The 6 Best Fantasy Books Released Since 2020, According to Goodreads
Diego Pineda has been a devout storyteller his whole life. He has self-published a fantasy novel and a book of short stories, and is actively working on publishing his second novel.
A lifelong fan of watching movies and talking about them endlessly, he writes reviews and analyses on his Instagram page dedicated to cinema, and occasionally on his blog. His favorite filmmakers are Andrei Tarkovsky and Charlie Chaplin. He loves modern Mexican cinema and thinks it's tragically underappreciated.
Other interests of Diego's include reading, gaming, roller coasters, writing reviews on his Letterboxd account (username: DPP_reviews), and going down rabbit holes of whatever topic he's interested in at any given point.
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Goodreads was launched back in 2007, and since then, it has become the biggest social reading and book review platform on the Internet. Owned by Amazon, it allows users to do multiple things, including rating and reviewing whatever books they want. Fantasy is a genre that Goodreads users seem to be particularly fond of, seeing as several of the highest-rated books on the platform are fantasy stories. This is, after all, a genre that has given us several of the greatest and most influential literary masterpieces in history, and Goodreads readers have been particularly excited to rave about their favorite fantasy masterpieces from the 2020s so far.
Indeed, the last six years have offered some absolute masterpieces in this genre, from niche romantasy books like Fourth Wing to long-awaited cathartic sequels like The Wisdom of Crowds. The genre is still more than alive and well in the 2020s, and these are books which perfectly demonstrate it. From nuanced character writing to detailed world-building to consistent pacing, there are several things that Goodreads users look for in a fantasy book worthy of a five-star rating, and these absolute masterpieces of the genre meet those qualities—and then some.
6 'The Empire of Gold' (2020)
Goodreads Rating: 4.49
As far as adult fantasy book series from the 2020s go, it doesn't get much better or much more universally acclaimed than S.A. Chakraborty's Daevabad Trilogy, whose third installment is The Empire of Gold. In it, our characters must escape to Cairo and gather unexpected allies in order to reclaim their home after a brutal coup leaves it under the tyrannical rule of a new queen. Middle-Eastern-inspired fantasy books can be some of the most fascinating the genre has to offer, and Empire of Gold is no exception. Though it's undeniably true that series sequels tend to be higher-rated on average on Goodreads, since readers uninterested in the series have likely already given up on it after the first volume, that shouldn't detract from the praise this threequel is worthy of.
Readers love Empire of Gold both as a fully satisfying series finale and as a fantasy masterpiece that works perfectly well in its own right.
On the site, readers love Empire of Gold both as a fully satisfying series finale and as a fantasy masterpiece that works perfectly well in its own right. On the one hand, it definitely sticks the landing as a conclusion, delivering an ending whose bittersweet emotional layers feel well-earned and whose major plot threads are all resolved in cathartic ways. Add to that some profoundly layered character work full of moral greyness, rich world-building deeply inspired by djinn mythology and Egyptian culture, and nuanced political themes, and you get an 800-page masterclass in how to bring a vast fantasy series to an end that's both satisfying and full of refreshing surprises.
5 'The Will of the Many' (2023)
Goodreads Rating: 4.56
The first book in Australian author James Islington's ongoing epic fantasy series The Hierarchy is The Will of the Many, easily one of the best fantasy books of the 2020s so far. Its narrative follows Prince Diago, a fugitive who infiltrates a brutal empire's elite academy under a false identity in order to uncover an ancient weapon, destroy the system from within, and thus avenge the execution of his family. Islington masterfully took tropes and elements that have come to be widely familiar in the epic fantasy subgenre, from dark academia to world-building strongly based on and inspired by the Roman Empire, and uses them to execute one of the most delectably creative stories the genre has seen in years.
A runner-up in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fantasy, The Will of the Many is a relentless page-turner whose 640 pages are so impeccably paced that it becomes impossible to put the book down. That perfect pacing is all in favor of a deeply compelling story led by a protagonist whose journey is riveting to follow, his arc leading to a jaw-dropping epilogue and final twist that's among Goodreads users' favorite plot twists from any fantasy book of the 2020s. Inventive, freshly original, and complete with an entertainingly layered magic system, it's a book that's pretty much bound to appeal to fans of the likes of Brandon Sanderson and Pierce Brown.
4 'Fourth Wing' (2023)
Goodreads Rating: 4.56
After Rebecca Yarros' publisher told her that they were launching a new romantasy imprint, she was asked to submit multiple proposals. From this brainstorming spree came Fourth Wing, the first chapter in the Empyrean series. In it, a physically frail young woman is forced by her military general mother to enter a brutal war college for dragon riders, where she must survive lethal trials and a dark conspiracy threatening her kingdom. Heavily inspired by various world mythologies and informed by Yarros' own background as a military wife, Fourth Wing is unlikely to convert anyone who doesn't already like spicy romantasy, but people who already enjoy the genre should consider it essential reading.
Going by what Goodreads users seem to believe, there aren't very many fantasy books better than Fourth Wing. Winner of the 2023 Goodreads Choice Award for Readers' Favorite Romantasy, Fourth Wing sees Yarros perfect the spicy romantasy formula and deliver a book that balances steamy romance with an entertaining plot faultlessly. That's perhaps why so many Goodreads users credit the novel with helping cure many a reading slump and getting many people into reading fantasy. Full of witty dialogue and traditional tropes executed with particular freshness and originality, it's one of the most enjoyable fantasy books of the last six years by quite a decent margin.
3 'Rhythm of War' (2020)
Goodreads Rating: 4.56
Brandon Sanderson has long been one of the leading voices in 21st-century speculative fiction, largely thanks to the success and pop-cultural significance of his universally beloved Cosmere universe. It's composed of several different subseries, the most acclaimed of the bunch being The Stormlight Archive. Composed of five (soon to be more) of Sanderson's best books to date, the whole series is essential reading for people who love epic high fantasy. The first Stormlight Archive book published this decade was Rhythm of War, which sees the human resistance fighting on multiple fronts as a year-long war against Odium's forces escalates.
Anyone who has actually read the 1,200-page-long Rhythm of War will know that it's actually entirely deserving of the hype surrounding it on Goodreads.
The whole Stormlight Archive series is a particularly noteworthy case where the sequels' sky-high ratings can partly be attributed to the fact that many people read the inaugural chapter, The Way of Kings, and decided not to keep reading a series composed of books that are all over 1,000 pages long. However, anyone who has actually read the 1,200-page-long Rhythm of War will know that it's actually entirely deserving of the hype surrounding it on Goodreads. Users find that it's an impressive fourth chapter in the series, with wonderfully layered portrayals of mental health and a myriad of fascinating additions to the Cosmere lore.
2 'The Wisdom of Crowds' (2021)
Goodreads Rating: 4.59
Born out of scrapped story ideas from his university days, a burning desire to subvert traditional high fantasy tropes, and his background as a film editor, British author Joe Abercrombie published the legendary The Blade Itself in 2006 and thus kicked off the incredible First Law series. Composed of two trilogies, two short story collections, and three standalone novels, it's one of the most incredible, foundational, and influential grimdark fantasy book series of all time. Virtually all novels in the series are worthy of being counted among the best of their era—including The Wisdom of Crowds, the final chapter in the Age of Madness trilogy, which is among the best fantasy books published since 2020.
Its plot following a violent revolution overthrowing the monarchy and plunging the Union into chaos, The Wisdom of Crowds is one of the many peaks that Abercrombie's writing career has reached over the years. Alongside a certain other Abercrombie novel, it's the crown jewel of 2020s grimdark fantasy, with character writing of unmatched moral complexity and psychological depth. With Goodreads users calling Abercrombie's writing—especially in Wisdom of Crowds—the gold standard for character voice in modern dark fantasy, this is a brutally violent yet delightfully (and quite darkly) funny masterpiece full of perfect plot twists and long-anticipated payoffs.
1 'The Trouble With Peace' (2020)
Goodreads Rating: 4.59
Just as highly-regarded on Goodreads as its sequel, The Trouble With Peace is the second installment in Abercrombie's Age of Madness trilogy; and together, they're not only the author's highest-rated novels on the site, but also the highest-rated fantasy books of the last six years. The book, which was nominated for the Readers' Favorite Fantasy Goodreads Choice Award in 2020, follows a fragile peace unraveling across the industrialized Union as a civil war looms over the realm. The result of such a premise? A grimdark fantasy masterpiece that absolutely anyone and everyone who enjoys the genre should consider essential reading.
Whereas middle books in trilogies as vast as this one typically suffer from being the bridge between the beginning and the ending, many Goodreads users consider Trouble With Peace not only a gem that sidesteps this problem, but actually potentially the best installment of the bunch. With users on the site praising King Orso's fascinating character arc, the brilliant layeredness of the book's elements of political intrigue, and the explosive set pieces that make this one of the most exciting fantasy novels of the last six years, it's no wonder The Trouble With Peace is as highly-regarded as it is.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes What Fantasy World Do You Belong To? Middle-earth · Grand Line · The Continent · Camp Half-Blood
Pick your magic, your crew, where you want to wake up and who you would rather be fighting, and we will tell you which world you actually belong in. Four are open to you: an ancient kingdom living through its last good age, an endless sea full of pirates, a continent that pays people to kill monsters, and a summer camp where the Greek gods are extremely real and mostly a nuisance.
💍Middle-earth(Rings of Power)
👒Grand Line(One Piece)
🐺The Continent(The Witcher)
🔱Camp Half-Blood(Percy Jackson)
01
What kind of power do you want? Every one of these worlds runs on a completely different sort of magic.
02
Who is travelling with you? Nobody gets through any of these stories entirely on their own.
03
Where do you want to wake up tomorrow? The best fantasy is usually just somewhere you would genuinely like to live.
04
How are you making a living out there? Even in fantasy somebody has to pay for the horse.
05
There is something in the woods. What do you do about it? All four of these worlds keep something unpleasant out there in the dark.
06
Who is the villain of your story? The enemy tells you far more about a world than the hero ever does.
07
What do you actually believe in out there? Every world hands its heroes one rule and asks them to hold onto it.
08
A thousand years from now, how are you remembered? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides your world.
The Map Is Drawn Your World Is…
Four worlds and four completely different ideas of what a good life looks like. This is where you belong, what it would ask of you, and what you would get back in return.
Middle-earth
You belong somewhere old enough that the mountains have names and somebody can still tell you who gave them. Middle-earth is for people who think the right thing is worth doing even when it will not be finished in their lifetime.
- This is the only world on the list where doing good is understood as a very long defeat, fought anyway, by people who will never see how it ends.
- You are drawn to grandeur, to white cities and deep forges and the sense that almost everything you touch is older than your entire family line.
- The Rings of Power is set in the last good age before it all goes wrong, which gives every quiet scene in it a slightly unbearable weight.
- You would take the hard road, and you would take it on foot.
The Grand Line
You want the sea, a crew, and absolutely nobody telling you where you are allowed to go. The Grand Line is the world for people whose main ambition in life is finding out what is over there.
- One Piece has run for decades on one very simple engine, which is a group of people who each want something impossible and have decided to go and get it together.
- You collect people. Your ideal crew is a set of misfits who were each written off somewhere else before you turned up and offered them a better idea.
- The world is enormous and deliberately ridiculous, and the emotional gut punches land harder because of that rather than in spite of it.
- You would set sail knowing the map runs out, which is more or less the entire point of it.
The Continent
You would rather be feared and useful than liked and useless. The Continent is a world where the monsters are the straightforward part of the job and the people are where it all gets complicated.
- Witchers get paid to do what nobody else will and resented for existing at all, which is a trade most people would refuse and you would probably accept.
- You have no real illusions about which side is the good one, largely because on the Continent that question tends to have a disappointing answer.
- The best of these stories are not about the fighting. They are about somebody with a rigid code being repeatedly cornered into caring about people.
- You would take the coin, finish the job properly, and be out of town before the story got told wrong.
Camp Half-Blood
You want the myths to be real and loose in the actual world, and you want to find out at about thirteen that you were never anywhere near as ordinary as everybody kept telling you.
- Percy Jackson takes the oldest stories we have and drops them into car parks and diners, which makes the gods considerably funnier and a great deal worse.
- You would be the kid every school gave up on, who turns out to have been built for something nobody thought to test for.
- The series is genuinely about friendship rather than destiny, and it says so out loud every time a prophecy tries to get in the way.
- Camp Half-Blood is the real fantasy here: a place where the thing that made you difficult everywhere else is the thing that makes you belong.
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