Fantasy 101Like this list

25 items

• Piranesi

  Clarke, Susanna

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  If you're not quite ready to jump into a long series, try a standalone fantasy like this one. Piranesi's circumscribed world consists of the labyrinthine house he lives in and a mysterious figure called the Other, who enlists his help in seeking the…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Final Empire

  Sanderson, Brandon,

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  If you like your fantasy epic and dark and within a long-running series with a magical world to escape into, try Sanderson's Mistborn series. Kelsior, a half-Skaa (an enslaved people), has the power of the Mistborn, a sort of metallurgical magic. He…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Bear and the Nightingale

  Arden, Katherine

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  If you like your fantasy inspired by non-western folklore: This first in the Winternight trilogy, inspired by Russian folklore, follows Vasya, a wild girl in 14th Century Russia who communes with the spirits of home and the woods. When a priest…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Bindle Punk Bruja

  Mesa, Desideria

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  If you'd like to dig into an urban fantasy with a historical (and Kansas City!) setting, try Bindle Punk Bruja. Mesa is half-Mexican and also half bruja (earth witch). She tries to hide both in a Prohibition-era Kansas City filled with mobsters and…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Color of Magic

  Pratchett, Terry,

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  If you like your fantasy with a humorous twist, try Pratchett's classic Discworld series.

• The House in the Cerulean Sea

  Klune, TJ,

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  If you like your fantasy cozy with a side of romance, try Klune's The House in the Cerulean Sea, about a bureaucrat summoned to visit an orphanage housing magical children, including the Antichrist, and its charming caretaker.

• Jade City

  Lee, Fonda,

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  If you like your fantasy with a little bit of mobsters, martial arts, and memorable magic fueled by jade, try Fonda Lee's Asian-influenced Green Bone saga.

• City of Stairs

  Bennett, Robert Jackson, 1984-

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  If you are looking for fantasy with a lot of action, dark humor, elements of a spy thriller try Bennett's Divine Cities trilogy, set in a world where the gods are dead (maybe?) and the past is secret.

• Black Sun

  Roanhorse, Rebecca

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  If you are looking for epic fantasy inspired by pre-Colombian American legends, culture, and religions, try Black Sun, the first in Roanhorse's Between Earth and Sky series. A ship en route to Tova brings together Xiala, who possesses sea-born…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• American Gods

  Author's Preferred Text

  Gaiman, Neil,

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  If you like your fantasy on the screen as well as on the page, try reading Gaiman's beloved novel before watching the TV adaptation.

• The City We Became

  Jemisin, N. K.

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  If you like your fantasy with a realistic setting turned on its head, try N. K. Jemisin's alternate New York, where five people are avatars of each of New York City's boroughs, who must unite to defeat the Woman in White.

• A Marvellous Light

  Marske, Freya

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  If you like genre mash-ups, you should try Marske's blend of fantasy, mystery, romance, and historical fiction with a queer twist.

• Every Heart a Doorway

  McGuire, Seanan

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  If you've always wanted to escape into a magical world, try McGuire's Wayward Children series of novellas. Children who have opened a portal into a magical world and come back must acclimate back to the world of reality with the help of a special…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy

  Bannen, Megan,

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  If you like genre blends: zombie-like drudges, snarky talking animals who deliver the mail, a You've Got Mail-like anonymous correspondence, and an unusual love story, try Kansas City author Megan Bannen's The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy.

• Immortal Longings

  Gong, Chloe

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  If you loved the Hunger Games but want to add magic, try Gong's story of a princess seeking revenge and an unexpected ally converging on gladiatorial games setting. Oh yeah, and there's body-jumping, too!

• Masquerade

  Sangoyomi, O. O.,

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  If you like your fantasy with strong female characters and cultural mash-ups, you'll want to try this debut fantasy that takes the Persephone myth and adds in a 15th century West African setting.

• A Letter to the Luminous Deep

  Cathrall, Sylvie,

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  If you like epistolary novels and the world of the sea, try this fantasy about two underwater academics who begin a correspondence and then go missing.

• To Shape a Dragon's Breath

  Blackgoose, Moniquill

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  If you like dragons!, magical schools, and insight into indigenous culture, try this evocative historical fantasy about an indigenous teen who bonds with a dragon and thus becomes a reluctant outsider student at a dragon school.

• Siren Queen

  Vo, Nghi

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  If you like your movies with a side of magic--and monsters--try Vo's atmospheric fantasy set during the Golden Age of Hollywood.

• Ninth House

  Bardugo, Leigh

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  If you like dark academia, you'll want to pick up Bardugo's Alex Stern series, which follows a student who wins a scholarship to Yale who is given the assignment to spy on the secret societies, who rely on more than just wealth and privilege in this…Read moreRead more of this annotation