Fantasy Fantasy Books: Best Reads

Core fantasy reads spanning epic quests, magical worlds, and character-driven tales. Ideal for readers seeking cornerstone fantasy novels and standout series.

Curated by Fabled Tome

287 Books in subgenre
Apr 13, 2026 Last updated
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Show illustrated and light novel entries alongside standard fantasy books.

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49 The Lightning Thief

The Lightning Thief

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Rated 4.31 out of 5 stars, based on 3,484,903 reviews.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan introduces Percy Jackson, a twelve-year-old boy who struggles in school and suddenly discovers that the myths he studies are real. After a terrifying attack at his boarding school, Percy is sent to Camp Half-Blood…

Book 1 of Percy Jackson and the Olympians series


50 Tress of the Emerald Sea

Tress of the Emerald Sea

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Rated 4.31 out of 5 stars, based on 303,927 reviews.

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson, illustrated by Howard Lyon, follows Tress, a young woman whose quiet life on a remote island in an emerald-hued ocean ends when her closest friend, Charlie, is taken away by his noble father and lost to…

Book 1 of Hoid's Travails series


51 The Seventh Princess: A Reincarnation Progression Fantasy

The Seventh Princess: A Reincarnation Progression Fantasy

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Rated 4.31 out of 5 stars, based on 851 reviews.

The Seventh Princess: A Reincarnation Progression Fantasy (Adelheid) by D.C. Haenlien, Chris Ford, and Sa Dui follows the story of Adelheid, who awakens as the Seventh Princess of the Vuldar Empire with a frail body but an overwhelming amount of mana…

Book 1 of Adelheid series


52 Lightningborn

Lightningborn

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Rated 4.30 out of 5 stars, based on 437 reviews.

Lightningborn by Julie Kagawa follows two young protagonists whose lives intersect around a dragon thought lost to history. Remy, a streetwise orphan on the floating island of Cutthroat Wedge, rescues a wild baby dragon he names Storm and quickly for…

Book 1 of Storm Dragons series


53 The Lies of Locke Lamora

The Lies of Locke Lamora

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Rated 4.30 out of 5 stars, based on 347,737 reviews.

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch follows Locke, an orphan-turned-master-thief in the canal-laced city of Camorr, a grimy fantasy metropolis built atop the remnants of an alien civilization. Trained by the enigmatic con artist Chains, Locke lea…

Book 1 of Gentleman Bastard series


54 The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again

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Rated 4.30 out of 5 stars, based on 4,515,304 reviews.

The Hobbit, or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien introduces Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving hobbit drawn into an unexpected adventure across Middle-earth with a band of dwarves and the wizard Gandalf. What begins as a reluctant agreement to join…

Book 1 of Middle-earth series


55 Clockwork Angel

Clockwork Angel

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Rated 4.30 out of 5 stars, based on 881,504 reviews.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare opens the Infernal Devices trilogy in an alternate 1878 London where magic, demons, and clockwork technology intersect. Sixteen-year-old Tessa Gray arrives from New York to find her missing brother and is pulled int…

Book 1 of The Infernal Devices series


56 Emberstone Farm: A Cozy Fantasy LitRPG

Emberstone Farm: A Cozy Fantasy LitRPG

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Rated 4.30 out of 5 stars, based on 518 reviews.

Emberstone Farm: A Cozy Fantasy LitRPG by L. Meili follows Violet, an orphan from Earth who finds herself transported into the world of her favorite farming game, Adventure Incarnate, just as she is about to apply for college. Instead of battles and…

Book 1 of The Chronicles of Emberstone Farm series


57 Between

Between

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Rated 4.30 out of 5 stars, based on 5,248 reviews.

Between by L.L. Starling introduces Sasha Pierce, a woman who has not dreamed since childhood until a substitute teaching job in the witchy village of Old Middleton drops her into the chaotic fairy-tale realm of Between. Mistaken for the kingdom’s pr…

Book 1 of The Chronicles of Between series


58 Legacy of the Brightwash

Legacy of the Brightwash

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 590 reviews.

Legacy of the Brightwash by Krystle Matar follows Tashué, a Regulation Officer in a grim, industrial city where those with magical “taint” are tightly controlled by the state. Haunted by his role in sending his own unregistered son to a brutal prison…

Book 1 of Tainted Dominion series


59 Days of Future Past - Part 1: Past Tense

Days of Future Past - Part 1: Past Tense

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 521 reviews.

Days of Future Past - Part 1: Past Tense by John Van Stry opens with Paul already enduring a disastrous day before events turn stranger and far more dangerous. When his instructor is abruptly claimed by a mysterious goddess to intervene in a distant…

Book 1 of Days of Future Past series


60 Kingslayer

Kingslayer

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 1,237 reviews.

In Kingslayer, Honor Raconteur opens with General Darius Bresalier captured and brought before the queen he has spent a year relentlessly pursuing. Once a loyal commander of Brindisi, Darius now bears the title of kingslayer, awaiting execution for a…

Book 1 of Kingslayer series


61 The Girl Who Kept the Castle

The Girl Who Kept the Castle

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 649 reviews.

In The Girl Who Kept the Castle, Ryan Graudin introduces Faye, a practical and determined maid who discovers that her absent-minded employer, Wizard West, has died and returned as a powerless ghost. With the enchanted castle of Celurdur due to collap…

Book 1 of Faye series


62 A Pub in the Underworld

A Pub in the Underworld

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 676 reviews.

A Pub in the Underworld by Harmon Cooper opens with fallen soldier Sylas Runewulf awakening in a tiered afterlife, stranded in the middle realm known as the Underworld. Guided by a game-like blue prompt, he travels to Ember Hollow and takes over a sm…

Book 1 of The Cozy Abyss series


63 Burn for Me

Burn for Me

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 75,095 reviews.

Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews introduces Nevada Baylor, a private investigator in a magically stratified Houston who is forced to accept a case that amounts to a death sentence: apprehending a Prime fire mage capable of mass destruction. When Nevada i…

Book 1 of Hidden Legacy series


64 Daughter of the Forest

Daughter of the Forest

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 71,861 reviews.

Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier blends Celtic-inspired mythology, medieval atmosphere, and quiet magic in the story of Sorcha, the seventh child and only daughter of Lord Colum of Sevenwaters. When her six brothers fall under a brutal ench…

Book 1 of Sevenwaters series


65 Dune

Dune

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 1,654,883 reviews.

Dune by Frank Patrick Herbert follows Paul Atreides, the young heir of a noble house sent to govern the harsh desert world of Arrakis, sole source of the life-extending spice melange. After political betrayal shatters his family’s power, Paul is forc…

Book 1 of Dune series


66 God Conqueror

God Conqueror

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 306 reviews.

God Conqueror by Logan Jacobs follows Vander, a prophesied warrior mage raised in seclusion and trained from childhood for war. Armed with a legendary sword and a rare magic that lets him control multiple bodies at once, he wages battles as an army u…

Book 1 of God Conqueror series


67 The Blooding

The Blooding

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 5,508 reviews.

The Blooding by David Gilman opens in 1346, when archer Thomas Blackstone escapes execution for a killing he denies by serving in Edward III’s campaign against France. Forced into the ranks of the English army, he marches through northern France and…

Book 1 of Master of War series


68 Ezaara

Ezaara

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 583 reviews.

Ezaara by Eileen Mueller opens in Lush Valley, where even speaking of dragons is forbidden, until teenager Ezaara unexpectedly bonds with Zaarusha, the Dragon Queen. Torn from her family and thrust into the role of Queen’s Rider, she must train under…

Book 1 of Riders of Fire series


69 Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione

Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 1,869 reviews.

Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione by Chuck Black follows veteran knight Sir Kendrick as he mentors the impulsive young Sir Duncan in a medieval fantasy realm shaped by spiritual allegiance and war. Sent to investigate the secretive Conquistero…

Book 1 of The Knights of Arrethtrae series


70 Falling with Folded Wings

Falling with Folded Wings

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Rated 4.29 out of 5 stars, based on 721 reviews.

Falling with Folded Wings by Plum Parrot follows engineer Morgan Hall, who is awakened centuries early from stasis aboard the arkship Pilgrim-9 and forced down to an unknown world. Stripped of their advanced technology, Morgan and his fellow colonist…

Book 1 of Falling with Folded Wings series


71 Courier Quest: A Cozy Isekai LitRPG

Courier Quest: A Cozy Isekai LitRPG

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Rated 4.28 out of 5 stars, based on 554 reviews.

Courier Quest: A Cozy Isekai LitRPG by Flossindune follows Trevor Anderson, an exhausted retail worker whose ordinary life ends with a sudden workplace accident and an unexpected summoning. After stumbling through a magical questionnaire, he arrives…

Book 1 of Courier Quest series


72 The Rose and the Thorn

The Rose and the Thorn

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Rated 4.28 out of 5 stars, based on 697 reviews.

In The Rose and the Thorn, Katherine Macdonald offers a darkly atmospheric fantasy romance that reimagines a classic fairy tale with a Gothic edge. When a storm drives young Rose into an abandoned fae domain, she becomes bound to a secluded castle an…

Book 1 of The Rose and the Thorn series


73 Steel, Blood & Fire

Steel, Blood & Fire

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Rated 4.28 out of 5 stars, based on 333 reviews.

Steel, Blood & Fire by Allan Batchelder introduces Tarmun Vykers, a notorious warrior known as The Reaper, whose fractured memory and history of atrocities make him an uneasy choice to confront a rising catastrophe. As a devastating force called The-…

Book 1 of Immortal Treachery series


74 Howl's Moving Castle

Howl's Moving Castle

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Rated 4.28 out of 5 stars, based on 456,315 reviews.

Howl's Moving Castle (Howl's Castle Book 1) by Diana Wynne Jones follows Sophie, the eldest of three sisters, who is cursed by the Witch of the Waste and transformed into an elderly woman. To reverse the spell, Sophie seeks out the elusive wizard How…

Book 1 of Howl's Moving Castle series


75 Tusks, Tails and Teacakes

Tusks, Tails and Teacakes

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Rated 4.28 out of 5 stars, based on 1,423 reviews.

Tusks, Tails and Teacakes by T.L. Stone follows half-elf Lira as she returns to the once-lively Tusk & Tail Tavern, now faded and hiding a secret she buried beneath its floors. To stay close to what she concealed, Lira offers to restore the tavern us…

Book 1 of Tales from the Tavern series


76 Changer

Changer

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Rated 4.28 out of 5 stars, based on 477 reviews.

Changer by Jane Lindskold blends fantasy and science fiction in a modern take on myth and legend. Its male shapeshifting protagonist, a restless wanderer who moves between identities, is forced out of his animal forms when a long-standing desire for…

Book 1 of Athanor series


77 Alpha Zero

Alpha Zero

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Rated 4.27 out of 5 stars, based on 1,199 reviews.

Alpha Zero by Arthur Stone follows a boy who should never have survived past infancy in a world where strength determines who lives and who dies. Born an “empty” child with no ability to cultivate power, he reaches the age of thirteen barely able to…

Book 1 of Alpha series


78 Men of the Otherworld

Men of the Otherworld

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Rated 4.27 out of 5 stars, based on 16,831 reviews.

Men of the Otherworld by Kelley Armstrong collects linked urban fantasy stories that trace the origins and inner lives of key male werewolves in her Otherworld series. The central narrative follows Clayton, a boy who willingly becomes a werewolf and…

Book 1 of Otherworld Stories series


79 Outlander

Outlander

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Rated 4.27 out of 5 stars, based on 1,164,941 reviews.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon follows Claire Randall, a World War II combat nurse in 1945, who is unexpectedly transported through an ancient stone circle to 1743 Scotland. Stranded in a landscape of clan rivalries, political unrest, and looming war, s…

Book 1 of Outlander series


80 Asiri and the Amaru

Asiri and the Amaru

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Rated 4.27 out of 5 stars, based on 908 reviews.

Asiri and the Amaru by Natalia Hernandez follows Asiri, a young woman who can communicate with animals and flees a stifling home life for a quiet coastal village where she hopes to pass as ordinary. Her plans unravel when she repeatedly encounters Da…

Book 1 of Pisqu Sweet and Sour series


81 The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 3,957 reviews.

In The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart, Stephanie Burgis follows Aventurine, a young dragon whose eagerness to prove herself leads to an ill-fated encounter with a human mage and a cup of enchanted hot chocolate. Stripped of her scales and fire and tra…

Book 1 of Tales from the Chocolate Heart series


82 Dragon Slippers

Dragon Slippers

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 30,151 reviews.

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George follows Creel, a practical young heroine whose aunt schemes to have her offered to a dragon in hopes of attracting a knight and improving the family’s fortunes. When a dragon does appear, Creel negotiates her fre…

Book 1 of Dragon Slippers series


83 Legend

Legend

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 36,089 reviews.

Legend by David Gemmell is a classic heroic fantasy novel centered on Druss, an aging warrior whose battlefield prowess has become the stuff of legend. Living in seclusion and waiting for death, he is drawn back into war when the Nadir tribes launch…

Book 1 of The Drenai Saga series


84 Horus Rising

Horus Rising

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 40,909 reviews.

Horus Rising by Dan Abnett opens the Horus Heresy saga at the height of the Imperium’s power, when humanity’s galactic empire appears secure and unstoppable. As the Emperor withdraws to Terra, he elevates his favored general Horus to Warmaster, placi…

Book 1 of The Horus Heresy series


85 Dragonsong

Dragonsong

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 59,272 reviews.

Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey follows fifteen-year-old Menolly, a gifted musician whose conservative coastal Hold rejects her ambition to become a Harper because she is a girl. Set on the planet Pern, where deadly Thread falls from the sky and dragonr…

Book 1 of Harper Hall of Pern series


86 Trickster's Choice

Trickster's Choice

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 68,121 reviews.

Trickster's Choice by Tamora Pierce follows Alianne, a sharp-witted teenager determined to become a spy rather than the knight her legendary mother might prefer. After a quarrel drives her from home, Aly is seized by slavers and taken to the Copper I…

Book 1 of Daughter of the Lioness series


87 Kings of the Wyld

Kings of the Wyld

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 68,079 reviews.

In Kings of the Wyld, Nicholas Eames follows Clay Cooper, a retired mercenary whose legendary band has long since scattered into comfortable decline. When his former comrade arrives begging for help to save his daughter from a city surrounded by an o…

Book 1 of The Band series


88 Homeland

Homeland

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 100,077 reviews.

Homeland by R.A. Salvatore traces the early life of Drizzt Do’Urden, a dark elf born into a ruthless matriarchal house in the subterranean city of Menzoberranzan. Marked from birth for sacrifice to the spider goddess Lolth, Drizzt survives through a…

Book 1 of The Dark Elf Trilogy series


89 The Cleaner, the Cat and the Space Station

The Cleaner, the Cat and the Space Station

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 460 reviews.

The Cleaner, the Cat and the Space Station by Fay Abernethy blends cozy science fiction with light fantasy as an alien-run orbital station secretly shields Earth from hostile forces. Hanna Abebe, an undocumented cleaner in London, is pulled from a li…

Book 1 of The Shantivira series


90 One Dark Window

One Dark Window

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 699,026 reviews.

In One Dark Window, Rachel Gillig sets a gothic, mist-shrouded kingdom where magic is both coveted and corrupting. Elspeth Spindle survives in Blunder by bargaining with the Nightmare, an ancient spirit bound to her mind whose protection always carri…

Book 1 of The Shepherd King series


91 Unseen Magic

Unseen Magic

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 575 reviews.

Unseen Magic by Emily Lloyd-Jones follows eleven-year-old Fin, who finally feels secure in the strange, rule-bound town of Aldermere, where disappearing tea shops, demanding crows, and mysterious bridges are part of everyday life. When her anxiety ov…

Book 1 of Unseen Magic series


92 Seduced by Moonlight

Seduced by Moonlight

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 1,185 reviews.

Seduced by Moonlight by Kenya Wright follows Imani, a frustrated waitress trapped in the isolated town of Crystal Lake, where money and opportunity are scarce. Her stagnant life shifts when Aiden and his mysterious biker crew arrive, radiating an uns…

Book 1 of Love Death and Magic series


93 Girl Giant and the Monkey King

Girl Giant and the Monkey King

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 617 reviews.

Girl Giant and the Monkey King by Van Hoang follows eleven-year-old Thom Ngho, a Vietnamese American girl whose unnerving super strength makes everyday middle school life feel dangerous and isolating. When she accidentally frees the legendary Monkey…

Book 1 of Girl Giant and the Monkey King series


94 A Princess and an Ooze

A Princess and an Ooze

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Rated 4.26 out of 5 stars, based on 1,224 reviews.

A Princess and an Ooze by Ian Rodgers and Damien Sim is a young adult fantasy set in Erafore, a world where dragons, mages, and gods shape everyday reality. When a seemingly insignificant Ooze is adopted as a pet by the princess of Varia, its quiet e…

Book 1 of Chronicles of a Royal Pet series


95 I'm a WHAAAT?!

I'm a WHAAAT?!

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Rated 4.25 out of 5 stars, based on 577 reviews.

I'm a WHAAAT?! (I was reincarnated as a Magic Academy! #1) by Cristian Madalin Dragomir follows the story of an ordinary Romanian who, after dying unexpectedly, is reincarnated as a Dungeon Core within a magical academy. Set in a fantasy world, the p…

Book 1 of I was Reincarnated as a Magic Academy! series


96 Lord Loss

Lord Loss

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Rated 4.25 out of 5 stars, based on 25,309 reviews.

Lord Loss by Darren Shan introduces Grubbs Grady, a teenage boy whose ordinary frustrations and mischievous streak are abruptly overshadowed by a brutal encounter with the supernatural. After skipping a family trip, he finds himself drawn into a worl…

Book 1 of The Demonata series