What adult fantasy novels do you recommend?
I made a post here last year, but tbh it’s not nearly comprehensive enough! So I am starting over with this post, and including some books on my tbr that I have high hopes for. I left off magical realism or speculative fiction and tried to stick with strictly fantasy books!
Stardust, by Neil Gaiman. A boy, Tristran, is looking for an adventure. The girl he is in love with asks him to find her a star in return for her hand in marriage, and he sets off to find one. However, a lot of other people are also after the star…
The City of Brass (Daevabad trilogy) by S.A. Chakraborty. I cannot talk about this series enough. A con artist in Cairo accidentally summons a djinn, and finds herself in a magical city with a royal family who has various uses for her.
A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E. Schwab. A man who travels between parallel Londons finds himself saddled with a persistent thief looking for adventure.
The Queen of the Tearling, by Erika Johansen. A young woman is about to take her rightful throne, but has to solve the mystery of her world’s past.
Uprooted by Naomi Novik. Every ten years a sorcerer takes a young girl from a village. There is a killer forest and wonderful female friendship.
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. A girl makes a promise to faeries that she will increase the gold they give her, and she ends up in a vicious cycle. Fair warning, there are multiple POVs and no markers for whose POV you are in, which can be frustrating.
Arcadia, by Iain Pears. A man is writing a story about another world, and meanwhile his neighbor steps through a door in his basement and finds herself in that very world.
The Stormlight Archive, by Brandon Sanderson. A man is serving out his prison sentence doing manual labor in a war, while a woman is studying with a famed scholar under false pretenses. It’s about 3k pages so far so that’s a huge simplification.
Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson. The “bad guy” won and has been ruling for 1,000 years, but someone discovers a girl with powers she didn’t know she possessed, and trains her to use them.
Deathless, by Catherynne M. Valente. Based on the story of Koschei the Deathless and the wife who will betray him.
Circe, by Madeline Miller. I’m including this because it has been put on a couple of “Best of” fantasy lists for the year. It’s a retelling of Circe’s life.
All The Birds in the Sky, by Charlie Jane Anders. There’s a world where science and magic compete, and two people whose abilities put them in conflict with one another.
And some fantasy books that are on my tbr that I am looking forward to but can’t vouch for personally:
Vita Nostra, by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko
A Conspiracy of Truths, by Alexandra Rowland
The Daughter of the Forest, by Juliette Marillier
The Tiger’s Daughter, by K. Arsenault Rivera
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
Black Leopard, Red Wolf, by Marlon James
The Fever series by Karen Marie Moning
The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews
The Fifth Season, by N.K. Jemisin
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