Marginalia: May 2026 Book News

✨ Special editions

Some of the most popular books on the May and June special editions watchlist include:

Romantasy

• Verity Guild — Mai Corland. A slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romantasy built around secrets, deception and blood magic. (High prepublication buzz.)
• Fury Bound — Sable Sorensen. The sequel to Dire Bound, continuing Meryn and her direwolf’s story as the kingdom tips into war.
• The Bone Door — Frances White. A dark fantasy follow-up to Voyage of the Damned, with the central hook of how far will someone go? 
• A Curse of Beasts and Magic — Jeaniene Frost. A “Beauty and the Beast meets The Witcher” fantasy romance where Beauty is the Beast, and the Beast is a warden keeping mythical beings in check. 
• The Ballad of Falling Dragons — Sarah A. Parker. The highly anticipated sequel to When the Moon Hatched, returning to Raeve and Kaan’s dragon-rider world of danger, intrigue and romance. 
• The Tapestry of Fate — Shannon Chakraborty. The sequel to The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, sending Amina after a magical spindle that can rewrite fate. 
• Tempting Venom — Rina Kent. The third book in the Vipers series, a dark hockey romance set in a glamorous secret world (so! many! variants!).
• Seek the Traitor’s Son — Veronica Roth. A new epic romantic dystopian fantasy from always-popular Roth. 

Fantasy & SciFi

• The Unicorn Hunters — Katherine Arden. A historical fantasy about the daughter of the king of Brittany, who must enter a dark enchanted wood to avoid a political marriage. (Both US and UK cover designs are so pretty!) 
• Songs of the Dead — Brandon Sanderson and Peter Orullian. An urban fantasy featuring a heavy metal musician who becomes a necromancer.
• Shadow Reaper — Lynette Noni. Yay! A rare Australian special edition! YA fantasy set in the endangered city of Aravell where reapers steal magic from children. 
• Unsouled — Will Wight. A special release of the first book in the excellent ‘progression fantasy' Cradle series.
• Hierarchy special editions — James Islington. Matching deluxe editions of The Will of the Many and The Strength of the Few, following Vis through academy intrigue, political secrets, rebellion and looming catastrophe. 
• Six of Crows: A Darker Shore: Letters from Ketterdam — Leigh Bardugo. A Grishaverse short story told through found documents and set after Crooked Kingdom, with removable letters and in-world extras. 

Manga & Graphic Novels

• Witch Hat Atelier: Grimoire Edition — Kamome Shirahama. A deluxe oversized hardback edition of Shirahama’s manga about a girl who discovers magic, creativity and danger; the Grimoire Edition collects multiple volumes with colour pages and bonus content. 
• Lore Olympus: Volume Ten — Rachel Smythe. The tenth collected volume of Smythe’s mythological graphic-novel series, with Hades and Persephone’s wedding finally arriving. 

Literary Fiction and Classics

• Before I Knew I Loved You — Toshikazu Kawaguchi. The sixth Before the Coffee Gets Cold novel, returning to the time-travelling Funiculi Funicula café for another set of reflective, emotionally gentle stories. 
• The King in Yellow — Robert W. Chambers. A cult classic of weird fiction and supernatural horror, centred on a mysterious text that helped influence later cosmic horror. 
• Babel Collector’s Edition — R. F. Kuang, illustrated by Nico Delort. An Oxford-set dark academia novel about translation, empire and revolution, now in a collector’s edition. (Very quick for a special edition on this one – it was only published in 2022 – but it was pretty good!) 
• The Odyssey — Homer. A Harper Muse Painted Edition with wraparound artwork, decorative pull quotes and gold sprayed page edges.
• Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland leporello edition — Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Salvador Dalí. An unusual-format slipcased foldout edition pairing Carroll’s surreal classic with Dalí’s illustrations. 

Mystery, thriller and suspense

• The Heirs — Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé — A YA murder mystery about five gifted heirs, one murdered father and a mansion full of suspects; the publisher pitch is very Inheritance Games meets Knives Out. 

Children and Young-at-heart

• New Puffin Clothbound Classics — various authors. New editions include classics by William Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Johanna Spyri, Oscar Wilde, Gaston Leroux, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Michelle Magorian, Jules Verne and Geraldine McCaughrean’s retelling of The Odyssey.