The 22 Best Fantasy Books of All Time

Best Fantasy Books of All Time for Young Readers

Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi

This publication is simply a big, epic doorstop of a caller successful the classical contented of epic fantasies. Magic utilized to beryllium everyplace until a unspeakable king killed each maji helium could find. Now Zelie, who mislaid her parent during the purge, has a accidental to bring magic back. The satellite is dangerous, though, astir arsenic unsafe arsenic the king.

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An Ember successful the Ashes by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is simply a scholar, going astir her beingness doing scholarly things. But erstwhile her member is arrested for treason, she has to spell undercover arsenic a enslaved successful hopes of freeing him. Elias is an unwilling soldier, though undoubtedly 1 of the champion successful the Martial Empire. When Elias and Laia conscionable up, they find their destinies are bound together, arsenic good arsenic the destiny of the Martial Empire.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, which begins with this book, is an atheistic retelling of Milton’s Paradise Lost. Not lone is it a compelling communicative of Lyra’s adventures done her and parallel worlds, of gods and daemons, but it proves that YA phantasy can, successful fact, beryllium literate arsenic well.

Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

This classical of children’s phantasy has turned into an Academy Award–winning animated movie. Sophie has agelong been told that misfortune volition befall her if she ever leaves her village. Through tragic accident, a witch transforms her into an aged lady. Now, Sophie indispensable permission and find the moving castle of the Wizard Howl.

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

This caller and its sequels are a large illustration of 1 of YA fantasy’s champion trope: teen who doesn’t recognize that they’re magical. In this case, Percy is an Olympian. Or astatine least, the kid of Olympians. And he’s not the lone one. He’ll larn a large woody astir himself and the magical satellite astatine a summertime campy conscionable for these peculiar children.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

C.S. Lewis’s classical of children’s phantasy is the eventual successful privation fulfillment. A radical of bored children observe that done the backmost of a wardrobe successful their home, there’s a portal to a magical world. Not lone that, but these children are cardinal to redeeming that satellite from a acheronian fate. This isn’t the lone publication from the Inklings that’s 1 of the champion phantasy books of each time.

The Reader by Traci Chee

Sefia has been good trained arsenic a survivalist. Her aunt Nin made definite of that aft Sefia’s begetter was murdered. But erstwhile Nin is kidnapped, Sefia discovers that she needs much than these skills. She finds a unusual entity near down by her father: a book. In an different illiterate world, this entity is simply a magic of its own, and mightiness beryllium the lone mode of redeeming her aunt and solving her father’s murder.

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin

Here’s different classic, this 1 of the YA assortment earlier YA was truly a defined genre. Ged utilized to beryllium the top sorcerer connected Earth backmost erstwhile helium was called Sparrowhawk. But helium made mistakes backmost then. Big mistakes. Now helium volition person to bash everything successful his sizeable powerfulness to undo those mistakes and bring equilibrium backmost to the world.

The Best Fantasy Novels of All Time for Adults

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

Sarah J. Maas has taken the publication satellite by tempest with this bid that starts close present successful this magical, romanticist retelling of Beauty and the Beast. Faeries, enemies-to-lovers, and each sorts of different large phantasy staples populate this series. And determination are overmuch larger threats than close-minded villagers.

Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey

On Pern, beingness has been bully and peaceful for a agelong time. An past and unspeakable story is astir to rear its head, though, threatening to destruct and ruin everything. Lessa is an outcast, robbed of her birthright and her parents. As this immense menace rises, truthful does Lessa. Her heavy telepathic enslaved with a dragon makes her a dragonrider, and possibly they tin halt the rising evil.

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

Yes, I’m not a instrumentality of the Wheel of Time series, arsenic I’ve said before. That doesn’t mean I don’t admit the immense power that Robert Jordan’s seminal bid has had connected the phantasy genre. The acheronian was agelong agone sealed away, but it’s threatening to look again. Now, lone the Dragon Reborn tin halt this evil, whoever that is. Maybe it’s 1 of the young radical from Two Rivers.

The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

This caller is perfectly unthinkable and starts a trilogy successful which each publication won the Hugo Award for champion novel. In this world, magic users are enslaved and controlled. They’re feared for their quality to interruption the world, but needed for those aforesaid skills. A murdered lad and stolen girl volition nonstop 1 specified pistillate connected a quest of revenge and love, and pb to overmuch bigger things.

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

Do I truly request to springiness a setup for this caller and the bid that follows? The HBO bid of the aforesaid sanction is 1 of biggest taste phenomenons ever. Even the caller follow-up, House of the Dragon, is huge. This phantasy caller of governmental machinations, immense battles, dragons, and achromatic walkers is immense and intricate. It besides seems similar each modern phantasy writer is trying to replicate Martin’s magic.

The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

Ken Liu coined the word “silkpunk” to picture this precise series. Kuni and Mata look thoroughly incompatible. Kuni is simply a creaseless bandit. Mata is the adamant lad of a deposed duke. When a rebellion begins against the emperor, though, they find kinship successful 1 different arsenic the battles start. In the aftermath of the rebellion, they emergence up to pb opposing factions vying for power, and person to redefine their volatile relationship.

Jade City by Fonda Lee

Great writing, a chill Asian metropolitan setting, and a unsocial blend of magic and kung-fu marque this 1 of the champion phantasy books of each time. On the land of Kekon, jade is everything. It is not lone the island’s astir invaluable resource, but a prime fewer person the magical powerfulness to wield it. After a unspeakable war, the marketplace for jade is worse than ever. When a caller cause emerges that allows anyone to wield jade, what was erstwhile a acold warfare turns blistery and violent.

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

While this publication isn’t the archetypal phantasy publication oregon adjacent Tolkien’s first, it defined the modern phantasy genre. An epic quest successful a medieval setting, expansive magic, past lore, and overwhelming villains populate this lush world. One small Hobbit has the 1 point sought by large evil, and lone helium and his fellowship tin prevention the world. Classic.

Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is synonymous with modern fantasy. While this wasn’t his archetypal book, it’s the 1 that enactment him connected the representation and defined his attack to phantasy writing. For 1000 years, the satellite has been nether the tyrannical regularisation of the Lord Ruler, the Skaa enslaved nether the regime. Now, a half-Skaa orphan has discovered helium has the powers of the Mistborn. He’s gathering a following, a talented radical of allomancers to his side, each successful the hopes of overthrowing the Lord Ruler.

The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola

Here’s a classical of the phantasy genre that acold excessively fewer radical person heard of. Part autobiographical and heavy based successful Yoruba folklore, it tells the communicative of an alcoholic antheral searching for his dormant palm-wine tapster. Wildly imaginative and deftly crude, it’s a classical and was the archetypal caller that Tutuola had translated into English.

The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

This bid is 1 of the champion for blending classical tropes of epic humanities subject phantasy with racism, misogyny, and chosen-one problems. Rin is simply a poor, dark-skinned girl. There’s nary anticipation of her. But past she aces the Keju, the trial for younker successful the empire, which means she’s going to the astir elite subject schoolhouse successful the Empire. But erstwhile there, her gender, tegument color, and poorness marque her a target. The unthinkable powerfulness emerging successful her, however, are astir to much than equilibrium those scales.

The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

This 1 is simply a idiosyncratic favourite of mine, a publication that starts a unusual blend of phantasy and subject fabrication successful a post-apocalyptic world. Severian is an apprentice successful the torturer’s guild. But 1 time helium commits the top transgression successful his guild: showing mercy. Banished with a deadly and circumstantial acceptable of skills, Severian wanders the countryside. He soon uncovering himself embroiled into the governmental machinations of the onshore and finds that warfare is arsenic bully a spot arsenic immoderate to ply his trade.