Fantasy author Rebecca Yarros dominated adult reading lists at Queens Public Library (QPL) in 2025, claiming the three most checked out titles across the QPL network in a top ten exclusively featuring female authors.
Yarros, whose Empyrean fantasy series is set to be adapted into an Amazon television series, claimed the most checked out title across the QPL network with Onyx Storm, which was the third-most checked out title across the entire city.
Yarros’s Fourth Wing and Iron Flame were the second and third-most checked out titles across QPL locations.
Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures, which explores a friendship between an octopus and a widow who cleans the aquarium where he lives, was the fourth-most checked out title in Queens this year, while R.F. Kuang’s alternative history novel Babel, Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution claimed fifth place in the newly published list.
Kuang featured twice more in the top ten with The Poppy War in seventh and Yellowface in ninth. Barbara Kingslover’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Demon Copperhead (6th), Jeneva Rose’s crime thriller The Perfect Divorce (8th) and Freida McFadden’s revenge thriller The Tenant (10th) rounded out the top ten in Queens.
James, Percival Everett’s reimagining of the iconic The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, was the most checked out title across the city’s three public library systems in 2025, followed by Liz Woods’ drama The God of the Woods in second and Yarros’s Onyx Storm in third.
Queens Public Library Chief Librarian Nick Buron said it was an “exciting” development to see women dominating the top-circulating titles in the QPL network.
Buron also credited social media and other new trends with driving an increased connection between readers and “new voices.” He said checkout data also reflected a growing enthusiasm among readers to explore an author’s body of work.
“In recent years, traditional bestsellers and established authors have been losing their market share as newer voices increasingly connect with readers through social media,” Buron said in a statement. “Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver saw a significant surge following its Pulitzer Prize win, while platforms like BookTok continue to drive strong demand for authors such as Rebecca Yarros, R.F. Kuang, Freida McFadden, and Jeneva Rose.
“Our top checkouts reflect readers’ enthusiasm for both popular fiction genres and critically acclaimed literary works, and we’re also seeing a clear trend of readers discovering an author and then diving into their full body of work, particularly with McFadden, Yarros, and Kuang.”
Meanwhile, the Dog Man and Diary of a Wimpy Kid series dominated the most checked out children’s books in Queens in 2025, with Dog Man featuring in six of the ten most checked out children’s titles and Diary of a Wimpy Kid featuring in the remaining four.
Jeff Kinney’s Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Deep End was the most checked out children’s title in Queens, followed by Dav Pilkey’s Dog Man: Big Jim Begins in second.
Fantasy author Sarah J. Maas dominated in the young adult section, claiming each of the top four most checked out titles, including A Court of Mist and Fury in first. Maas boasted five titles in the top ten, followed closely by Hunger Games author Suzanne Collins with four. Jenny Han was the only other author to place in the top ten in Queens with The Summer I Turned Pretty, which is now a hugely popular Amazon series.
