Best Fantasy Books

Neil Gaiman retells the Norse myths — from the creation of the Nine Worlds to Ragnarök — in his own voice, bringing the gods of the northern tradition vividly to life.

Six months after This Savage Song, Kate and August are in different cities, changed by what they survived. A new kind of monster — one that neither side of Verity created — emerges, and the only way to face it requires both of them to confront what they're becoming. The Monsters of Verity duology concludes.

Set immediately after Ignite Me — Juliette and Warner face the consequences of claiming the Reestablishment's power, as new threats emerge from within and without.

Nikolai and Zoya must end a devastating war, forge an unlikely alliance with their oldest enemy, and face the darkest power the Grishaverse has ever produced — before it consumes everything they have built.

In a small Illinois town in October, a carnival arrives just after midnight — Cooger and Dark's Pandemonium Shadow Show — and two thirteen-year-old boys discover that its attractions offer exactly what people most desire, at a price that cannot be paid.

Young Tristran crosses the wall separating his English village from the magical kingdom of Faerie to retrieve a fallen star for the girl he loves — only to find the star is a person with her own ideas about being retrieved.

Spensa goes undercover among the alien Superiority to discover the truth behind their war against humanity, only to find that the conflict — and her own abilities — are far more complicated than she was told.

Ten years after a cosmic event granted ordinary people superhuman abilities, the Epics have taken over as tyrants rather than heroes. David Charleston joins the Reckoners — ordinary humans who hunt Epics — to kill Steelheart, the most powerful Epic alive.

The conclusion of His Dark Materials — Lyra and Will descend into the land of the dead, the war against the Authority reaches its climax, and the full theological argument of the trilogy is made explicit. The first children's book to win the Whitbread Prize.

Roland Deschain reaches the Dark Tower at last. Every thread of the series converges: the Crimson King rages on the Tower's balcony, the Beams must be defended, Patrick Danville's strange gift is the key to everything, and the fates of every character in the ka-tet are decided. King includes a foreword warning readers that the destination may not be what they expect — a warning that has generated debate ever since.

Rin survived the Burning of Speer, but the gods she channelled nearly destroyed her mind. Now she fights for the Nikara Republic against an Imperial loyalist faction — until she discovers the Republic has its own agenda, and her foreign allies have a plan for the south that looks disturbingly like colonialism. The Poppy War series darkens further.

Magic is draining out of Earthsea. Wizards are forgetting their spells. Ged and the young prince Arren must sail to the farthest reaches of the world to find the source of the wound in the world — and the entity responsible for it. The concluding volume of the original Earthsea trilogy is Le Guin's meditation on death, courage, and the limits of power.

Jason wakes up on a school bus with no memory of who he is. Piper and Leo think he's their friend, but nothing about his past is real. Drawn into the world of Greek and Roman demigods, Jason must discover his true identity while leading a quest to free the goddess Hera and prevent an ancient enemy from waking.

T.H. White's retelling of the Arthurian legends follows Arthur from his education by the wizard Merlin — who lives backwards through time — through the founding of the Round Table, the love triangle with Lancelot and Guinevere, and the final destruction of Camelot.

A standalone epic fantasy featuring three women across three continents facing the return of a world-ending dragon, woven through with questions of faith, queerness, and the nature of historical truth.

In an alternate-history United Isles of America, Joel attends Armedius Academy alongside Rithmatists — students who can bring chalk drawings to life as warriors. When Rithmatist students begin disappearing, Joel and his unconventional mentor Professor Fitch must investigate before the killings reach the school itself.

Eustace and his schoolmate Jill Pole are sent to Narnia to rescue the lost Prince Rilian, held captive underground by the Lady of the Green Kirtle.

Carter and Sadie have three days to find the three sections of the Book of Ra and awaken the sun god before the chaos serpent Apophis escapes his prison. Racing against a countdown across multiple continents, the Kane siblings fight gods, demons, and each other's stubborn pride.

Tenar is taken from her family as a young child to become the High Priestess of the Tombs of Atuan — a buried labyrinth serving nameless, ancient powers. Her world is enclosed, complete, and entirely certain. Then Ged the wizard breaks in, and Tenar must decide whether to kill him or help him — and what that choice means for everything she has been.

William de Worde accidentally invents the newspaper in Ankh-Morpork when a chance encounter with dwarfish printers gives him the idea of distributing his letter of city news more widely. Within days he has a press, a staff, and enemies. Someone is trying to frame the Patrician Vetinari, and the Ankh-Morpork Times is the only institution positioned to find out the truth.

Jude holds the power behind the throne, controlling the High King she placed there — but court intrigue and her impossible feelings for Cardan threaten everything she has built.

Chaol Westfall and Nesryn Faliq travel to the Southern Continent to seek an alliance with the Khagan of the Southern Continent — and to find healers who might restore Chaol's ability to walk. What they discover in the Torre Cesme will change everything they thought they knew about the war.

Two sisters from a conservative mountain kingdom are sent to the colorful, decadent city of the Gods, where the divine Returned don't believe in their own religion and a war is being engineered by forces neither fully understands.

Twin sisters Tory and Darcy Vega discover they are Fae royalty and heirs to the throne of Solaria — but they must first survive Zodiac Academy, where the four powerful Heirs will stop at nothing to drive them out.