The most recommended new fantasy books

Steamy slow-burn with tension you can feel rolling off the page? This one is for you! This new-to-me author was an epic find and I cannot get enough. The world-building is beyond exceptional, the characters and their struggles–both physical and mental–are realistic even as it’s a fantasy! I one-clicked the rest of the series even before I finished the first book! 

If you seek more quests, you will find another exciting one in Utomi’s Forever Desert series, beginning with the novella about the Ajungo Empire.

However, to describe this story simply as a quest (for water, no less) would do no justice to the complex, exciting work Utomi does in borrowing not only from desert empires of the Sahara, but also from popular media (as the Mad Max-esque romp through the desertscape and anime-inspired battles demonstrate).

This novella is a testament to the breadth of manner and shape that Africa-inspired epic fantasy tales can take. Long may it continue.

This is a slim book and it's told in an intimate, lyrical voice that feels like it's speaking directly to you from the period – which, in this case, is the 9th century CE.

All the Horses of Iceland follows a Norse trader through Rus to Mongolia in the company of Khazars. It's a ghost story, with notes of sadness mixed with wonder. And while it is possible to trace the journey and pick up on historical signposts, the book doesn't acknowledge that it knows when and where its reader might be – which bolsters the illusion of reading something very old.

We read for many different reasons: to be entertained, to learn about the world, to walk in another person’s shoes. When I’m having an overwhelmingly stressful time, I want to escape into a book – as if I’d opened the cover and stepped inside. Impossible Creatures was the perfect choice for an escape.

Katherine Rundell’s exquisite writing spans children’s fiction, academia, and non-fiction. In her first book of fantasy, we enter a world both familiar and strange – familiar to us because the titular ‘impossible creatures’ who populate the world are the stuff of myth and legend – and strange because in this world, impossible creatures really exist.

References to classic children’s literature don’t slow the pace of Rundell’s storytelling, and her fierce girl hero Mal, accompanied by a boy from our world, Christopher, animate this story afresh for both old and young readers.

River of Shadows is a romance-leaning fantasy series starter, but here, the quest story comes first. It’s a fairy tale retelling with a bit of everything: a Beauty & The Beast arc, Hades & Persephone vibes, morbid humor, steamy scenes featuring the hapless Hanna and the God of Death… I could go on!

It’s an adult dark fantasy with horror elements that’s also chock-full of humor, mixing the tragic with the comic in an artful way. What’s not to love?

I will admit, Halle could have made her heroine a little less Mary-Sue, but we can forgive her that because the wondrous worldbuilding, plot, and varied characters more than make up for it. It was fun to read, making me LOL with every turn of the page.

The Elf Tangent is an adorable (yet surprisingly dangerous) romp through the woods. Our heroine, Aldari, is an intellectual princess who has reluctantly agreed to marry the prince of a neighboring kingdom (sight unseen!) to save her own people. As she travels to her wedding day, her party is attacked and she and her bodyguard are kidnapped by elves who need her help to break a generations-old curse. For once, someone needs—and appreciates—her brains! Caught between the needs of her people and the intriguing puzzle presented by the elves (oh, and the enticing commander of their party), Aldari must use her wit—and at one point a shovel—to get out of her predicament.

In my book I frequently draw upon monsters in fiction to understand our complicated relationship with both our own messy, unpredictable embodied minds and the uncertain, often-terrifying world that we operate these embodied minds within.

This haunting book of short stories is a great example of grappling with the complexities of our lives through a monstrous lens in order to better understand the human condition. 

Shifter romances aren’t new, but this heart-wrenching story about a boy and his adoptive “pack” sets the standard. The prose reads like a simple, placid little pond and then you jump in and realize it's miles deep. Klune does what my hero, Stephen King, is so darn good at and what I aspire to do in my own paranormal novels: he imbues the story with characters that live and breathe and feel like real people. This makes the supernatural aspects of the plot feel authentic and keeps you absorbed from page one to the end.

Unbetrothed was released around the same time as Encanto and if you love the Disney movie you’ll love this book. In a vibrant Latin-inspired world where princesses are expected to be magically gifted, Princess Beatriz is not. With her kingdom, life, and betrothal to her best friend and love, Prince Lux, on the line, she’ll do whatever it takes to obtain magic, including making a deadly oath to go on a quest to Valle de Los Fantasmas, a valley where no one comes out alive.

Yamnitz tackles themes of love, family, and worth in a gorgeous world accompanied by a swoony love interest and plot twists galore, leaving the reader cheering on Princess Beatriz in both her quest across kingdoms and her inner journey to become the princess she's destined to be.

This origin story of the Amazons is a gorgeous, powerful masterpiece from some of the best creators in the business. While it's set thousands of years in the past, the righteous anger and feminist power that fuels this book is as relevant to the present day as it was to the goddesses who created the tribes of the Amazons.

DeConnick's writing is sharp, while each chapter is drawn by a different artist who brings lush, unique visuals to every era of the tale. Jimenez, Ha, and Scott are at the top of their game here, and the extra large size is engaging and engrossing.

I got lost in each page, exploring the artwork's exquisite detail, and the story's power and beauty are rousingly bold.