The ultimate fantasy book list: from epic fantasy and dark academia to cottagecore and romantasy

The Copper Promise (The Copper Cat trilogy) by Jen Williams 

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The Poppy War (The Poppy War saga) by R.F. Kuang

Inspired by the bloody history of twentieth-century China, The Poppy War follows Rin, a war orphan who shocks the Empire by acing the Keju exam and earning a place at Sinegard, its elite military academy. There, she faces brutal prejudice and discovers a terrifying gift for shamanism – a power tied to ancient, vengeful gods.

As Rin hones her abilities under a reckless mentor, the fragile peace between nations begins to crumble. With the threat of a third Poppy War looming, she must choose between mastering her power to save her people or losing herself to the darkness it awakens.

The Priory of the Orange Tree (The Roots of Chaos saga) by Samantha Shannon 

Mistborn (The Mistborn saga) by Brandon Sanderson 

For a thousand years, ash has fallen and the Skaa have lived in fear under the immortal Lord Ruler's reign of terror. Hope seems lost – until Kelsier, a half-Skaa thief scarred by tragedy, discovers he possesses the legendary powers of a Mistborn. With his newfound strength, he hatches an audacious plan: to rob the Lord Ruler himself and spark a rebellion against a godlike tyrant.

To pull off the impossible, Kelsier gathers a crew of gifted allomancers and streetwise criminals, each eager for a chance at freedom. Among them is Vin, a wary, broken orphan who must learn to trust her new allies – and harness powers she never knew she had – if they are to challenge an empire built on ash and fear.

The Fifth Season (Broken Earth trilogy) by N. K. Jemisin

Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novel, The Fifth Season begins N.K. Jemisin's record-breaking Broken Earth trilogy. The world ends for the last time when a massive red rift tears across the continent, spewing ash and plunging the land, known as the Stillness, into chaos. Amid death, betrayal, and the loss of her family, one woman must harness the deadly power of the earth itself in a place where survival offers no mercy.

Blending epic worldbuilding with raw emotional power, Jemisin crafts a story of resilience, vengeance, and the cost of control. The Broken Earth trilogy, completed by The Obelisk Gate and The Stone Sky, stands as a groundbreaking, multiple award-winning masterpiece of modern fantasy.

The Jasmine Throne (The Burning Kingdom trilogy) by Tasha Suri  

Malini, a princess imprisoned by her tyrant brother, spends her days confined within the crumbling Hirana – a once-sacred temple now fallen to ruin. Priya, a humble maidservant who tends to Malini's chambers, hides a dangerous secret tied to the temple's lost magic. Both women live quietly under the shadow of power, until a single, fateful moment reveals Priya's true nature.

Bound by shared defiance and forbidden power, Malini and Priya form an unlikely alliance that could reshape an empire. The Jasmine Throne launches an epic trilogy inspired by the history and romances of India, where vengeance, faith, and destiny collide.

Black Leopard, Red Wolf (Dark Star trilogy) by Marlon James 

Tracker is a famed hunter with an extraordinary sense of smell, known across the thirteen kingdoms for always working alone. When he accepts a job to find a missing child, he breaks his rule and joins a band of unpredictable hunters, including a witch, a giant, and a shape-shifting Leopard, each guarding dangerous secrets. As they pursue the boy through perilous lands and face monstrous threats, Tracker begins to question who the child truly is and why so many would kill to keep him hidden.

In Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Marlon James crafts a sweeping tale of magic, violence, and betrayal. Through a world both ancient and modern, the story delves into the nature of truth, power, and ambition, revealing how far we will go to uncover what lies beneath the stories we tell.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke

1806. England is beleaguered by the long war, and centuries have passed since magicians faded from view. But one remains: the reclusive Mr Norrell. Proceeding to London, he raises a woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French.

Yet the cautious Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician. Young, handsome and daring, Jonathan Strange is his very antithesis. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men – which overwhelms that between England and France. And soon their own secret dabblings with the dark arts are going to cause more trouble than they can imagine.

The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

Thaniel Steepleton returns to his tiny flat to find a gold pocketwatch on his pillow.

When the watch saves Thaniel's life in a blast that destroys Scotland Yard, he goes in search of its maker, Keita Mori – a kind, lonely immigrant who sweeps him into a new world of clockwork and music. Although Mori seems harmless at first, a chain of unexpected slips soon proves that he must be hiding something.

Utterly beguiling, The Watchmaker of Filigree Street blends historical events with dazzling flights of fancy to plunge readers into a strange and magical past, where time, destiny, genius – and a clockwork octopus – collide.

The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart

Merlin. Born the illegitimate son of a Welsh princess in fifth-century Britain: a world ravaged by war. Small and neglected, with his mother unwilling to reveal his father's identity, Merlin must disguise his intelligence – and hide his occasional ability to know things before they happen – in order to keep himself safe.

Merlin will rise to power and enter history – and legend – as advisor to King Arthur. But all stories must begin somewhere. And this is his.

The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope

Clara Johnson can talk to spirits – a gift that saved her during her darkest moments, now a curse that's left her indebted to the cunning spirit world.

So when a powerful spirit offers her an opportunity to gain her freedom, Clara seizes the chance. The task: steal a magical ring from the wealthiest woman in the District.

Clara can't pull off this daring heist alone. She'll need the help of an unlikely team: from a handsome jazz musician able to hypnotize with a melody, to an aging actor who can change his face. But as conflict in the spirit world begins to leak into the human one – an insidious mystery is unfolding, one that could cost Clara her life.

The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow

In 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.

But when the three Eastwood sisters join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten ways that might turn the women's movement into the witch's movement.

There's no such thing as witches. But there will be.

The Chatelaine by Kate Heartfield

The year is 1328 and Hell has overrun Bruges. Demons stalk the streets and revenants swarm the walls. The city’s men have fallen and only widows remain.

But Hell should fear them. Margriet de Vos killed her first soldier when she was eleven. She has buried six children and will fight for the daughter left to her. Their only wealth is gone, taken into the inferno. And she will not be stolen from. The Devil be damned.

A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark

Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha'arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she's certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer.

So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, Al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. 

Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city – or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems...

Alchemised by SenLinYu

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner – of war and of her own mind. In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia's new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile, undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.

To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Her prison and captor have secrets of their own... secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

White Is for Witching by Helen Oyeyemi

High on the cliffs near Dover, the Silver family is reeling from the loss of Lily, mother of twins Eliot and Miranda, and beloved wife of Luc. Miranda misses her with particular intensity. Their mazy, capricious house belonged to her mother's ancestors, and to Miranda, newly attuned to spirits, newly hungry for chalk, it seems they have never left. Forcing apples to grow in winter, revealing and concealing secret floors, the house is fiercely possessive of young Miranda...

Haunting in every sense, White Is for Witching is a spine-tingling tribute to the power of magic, myth and memory.

The Gormenghast Trilogy by Mervyn Peake

Gormenghast is the vast, crumbling castle to which the seventy-seventh Earl, Titus Groan, is lord and heir.

Titus is expected to rule this gothic labyrinth of turrets and dungeons (and his eccentric and wayward subjects) according to strict age-old rituals, but things are changing in the castle.

Titus must contend with treachery, manipulation and murder as well as his own longing for a life beyond the castle walls.

The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean

Hidden across England and Scotland live six old Book Eater families.

Children are rare and their numbers have dwindled, so when Devon Fairweather's second child is born a dreaded Mind Eater – a perversion of her own kind, who consumes not stories but the minds and souls of humans – she flees before he can be turned into a weapon for the family... or worse.

Living among humans and finding prey for her son, Devon seeks a cure for his hunger. But time is running out - for her family want her back, and with every soul her son consumes he loses a little more of himself...

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

Recently divorced and staring down the barrel of moving back in with her parents, Carrot really needs a break. And a place to live. So when her Uncle Earl, owner of the eclectic Wonder Museum, asks her to stay with him in exchange for cataloguing the exhibits, of course she says yes.

Carrot has stumbled into a strange and horrifying world, and They are watching her. Strewn among the islands are the remains of Their meals – and Their experiments. And even if she manages to make it back home again, she can't stop calling Them after her...

The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw

Fleeing the downfall of an empire, a mermaid and her plague doctor companion escape into the eerie shadows of a wintery forest.

Amongst the bark and snow they are drawn into ancient games for ageless children – a murderous hunt of blood and sacrifice – deep in the woods, where three who call themselves 'saints' rule over them all like gods.

Trapped in a feverish nightmare of masked monsters, stitches and surgeons, and needle teeth, the mermaid must embrace all of her cruelty and hungers to free the children.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

From the bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil interweaves the lives (and undead lives) of three young women across 1532, 1827 and 2019. 

Utterly unmissable, this is a twisting, gothic tale of immortality, vampirism, queerness and hunger. An unforgettable dark fantasy to sink your teeth into...

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

Every city has a soul. Some are as ancient as myths, and others are as new and destructive as children. New York City? She's got five.

But every city also has a dark side. A roiling, ancient evil stirs beneath the earth, threatening to destroy the city and her five protectors unless they can come together and stop it once and for all.

The first instalment in an electrifying series from Hugo award-winning and bestselling author N. K. Jemisin.

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

My name is Peter Grant and until January I was just probationary constable in that mighty army for justice known to all right-thinking people as the Metropolitan Police Service (and as the Filth to everybody else).

Then one night, in pursuance of a murder inquiry, I tried to take a witness statement from someone who was dead but disturbingly voluble, and that brought me to the attention of Inspector Nightingale, the last wizard in England.

Overlaying a wonderful supernatural gloss on the streets and landmarks of the capital, Aaronovitch provides a thrillingly exciting mystery in the opening instalment of the Rivers of London series.

The Changeling by Victor LaValle

When Apollo Kagwa was just a child, his father disappeared, leaving him with recurring nightmares and a box labelled 'Improbabilia'. Now a successful book dealer, Kagwa has a family of his own after meeting and falling in love with Emma, a librarian. However, as the pair settle into their new lives as parents, exhaustion and anxiety start to take their toll.

Emma's behaviour becomes increasingly erratic, until one day she commits an unthinkable act, setting Apollo on a wild and fantastical quest through a suddenly otherworldly New York, in search of a wife and child he no longer recognises.

Zoo City by Lauren Beukes

Zinzi has a Sloth on her back, a dirty 419 scam habit and a talent for finding lost things. But when a little old lady turns up dead and the cops confiscate her last paycheck, she's forced to take on her least favourite kind of job – missing persons.

Being hired by reclusive music producer Odi Huron to find a pop star should be her ticket out of Zoo City, the festering slum where the criminal underclass and their animal companions reside.

Instead it catapults Zinzi deeper into the maw of a city twisted by crime and magic, where she'll be forced to confront the dark secrets of former lives – including her own.

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Maggie Hoskie is a Dinetah monster hunter, a supernaturally gifted killer. When a small town needs help finding a missing girl, Maggie is their last best hope. But what Maggie uncovers about the monster is much more terrifying than anything she could imagine.

As Maggie discovers the truth behind the killings, she will have to confront her past if she wants to survive.

Welcome to the Sixth World.

City of Last Chances by Adrian Tchaikovsky

There has always been a darkness to Ilmar, but never more so than now. The city chafes under the heavy hand of the Palleseen occupation, the choke-hold of its criminal underworld, the boot of its factory owners, the weight of its wretched poor and the burden of its ancient curse.

What will be the spark that lights the conflagration? Despite the city's refugees, wanderers, murderers, madmen, fanatics and thieves, the catalyst, as always, will be the Anchorwood – that dark grove of trees, that primeval remnant, that portal, when the moon is full, to strange and distant shores. Ilmar, some say, is the worst place in the world and the gateway to a thousand worse places.

David Mogo Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa

Since the Orisha War that rained thousands of deities down on the streets of Lagos, David Mogo, demigod, scours Eko's dank underbelly for a living wage as a freelance Godhunter.

Despite pulling his biggest feat yet by capturing a high god for a renowned Eko wizard, David knows his job's bad luck. He's proved right when the wizard conjures a legion of Taboos-feral godling-child hybrids-to seize Lagos for himself. To fix his mistake and keep Lagos standing, David teams up with his foster wizard, the high god's twin sister and a speech-impaired Muslim teenage girl to defeat the wizard.

Winner of the Nommo Award for Best Speculative Novel.