Best Novel, 2025

The Tainted Cup

Robert Jackson Bennett (opens in a new tab)

Paperback, 419 pages · First published by Del Rey and Hodderscape

An imperial officer is found dead with a tree grown through his body. An eccentric investigator who rarely leaves her house sends her new assistant, who cannot forget anything, to look.

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Also on the ballot

A Sorceress Comes to CallT. KingfisherTorRunner-up
Alien ClayAdrian TchaikovskyOrbit US, Tor UK
Someone You Can Build a Nest InJohn WiswellDAW
Service ModelAdrian TchaikovskyTordotcom
The Ministry of TimeKaliane BradleyAvid Reader Press, Sceptre