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Dragons of 2024 & 2025

The year of the dragon has ended… or has it? The team of Must Read Books has put together a list of 2024 and 2025 dragons books! Which ones have you read? And which ones are you adding to your TBR for the year? Let us know by tagging @jonathanballpublishers on social media!


Dragons of 2024 & 2025

Books from 2024

K.X. Song

This sweeping fantasy adventure inspired by the legend of Mulan follows a young woman determined to choose her own destiny – even if it means going against everyone she loves.

RAISED TO OBEY. DESTINED TO REBEL.

The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry instead – but when she discovers that her husband-to-be is violent and ill-tempered, she decides to take matters into her own hands.

The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.

In the army, Meilin’s hard work brings her recognition, friendship – and a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner.

But as her kingdom barrels towards destruction, Meilin must decide who to trust: Sky, who inspires her loyalty and love; a sea dragon spirit with the power to grant her impossible magic; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew – about her kingdom, her loyalty and her own heart.

Rebecca Yarros

SECRETS. SACRIFICE. SURVIVAL.

Against all odds, Violet Sorrengail made it through her first year at Basgiath War College, but now, the real training begins. The stakes are higher than ever, and a determination to survive won’t be enough this time.

When a powerful new enemy threatens everything she cares about, including the man she loves, Violet must do whatever it takes to keep their secrets safe. One wrong move could have horrifying consequences – and as the web of lies spun by those in charge starts to unravel, nothing, not even dragon fire, may be enough to save them in the end.

THE DEADLY SECOND YEAR AT BASGIATH AWAITS

Sarah A. Parker

As an assassin for the rebellion, Raeve’s job is to complete orders and never get caught. When a rival bounty hunter shatters her world, Raeve finds herself captured by the Guild of Nobles – a group of powerful fae.

Crushed by the loss of his great love, dragon rider Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to quell the never-ebbing ache in his chest, a clue lures him into the capital’s high-security prison where he stumbles upon the imprisoned Raeve …

Together, they seek truths that threaten to unravel everything they knew about their world – and each other.

Bestselling sensation When the Moon Hatched will transport you into a world filled with magic, dragons and a love that blazes through the ages…

Taran Matharu

FROM THE ASHES OF AN EMPIRE, A HERO WILL RISE…

Jai has spent his life forced to serve the cruel empire that killed his family and now rules his people.

To grow ever more powerful, the emperor’s young son is betrothed to Princess Erica of the Dansk Kingdom. An unconquerable realm, where ancient beasts roam. The princess brings with her a priceless gift: dragons. Only Dansk Royalty can bond with these magical beasts to draw on their power and strength. Until now.

When the betrothal goes wrong, a bloody coup leads to chaos at court. Finally, Jai has a chance to escape. He flees with a fierce Dansk warrior, Frida, but not before stealing a dragon egg.

To vanquish the empire, he must do the impossible: bond with a dragon. Only then he can seize his destiny, and seek his revenge …

An epic new fantasy from New York Times bestselling author Taran Matharu, where dragons fly and empires fall.

Karin Lowachee

Méka must capture a king dragon, or die trying.

War between the island states of Kattaka and Mazemoor has left no one unscathed. Méka’s nomadic people, the Ba’Suon, were driven from their homeland by the Kattakans. Those who remained were forced to live under the Kattakan yoke, to serve their greed for gold alongside the dragons with whom the Ba’Suon share an empathic connection.

A decade later and under a fragile truce, Méka returns home from her exile for an ancient, necessary rite: gathering a king dragon of the Crown Mountains to maintain balance in the wild country. But Méka’s act of compassion toward an imprisoned dragon and Lilley, a Kattakan veteran of the war, soon draws the ire of the imperialistic authorities. They order the unwelcome addition of an enigmatic Ba’Suon traitor named Raka to accompany Méka and Lilley to the mountains.

The journey is filled with dangers both within and without. As conflict threatens to reignite, the survival of the Ba’Suon people, their dragons, and the land itself will depend on the decisions – defiant or compliant – that Méka and her companions choose to make. But not even Méka, kin to the great dragons of the North, can anticipate the depth of the consequences to her world.

S.F. Williamson

The most exciting debut of 2025 – an incredible fantasy Dark Academia, perfect for fans of BabelFourth Wing, and the Scholomance trilogy

EVERY FIRE STARTS WITH A SINGLE SPARK.

Welcome to Bletchley Park… with dragons.

London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn’t worried. She’s going to follow the rules, get an internship studying dragon languages, and make sure her little sister never has to risk growing up Third Class. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war.

With her parents arrested and her sister missing, all the safety Viv has worked for is collapsing around her. So when a lifeline is offered in the form of a mysterious ‘job’, she grabs it. Arriving at Bletchley Park, Viv discovers that she has been recruited as a codebreaker helping the war effort – if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn’t, they’ll all die.

At first Viv believes that her challenge, of discovering the secrets of a hidden dragon language, is doable. But the more she learns, the more she realises that the bubble she’s grown up in isn’t as safe as she thought, and eventually Viv must decide: What war is she really fighting?

An epic, sweeping fantasy with an incredible Dark Academia setting, a clandestine, slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance, and an unputdownable story, filled with twists and turns, betrayals and secret identities, A Language of Dragons is the unmissable debut of 2025, from an extraordinary new voice.

Rebecca Yarros

Get ready for the breathtaking follow-up to global phenomenons Fourth Wing and Iron Flame from the no. 1 Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Yarros.

ARE YOU READY TO BRAVE THE DARK?

After nearly eighteen months at Basgiath War College, Violet Sorrengail knows there’s no more time for lessons. No more time for uncertainty. Because the battle has truly begun, and with enemies closing in from outside their walls and within their ranks, it’s impossible to know who to trust.

Now Violet must journey beyond the failing Aretian wards to seek allies from unfamiliar lands to stand with Navarre. The trip will test every bit of her wit, luck, and strength, but she will do anything to save what she loves – her dragons, her family, her home, and him.

Even if it means keeping a secret so big, it could destroy everything.

They need an army. They need power. They need magic. And they need the one thing only Violet can find – the truth.

But a storm is coming… and not everyone can survive its wrath.

A.T. Qureshi

When Saphira opens her cafe welcoming pet baby dragons, she isn’t expecting it to be quite so hard to keep the fires burning. But her young dragon patrons keep incinerating her furniture, which means selling coffee isn’t covering all her costs.

Local heart-throb Aiden is a gardener, though his disobedient baby dragon is a major distraction from his beloved plants. However, Saphira’s café gives him an idea – he’ll ask Saphira to train his dragon, and pay her enough to keep the cafe afloat.

They know they’re the answer to each other’s problems, but happy-go-lucky Saphira and gorgeous-but-grumpy Aiden couldn’t be more different. Can they find a way to work together – and maybe even ignite some fire of their own?

The perfect dual POV, grumpy sunshine cozy fantasy, with HEA guaranteed!

Tropes:

  • Grumpy x Sunshine 🌞
  • We pretend we’re married! 💍
  • Small town 🍂
  • Low spice ✨
Karin Lowachee

Sephihalé ele Janan sits in a prison cell in the southern island of Mazemoor, dreaming of escape. After months in a provisional prison for fighting for the imperial Kattakans, Janan is sponsored by another refugee who was once a part of his scattered family. Yearning to build a life on his sister’s land with the dragons their people revere, the peace Janan seeks is threatened by a ruthless dragon baron who covets both Janan’s connection to the earth and the battle dragon to which he is covenanted.

The conflict may drive Janan to acts of violence he hoped to leave behind in the war, and bring more death to the land Janan now calls home.

The Desert Talon is a story of two groups of people who, despite a common ancestry, have diverged so far in their beliefs that there appears to be little mutual ground—and the conflict may well start to unravel the burgeoning hopes of a country, and a man, still recovering from the ravages of war.

Coming March 2025

K.X. Song

Forged in battle. Her legend begins.
A young woman who wields the power of the dragon must decide where her loyalties lie – and where her heart belongs – in this enthralling re-imagining of the legend of Mulan.

The war may be over, but Hai Meilin is still paying a heavy toll. Upon her return to Anlai, she is cast into prison. Her crime? Wielding a sword as a woman.

In the palace, Meilin is a pariah. But beyond the imperial walls, her legend has taken on a life of its own. To the east, a rebel leader needs Meilin to helm his revolution. In the south, a former enemy prince seeks her aid in restoring balance to the Three Kingdoms. And back home, Liu Sky, Meilin’s commander and first love, wants Meilin by his side in his bid for the throne.

Pulled in all directions, Meilin vows that this time she will not be so quick to trust. Yet there is one she cannot help but listen to – for he dwells within her.

The sea dragon Qinglong has his own plans. During the war, Meilin wielded his power to cheat death and gain victory; now he has come to collect his dues. Meilin’s mother warned her long ago: the spirits demand blood. And Qinglong is ravenous.

Coming Late 2025

Sarah A. Parker

Raeve and Kaan will return in the highly anticipated sequel to the #1 internationally bestselling phenomenon, When The Moon Hatched. Prepare for more danger, magic, romance and dragons!

Coming Late 2025

Taran Matharu

The epic sequel to Taran Matharu’s instant Sunday Times bestseller, Dragon Rider, in which empires fall and dragons soar…

‘A dazzlingly epic and richly complex world of dragons, magic, and rebellion’ Amélie Wen Zhao on Dragon Rider

Jai dreams of being a dragon rider. He dreams of freedom from the Sabine Empire and a world in which he can lead his people, the Kidara, to freedom. But even though he has his dragon, Winter, she is still growing, just as he’s still growing in his own power. And the road to victory is even more fraught than he had hoped…

Because even when he finds a tribe on the Great Steppe, they are not his people. They are the outcasts, the Tainted, and he finds that he knows little of the political intricacies that take place in these vast grasslands. He is a stranger amongst his own kind, for Jai’s uncle rules, and is loath to cede power to his nephew.

But the legionaries and Gryphon Guard of the Sabine Empire are wreaking havoc against the other tribes of the Great Steppe, and Jai is forced to learn a lifetime’s worth of knowledge in a matter of months. From levelling up his magic, to becoming a true warrior, saving the woman he loves, and strengthening his bond with Winter, Jai is a dragon rider with a massive weight on his young shoulders. And his greatest hope is that the shoulders of Winter will soon be strong enough to help carry him.

Coming 2025

Elise Kova

Every teen, in the final human stronghold of a blighted land, is subject to brutal tests designed to separate the dragon hunters from the dragon cursed, and one young woman, declared a hero reborn, must fight for her life amidst growing suspicions that there is more to this curse than meets the eye…

Coming Late 2025

A.T. Qureshi

The perfect cosy fantasy read for fans of Legends and Lattes and Pumpkin Spice Cafe!

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