For the uninitiated, some of the hottest subgenres that have risen to popularity in recent years might sound like Madlibs. Thanks to heavy hitters like Fourth Wing author Rebecca Yarros and A Court of Thrones and Roses author Sarah J. Maas, many bookworms have discovered romantasy -- also known as fantasy with a romantic element.
But as Booktok and Bookstagram aficionados know, that's just the beginning. According to the 2025 State of Reading Report -- which analyzed readers' habits using data collected by the ebook and audiobook site Everand and users' activity on the bookish social media app Fable, 39% of readers discover books through social media (led by more than half of 18-24-year-olds), with many readers' saying that search tools and algorithms "don't get their taste."
And that may be why niche genres are on the rise, too. The report found that 80% of readers have tried a new genre this year, including on-the-rise subgenres like cozy fantasy, cowboy romance, sad girl fiction, dark academia and afrofuturism, among others.
While some of those descriptors -- like cowboy romance -- are more or less self-explanatory, if you're scratching your head at descriptors like "sad girl fiction," "afrofuturism" and "dark academia," we're here to help. Let's break it down.
Afrofuturism is an aesthetic and literary movement that focuses on the intersection of Black history, culture, science fiction and technology, according to a guide by Emory University. The term was first coined by journalist Mark Dery in is 1994 article "Black to the Future: Interviews with Samuel R. Delany, Greg Tate and Tricia Rose" in which the author explains that Afrofuturism is "speculative fiction that treats African-American themes and addresses African-American concerns in the context of twentieth-century technoculture and, more generally, African-American signification that appropriates images of technology and a prosthetically enhanced future."
Authors like Octavia Butler, Nnedi Okorafor, N.K. Jemisin and Tomi Adeyemi are especially known for their Afrofuturism. Check out Children of Blood and Bone by Adeyemi and Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James for great examples.
We have social media to thank for the subgenre known as dark academia. Originally an aesthetic that rose to popularity on TikTok, dark academia books are known for their gothic-leaning tones or themes. Those include classics like Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Grey or E.M. Forester's Maurice. They also typically take place in schools and universities, like in Donna Tartt's The Secret History and R.F. Kuang's Katabasis.
While the term didn't emerge (once again, largely on social media) until a couple of years ago, books that fall under the umbrella of "sad girl fiction" include classics like Sylvia Plath and Joan Didion -- although the latter would likely have rolled her eyes at the designation. Simply put, sad girl fiction centers a protagonist, usually female, who's going through something difficult. The subgenre is often marked by mental health struggles, self-destructive behavior, inner turmoil, unfulfilling or otherwise lacking relationships and an overall sense of melancholy.
There has been much discussion about whether the genre glamorizes or interrogates female pain, or a little of both, or whether books by and about women with feelings that are important enough to be written about needs a label at all. A few books that fall under the sad girl umbrella include Normal People by Sally Rooney, My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, and of course, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath.
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Whether you're totally new to these subgenres or looking for more reading recommendations in an area you already enjoy, give a different avenue a try when stocking your TBR this year. You might just discover a new favorite.
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