The best fantasy books with world-building you don’t want to get lost in

If you’re not familiar with Hideyuki Kikuchi’s Vampire Hunter D you’re in for a treat. 

D is a vampire hunter traveling between remnants of human civilization after the vampires’ technology changed the world with rampant weather machines, DNA-spliced monsters, and slumbering technological marvels without master to command them. 

D is hired by Doris who’s been chosen to become a vampire bride, but between struggling against his other half as a vampire, werewolf lackeys, and bloodthirsty humans wanting Doris dead or alive, D has his work cut out for him. If you ever find yourself traveling the Frontier, D, alongside his sassy friend, is your guy. 

Necromancers in space is a concept that drew me in instantly. Gideon is a glorified sword-wielding bodyguard to Harrow, a necromancer asked to aid in the emperor’s war. But to do that, they’re shipped off to the House of Canaan where they must discover the secrets to lyctorhood. With the dozens of other necromancers and their cavaliers, the crazy experiments haunting Canaan House, and someone out to murder them, this necromantic space mystery should absolutely be on your TBR, but not on your vacation list. 

Alan Campbell set the mixed steampunk science-fantasy genre for me, with his high fantasy worlds where machines and magic go hand in hand, to prison cities surrounded by poisonous waters that can turn you into permanent sea-dwellers, and telepathic abilities worth killing for.

This is a world where a trip to the beach might kill you if the telepaths don’t find you first.   

Welcome to Camorr, the city of prosperity and thieves where you’ll be down to your skin if your hair wasn’t stuck on your body. While thieves and heists are a huge part of the story, this world is filled with the subtleties of black magic where your true name could be your end, and anyone regardless of economic status is a victim. It’s up to a band of thieves to protect their assets and their lives. 

Boneshaker is set in an alternate Seattle where a rampant machine unearthed toxic gas that turns people into zombies, and the only way to contain this disaster was to wall off the city. What I love about Boneshaker is how people remain defiantly close to the city and move on with their lives despite the toxic rain, the zombies clawing on the walls, and, even more so, the people who take it further and travel through the ruins of the once great city in an airship, or, if they’re daring, on foot. 

Better pack your guns and your wits when exploring this cityscape!