Although fantasy stories have existed since before the written word, they have gone out of fashion throughout history. but the 21st century has been a particularly fruitful time for fantasy literature, with j.k. Rowling’s Harry Potter series marks the beginning of an era in which both publishers are willing to take a chance on new fantasy writers and readers opening themselves up to worlds of magic. many readers have returned from movies like the lord of the rings franchise or television series like game of thrones to their origins in fantasy novels, seeking new authors after devouring to j.r.r. tolkien and g.r.r. martin’s books.
If you’re looking for your new favorite fantasy series, we’ve got you covered. We’ve rounded up paste editors and writers to compile a list of our favorite books in the genre, ranging from high-fantasy worlds with disparate systems of magic to simple fantasy fables and urban fantasies filled with characters ripped straight out . of the realities themselves.
You are reading: Best contemporary fantasy books
This list includes everything from young adult novels brimming with magic and violence to high fantasy epics chronicling war and drama. We’ve limited our selections to two books per author, and these books include entries in multivolume series, stand-alone novels, and a collection of short stories. Nearly 150 titles received at least one vote, but we’ve narrowed it down to 50 books that we wholeheartedly recommend.
here are the 50 best fantasy books of the 21st century:
50. stormfront by jim butcher (2000)
Jim Butcher places fantasy elements on top of hard mysteries, following Magician-for-Hire and Chicago P.D. consultant harry dresden—more philip marlowe than albus dumbledore. In the debut entry of the dresden files, the Stormfront of 2000, our rubber shoe wizard must solve a series of murders to avoid being blamed or become the next victim, all while trying to reverse his bad luck with women and his inability to pay his bills. is a gritty, pulpy, fun genre game spanning 15 books in 15 years. —josh jackson
49. the princess academy by shannon hale (2005)
Before Tiana found success through her sharp and arduous business skills, before Merida saved her kingdom through cunning diplomacy rather than marriage, before Anna and Elsa made up the idea of a prince an afterthought by saving each other with brotherly love, and before anna found her own magic talking rocks, there was shannon hale’s non-princess miri, who earned a rookie honor with her use of business acumen, diplomatic finesse and he speaks of magical rocks to unite the quarry girls of mount eskel village first in an existential battle against Tutor Olana’s strict court tutelage, and then in a battle for their lives against his winter trap by bandits. from the mountains. sure, it’s called princess academy, and sure, it promises a ruthless girl fight for the hand of a prince, but don’t play around writing this diamond of a story assuming none of those things could turn into a compelling, multi-dimensional framework for a fantastic, fantastic story of human ingenuity and resilience. Miri will steal your heart. —alexis gunderson
48. all the birds in the sky by charlie jane anders (2016)
Magic collides with science, sometimes violently, in Charlie Jane Anders’ highly imaginative sci-fi/fantasy hybrid (they don’t conflate or merge; there are two different threads, one in each camp). Two social outcasts, a budding witch and a boy who will grow up to be a tech whiz, meet at school, become friends, drift apart, and eventually have to team up to save the world. Besides, cats talk. there is some unevenness in tone; it oscillates between the absurd and the deadly serious, between the allegorical and the dramatic, which might confuse some readers, and the middle section sinks a bit. but the sheer exuberance of the language and the unfettered fantasy of the concept are more than enough to make up for that. This book is a celebration of ambiguity, and one that transcends “genre fiction” with its luminous prose and inventive hybridization of two distinct genres. has its flaws but is a joy to read: quirky, nerdy yet modern, eccentric and profoundly intelligent, All the Birds in the Sky is a book that, like its author, resists categorization and is stronger thus. It’s not necessarily a book for hard-core science fiction or fantasy purists, but an essential one for people who like smart writers to refuse to bow to convention and create their own. —amy glynn
47. daughter of smoke & bone by laini taylor (2011)
There is much to praise in daughter of smoke & by laini taylor; bone, from the richness of the various settings to the surprising newness of the premise and the sleight of hand that will make you look at hands, teeth, hair, puppets and goulash with whole new eyes, but the top thing you’re likely to take away from this reading experience is: gosh, what beautiful prose. laini taylor is a word-mad sorceress in everything she writes, but this mysterious, multi-generational epic fantasy battle between star-crossed lovers, stretching between the cobblestone streets of prague and an equally wealthy (if war-torn) parallel kingdom war) is the perfect setting for his abilities. Until the last chapter reveals the secret of Karou’s past and sets up the story (and setting) wildly different from the remaining books in the trilogy, it’s also a remarkably strong stand-alone read. Although, good luck trying to avoid devouring Karou’s entire story and Taylor’s words, once it’s started. —alexis gunderson
46. the abyss surrounds us by emily skrutskie (2016)
An exciting lgbtq+ novel that combines elements of science fiction and fantasy, The Abyss Surrounds Us takes place in a world where a teenage girl’s family raises monstrous beasts that defend ships from pirates. like monsters the size of the Pacific coast. Unfortunately for our young protagonist, she is captured by pirates on her first mission and is forced to raise a monster for them. you will devour this novel and its 2017 sequel on the edge of the abyss. —eric smith
45. uprooted by naomi novik (2015)
witnessing agnieszka’s burgeoning confidence is a big part of the joy of naomi novik’s quiet, lyrical uprooted fantasy novel, more interested in its few characters than building a complex world of fantasy. A feared wizard who is not what he seems, a corrupted forest ruled by an ancient and evil forest queen, and a charming protagonist made this 2015 standalone novel a Nebula Award winner that inspired a bidding war for its film rights. (Warner Bros. won and hired Ellen Degeneres to produce.) —josh jackson
44. thief of time by terry pratchett (2002)
the discworld books manage to lampoon just about every subject under the sun while presenting a fully formed and innovative fantasy world in the style of middle-earth or west. There were always jokes, but Pratchett was still a better storyteller than he was a satirist. in thief of time, time is something made by the monks of the story. they assign it as they see fit until it occurs to some upstart that time must stop dead in its tracks. there is even more room for philosophical inquiry here than in other parts of the series. —mack hayden
43. the girl who circumnavigated fairyland in a ship she made herself by catherynne m. valent (2009)
catherynne valente is an eccentric indie fantasy legend, but while her standalone adult novels are terrific, most people probably know her for her young adult fairyland series, and with good reason. . . follows the early adventures through the portal to fairyland of the overly intelligent preteen in mid-September and her new best friend wyverary, a-through-l, the girl who circumnavigated fairyland in a ship his own creation is a painfully true meditation on the confusing and exciting pain of growing up, all wrapped up in sheer intelligence and fantasy. and while the plot can sometimes seem too lullingly bland, the characters and settings are so painstakingly, superbly drawn, and each sentence so meticulously and luminously crafted, that a perceptive reader is unlikely to be bored. adults will find a thousand things to love in this world, but a voracious book-loving child, for whom this series will feel like a gift from the universe, will find fourteen hundred. Do yourself a favor and share September’s fairyland growing pains with all the kids you love. —alexis gunderson
42. the land of the wizard by lev grossman (2014)
while the shorthand description of lev grossman’s wizards trilogy was “grown up harry potter”, it ignored two facts: 1. harry potter was already grown up. 2. Despite its magical school setting, the series owes more to the wonder of c.s. Lewis’s Narnia Series than J.K. rowling’s books There’s plenty of college-age angst in the first entry, but as the focus shifts from the university of brakebills to magical pedagogy to the fantastical world of padding, captured in a set of children’s books that have long fascinated the young protagonist quentin coldwater, lev grossman opens his heart. each book cares a little more about its characters, who face the same struggles for meaning and purpose as the rest of us, culminating in 2014’s land of the wizard. magic corrupts as much as it helps to draw its practitioners out of their gloomy existences. Nostalgia for fillory’s stories can’t hide the darkness in his heart. The loss of that innocence, being kicked out of his own fantastical Garden of Eden, sends Quentin spiraling out of control in a convoluted sequence of events that wind up intertwining in unexpected ways. the syfy tv series based on these books is a fun, sometimes sharply written spin on grossman’s characters, basic plot points, and overarching themes, but it misses the density and complexity of modern human struggle that found in this trilogy. —josh jackson
41. seraphina by rachel hartman (2012)
“The right note tentatively played still misses the mark, but play it boldly and no one will question you,” says 16-year-old half-dragon seraphina. “If one believes that there is truth in art, and I do, then it is worrying how similar the ability to act is to lying. perhaps lying is itself a kind of art. I think about it more than I should.” dragons are a mainstay of fantasy as a genre, but rarely as complex sentient beings that are integral to a story’s interpersonal dramas, which is how rachel hartman frames her coolly calculated shape-shifting dragons in seraphina and its complementary books. . everything about seraphina’s world is novel and compelling, but while the dragon-human political dramas and various ground and air battles are exciting, it’s the central importance of art and music in dragon-human relations in public, and in the Seraphina’s constant tension in private. , that will keep you unable to stop thinking about what it means to be human and what we owe each other, long after you’ve finished the series. —alexis gunderson
40. leviathan by scott westerfeld (2009)
Scott Westerfield’s alternate history, dystopian steam-punk trilogy is also full of fantastic beasts, which is enough to qualify it for this list. but it’s its imaginative retelling of the first world war from the perspective of the young heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire and a girl pretending to be a boy in the British air service that makes it worthy of a place. The Clankers (Germans and other Central Powers) rely on steam-powered robots and futuristic machines to fight the manufactured animals that the Darwinists (the UK, France, Russia and their allies) use as weapons in war. Written for young adults, Leviathan and its sequels Behemoth and Goliath are entertaining for all ages. —josh jackson
39. egg & spoon by gregory maguire (2014)
The overlap of readers who would count both diana wynne jones and nikolai vasilievich gogol in their top ten might be slim, but for those who fall within it, egg & by Gregory Maguire; Spoon, a Jonesian-Gogolian romp through Russian folklore that comes very close to proving that heaven is real and that all of mankind’s greatest geniuses are there spending their eternities in the most fantastical creative collaborations and then whispering them. through earthly vessels for our collective enjoyment, it is but the physical manifestation of the wildest dream you never knew you had. for everyone not in that little jones & gogol obsessives—that is, most readers—egg & Spoon’s immersion in the baba yaga-centric mythology of ancient Rus paganism remains a playfully bizarre Fabergé egg, opening a window into a popular tradition infrequently explored in English-language fantasy, and in doing so a way that reflects the wryly nihilistic voice and passionately melancholy soul of the Russian literary tradition with almost shocking accuracy. —alexis gunderson
38. crooked kingdom by leigh bardugo (2016)
Six of Crows, the first book in the bardugo duology, is often compared to a fantasy version of ocean’s eleven and follows a gang of teenagers who They execute a robbery. and if six of crows is the heist, then crooked kingdom is the glorious getaway. Do you want to read about a great plan that includes magic, fighting and all the pleasures of fantasy? these books are for you. And one of the really cool things about this duology is that if you haven’t read the previous books (the Grisha Trilogy) that take place in the fantasy world of Bardugo, you can still dive right in. —eric smith
37. grace of kings by ken liu
game of thrones comparisons abound in epic fantasy and are often more of a burden than a blessing, but ken liu’s grace of kings can be one of the few fantasy tomes to win. that comparison favorably. The first volume in the Dandelion Dynasty series, Grace of Kings follows the diminutive Kuni Garu, a charming bandit, and the towering Mata Zyndu, the determined son from a deposed family bloodline, while suffering under, and eventually helping to overthrow, a tyrannical ruler. But what sounds like a spoiler is actually a prelude to Liu’s true plot, as these two meet with opposing views on how to establish justice in this new world. liu, who also translated the first volume of the popular chinese science fiction novel the three body problem, draws on asian inspirations but creates a fantasy world that feels completely original, not like a amalgamation of existing ones. Cultures The Wall of Storms, Liu’s sequel, masterfully builds on the seeds planted in the first volume, and readers should catch up now before the trilogy’s imminent conclusion. —steve foxe
36. joe abercrombie’s own blade (2006)
See Also: 5 Great Web Design Books to Read for Beginners | WebFX
“The blade itself incites acts of violence,” Homer wrote in The Odyssey. And while Logen Ninefingers is unlikely to read Homer, even if there were a Homer in his rugged Northland, he’d probably agree with that sentiment. The “Bloody Nine” can’t seem to escape the violence of their lives, even after joining the much more civilized Bayaz, the first of the wizards. Joe Abercrombie’s fantasy world may feel like an amalgamation of places you’ve visited before in your reading, but the characters feel fully realized and the storytelling is taut, avoiding an over-reliance on fantasy trappings and delivering a gripping and engaging story. emaciated. —josh jackson
35. the winner’s kiss by marie rutkoski (2016)
rutkoski’s winner’s kiss bids us farewell to a beloved fantasy series, the winner’s trilogy. I’ll avoid spoilers for those of you who haven’t delved into the series, but Rutkoski’s lush fantasy romance takes place in a world of politics, war, and intrigue. It is also a story of forbidden love between the privileged daughter of a general and a teenager from a class of people that her father has conquered. From the music to the dances to the swoon-filled romances, this is a beautiful series that the community is already sad to see go. But we can’t wait to see what Rutkoski writes next. —eric smith
34. a dance with dragons by george r.r. martin (2011)
if a feast for crows is when a song of ice and fire expanded to almost unmanageable proportions for an author, causing george r.r. martin to divide the book geographically in two, a dance with dragons was the beneficiary of the most interesting plot lines. Devoid of the goings-on in Dorne, the Iron Isles, and the Vale, the fifth novel features Tyrion’s adventures in the Free Cities, Daenerys’s struggles to control her city or her dragons, and Cersei’s path of shame. . It took Martin 11 years to publish the pair of books that span a single timeline. so it shouldn’t be much of a surprise that we’re still waiting for the sixth installment in 2018. —josh jackson
33. a torch against the night by sabaa tahir (2016)
the gripping sequel to an ember in the ashes, a torch against the night by sabaa tahir expands on a magical and chilling world inspired by ancient rome. book two avoids the sophomore slump, prioritizing character development and increasingly wacky stakes to keep your adrenaline pumping. And Tahir continues to tackle serious topics like slavery and government corruption with a vengeance, proving that compelling fantasy stories that explore real-world issues are not only entertaining but essential when done right. —frannie jackson
32. the strange and beautiful sorrows of ava lavender by leslye walton (2014)
Not to fall prey to hyperbole, but the strange and beautiful sorrows of ava lavender is none other than a forcefully written Pacific Northwest cousin of 100 Years of Solitude i> . While marketed as a young adult, the book’s changing narrators: In the introduction, a venerable Ava tells “her” story of hers, beginning with her great-grandfather and the reasons she moved her family from France to Manhattan; then the story of ava’s grandmother (and her siblings) and her moving west; then the story of ava’s mother (and her loves) and her life in seattle; And finally, only in the last quarter of the book, the harrowing story of Ava’s own teenage experience with angel wings; makes it clear that this is not the story of a teenager, but of a magically cursed line of lavender women. the harrowing climax is frustratingly predictable, but the beautiful and strange journey here is what matters. —alexis gunderson
31. the obelisk gate by n.k. jemisín (2016)
the second hugo award winning book at n.k. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy proves that sequels can be just as riveting when done right. The Obelisk Gate features everything that made Season 5 great: a brilliant magic system, three-dimensional female characters, world-ending stakes, and the raise it to 11. jemisin consistently blends riveting character development with intense action, continuing an epic fantasy that demands your full attention. —frannie jackson
30. lirael from garth nix (2015)
when sabriel was released in 1995 and, through sabriel’s loathed “chosen” with a bell, presented readers with an entirely new, deeply humanistic, and alarmingly weaponized way of imagining the necromancy, it was clear that a modern classic had been born. Which wasn’t clear, at least until Nix returned six years later with a legacy-building sequel that follows Sabriel’s as-yet-undiscovered half-sister through her failed training as a clayr and the discovery of her own necromantic powers. , was that the world of the haters had many more quietly harrowing stories to tell. Fortunately, lirael and all of her messy and eager necromantic/remembrance powers showed up, and with them, all the necessary elements to keep a grand epic fantasy going indefinitely. —alexis gunderson
29. night watch by terry pratchett (2002)
one could be forgiven for having a hard time making heads or stories for terry pratchett’s extensive discworld series, looking from the outside in. complicated and variable in terms of how interesting they really are, but most fantasy fans would agree that entries that focus on ankh-morpork city clock are among the strongest and rewarding. In particular, watch captain samuel vimes’ journey is perhaps pratchett’s best overall character arc, which is one of the reasons night watch is so enjoyable: you need a character who already we know and love and then delves into his story in ways the reader wouldn’t have thought possible. Dipping a toe into what is essentially a sci-fi premise and pushing Vimes back in time (and into contact with an earlier version of himself), Pratchett extracts the unreliability of his own character’s prior narrative. when referring to the past. Like the best of Pratchett’s work, numerous threads weave together in a wild crescendo of conclusion, restoring things more or less as they were, with a few subtle changes that will continue to pay dividends in future novels. This was always one of Pratchett’s greatest strengths, even as he crafted a successful stand-alone story, he constantly thought about how his actions could have a ripple effect on additional stories in the future. —jim vorel
28. tuesday at the castle by jessica day george (2011)
in his charming mid-grade castle glower series, which begins with Tuesdays at the Castle and concludes five books later with Saturdays at Sea i> , jessica day george has managed to bottle pure and concentrated charm. The heroine of the series is Celie, the youngest daughter of the King and Queen, who has made it her mission to finally map out an official and comprehensive compendium of the various floor plans, secret rooms and hidden comforts of their magically changing castle. what begins as an inquisitive boy’s adventure through sentient and fantastical architecture turns into a fantasy portal revolving around ancient inter-kingdom political drama and the endangered status of a woefully underused mythical creature (surprise ). while the entire short and light-hearted series is worth watching, Tuesdays at the Castle is a satisfying gem of a stand-alone book, a modern classic that belongs on everyone’s shelf right next to the castle. howl’s walker. —alexis gunderson
27. jonathan strange & Mr. norrell by susanna clarke (2004)
susanna clarke’s debut historical fantasy imagines a 19th century world in which a pair of practical wizards revive the tradition of english magic. jonathan strange serves as an apprentice to mr. Gilbert Norrell, but the two men couldn’t be more different in temperament or in their views on magic, particularly the role of the Raven King. As their rivalry intensifies, so do the dangers of the fairy world they’ve entered. the 782-page novel includes copious footnotes that follow one rabbit hole after another. It is a distinctly English work, reminiscent of both Jane Austen and J.R.R. Tolkein and offering a world of moral complexity, never shying away from the darkness of men’s souls. —josh jackson
26. the end of the spindle by robin mckinley (2000)
Robin Mckinley takes on an old-fashioned fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty, and transforms it into a magical novel that gives the princess agency. Although Ella Rosie grows up in the shadow of a curse, she proves to be a fierce, brave and energetic woman who seeks to save herself and the kingdom from her. Beyond Rosie, Spindle’s End is packed with even more three-dimensional female characters who constantly defy damsel-in-distress tropes. This captivating story offers a refreshing adventure, revealing that female friendships and high-stakes action go hand in hand in fantasy. —frannie jackson
25. the king of attolia by megan whalen turner (2006)
eugenides, the scheming hero-thief played by megan whallen turner, may have pulled the rug out from under fantasy readers in 1996’s the thief, but his unreliably narrated adventures didn’t end there. Moving away from Gen’s perspective in 2000’s sequel, The Queen of Attolia, Turner gave his already duped fans more twists and turns to trip over, but he was in Queen’s Thief > the third installment in the series, the king of attolia from 2006, in which he takes the reader even further away from the heads of gen and attolia, it became clear how clever his writing is and how little we can never know about the motivations of Eugenides. To say more is to spoil one of the most unnerving fantasy roller coasters of a first-reading experience: the story’s narrative structures build themselves several steps behind the reader, leaving us constantly surprised to discover where things have gone as we read, having no idea, but once you’ve reached the (temporary) end of the series, knowing where gen ends in the king of attolia will only make you want to start over new at the beginning. —alexis gunderson
24. lost street station from china miéville (2000)
a wingless bird-man approaches a human scientist who wants to fly again. the scientist inadvertently breeds a monstrous killer moth while trying to restore the birdman to flight, and the scientist’s insectoid girlfriend is captured by a mob boss who wants to milk the moth for a hallucinogenic substance. If that basic description made you feel like you’ve consumed a hallucinogen yourself, then China Miéville’s nearly 900-page fantasy caper will confuse or absorb you like nothing else, or both. Set in the bas-lag world that’s home to some of Miéville’s other stories, Lost Street Station blends Victorian steampunk aesthetics with a thriving, weird take on magic, here called “thaumaturgy.” miéville’s worldbuilding is fast and furious, but almost always rooted in the physical in a way that makes even the strangest of concepts come to tangible life. lost street station swept the nominations for the world awards for speculative fiction in 2000 and 2001, and took home a trophy from the british fantasy society, among others, announcing miéville as one of the most daring and innovative voices of the fantasy of this millennium. . —steve foxe
23. continue by rainbow rowell (2015)
everything about rainbow rowell’s “hogwarts, but gay” indie, continue, seems impossible: it’s the end of rowell’s novel-length slash-fic for the fictional simon snow a “chosen” series of magic schools she created for the main character of her new adult contemporary novel, fangirl, to write an anonymous fan-fic, and yet gloriously, gleefully, gleefully does work, almost like a literal charm. simon and baz, though they’re there primarily to pin down an entire novel of slash-fic hopes and dreams, are compellingly multi-dimensional, their ill-fated romance managing to be both honestly stunning and necessary to make sense of the larger magical plot, whose form in this, the end of a series that does not exist, is left to the reader to infer mainly from the rest of the negative space of the narrative. Not that the plot matters much in the end, you’re just supposed to have fun spending some time in the magical world of simon and baz. And in Rowell’s magical hands, you do. —alexis gunderson
22. Saladin Ahmed’s Crescent Moon Throne (2012)
That epic fantasy favors Eurocentric influences is an understatement of the size of the Tolkein family estate; Enter Saladin Ahmed’s throne of the crescent moon for a masterclass in getting your fantasy from historical periods other than medieval europe. Drawing heavily on Middle Eastern mythology, throne of the crescent moon follows doctor adoulla makhslood, a pot-bellied ghoul hunter past his prime who is pushed out of impending retirement by an evil plot brewing in the royal palace. Ahmed, who has found success writing for Marvel Comics and Boom! studios, surrounds the doctor with a diverse cast, including a resourceful married couple, a shape-shifting tribal woman with nothing to lose, and an honor-bound dervish warrior. sadly, ahmed’s attention seems to have shifted entirely to comics at the moment, and the proposed second two books in the the crescent moon kingdoms series have failed to materialize in the six years since throne of the crescent moon hit the shelves. Since this locus-award-winning first volume is a stand-alone, the lack of sequels doesn’t mar our hearty recommendation. —steve foxe
21. Neil Gaiman’s Coraline (2002)
You have to give Neil Gaiman a credit: he excels when it comes to putting together a tantalizing fantasy/adventure lark gone dark. This modern Alice in Wonderland starts off pretty charming, with precocious Coraline Jones and her parents moving into a mansion filled with wacky roommates and a talking cat. But the stakes are raised when a monstrous entity posing as Coraline’s mother kidnaps the girl’s real parents, leaving Coraline with the help of strange allies in the ghosts of children trapped by the “other mother” spell. . Grotesque levels spike particularly high on the fear meter for horror fans as Coraline has to figure out (and eventually fight) her way to conquering this intensely fearsome foe. —jeff milo
20. the path of shadows by brent weeks (2008)
The orphan struggling to survive in the poorest neighborhood in the poorest city may be something of a fantasy trope, but there are few characters quite like Azoth, put out of his misery by the city’s greatest killer, Durzo Blint. . There is very little that is black and white in the seedy underworld of Brentweeks’ Night Angel trilogy with its murderous protagonists with hearts of low-carat gold, conniving sympathetic prostitutes and brutal youths. mobsters and somehow all three books were published between october and december 2008, just a little fact to depress fans of patrick rothfuss and george r.r. Martin. —josh jackson
19. a corner of white by jaclyn moriarty (2013)
it’s hard to describe jaclyn moriarty’s colors of madeline trilogy, beginning with 2013’s a corner of white and presenting a magical parallel universe where the winds of colors can calm or terrify entire cities and a homeschool story report about isaac newton as the central plot point. It’s kind of a fantasy, except Madeline’s non-magical earth world is made up of TV shows and crushes between schoolmates, and Elliot’s cello wizarding world has high school computers, cars, and ball games. it’s kind of like a portal story, except the portal is as big as a mail slot. it is a kind of epistolary history, except that most of the history is written in prose. it’s kind of a quest novel, except most of the characters needed for the quest don’t know the rest exist. it’s sort of, fantastically, everything, nothing you’d expect, all of which you’ll love. —alexis gunderson
18. a memory of light by robert jordan and brandon sanderson (2013)
See Also: Newsom jabs red states for banning book pulled in California – Times-Herald
robert jordan’s long and beloved 14-book wheel of time series could have, at times, used a more ruthless publisher. But if he creeps in the middle, he finishes strong, thanks to an assist from Brandon Sanderson, who took over the series following Jordan’s untimely death in 2007 at the age of 58. a memory of light gave us a satisfying ending to the epic high fantasy saga. Our heroes from the sleepy town of Two Rivers and their motley cast of allies have their moments to shine. Jordan’s complex mythologies, prophecies, stories, battles, and magic systems are closely knit together in the monumental final entry. —josh jackson
17. the cheat queen by tamora pierce (2004)
tamora pierce has been building her fantastical world of tortall for over 30 years (alanna de trebond, later to become the lioness, first hit our shelves in 1983), but it wasn’t until the world anti-slavery, anti-colonialism the daughter of the lioness duology appeared in 2003 (trickster’s election) and 2004 (trickster’s queen) which began to drill deep by interrogating the real and the complex injustices that arise in a world whose political realities require knights and heroes and magical quests in the first place. Following Alanna’s teenage daughter Aly as a rogue mission to prove her mettle as a spy results in her being captured and enslaved along with the native Raka on the Luarin-colonized Copper Islands, which in turn results in Hired by the trickster god, kyprioth, to keep two sisters of the raka royal line safe from luarin’s scheming machinations in anticipation of an all-out raka rebellion: trickster’s choice and trickster’s queen are satisfyingly complex, surprisingly romantic, and convincingly progressive. Furthermore, while they’re full of Pierce’s trademark Tortollian magic, they’re eminently enjoyable on their own, even for readers unfamiliar with Tortoll and Alanna the Lioness. —alexis gunderson
16. who fears death by nnedi okorafor (2010)
that fears death is, in short, dazzling. Set in post-nuclear holocaust Africa, the novel follows a son of rape destined to become a powerful sorcerer. nnedi okorafor uses her beautiful prose to dissect topics that many avoid (sexual violence, genocide, war, religion), resulting in a riveting saga that chronicles one woman’s extraordinary life. Trust us, Who’s Afraid of Death is a necessary read for the fantasy canon. —frannie jackson
15. six of crows by leigh bardugo (2015)
Set two years after the end of leigh bardugo’s grisha trilogy, six of crows is impossible to put down, featuring an inspiring fantasy world in the it’s easy to get lost. The novel takes you back to his fantasy kingdom of Ketterdam, with a ragtag group of outcasts who must pull off a big heist. the result is a fast-paced story that will keep you turning the (beautifully designed) pages for hours. And if you haven’t read the original Bardugo trilogy, don’t worry! six of crows stands on its own. —eric smith
14. the sage’s fear by patrick rothfuss (2011)
book two in what we all hope will eventually be a trilogy, the wise man’s fear continues kvothe’s story of how he went from an orphaned musician to a feared wizard, to a murderer from kings to a humble innkeeper. After pleading a charge of association with demonic powers, he takes a break from his university studies and his adventures include a trip to the land of fairies, where he has been seduced by the Felurian nymph. It may not be the masterpiece (which you’ll find below), but it’s still one of the best books in fantasy literature and more than enough to have fans searching for every hint of a publication date for the third book. —josh jackson
13. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by j.k. rowling (2005)
in the 2000s, the harry potter novels became the rare series read by fantasy fans and non-fans, book lovers and non-book lovers, basically everyone on planet Earth. harry, hermione and ron captured our collective hearts even as they argued and lost trust in one another. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the coming-of-age story drew out all the difficulties of adolescence, from young love to overconfidence in one’s own wisdom and blank worldview and black without blinking. Harry comes to believe that his dual enemies at Hogwarts, Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape, are in direct league with Lord Voldemort, something he is only partially right about. Snape finally won the job he’s coveted all these years, defending against the dark arts professor, and Malfoy brags about a mission the dark lord has entrusted to him. Meanwhile, Harry trusts a mysterious former student’s notes in his Potions book, and Ron’s jealousy drives him into his first pointless romance, driving a wedge between him and Hermione. the books grew along with their characters and their readers, raising the stakes and thrills in the best-selling book series in history. —josh jackson
12. a storm of swords by george r.r. martin (2000)
No author does Machiavellian political intrigue like George R.R. Martin. In the third installment of the A Song of Ice and Fire series made famous by HBO’s Game of Thrones, the brutality of Westeros reaches new heights. This is the novel that contains the Red Wedding, the imprisonment of Davos Seaworth and Tyrion, and the mutiny against the Commander of the Night’s Watch. But if Martin can be accused of a lack of empathy for his protagonists, it’s a trait that only makes the reader love them all the more and keeps us all glued to the page. when one of our favorite characters dies, we fear for the next. And one thing these books don’t lack is intriguing characters. Jon Snow, Arya Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Daenerys Targaryen – these names will remain iconic figures in fantasy literature long after many of the books on this list are out of print. —josh jackson
11. the night circus by erin morgenstern (2011)
a romeo & A Juliet-esque love story between two powerful young wizards who can actually do real magic, everything about Morgenstern’s debut novel is impressive. The royal night circus is a traveling show, a secret that comes every year, and in this year’s traveling company, these two magicians in love face each other without knowing it, their lives are at stake. because the people they have studied with and trusted all these years are using them as pieces in a game. With various narratives weaving in and out of the magical romance, Morgenstern expertly weaves a beautiful novel-like tapestry, towering as high as the tops in the fictional circus. the night circus is a place and a book that you will want to visit again and again. —eric smith
10. the city of bronze by s.a. chakraborty (2017)
A newer book on the list, the city of bronze released in late 2017, and is the first book in chakraborty’s daevabad trilogy. but it has already earned a place as one of the best and most memorable fantasy novels we have ever read. Set in the 18th century, readers meet Nahri, a skilled con artist who swindles her way through life…until she makes a mistake with magical consequences. she summons a djinn warrior and finds herself thrown into a magical, mythical world she never knew existed. and in the heart of that world, there is the city of bronze, a place called daevabad. It is here that she gets caught up in the growing tensions between the djinn tribes, and her incredible adventure takes off. With lush world-building and prose that’s impossible to walk away from, it’s a refreshingly original take on a fantasy world that draws from the largely untapped world of Islamic folklore. —eric smith
9. cloud atlas by david mitchell (2004)
david mitchell’s cloud atlas is a formal masterpiece, a book whose structure is an essential part of its story. that’s not an easy trick to pull off without coming off as a braggart or pulling readers out of the narrative to examine the plumbing or just plain alienating, but it does it beautifully. a kind of mirror-plated Chinese box, the structure of the story is inspired by Italo Calvino’s if on a winter’s night a traveler, which contains several interrupted narratives in a nested sequence, each connected to the next by a single character from the previous one. a 19th-century American lawyer meets Maori and missionaries in England; a young British composer in the 1930s convinces a dying luminary to make him his amanuensis; the lover of the young composer ends up being a nuclear scientist in the 70s in california; a journalist with a target on her back; a vanity editor; a slave of a future world; a member of a tribe in post-apocalyptic hawai’i. multi-point-of-view narratives can be difficult to maintain even when all the characters are in the same story; doing it with six separate and barely connected narratives is almost a magic trick. Mitchell’s novel is a structural tour de force and possibly one of the most intriguing books of the 21st century (so far). —amy glynn
8. the fifth season of n.k. jemisín (2015)
the first book in n.k. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy presents a stunning world in the midst of an apocalyptic event. To avoid major spoilers, let’s just say the Hugo Award-winning novel is packed with gloriously intense family drama and includes one of the most phenomenal magic systems ever created. Season 5 also features a complex protagonist who is a mother, giving us one of the most formidable and fascinating characters of the 21st century. —frannie jackson
7. mistborn: the final empire by brandon sanderson (2006)
exploring a shocking question: what happens if the hero fails and the villain reigns? Brandon Sanderson kicks off an exciting fantasy saga with Mistborn: The Final Empire. features all the best fantasy elements: a unique magic system, a ragtag group of rebels led by a charismatic rogue, an orphan with mysterious powers. But Sanderson weaves those predictable elements together into a stunning saga that promises unexpected twists every step of the way. mistborn manages to celebrate what makes fantasy magical while also delivering a new adventure that is endlessly entertaining. —frannie jackson
6. the lies of lock lamora by scott lynch (2006)
This isn’t the only story of a young orphan escaping from a world of abject poverty on this list, but it’s the one that most enjoys the intriguing robbery that makes his escape possible. Lock Lamora is a precociously gifted pickpocket and con artist before he’s tall enough to reach the hips of most adults, but his skills are honed once he learns with the father’s chains, becoming an official priest to the warden. crooked and one of the bastard knights. whose motto is: “richer and smarter than everyone else”. The Lies of Locke Lamora draws as much inspiration from heist stories as it does from the worlds of epic fantasy. Locke and his crew must rely on their wits, costumes, acting, sleight of hand, and good old-fashioned muscle when facing off against a real magician. Locke Lamora, the Thorn of Camorr, takes his place among fiction’s most lovable rogues and gentleman thieves, alongside Robin Hood, Thomas Crown, Danny Ocean, and Moist von Lipwig. —josh jackson
5. an ember in the ashes by sabaa tahir (2015)
Set in a world that resembles ancient Rome, An Ember in the Ashes is an epic fantasy novel of love and revenge. When a young soldier poised to take over the oppressive military government decides to turn his back on the regime, he clashes with a young scholar determined to save his brother. he is a soldier, she is a slave, and together they prepare to discover his freedom. It’s a heavy book, but you’ll devour this electrifying tome in no time. the story continues in a torch against the night. —eric smith
4. Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman (2006)
it’s almost frustrating that neil gaiman has yet to find a narrative medium he can’t master, so it’s no mistake that fragile things, his 2006 collection, is subtitled fiction brief and wonders. From a gothic parody (“Forbidden Brides of Faceless Slaves in the Secret House of the Night of Dreadful Desire”) to a Lovecraftian tale of Sherlock Holmes (“A Study in Emerald”), a humorous poem later adapted into a series of t-shirts (“the day the saucers arrived”) to a novel american gods (the monarch of the glen), fragile things encompasses the breadth of what constitutes fantastic fiction, and each and every one of them is a “wonder” indeed. however, aside from the aforementioned lovecraft/holmes mash-up, Fragile Things is probably best known for “how to talk to girls at parties,” a wistful hugo award-nominated sci-fi story that captures perfectly the other’s experience of being a teenager. —steve foxe
3. harry potter and the deathly hallows by j.k. rowling (2007)
the culmination of the harry potter series was, it must be said, quite overweight: a competent copyeditor could have removed a hundred pages of manuscript doing nothing more than removing repetitive lines and phrases. But voracious readers of the series would have forgiven much more than a flawed prose style: we were dying to see Harry’s search for the Horcruxes and his final showdown with Lord Voldemort. And we got that and much more: at the conclusion of the seven-book series, j.k. Rowling not only continues to conjure up the magically vivid secret world of wizards living unnoticed under the noses of the non-magical, but also does some of his best character development work when Harry is forced to confront his own death, his relationships with loss, with power, with grief, with knowledge too late, with questions that were not asked, and with love. he largely dispenses with the good versus evil paradigm that characterized the earlier books; As Harry grew up, he learned that no one is really 100% one or the other (although Voldemort is still pretty close). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, an archetypal coming-of-age tale steeped in alchemy, set in a highly intelligent and lavishly realized alternate world, is the kind of book you read over and over again , simply because the culmination is very satisfying. flawed prose but a wonderful ending to an utterly wonderful concept. —amy glynn
2. the way of kings by brandon sanderson (2010)
brandon sanderson is a master of many aspects of the fantasy genre: epic world building, consistent systems of magic, and unforgettable character development. They are all in top form in his masterpiece, The Way of Kings, the first of his three-book series The File of Storms. Roshar is a world where magic is rare, but spren, the spirits of almost every object or idea, are common. some magical items like soul casters, shard blades, and shard plates are leftovers from a greater age. In nations like Alethkar and Jah Keved, light-eyed people are revered, while those with dark eyes remain a lower caste. The Way of Kings is told from the points of view of four loosely connected characters, but the main focus is on Kaladin, a dark-skinned soldier betrayed by his pale-eyed commander and sold into slavery. With every shred of humanity and defiance stripped from him, the ultimate indignity of him is forced to carry bridges to the frontlines of an endless war – a death sentence. but his crewmate from bridge four finds brotherhood and redemption in a most desperate place. the other two books in the stormlight archive are fantastic, but nothing compares to kaladin’s original heroic journey in the way of kings. —josh jackson
1. the name of the wind by patrick rothfuss (2007)
The story of kvothe, reluctantly told by the elderly innkeeper himself, is as gripping, moving, and imaginative as any fantasy story ever written. Born into a family of traveling musicians, Kvothe’s world is turned upside down when the mythical Chandrian murders his family. he becomes a directionless pickpocket and thief before learning more about his parents’ killers and deciding that definitive answers can only be found by attending college. His years there are filled with youthful love, rivalry with richer classmates, and music. Kvothe, the narrator, is a world-renowned magician, musician, and swordsman, but his autobiography is a coming-of-age story filled with hardship and drama. and patrick rothfuss is the kind of writer who transcends genre labels. the prose is masterful with rich characterization and stimulating narration. not a word feels out of place. this is the kind of book you recommend to anyone, whether they think they like fantasy or not. And then they can join you in eagerly awaiting the third installment of the Kingkiller Chronicle following 2011’s Sage’s Fear. —josh jackson
See Also: 8 Essential Design Books Every Interiors Lover Should Read | Architectural Digest