Looking for the best queer fantasy books to add to your reading list? Check out these gay fantasy books with amazing LGTBQ+ representation.

Must Read Queer Fantasy Books

In the world of fantasy, for some reason, it seems like there are mainly straight romantic relationships.  That really isn’t the case at the moment though, and fantasy has really started to become a much more diverse genre. There are some fantastic gay fantasy books with excellent LGTBQ+ representation within them.  If you are looking for them, then you can find them right here in a nice little list for you. 

Now, these are not romance books. Nor are they even really “fantasy romance”. Most of these books I am going to recommend to you have queer romance as a subplot. I personally don’t tend to read books that have romance as the main plot, so make sure you keep that in mind when you are going through this list. 

These books are first and foremost, fantasy books (with a little sci-fi thrown in for fun). If you are looking for books that are more romance-heavy, these may not be for you. But if you want books that have beautiful LGBTQ romances as a subplot in a fantasy book, then these will be right up your alley.

Renegades by Marissa Meyer

Starting out with the lightest of the romances we have Renegades by Marissa Meyer. This YA superhero book series is super cute. not only does it have great friendships and a cute young romance, but it also has a main character with two amazing dads.

One of our main superheroes has two gay fathers, and it is beautifully done. I love how their relationship is written, and I especially love how their parenting is shown.

Something I think YA fantasy is missing, in general, is good parental figures. These fathers are shown as loving their kids and in a healthy and loving relationship with each other.

Even better, the fact that they are gay is not even a big deal in this world. It is what it is and no one even mentions it, which honestly I love.

Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri

Moving on from a book where the romance is a side character to an LQBT fantasy where the romance is between the two central characters, we have The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. This is a newer YA fantasy that borders much more on adult fantasy.

We follow two women. An imprisoned sister to the emperor who is meant to be executed, and a maidservant who is in hiding due to escaping a genocidal event in her youth. This book is an Indian-inspired fantasy with a queer enemies-to-lovers trope that is so well done.

Not only do we have a slow-burn sapphic romance, but we also have forbidden magic, revolution, and a whole lot of politics! This book can be described as slower-paced, but it does an excellent job of worldbuilding and connecting you with the characters.

Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

Next up we have a standalone male/male fantasy romance book. The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern is a stunningly beautiful gay fantasy book. This isn’t a book for everyone though due to the unique way it is written.

This book is what I would say is very flowery. It is purple prose at its finest, almost poetic in nature. There are stories within stories and honestly, you will be confused for most of your reading experience. If that is okay with you though, it is a beautiful book where you can just enjoy the ride.

We follow Zachary, a college student who finds a story about his own childhood in a strange book in his school library. He decides to find out everything he can about this book, which leads him to a magical and mysterious secret society that will change his life forever.

House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Another one of my favorite male/male fantasy romance books, House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is another beautiful standalone. While many of the books on this list aren’t as focused on romance, I think this one would be the most romance-focused.

We follow Linus, a social worker who works with magical children. Linus is a boring man, nothing special and nothing adventurous. His world is flipped upside down when he is assigned to look into a magical orphanage filled with potentially dangerous children. He must spend a month at the home with the children and their keeper.

This book is sweet and wholesome and just overall adorable.

The Disasters by MK England

So this one isn’t a queer fantasy book. It is a queer sci-fi book. The Disasters by MK England is a gem of a YA sci-fi.

We follow a group of students as they are being sent home from a prestigious space academy… on their first day! They all wash out for one reason or another, but while they are waiting on the shuttle to leave, the school is attacked. Everyone in the school is killed but they are able to get away. Now they are on the run and have to learn to work together to save themselves and possibly the galaxy.

When we think of representation, this book has it all! We have a bi-male main character, a trans female, and a gay man. We also have some awesome anxiety representation in this book as well. Not only is it super-inclusive, but it is also just a fun space romp with a group of misfits.

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

This book is a little darker than some of the others mentioned on this list. Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan is a darker YA fantasy book with a sapphic relationship between the main characters.

This isn’t a light and fluffy LGBT fantasy book. Before deciding to pick this one up, please look into the trigger warnings. In this world, there are three castes of people. There are regular humans, human-demon hybrids, and demons. Demons rule the world. Every year, the demon king picks human girls from his kingdom to serve as his concubines. This year though, one of the girls decides that enough is enough and she is determined to break the system.

If you want a good romance in a dark world with forbidden love and revolution, pick this series up.

Ship of Smoke and Steel by Django Wexler

The first book in an older-leaning YA fantasy series, Ship of Smoke and Steel by Django Wexler is a wild ride. This again has a female/female relationship between the two main characters.

In this world, magic users are conscripted by the crown. Our main character evades this for years while living as a gang enforcer and supporting her younger sister. One day she is caught and with her sister’s life being threatened, she is forced to undertake a dangerous mission to steal an unstealable ghost ship that is filled with magic users who are sent there every year as sacrifices.

Again, romance is not the main element, but it is a really lovely side plot within the story.

Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto

The Crown of Feathers series is much more romance heavy than most of the other queer fantasy books on this list. While what I consider to be the central romance is straight, one of the relationships between a secondary PoV character is a male/male relationship.

This is a world where magic is illegal. Magic users, those who can communicate with animals, are found and either killed or conscripted to work for the crown. We follow Veronyka, a magic user who longs to be a phoenix rider. She ends up disguising herself as a boy and working for a group of hidden phoenix riders.

This book is filled with romance, forbidden magic, secret heirs, and revolution!

She Who Became the Sun by Chelly Parker Chan

While I could put quite a few more books on this list (as you can see from my video up above that talks about a few more queer fantasy books), She Who Became the Sun is the last one we are going to talk about today.

This is another female/female romance in a brutal world. I won’t go into a lot of detail about the book here because I do have a full spoiler-free She Who Became the Sun review that you can check out if you want to know more.

Just know that this is a fictional ancient China where a girl takes on the persona of her dead brother in order to reach for greatness.

While this is by no means a comprehensive list of gay fantasy books, it is quite a few of my personal favorites. If you have any queer fantasy books that you would like to recommend, let me know in the comments so I can add a few more to my reading list for the year. 

 

These female fantasy characters are the definition of badass! Strong, beautiful, and kind these are the best fantasy book ladies!

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The Best Female Fantasy Characters

As a 30-something-year-old mom of two, there is nothing I love more when I am reading than following a badass female fantasy character. When a character is complex, well-written, flawed, but strong, I just can’t put the book down.

These ladies are some of my favorite girls of fantasy in some of my favorite books of all time. If you love strong female characters, then you are going to want to make sure you pick up all of the books on this list. 

Dodger from Middlegame

So calling Middlegame fantasy may be a bit of a stretch. It is more of a nice blend of sci-fi and fantasy, Sci-fantasy if you will. This book is really strange, a bit confusing, and kind of hard to explain. The best way I can describe it is as a mix between Frankenstein and The Wizard of Oz.

We follow a set of twins, Rodger and Dodger. They are separated at “birth” but keep coming across each other in life. What they don’t know, is that they were created by an Alchemist who made them as the embodiment of different natural forces. Rodger is language, and Dodger is math.

I love that Dodger is math. Showing a female as the embodiment of math which is technically seen as a male-dominated discipline is just something that makes me happy to see.

Dodger is a great character and we get to follow her from childhood well into adulthood. Watching her grow and change and accept who she is was one of my favorite parts of the book.

Another great aspect of this book as a whole is that there is no central romance. We get to see Dodger be who she is without a love interest. She develops her sibling relationship with her twin brother, and never needs a romantic tie in order to make her great. 

Nahri from the City of Brass

I have probably talked about Nahri from the City of Brass in so many booktube videos and blog posts lately, but I will keep on shouting her amazingness from the rooftops because she is one of the best female fantasy characters in adult epic fantasy.

City of Brass is a diverse adult fantasy book with a Middle Eastern setting. It is beautiful and lush and the characters truly stand out, especially Nahri. She is a strong female who does everything she has to do in order to survive. She can really be seen as a morally grey character as well, which makes me love her even more.

Not only is she self-sufficient and strong, but she also knows when to bend in order to help the people she cares about. She is deeply flawed and while she does love with great passion, she also knows that before she can be truly open to loving someone else, she needs to work on herself first.

This book is the perfect series with beautiful writing, my favorite tropes, and just an all-around amazing cast of characters.

January from Ten Thousand Doors of January

If you are looking for a whimsical standalone fantasy book with an amazing female protagonist, check out Ten Thousand Doors of January. I am so in love with this book, though I don’t talk about it as often as I should.

We follow January, a girl alone in the world. She loves her adventurer father, but he is always gone on trips to find rare artifacts. She is essentially raised by her father’s rich patron, but he is not a warm and fuzzy surrogate father.

January is kind, smart, and curious. She wants to adventure like her father. When she starts learning more about the hidden worlds that exist within our world though, she is thrust into a world of magic and violence and is forced to protect the people she cares about while still learning who she truly is.

The writing in this book is lyrical and beautiful, but never overly flowery or purple. If you want a great fantasy book female protagonist, then this is one you should check out right away.

Misaki from Sword of Kaigen

Ready for an amazing badass fantasy mom? Misaki from Sword of Kaigen is the epitome of the badass fantasy mom. She is complex and so much more than “just a mom”.

In Sword of Kaigen, Misaki is a mom to three boys living in a very misogynistic area, married to a husband where there is no real love in the relationship. She struggles with longing for her independent, crime-fighting past with a mom she truly cared for.  At this point in her life, she feels like she has lost herself, lost her identity, and this is something I think most moms feel at one point or another.

When the shit starts to hit the fan in their small town, Misaki must reconcile the two parts of her life and learn to merge them together in order to be the person she truly needs to be.

This book is heartbreaking and raw and filled with awesome magic and character relations. Seriously if you are a mom yourself, I think you will instantly fall in love with Misaki and this entire book!

Naelin from Queens of Renthia

Another of my favorite fantasy moms, Naelin from the Queens of Renthia series is seriously a standout female fantasy protagonist. Though she is not in the first book of the series, Queen of Blood, at all, her presence fully takes over the series from the moment she appears on-page in the second book, Reluctant Queen.

Naelin is strong, in more ways than one. She loves her kids and will burn the world to the ground in order to protect them. She is also a reluctant hero. Naelin has no desire to be a Queen or a hero, she just wants to be a mom.

Her raw magical abilities thrust her into a world she never planned to be in. She is forced to learn to control her raw abilities while still being a mother to her two small children.

This is one of my favorite series of all time, with some of the best female characters.

Vin from the Mistborn Series

Would this even be a Bookish Mom book recommendations roundup without mentioning something by Brandon Sanderson? I love everything he has written, but there is something special about the Mistborn series. It was my re-introduction to fantasy and the book that got me back into reading after about 7 years of not reading at all.

Vin is such an amazing female protagonist. She starts out as a street orphan and ends up being the most badass character in the entire series.  One thing I love is that she grows so much through the series. You can tell she is well written because she feels her age, but you see her grow and change. She is strong and kickass but also loves balls and pretty dresses. Vin loves her friends, found family, and her romantic interest with such fierce passion.

She may not be perfect, but Vin will always be special to me. If you haven’t read Mistborn yet, I recommend checking it out! You can even take a peek at the cosmere reading order to see all of the Brandon Sanderson books in this massive universe and decide which ones you want to read first.

I could probably go on and on about all of my favorite female fantasy characters, but today I will leave you with these six lovely ladies. 

A common misconception about fantasy books is that they are all Eurocentric and written by white men. This couldn’t be further from the truth! These adult and YA diverse fantasy books prove that assumption wrong in the best way possible!

My Favorite Diverse Fantasy Books

It is time to blow the lid off the misconception that fantasy books are all written by old white men. There are so many diverse fantasy books, written by women and men of color that you are missing out on if you believe this to be true. This list of books focuses on non-European-inspired fantasy books written by women.  

No matter if you are looking for adult fantasy books or YA fantasy books, I have you covered! There are some amazing non-European books in both age ranges and we are going to talk about all of my current favorites. 

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The Best Diverse YA Fantasy Books

If you are wanting diverse ya fantasy books, then make sure you check these out! There’s everything you could want! Romance, politics, and of course, strong female characters!

Six Crimson Cranes

If you want a super whimsical YA fantasy book then check out Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim. This is an adorable Asian-inspired fantasy book.

It is a quick and easy read and if you love fairytale retellings, then this is for you. Six Crimson Cranes has a very light romance element to it and a soft magic system.

If you are interested in this book but want to know more, you can check out my full Six Crimson Cranes review and decide if this is the book for you.

The Gilded Ones

If you are looking for a West-African-inspired YA fantasy book, then look no further than the Gilded Ones by Namina Forna.

The Gilded Ones is pitched as a “dark feminist tale spun with blood and gold”, and it is not wrong. This is a dark YA fantasy and borders on more adults due to the violent themes within the pages.

In this story, we follow a girl who has to undergo ritual bleeding to ensure that she is a “normal human” and not a demon. Instead of human red, her blood runs gold though and she ends up having to face a new fate that she never expected.

Sent away to join a special army-like unit with other gilded girls, she must learn how to control her new powers, form relationships with the other girls in her unit, and uncover secrets about the society at large. 

I really recommend picking this book up if you want a fast and dark fantasy. Book two in this series is one of my most anticipated May 2022 fantasy book releases too, so you won’t have to wait to see what happens next.

The Jasmine Throne

Are you looking for a sapphic Indian-inspired fantasy book? Then you are going to love The Jasmine Throne by Tasha Suri. While this is technically in the YA fantasy age range, it really pushes that and, I think, is much more adult in themes and tone. 

We follow two main characters. One is an imprisoned princess who longs for freedom and revenge. The second is a maid who is just trying to keep her head down since she holds quite a few secrets of her own. 

We also get some amazing side characters in this book. My favorite is a pregnant woman who has quickly become one of my favorite moms in fantasy. 

This book does have a slower pace and a lot of slow-burn build-ups, so don’t go in expecting a fast-paced ride like some of the other books on this list.  But if you want beautiful worldbuilding and well-crafted characters, then The Jasmine Throne is one you won’t want to pass on.

An Ember in the Ashes

A gritty Middle Eastern-inspired world where revolution is brewing against the colonizing upper class, An Ember in the Ashes is one of the best diverse fantasy books on the market right now. 

In this book, we follow two characters once again. One lower-class girl who has had to watch her family be murdered and her brother be taken to jail so she joins up with the rebels to spy on the top-tier military school. And the other is a boy attending the military school who hates what he is and dreams of nothing more than escape from his fate. 

This is a beautifully written four-book series, and best of all, it is a completed series! No need to wait for new books to get the full story, it is all out and ready for you to binge read. 

The Best Diverse Adult Fantasy Books

Now that we have talked about some of my favorite diverse YA fantasy books, we can move on to diverse adult fantasy books.

Sword of Kaigen

Sword of Kaigen is not only an amazing non-European fantasy book, but it is also a self-published fantasy book! One of my favorite books of all time, Sword of Kaigen is a standalone fantasy set in an Asian-inspired world.

We follow Misaki and her 14-year-old son Mamoru. Misaki is a wife and mom, but she longs for her past where she was so much more. At one point she was a warrior, but now that life is only a memory. Mamoru is a teenager who longs for greatness. He wants to be the best warrior her can be, but when he learns more about the world outside of his small, secluded town, his rose-colored view of the world starts to fade.

This is a dark and brutal book that will rip your heart out and stomp all over it.  As a mom myself, I highly recommend this one for its representation of motherhood in a fantastical setting. If you want to check this one out, you can actually read it for free on Kindle Unlimited.

City of Brass

City of Brass is a beautiful Middle Eastern-inspired fantasy trilogy. Once again, this is a completed series so no need to wait on more books to release. You can get the full story all right now!

In this series, we follow Nahri, an orphan con artist living in Cairo who accidentally summons a djinn! We also follow that djinn ( well Deva), Dara as he has to take Nahri from Egypt to the magical land of Devabad where she can learn her true heritage. Then back in Devabad, we follow Ali, a prince who doesn’t quite fit in with the rest of his people.

This is one of the few series where I actually really love the ” love triangle” element of it. One of my least favorite tropes but it is done so well and so differently here that it really works within the context of the story.

This book also very heavily features food, which made it perfect for my first reading and recipes where I made Koshari and talked all about the book!

The Poppy War

I have probably said this about all of the books on this list, but this is one of my favorite fantasy series. The Poppy War is a Chinese-inspired story that blends history and magic in the best way possible. So many scenes from this book are ripped directly from the history books with a little magic added in!

In the Poppy War, we follow Rin, a war-orphan who longs for more than an arranged marriage to a man she does not love. In order to escape her fate, she studies hard and gets accepted to a prestigious military school. Because of her low status though, she isn’t immediately accepted by her classmates.

The first half of the first book is “Ya feeling”. Following Rin in school but after that first half, we are thrust into the dark and violent war that encompasses the rest of the series.

This is, again, a completed series. So check it out and enjoy the entire series in one shot!

Black Sun

Ready for something completely different than the fantasy books you are used to? Black Sun is a pre-Columbian-inspired fantasy world that is nothing like you have ever read before.  It is so unique and beautifully written. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end! Luckily, book two in the series just came out so you can at least get most of the story without having to wait. 

In this series, we follow 3 different characters. A hidden and blinded “chosen one”, a female sailor who may be part siren, and a young girl from the lower class who has worked her way into the highest ranks of priesthood.

This one is a bit hard to describe without spoiling anything, so I advise that you go in blind and just enjoy the ride. 

The Fifth Season

The final book on this list of diverse adult fantasy books is the Fifth Season by NK Jemisin. Another completed series, this one is a little harder to recommend but I just had to because I love it so much.

It is one of those books that is very polarizing. You will either love it or hate it, there is really no in-between with this one.  Jemisin has a very unique writing style that isn’t going to vibe with everyone. Oh, and this book has an entire PoV written in the second person! I love it but it is hard for a lot of people. 

In this book, we follow 3 women of different ages. All of whom are orogens, magic-users in this world. During the story, we are in the middle of an apocalyptic event, normal in this world, but this may just be the last one that actually fully destroys the world. 

The characters in this series are so well written and the world is so perfectly built. If you want something different than the norm, the pick up the Broken Earth series. 

These books are perfect for proving the misconception about fantasy being an “old-white man genre” wrong. All of these books are very diverse and set in rich and beautiful worlds. 

Life isn’t always black & white, and neither is fantasy. These are the best fantasy books with morally grey characters!

 

Characters in fantasy books tend to run the gambit when it comes to personality traits. Sometimes we get the good and pure hero or heroine. Other times we get the completely evil mustache-twirling villain. I tend to find these archetypes a little on the boring side though.

Characters that are all good or all bad, just don’t make sense to me. When I read something, I want complex characters. Morally grey characters in fantasy, to me, are the epitome of complexity. There is a balance between light and darkness within them. They can be villains, heroes, or anti-heroes. Some of my favorite books are filled with grey morality, and I am going to talk about some of those books today.

So if you are interested in morally grey fantasy characters, add these books to your TBR today!

 

Morally Grey Fantasy Characters

*This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you*

Morally grey characters can be the hero or villain. Either hero with a dark side or a villain where you can see their reasoning. This list today leans more towards the morally grey hero.  Don’t worry though, we will cover morally grey villains at a later date, I promise! 

City of Brass

City of Brass is one of my favorite female-authored adult fantasy books. It is a story about an Egyptian orphan named Nari who is conning her way through life on the streets of Cairo.

One day during a con she accidentally calls a djinn named Dara which changes her life forever. She is swept away to the magical city of Devabad. There she learns about her past, and what will become of her future. 

Nahri is mostly good but has her morally grey moments for sure, but she isn’t really who I am talking about here. The best depiction of grey morality in this whole series is Dara, the djinn with a violent past but a well-meaning heart. There were times I loved him and times I hated him. He is both a hero and a villain, sometimes simultaneously. 

It is difficult to love him but hard to hate him. Making Dara a fantastic example of a morally grey fantasy character. 

The Fifth Season

When you are looking for a book where pretty much everyone is morally grey, pick up The Fifth Season by NJ Jemisin. This book is dark but beautiful.

We are following a few female characters of different ages. One is a mother who has just discovered the murder of her son. The other is a twenty-something-year-old girl who is on a quest with her mentor. And the final is a very young girl who has just been taken from her family to live and train in a government facility. The only thing they have in common? They are orogenes. People with the power to control the earth, such as making earthquakes or quelling them.

The world of this book has what they call fifth seasons. These seasons are basically apocalyptic events, and this book takes place during one.

Every member of this cast of characters can be described as morally grey. They are neither good nor bad, but a mix of the two. This makes everyone feel very real and relatable while really pulling at your emotions.

She Who Became the Sun

While this wasn’t one of my personal favorite books, it does fulfill the morally grey aspect well. She Who Became the Sun by Shelly Parker Chan is a historical fantasy. Though it is light on the fantasy and more heavy on the historical fiction. 

The book is set in a “fantasy” version of ancient China. Though fantasy is very loose and this is basically Chinese historical fiction.

All of the main characters are morally grey,  leaning more towards the darker side of the spectrum.  Zhu is a girl who takes on her dead brother’s name and destiny and she will do anything to achieve this destiny. We also follow a eunuch general who is both cruel and sympathetic at the same time.

This is a good book, especially if you enjoy historical fiction with unlikeable characters.  As I said, this isn’t a favorite of mine but there were still a lot of things I did enjoy. You can check out my spoiler-free She Who Became the Sun review here if you want more information on it.

The Poppy War

So if you like the sound of She Who Became Sun but want more magic and fantastical elements, The Poppy War is my recommendation.  The Poppy War is another Chinese-inspired historical fantasy, but this one is much more fantasy with just a little history.  And of course, all of our characters are morally grey!

We mainly follow Rin, a war orphan who is determined to go to the top-tier military school in order to avoid an arranged marriage to a much older man. She gets in, but war is coming.

This book is brutal! We really see the atrocities of war and the lengths people will go to. There is also a magic system involving gods pretty much possessing the minds of humans. While they have great power, they also have a tendency to go mad.

Rin has to make some tough choices and do some pretty terrible things in order to do what she believes is best for her country and people. If you want to learn more, you can check out my spoiler-free Poppy War review video.

Winds of Strife

So this one is the only self-published fantasy book on this list. Winds of Strife by UG Gutman is a super dark adult fantasy book. Pretty much none of the characters are likable, and all of them are morally grey. 

We follow a few different perspectives, but the main one we will discuss here is Nye. Nye is a pretty terrible human but has good motivations. He is a witch hunter, but when he was a child his family was murdered by witch hunters! So he has decided to join their ranks in order to take them down from the inside!

Our main character is violent, hears voices, is abusive, and all-around just isn’t a good person, but for some reason as a reader, we root for him because he wants to take down the slightly more evil King.

As I so often do, I have a full video review for this book too. So you can see if you are interested in reading this book by watching this Winds of Strife review on my Booktube Channel.

The Mistborn Series

I won’t talk about this one too long because I could go on and on about how much I love the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. Really, I love the entire cosmere and there are so many morally grey characters in the cosmere that I could have made this whole list with just books in this world.

I decided just to talk about Mistborn era 1 though, book one being the Final Empire. In this series, we are following a rag-tag group of the underclass with forbidden magic trying to take down the evil Lord Ruler. 

Two of our main characters, Kelsier and Vin, can be seen as morally grey fantasy characters. They will do whatever it takes, and that doesn’t always correlate to what is right. As the series goes on, we see the repercussions of certain decisions and it really is such a fantastic series with complex characters. 

I wouldn’t say that any of the characters are unlikeable like some of the other books on this list, but they definitely make some questionably dark decisions. 

Vicious

The final book on this list is one that probably won’t be a surprise to anyone. Vicious by VE Schwab is the epitome of morally grey characterization. This isn’t technically a fantasy book. It is more sci-fi “superhero” in style.

We follow two friends, Victor and Eli, through college where they are researching EOs (extraordinaries), people who have powers. They find out that in order to become an EO, you need to have a near-death experience. So they decide to do what they have to in order to get some power.

This book jumps timelines a lot. We will be in their college friend days in one chapter, then the next is 10 years later and they are mortal enemies. The way this is written will really keep you on your toes. The story slowly unravels and it is so entertaining.

No one is the hero though. Victor may be our main character, but he is no hero. And Eli may think he is a hero in his own mind, but he is far from it in reality.

This is one of my favorite books, and I think VE Schwab’s best work. Go check this one out if you want to just be immersed in a really engaging and fast-paced story.

There you have it! The best books with morally grey fantasy characters! I could probably go on and on about morally grey characters, but I will leave that for another time. 

Let me know what your favorites are in the comments down below!

 

 

Check out these amazing YA and adult May 2022 fantasy book releases.

Can you believe we are officially in the second quarter of the year? This means that we will be continuing with our list of hyped 2022 fantasy book releases. May is a month with quite a few amazing sounding ya fantasy and adult fantasy books set to release. There are some really cool-sounding new series, standalone fantasy books, and some super hyped sequels that you won’t want to miss. 

Anticipated May 2022 Fantasy Book Releases

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If you don’t see a May 2022 fantasy book release on this list that you are hyped for, make sure you let me know in the comments so I can check that out too!

The Merciless Ones by Namina Forna

Coming out on May 31st, The Merciless Ones is the second book in the Deathless series. Author Namina Forna crafted a brutal and magical world with book one, The Gilded Ones, and this will continue our story.

The first book follows a teenage girl as she finds out, via ritualistic bleeding, that she is more than human. In this world that means death. Before she can be killed though, she is taken off to be trained as a member of a group of elite “non-human” female warriors.

As she trains, makes friends, and discovers more about the world and her power, we really get to dive into a really interesting story. Things in this world aren’t always what they seem! We also get a lot of really nice friendships and themes of sisterhood with a very small romance. Honestly, I liked that we didn’t really get much romance in this book, but I do expect to see a little more of the romance aspect in book two. 

If you haven’t yet, you can see if you want to read book 1 by checking out my full Gilded Ones spoiler-free review on YouTube.

Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater

The next new release is Bravely. This is a YA fantasy inspired heavily by the Disney movie Brave. Brave is one of my favorite Disney/Pixar films, so I was super excited to see this one. 

This book takes place several years after the events of the Brave movie. In this, she has one year to save everything she loves. 

Merida goes through a series of epic journeys. She has to travel to faraway kingdoms under the watchful eyes of the gods in order to inspire a revolution. 

Disney-inspired books don’t always work for me. Many of the times they are very hit or miss. I am excited to see what this one adds to the original story though. 

You can pick this book up on May 3rd!

Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire

If you loved Middle Game, you are no doubt excited for Seasonal Fears. Seasonal Fears is book two in the Alchemical journeys series. Though it doesn’t feel like a “true” sequel.

We are following different characters with different purposes in the same world. Our main characters are not twins in this one (that I can tell), and it looks like we may get a bit of romance as well.

Melanie is a dying girl with a destiny. Harry doesn’t believe in destiny.  They are given a chance to walk a road of untold dangers in order to achieve a potential future together.

I am sure that this will be just as weird and gripping as book one, and I have a feeling that this may be the “winter & summer” personifications.

You can pick up Seasonal Fears on May 3rd.

Elektra: A Novel of the House of Atreus by Jennifer Saint

If you are into historical fiction with fantastical elements, then Elektra seems like it will be right up your alley. It reminds me a lot of the premise of Circe and Song of Achilles.

The house of Atreus is cursed. A cycle of violence and vengeance follows them. This book is a story about three women and how their fates are tied to the curse.

We are set in ancient Greece and follow Elektra, the youngest daughter of Clytemnestra and Agamemnon. One of our other main characters is Clytemnestra herself. Then we also follow Cassandra, the Princess of Troy.

If you want to check this historical retelling out, you can pick it up on May 3rd.

All the Seas of the World by Guy Gavriel Kay

While this isn’t a sequel, it is set in the same world as Guy Gavriel Kay’s Children of Earth and Sky. It does appear to be a standalone though, which is quite exciting. 

All the Seas of the World follows two people sent on an assassination mission. The mission needs to happen in order to alter the balance of powers in this world. 

One of these two people is a woman who was abducted as a child and sold into servitude. As an escapee, she is determined to forge her own path of revenge. The other assassin is a merchant who remembers being a child in exile due to factors outside of their control. 

This seems like it will be a fast-paced dramatic novel! If you want to pick it up, it comes out on May 17th. 

The Ghosts of Rose Hill by R.M. Romero

I hadn’t heard anyone talk about this book yet. It is one I stumbled upon on Goodreads by chance. The synopsis sounds fantastic and the cover is stunning!

The Ghosts of Rose Hill is a fantasy book set in Prague. We follow Ilana, a biracial Jewish girl, and violinist. She discovers a forgotten graveyard, and there meets a ghost boy who is for some reason tied to the city and cant pass on.

A man with no shadow takes interest in Ilana and offers to share his magic with her. But things aren’t always what they seem.

This seems like it will be a magical book with a good dose of romance!

You can pick it up on May 3rd!

Siren Queen by Nghi Vo

Coming out on May 10th, Siren Queen seems like a magical historical fantasy that I can’t wait to read. This book is set in the Hollywood golden age. Think glitz and glamour and “old Hollywood”.

We follow Luli Wei, a Chinese-American aspiring starlet. She refuses to play maids and fainting flowers. She wants more than Hollywood tends to offer Chinese actors at this time. But she will figure out how to get everything she wants.

As we see her climb the ranks of Hollywood elites, we learn of the darker side of the glitz. The studios are viler than anyone could imagine. Bargains are made in blood using ancient magic.

This sounds like a fun historical fantasy standalone. Nghi Vo is a fantastic writer, and this book is guaranteed to be a hit.

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

An exciting first entry to a new trilogy, The Stardust Thief will release on May 17th.  This is a new novel inspired by One Thousand and One Nights. It is said to weave a gripping tale of a smuggler, a prince, and a dangerous quest across the desert to find a magical lamp.

I don’t know about you, but I am a sucker for desert fantasy. This book has everything I want. Magic, royalty, an epic quest, and even some romance. 

I can’t wait for this one to come out. Likely, this is going to be a big hit for May 2022 fantasy book releases. 

City of Orange by David Yoon

This one isn’t a fantasy. It is a sci-fi dystopian novel. City of Orange follows a man who wakes up and can’t even remember his own name.  He has vague memories but can’t fully grasp them.

He now has to learn to navigate his new situation. Foraging for food and searching for water. Then one day he meets a boy. This boy tears down the walls of his memories, making our main character realize that nothing, neither past nor present, is what it seems to be.

City of Orange is said to be a character-driven novel with a harrowing and heartfelt story.

If all of this sounds interesting to you, the book comes out on May 24th.

Book of Night by Holly Black

So this one is probably one of the most hyped fantasy book releases of May 2022. Holly Black is one of the internet’s favorite authors. Famous for her Cruel Prince YA fantasy series, this will be her newest adult fantasy book release.

Though I personally wasn’t a fan of The Cruel Prince, I am still excited for Book of Night. The big difference that I can see is that this new adult book isn’t focused on the fae. Quite a divergence from her YA work, this foray into adult fantasy may be the one that has me finally enjoying a Holly Black Book.

Book of Night is a modern dark fantasy. Following shadowy thieves and secret societies. It is being compared to Ninth House and the Night Circus. Now, I love both of the comp books, so this really does have me extremely excited.

If you are looking forward to picking this one up, you can get it on May 3rd!

The Collarbound by Rebecca Zahabi

If you are looking for a new adult fantasy book that doesn’t seem to be getting much hype, you may want to check out The Collarbound. 

Coming out on May 12th, this book is being compared to The Poppy War for its magical brink-of-war setting as well as A Darker Shade of Magic for its lyrical character-driven writing style. Both of those comps have me super interested. 

We follow characters during a brewing rebellion in a dark and violent world. Isha is a refugee trying to fit in amongst the other mages. Tatters is a slave and former rebel who is now owned by the rebels he once fought with. 

The Collarbound follows an unlikely friendship between a man trying to escape his past and a woman trying to uncover hers until their secrets threaten to tear them apart.

Circus of Shadows by Kimberlee Turley

The final May 2022 fantasy book release on this list is Circus of Shadows. Honestly, I am a sucker for a circus fantasy. All I really needed to know to make me excited for this release is that it is about a circus! 

If you need a little more information about this book though: We follow a seventeen-year-old girl named Grace. She gets caught hitching a free ride on a circus train, and when she is caught she is actually offered a job in the circus. This job has he assisting magician and knife thrower, Jack. 

When she starts performing though,  she begins finding threatening notes hidden in her costume. Plagued by reoccurring déjà vu, cryptic notes, and suspicions that Jack may not be who he seems to be, Gracie is swept into supernatural secrets surrounding Vincenzio’s Circus Troupe & Menagerie.

If that sounds like something you want to read, this book comes out on May 7th!

Hopefully, you found a few books on this list to add to your own TBR! Let me know what books you are most excited to check out when they release!

 

 

If you like a good magical contest, then you will fall head over heels for these amazing fantasy competition books.

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Back again to talk about another super popular fantasy trope. This time it is a magical competition.  There were so many books I found to put on this list, so honestly, this may be quite the long one, but I promise it will be worth it.  

So if you are looking for some heart-pounding fantasy competition books, then keep reading and make sure you have your Amazon wishlist open because you are going to want ALL of these!

Must Read Fantasy Competition Books

Some of these books are YA fantasy, some are adult fantasy, but all of them are worth the read!

Race the Sands

Race the Sands by Sarah Beth Durst is one of my favorite adult fantasy standalone books. We follow a mom main character who just wants to take care of her daughter, as well as a young runaway who wants to escape her terrible family.

Together, the mom and the runaway train to run the epic annual monster races.  These races are fierce and dangerous, but the winner will be wealthy beyond measure!

Along with the race/competition aspect of this book, there is also a large dose of political intrigue with an underlying murder mystery thrown in for fun!

So if you want a fast-paced and fun adult fantasy book with a badass mom main character as well as a cool competition, then you need to pick this one up right away!

The Night Circus

If you are a fan of whimsy and soft magic, then the Night Circus by Erin Morganstern may just be the perfect fantasy contest book for you. 

This book is a historical fantasy set around a magical circus, need I say more? Well, if you must know more then I will tell you! 

We follow a girl and a boy through their entire lives. From childhood, these two individuals are set on a path where they must compete against one another without knowing what to do or even the real stakes of the contest. 

This book is beautiful, but I recommend going into it without knowing too much. It makes it much more fun that way. 

All you really need to know is that there is a magical contest, a whimsical circus, and a beautiful romance!

The Hunger Games

When you think of fantasy competition books, The Hunger Games is probably one of the first ones that come to mind. This is a YA dystopian classic that I am sure everyone has read by this point. If you haven’t read it, then you have probably seen the movies. 

This book series is set in a future America where kids are basically forced to compete in a televised competition to the death. We have all of the “typical” YA tropes like a love triangle, not like other girls, dead parent… All the things I shouldn’t love but for some reason I just do. 

This book has been compared to Battle Royalle, and I can totally see the comparison! Though this book doesn’t have any magic in it, it still gets commonly classified as fantasy, even though I would say it is more dystopian. 

So if for some reason you are one of the few people in the world who haven’t read this book yet, I really recommend picking it up, even if just to see what all the hype is all about. 

All of Us Villains

All of us Villains is a new release that was co-authored by Christine Lynn Herman and Amanda Foody. Since its release, it has been frequently compared to The Hunger Games, and for pretty good reason.

This is one I would say is like a Hunger Games story but with magic! I mean, what else do you need, right!?! 

All of Us Villains follows teens from multiple magical families who are destined to compete in a “to the death” competition in order to determine which family will control all of the magic. 

Once a secret, this competition is now ALL the talk of the town since a tell-all book was released and no one knows who the author was. These kids must now figure out a way to survive. All while possibly trying to break the curse that makes them compete in the first place. 

I had a lot of fun reading this one and think it is perfect for fans of The Hunger Games who want more magic in their books. 

Fireborne

This is probably one of the most underrated YA fantasy books right now. Not only does Fireborne have an amazingly political plot, but there are also dragons! I don’t know about you, but dragons always make me want to read a book. 

Fireborne is basically a gender-swapped Anastasia retelling, with dragons! Leo, our Anastasia, watched his whole royal family be slaughtered.  After the rebellion, he was sent to an orphanage in secret. There, he met a young girl named Annie and they became best friends. Annie’s family was killed by Leos back when they were in power. 

When they are older, we follow them as they are training to be dragon riders. This first book has them competing in a dragon-riding competition to see who will be the leader of their dragon army.

This book is so much fun and so fast-paced. You get romance ( just a little), politics, oh and did I mention dragons? 

If you haven’t read this one yet, now is the time! Book 2 is already out, and book 3 will be coming out in 2022! 

An Unkindness of Magicians

Want more magical competitions? Then check out An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard. This is an adult fantasy set in modern-day New York.

In this book, we start with a once-in-a-generation magical competition where the winner’s family gets to control all of the magic in the magical world. Sounds familiar right? but no worries, it is completely different than All of Us Villains. 

We follow Sydney, an unknown magician who ends up competing as the champion for a new house. The competition starts out harmless, but as the contest continues, the tasks grow more deadly. 

This book is a great adult standalone! We get to really explore the cost of magic and what happens when magicians try to find loopholes and avoid paying the cost. 

There is also an overarching murder mystery. If you want a fast adult standalone, then this is one you need to pick up. 

The Prison Healer

The Prison Healer is a rather new book that I read last year. It was honestly quite the surprise. I received it in a FairyLoot box and hadn’t heard anyone talk about it. After reading it though, it was all I wanted to talk about.

We follow Kiva, a young girl who is the healer in a deadly prison. She has been in this prison for 10 years. Kiva does the intake and medical exams for all of the new prisoners.

When the new prisoner who comes in happens to be a rebel queen though, her life is turned upside down. She must keep the queen alive at all costs. In a cryptic letter, she is told to do so, and because of that, she volunteers to undergo a magical trial to determine the innocence of the queen.

Not only do we get a really fun competition aspect, but there is a lot of mystery surrounding the queen and Kiva’s connection with the rebels. We also get a really sweet romance that I absolutely loved!

Red Rising

While technically sci-fi and not a fantasy, Red Rising is another really fun competition book. Technically, this is YA but a lot of the themes and violence make it feel much more adult.  Honestly, this felt a lot like a Hunger Games in space, and I didn’t hate it.

We follow Darrow, a “red”, the lowest of the lowest class. After a traumatic event, he undergoes surgery to make himself into a “gold” the top tier of this society.

In doing so, he goes into this elite school and has to enter into a war competition. Many people die, and we get a real Hunger Games feel even though this isn’t the last man standing type competition.

If you want competition in space, then Red Rising may be the book for you.

Where Dreams Descend

The final book I want to talk about today is Where Dreams Descend. This is a super cute YA fantasy with a pretty heavy romance aspect to it. 

We follow Kallia, a female magician who is essentially trapped in a house in the middle of the woods. There, she performs every night for guests and bar patrons. Until one day she escapes and runs off to a nearby main city. 

There, she enters a stage magician competition. Unfortunately, women aren’t really seen as stage magicians, but she does it anyway!  The competition is the main aspect of this book, along with the romance. 

This is the first book in a duology, and I highly recommend that you pick it up.

So if you are looking for some fun fantasy competition books, you have a pretty good list here to start you out! 

 

 

Not all fantasy books are multi-book series. If you are looking for quick, immersive, and magical books, then these are the best fantasy standalone books you should read right now.

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Must-read Fantasy Standalone Books

It seems like every highly recommended adult fantasy or YA fantasy book out there right now is part of a massive series. Even if it isn’t massive, most of them are at least trilogies. While I love a good fantasy series, I know that sometimes you just want something that is one and done.

You don’t always want to spend time reading three, five, ten books in order to finish a story. We need a break from the long series sometimes as fantasy readers, and standalone books are a great way to get that. 

Just because a fantasy book is a standalone though, doesn’t mean there won’t be epic worldbuilding, a great plot, and amazing characters though. As fantasy readers, we want it all and these are the best fantasy standalone books that will give you everything you desire and then some!

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

If you have been around either my BookTube channel or social media, then you may already know that I have a deep love for Brandon Sanderson’s books. His cosmere is my absolute favorite fantasy universe, and Warbreaker fits in beautifully.

While Warbreaker is technically standalone, it does fit into his greater cosmere world. You don’t need to read anything else in order to fully enjoy this book though.

In this one, we follow two sisters. One who is promised to a god-king of a foreign country, and a younger sister who has always been forgotten. When their father, last minute, decides to send the younger daughter off in place of the older one to marry the god-king, the older sister feels she needs to come to her rescue.

This is a fantastic story filled with gods, magic, sisterly love, and yes, a little bit of fantasy romance as well!

An Unkindness of Magicians by Kat Howard

An Unkindness of Magicians is a great urban fantasy standalone book that not enough people really talk about. Honestly, urban fantasy isn’t typically my favorite, but this one is so good and the world is so rich that it almost doesn’t feel like our real world. 

We follow our main character, Sydney, as she infiltrates a magical competition that happens every 20 years. This competition determines which magical house will rule the magical unseen world until the next competition. 

Sydney is an unknown player, a surprise and a shock to the magicians living in this alternate New York City. She is powerful and doesn’t use traditional ways to get around the consequences of her magic. 

This story is fantastic, fast-paced, and will keep you guessing until the very end! There is even a murder mystery aspect to it which I really enjoy. 

There is a rumored sequel to this book in the works, but the ending is perfect and will leave you feeling fully satisfied. 

House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

It was really hard to pick between House in the Cerulean Sea and Under the Whispering door by this author. Both of these are amazing fantasy standalone books and I think either one of them would be a fantastic addition to your TBR. House in the Cerulean Sea won out for me personally by just a hair though. 

In this book, we follow Linus, a middle-aged social worker who inspects orphanages for magical children. He lives a boring life with no friends, no real relationships, and no real-life goals. 

He is sent by “The Company” to live at a report on a very special orphanage with a very special headmaster. What he thinks will be a routine job, turns into so much more than he could have ever imagined. 

The kids in this book are shining stars for me. As a parent myself, and someone who has worked with foster kids, I found them to be just perfect in every way. 

There is also a very sweet male/male romance in this book that just is the most wholesome thing you will ever read! So if you are looking for a warm hug of a fantasy book, then this one you should really check out as soon as possible.

The Nature of Witches by Rachel Griffin

This is probably one of my favorite YA fantasy standalone books that I have read recently. If you are a fan of witches and romance with seasonal magic and a “take care of our Earth because it is the only one we have” influence, then The Nature of Witches is a book for you. 

This book is set in a very familiar space. It is “urban” fantasy and feels like it could be taking place right here in our own time. We are following our main character as she attends a school for witches. Instead of having the magic of one season like every other witch alive, she is an Everwitch. She holds the power of every season, and her powers shift instead of fade with the passing of the seasons. 

She longs to be “normal” but that just isn’t in the cards. and with a global environmental crisis going on, she needs, now more than ever, to be able to harness and control her powers in order to protect the world that she loves so dearly. 

There is a sweet romance in this book with a bi-female main character. honestly, this is just a really fun read so pick it up when you feel the need for something quick and easy.

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab

So it is no secret that I am a massive VE Schwab fan! All of her books are top-tier amazing, but her fantasy standalone The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is in a tier all its own. 

This is a dark fantasy historical feeling romance type book that takes place in our normal world. It spans 300 years of life for Addie, who is granted a gift and a curse when a dark god grants her the gift of immortality but curses her so that no one will ever remember her. 

After hundreds of years, someone finally remembers her.  This starts a beautiful relationship! 

This book will have you crying, like ugly crying, by the end. I highly recommend picking it up if you haven’t already.

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

This book isn’t going to be for everyone, but it is totally for me. The Starless Sea is a beautiful and whimsical standalone. It is a story within a story. Honestly, there are lots of times while reading that I did not understand what was going on. But by the end, it all clicked! This is really a book that gets better with re-reads as well.

In this book, our main character is a college student who while looking through books in his library, stumbles upon a book with a very familiar story. The story is about him as a child and this leads him on a journey of discovery. He tries to figure out what this story is, and why he is in it.

Honestly, this book is hard to explain but it is so worth the read and I think you really should go in blind because it just makes the reading experience so much more fun.

If you end up enjoying this, I also recommend picking up Morgenstern’s other book, The Night Circus as well.

I could probably go on about more amazing standalone fantasy books, but This is a good amount to get you started. If you have any standalone fantasy recommendations, let me know in the comments!

Looking for a new book to read? Magic, romance, quests, and more! These are some of the best YA fantasy books that you need to read right now!

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The Best YA Fantasy Books You Need To Read

I may be a 30 something-year-old mom, but I still love a good YA fantasy book.  Personally, I don’t think you ever really grow out of YA books. If you like them, then you like them! There are good ones, younger ones, older ones, and bad ones. 

Ya fantasy is not a monolith, and everyone has different tastes. But if you want to pick up some magical, romantic, fun-to-read best ya fantasy books, then these ones here are a good place to start. 

Fireborn by Rosario Munda

Probably one of my personal favorite YA fantasy books! Fireborne by Rosario Munda is the first book in an epic fantasy trilogy. This series has dragons… Need you know more? Okay, I guess you do!

Fireborne not only has dragons, but it also has a violent revolution where the ruling class has been overthrown and a new government has been set up. Though, that new government may be just as bad as the old one depending on who you are and how you look at it.

This is best pitched as a gender-flipped Anastasia retelling! Lee should have died in the bloody revolution but he was secretly spared. Annie lost her family before the overthrow and has to grow up in an orphanage. The two grow up as best friends, possibly lovers, and are now dragon-riders trying to become the best they can be to lead the new dragon-rider military fleet.

This book does seem to lean to the slightly older side of YA, which I personally really enjoy. There is romance, but it isn’t a main part of the plot and is very much in the background of this story. Book 2 is already out and the third and final book should be out later in 2022!

If you haven’t read this one, go pick it up. I also have a full spoiler-free review on my BookTube channel that you can go watch here.

The Prison Healer by Lynette Nonni

Another first book in a series, the Prison Healer is quite a fun and unexpected book. Staying pretty firmly in the “typical YA” feeling age range, this book is anything but typical. 

We follow Kiva, a seventeen-year-old girl who is a prisoner in a death prison. She has been there for years and is now the lead healer in the prison. Basically, she does medical checks on all of the new incoming prisoners. Then she makes sure they get their prison mark on their hand and releases them into the general population. This is a brutal prison, think Russian lockdown.

One day, the rebel queen comes into the prison on her death bed. Kiva receives a mysterious note telling her she needs to keep her alive at all costs. So Kiva ends up doing everything she can, including taking on a tournament-style trial on behalf of the queen just to make sure she survives so she can be freed. 

This book has it all, rebels, rebellion, found family, romance, and magic! It is a ya fantasy that I think a lot of people will really enjoy. You can see a full spoiler-free fantasy book review of this book over on my channel here!

This Savage Song by VE Schwab

VE Schwab is quite a well-known author. She’s penned some fantasy favorites such as Addie LaRue and a Darker Shade of Magic. One of her lesser talked about series though is The Monsters of Verity duology.

The first book in this series is This Savage Song. A darker YA fantasy that explores what it truly means to be a monster. In this world, monsters are formed through acts of violence. Different acts create different kinds of monsters, and now these monsters are taking over. 

We follow Kate and August. Kate is the daughter of a corrupt city lord, basically a kingpin gangster, and August is the son of a rebel leader who wants to overthrow the corrupt government in their monster-filled town. 

The two, of course, cross paths and end up becoming friends. Even though they are technically spying on one another. 

I love that this story explores friendship with no romance! We also get to see what makes a monster in a world with monsters. Honestly, are humans the real monsters, and can monsters be human?

See my rave review about this series in a spoiler-free video here!

An Ember in the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

One of my favorite darker YA fantasy series is the Ember in the Ashes quartet. This is a pretty popular ya fantasy series, so I am sure you have at least heard of this one. 

An Ember in the Ashes is book one in a political fantasy series that I highly recommend. We follow Laila, a girl from a family of scholars living under colonial rule. When her brother is arrested under suspicion of working with rebels who want to overthrow the corrupt government, she takes it upon herself to join up with the rebels in an attempt to free him.

She ends up undercover as a slave in an infamous military school. There she meets Elias, a member of the ruling class who is a student at this school. He isn’t what you would expect though. Elias does not want to rule, and actually wants to run away, but the universe has different plans. These two are thrown together in a violent political plot that will change the world. 

This series has enemies to lovers romance, a violent revolution, and a whole load of political intrigue. If you somehow haven’t managed to pick this one up yet, then now is the time to get it since book 4 came out recently and you can binge read the entire series. 

Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau Preto

If you are looking for a book that is an amazing bridge between YA fantasy and adult fantasy, then the Crown of Feathers series is perfect for you. 

This is a large YA fantasy story with multiple points of view.  The multi PoV format is pretty uncommon with most YA fantasy books, but very common with adult fantasy books. That makes this great for YA readers to get used to the format of most adult fantasy stories. 

In this book our main character is Veonyka, she is what they call an animage, someone who can speak with animals. She and her sister are in hiding, as magic users in this world are outlawed. If they are found, they will be forced into slavery. Veronyka wants nothing more than to be a phoenix rider, but there is no more known to this world. When she and her sister have a falling out, she takes off on her own. Finding other hidden phoenix riders, she disguises herself as a boy to get into their camp and become a rider herself. 

We also follow an animage solder in hiding, a slave, and another phoenix rider/love interest for the main character. 

This is a really solid series and one that I think most fantasy readers will end up enjoying.

Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim

A whimsical fairytale retelling, Six Crimson Cranes is a fun YA fantasy book that most readers will enjoy. 

In this world, magic is gone. It has been outlawed and we aren’t really sure why to start. We follow Shiori, the daughter of a king who is to be married off to a lord from another kingdom. One night, she accidentally exposes that she has forbidden magic to her stepmother. The stepmother then promptly turns her six brothers into cranes and suppresses Shiori’s magic by permanently attaching a wooden bowl to her head. 

Shiori is now on the run, trying to break the curse, but if she speaks then her brothers will die. One death for every word she utters. She ends up a servant in a high house in another kingdom and struggles to figure out how to break this curse. Oh, and did I mention there is a tiny dragon? 

This book has light romance and a very “Disney magic” feel to it! You can see my Six Crimson Cranes spoiler-free review here. 

The Best YA Sci-Fi Books

So I know this is a best YA fantasy books blog post, but I have two YA sci-fi books that I would like to talk about as well. YA sci-fi has really been fun lately and once I read some more, I may make a full list, but at this time I only have two to discuss.

The Disasters by MK England

If you want a super fun space romp with a diverse cast of characters, then The Disasters is one you need to read! It is such an underrated book and honestly, I don’t know why because it is so much fun. 

The best way I have seen it described is “The Breakfast Club in Space”. We are following a group of people who are being kicked out of a prestigious school on the moon. They are all on a shuttle ready to be sent home when the school is attacked. Everyone is killed and our misfits barely get away. 

They are not on the run and have to figure out how to work together, survive, and possibly save the universe!

We have so many great things in this book! Found family, casually queer characters, and just a fun time in this sci-fi standalone!

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson

The Skyward series is a fantastic Ya sci-fi. It is one of Sanderson’s only no Cosmere books that I have read. Typically, I stick with his Cosmere books, but I am so glad that I gave this one a try. 

We follow Spensa, an angry teen girl who wants nothing more than to be a pilot. No one will give her a chance though since her father was once a pilot who famously defected and turned on his wingmates. As the daughter of a traitor, she is an outcast. Until one day, she somehow manages to get herself into pilot class, but she has to struggle and fight for her place and learn to make friends with the people she is now flying with. 

This is such a fun series. It has a lot of fun elements and some really great twists and turns!

Hopefully, this list of YA books helps you grow your TBR with some amazing books! I would love to hear what you think of these books and what books you think should have been on this list!

Not sure where to start with Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy universe? This Cosmere reading order will make it easy for you and ensure you don’t miss any important connections!

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Cosmere Reading Order

If you are just now getting into the high-fantasy reading world, a fantasy world consisting of numerous different books and series may seem intimidating.  Brandon Sanderson’s Cosmere is definitely intimidating. Even seasoned fantasy readers may not know where to start with this world of fantasy books. That is okay though! There are actually a few different ways you can go about reading the Cosmere. Today I am going to tell you about a few different Cosmere reading orders and different places you can start with this amazing fantasy universe.

What is the Cosmere?

First off, let’s answer the question “What is the Cosmere?”. The Cosmere is a fantasy universe created by author Brandon Sanderson. This universe connects a large number of his different books and series.

Think, the MCU, but in book form. Sanderson has multiple book series including, Mistborn, the Stormlight Archives, Warbreaker, and Elantris, all within the Cosmere. These books CAN be read on their own just fine, but I find them even more enjoyable when you are able to see and understand all of the little references from other books and worlds. 

Imagine watching the Iron Man movies, but not watching anything else in the MCU. You can do it, but it isn’t really recommended. 

The only one I would say is not as good read alone without taking the Cosmere and other books into account is the Stormlight Archives. This series contains a TON of references in later books. 

The Four Ways to Read the Cosmere

Okay, so now that we have covered what the Cosmere is, we can dive into the Cosmere reading order. There are multiple ways to read this world, and none are wrong. Read the way you want to read. But there are four main recommended reading orders. We are going to cover all of them so that you can decide for yourself which way you want to approach this fantasy universe. 

Reading the Cosmere in Publication Order

First, you can start reading the Cosmere in publication order. This is a good way to go and makes sure you don’t miss out on anything as you go along. This will have you jumping between series though, so keep that in mind if you decide to go this route. Also, for almost all of the short stories and novellas, you can get a bind-up of the Arcanum Unbounded. That has all except the newest of the novellas and even has volume 1 of White Sands. 

1. Elantris (2006)
2. The Hope of Elantris – Short Story (2007)
3. The Final Empire (2006)
4. The Well of Ascension (2007)
5. Hero of Ages (2008)
6. Warbreaker (2009)
7. Way of Kings (2010)
8. The Alloy of Law (2011)
9. The Eleventh Metal – Short Story (2012)
10. The Emperor’s Soul – Novella (2012)
11. Words of Radiance (2014)
12. Six of the Dusk – Novella (2014)
13. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell- Novella (2015)
14. Shadows of Self (2015)
15. The Bands of Mourning (2016)
16. Mistborn a Secret History – Novella (2016)
17. Allomancer Jak – Short Story (2016)
18. White Sand, Volume 1 – Graphic Novel (2016)
19. Edgedancer – Novella (2016)
20. Oathbringer (2017)
21. White Sand, Volume 2 – Graphic Novel (2016)
22. White Sand, Volume 3 – Graphic Novel (2019)
23. Dawnshard – Novella (2020)
24. Rhythm of War (2020)
25. The Lost Metal (coming 2022)

Yeah, I know. It is a lot. There are a ton of books and stories in this world. Honestly, reading in publication order may be good for some but it is a bit daunting for me personally. I am not one to love jumping too much between series, so this isn’t my personal favorite reading order. 

Reading the Cosmere in Chronological Order

Another way to read the Cosmere is in chronological order. This universe is vast and spans a LONG period of time. Reading it in this order is great for a lot of people, though it is one of the least recommended orders I have seen. 

One of the reasons this isn’t recommended is much is that there could be some spoilers for other books if you read it this way. For example, reading Mistborn: a Secret history in this way is going to contain major spoilers for the Mistborn series as a whole.

Taladin- Graphic Novels

1. White Sands, Volume 1-3

Elantris

1. Elantris
2. The Hope of Elantris
3. The Emporer’s Soul

Mistborn Era 1

1. The Eleventh Metal
2. The Final Empire
3. Mistborn: a Secret History ( please don’t actually read this after the Final Empire)
4. Well of Ascension
5. Hero of Ages

Standalones

1. Warbreaker
2. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

Stormlight Archives

1. Way of Kings
2. Words of Radiance
3. Edgedancer
4. Oathbringer
5. Dawnshard
6. Rhythm of War

Mistborn Era 2

1. Allomancer Jak
2. The Alloy of Law
3. Shadows of Self
4. The Bands of Mourning
5. The Lost Metal (coming soon)
6. Six of the Dusk

Not a bad reading order, but still not a favorite of most Cosmere fans.

Reading the Cosmere in Series Order

One of the two most popular reading orders is the series reading order. This keeps all of the series together, in publication order. It includes all of the novellas and short stories as well.

This is a good option for people who don’t like jumping around in series too much. Honestly, this is one of my personal favorite ways to read in general. I like being able to start and finish a series in one go if I can. Now, not all of the books in all of these series are released yet. 

The last book in Mistborn Era 2 will be released around November of 2022. The Stormlight Archives is also not complete. And at some point, we will get a Mistborn Era 3. So, I will make sure to update these lists once more books come out to keep them up to date!

Elantris

1. Elantris
2. The Hope of Elantris
3. The Emporer’s Soul

Mistborn (Era 1 & 2)

1. The Final Empire
2. The Well of Ascension
3. Hero of Ages
4. The Alloy of Law
5. The Eleventh Metal
6. Shadows of Self
7. The Bands of Mourning
8. Mistborn: A Secret History
9. The Lost Metal (late 2022)

Standalones

1. Warbreaker (highly recommend making sure you read this before Words of Radiance at least)
2. Sixth of the Dusk
3. Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell
4. Allomancer Jak

Stormlight Archives 

1. The Way of Kings
2. Words of Radiance
3. Edgedancer
4. Oathbringer
5. Dawnshard
6. Rhythm of War

Taladin- Graphic Novels

1. White Sands, Volume 1-3

This reading order is a good one to start with if you want to start reading the Cosmere. 

Reading the Cosmere the Brandon Sanderson Way

It is really hard to argue with the reading order that the author himself has recommended. Brandon Sanderson has put out his own recommended Cosmere reading order, and I have to say, it is probably the best one out there. 

A few things, Brandon has said that you can really start anywhere. His stories are self-contained within their series. Though, there are some characters and lore who will cross over! 

If you want to read the Cosmere the way the author recommends, then this is the way to go. 

Mistborn (Era 1 & 2)

1. The Final Empire
2. The Well of Ascension
3. Hero of Ages
4. The Alloy of Law
5. The Eleventh Metal
6. Shadows of Self
7. The Bands of Mourning
8. Mistborn: A Secret History
9. The Lost Metal (late 2022)

Elantris

1. The Emporer’s Soul
2. Elantris
3. The Hope of Elantris

Warbreaker

1. Warbreaker

Stormlight Archives 

1. The Way of Kings
2. Words of Radiance
3. Edgedancer
4. Oathbringer
5. Dawnshard
6. Rhythm of War

Looking through his recommended reading, he doesn’t tend to include a lot of the aforementioned novellas or short stories, or the White Sand’s graphic novels. So you should be able to use  some of the other list to pop those into place. 

How I Read the Cosmere

Look, there is no right or wrong way to read the Cosmere. I honestly took a little of each reading order and did what felt right when I was reading it. 

When I started, I had no idea what the Cosmere was! I just picked up a cool-sounding series and dove in. Little did I know that two years later I would be fully pulled into this massive fantasy universe. 

So if you are curious, this is the order that I personally read the Cosmere in. Keep in mind, I have NOT read all of the novellas and short stories. I am only including the ones I have personally read here. Eventually, I will pick up the rest of them but I don’t feel pressed to do so right away. I have also only read Volume one of White Sands. While it does have a worldhopper character that pops up in other books, it really wasn’t my favorite. 

1. The Final Empire
2. The Well of Ascension
3. Hero of Ages
4. The Allow of Law
5. Shadows of Self
6. Way of Kings
7. Warbreaker
8. Elantris
9. White Sands Volume 1
10. Words of Radiance
11. Bands of Mourning
12. Mistborn: A Secret History
13. Edgedancer
14. Oathbringer
15. Dawnshard
16. Rhythm of War

So, there you have it! All of the ways to read the Cosmere, and my own personal Cosmere reading order. There is no right or wrong way to read this world. So, start with what interests you the most and go from there. 

For example, Warbreaker and Elantris are both standalone novels, so those may be less intimidating for a newcomer than a larger series.

Then there is The Way of Kings, a massive 1,000-page tome and the first book in an unfinished series. While it is fantastic, it isn’t probably the best starting point. 

Then there is the Mistborn series. Era 1 is fully completed! One of Sanderson’s only fully completed series actually. It is a great fantasy series and perfect for beginners to the genre. 

No matter where you start with the Cosmere, I am sure you are going to have an amazing time in this fantasy universe.