odyssey and called in award-winning translator Emily Wilson for tips about how to tackle intimidating books.

Now that we’ve seen Christopher Nolan’s epic adaptation of the ancient poem, we’re here to break down the big book-versus-movie questions. In this special episode of Zero to Well-Read, we discuss:

What the adaptation gets right The major differences between the book and the film What it feels like to read and watch this classic story How Matt Damon’s portrayal of Odysseus differs from traditional interpretations How well the movie captures the major set pieces, including the Trojan Horse, the Cyclops, Circe turning the men into pigs, and the infamous sirens

🎧 Hear our conversation, and be warned: here be spoilers.

CLUB CULTURE

What the big book clubs are reading in July

people gathered around a table with open books

So it’s your turn to pick the book club read, and you suddenly don’t know what a book is. Good news: the big book clubs have done the work for. you. Pick your favorite from the bunch!

Pool House by Mary HK Choi: Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club One Leg on Earth by ‘Pemi Aguda: Mocha Girls Read The Shampoo Effect by Jenny Jackson: Read with Jenna Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity by Katherine Boo: The Stacks Book Club A Founding Mother by Stephanie Dray: Reese’s Book Club Someone Else’s Husband by Kimberly McCreight: Katie Couric Book Club

📚 See even more of the month’s biggest book club reads. —VD

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INSIDE PUBLISHING

It’s a hot union summer in the book world

Unions are taking off across the publishing industry. Over the past few months, we’ve seen new unions formed at publishing companies, library associations, and libraries nationwide.

Unions give power to the people and help workers fight for better wages and benefits. Across the book world, wages are low and burnout is high; having union power helps ensure wages better align with the cost of living. Unions in the book world are protective measures for employees, too, and in times of heightened everything–budget reductions and book censorship, for example–unions protect folks who blow the whistle on unfair and unjust labor practices. Unions give workers voice in an organization, something that can too often be suppressed, ignored, or denied by leadership. In an era where AI and other technology is being embraced, unions are an inherent reminder of the people who make the book world go round.

Several of the newly formed unions cited changes to remote workplace policies, as well as COVID-19, among the initial reasons they sought to organize.

So who’s built collective power?

Hachette Book Group voted to unionize in early July. This happened despite efforts from the company to cease union organizing. Even more noteworthy is that this is the largest union in trade publisher history. The University of Chicago Press saw its workers vote to unionize right on the heels of Hachette’s decision. The American Library Association, which has seen its share of financial troubles over the last year—including numerous layoffs—saw its employees vote to unionize in late May. Dark Horse Comics workers voted to unionize in late May. Catapult, Counterpoint, Soft Skull, and Hawthorne Books workers voted to unionize in April.

Library workers across the country have voted to unionize, too. Among the fresh institutions with collective power are Boulder Public Library (CO), Columbus Public Library (OH–where attempts to bust the union were named as some of the most egregious seen), Geneva Public Library (IL), Mid-Continent Public Library (MO), Massillon Public Library (OH), and many more. – KJ

SWORDS AND SPACESHIPS

Thought-provoking sci-fi books

a photo of Matthew Medney and the book Existence Equation

photo credit: Matthew Medney

Matthew Medney is the author of Existence Equation: What is the Price of Humanity?, out now from Gungnir. Below, he recommends three thought-provoking science fiction novels.

Leaving you stunned… thinking about what could be… dreaming of a fundamental change to reality… These are the feelings that all great science fiction should leave you with. Wanting more, wanting something to dream about, something to discuss.

Science fiction has always been at the forefront of discovery: wild science fiction plots that, when published, seemed out of the realm of possibility, only to become more realistic with each passing day.

Today, we are looking at an AI revolution and reigniting exploration to the moon and beyond. These are the areas of interest that sci-fi has been talking about for over 100 years, becoming reality.

Science fiction pulls from what could be and dreams of what can be. My three must-read books that any lover of the future should devour are:

Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley: This is what happens when you pull a Victorian soldier out of time and drop him into modern London. But the real tragedy isn’t the culture shock; it’s falling in love with someone who was supposed to die 150 years ago.

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu, translated by Ken Liu: Probably the most terrifying science fiction ever written, not because of monsters or war, but because Liu Cixin does the math and the math says we are cosmically, catastrophically alone, and that might actually be the good news.

And of course, the one that started it all: empires and technology, space elevators and warp engines…

Foundation by Isaac Asimov: When a mathematician looks at human civilization, runs the numbers, and realizes the dark ages are coming, he doesn’t sit and disappear; he builds a secret vault of human knowledge at the edge of the galaxy to make sure we survive them.

Every great science fiction book brings me back to the same question: What is the price of the stars?

The stars are yours… but only if you stop being human to reach them. Stay human, and Eden is your reward, right up until they cull you at sixty.

What would you choose? The answer isn’t that simple. I know which choice I’m going to make: Android. What would you decide?

TOGETHER WITH THRIFTBOOKS

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Ernest Hemingway, born July 21, 1899

Did you know? Hemingway helped Sylvia Beach figure out how to smuggle copies of Joyce’s Ulysses into the United States (through someone he knew who could bring them in from Canada through Detroit).

Check out our Zero to Well-Read episode on The Old Man and the Sea for more Hemingway history.

CRITICAL LINKING