The 10 Greatest High Fantasy Books of the Last 5 Years, Ranked
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.
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There's nothing quite like a great high fantasy book. This is a subgenre that's tough to truly and fully nail, seeing as crafting an entirely fictional alternate world with rules, cultures, and creatures all of its own is a task that only the greatest of fantasy writers can do in a fully satisfying way. Over the past five years, fantasy readers around the world have been treated to some of the greatest, most imaginative, and most enrapturing high fantasy gems that literature has seen in years.
Whether it's a fascinating standalone like Blood Over Bright Haven, or part of a fantastic book series like The Wisdom of Crowds, it takes something really special to be counted among the best high fantasy masterpieces of the last five years. From 2021 until the present, the subgenre's greatest works have been reminders of why this has remained one of the most timeless book genres in the world for as long as it has.
10 'Alchemised' (2025)
SenLinYu made a name for themselves online with Manacled, a dystopian fan fiction for adults based on Harry Potter and The Handmaid's Tale, which was first shared on fan fiction websites in 2018. It wouldn't be until 2025 that the world would be treated to the author's debut novel, Alchemised, about a former alchemist gradually recovering her memories of a civil war. It's a completely reimagined original version of Manacled, which was removed from the website it was originally published on in advance of the novel's release.
Any high fantasy fan, regardless of how they typically feel about fan fiction, should consider Alchemised a must-read. Meticulously plotted and imbued with tremendous emotional and thematic depth, this profound study of the psychological weight of war and trauma is absolutely marvelous. The visceral worldbuilding is nothing short of enrapturing, and the way SenLinYu juggles elements from genres like grimdark fantasy and Gothic romance is hugely entertaining.
9 'Crossroads of Ravens' (2024)
Andrzej Sapkowski, who has been described as a Polish version of J. R. R. Tolkien, saw the publication of Sword of Destiny in 1992, giving birth to The Witcher. The book series was hugely popular in Central and Eastern Europe for years before the video games' popularity led to an English translation of The Last Wish in 2007, making Sapkowski's creation an international pop-cultural powerhouse. The latest addition to the series is Crossroads of Ravens, one of the best fantasy books of the last 10 years.
Though it's the seventh book in the series, it's actually a prequel to the entire saga, which happens to also make it one of the best fantasy prequel books of the last five years. Returning the Witcher series to its dark, philosophically charged roots, Crossroads of Ravens offers plenty of what has made these books irresistible for years: clever subversions of tired high fantasy tropes, engrossing worldbuilding, and deeply compelling lore.
8 'A Day of Fallen Night' (2023)
Samantha Shannon's Roots of Chaos series is one of the best epic fantasy book series of the last decade, a fascinating feminist reimagining of the Christian legend of Saint George and the Dragon. The Priory of the Orange Tree, the first novel in the series, was very well received, but there are those who may argue that the series peaked with A Day of Fallen Night, a prequel set five centuries before the first book, which explores the effects of a catastrophic volcanic eruption.
There's something here for pretty much any and all kinds of high fantasy literature fans. There's richly subversive worldbuilding, including intricate magic systems and fascinating mythologies; airtight and delectably character-driven storytelling; romance and plenty of queer representation; and a perfect balance between emotional depth and an epic narrative scope. What more could a lover of the subgenre possibly want?
7 'Tress of the Emerald Sea' (2023)
Brandon Sanderson is one of the most beloved and prolific speculative fiction authors currently working, and his overarching Cosmere universe has provided the world with several of the greatest high fantasy books of the 21st century. One such masterpiece is Tress of the Emerald Sea, part of Sanderson's Secret Projects, a series of secret novels that he wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic and introduced to the world through a record-breaking Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Last year, Sanderson revealed that Tress of the Emerald Sea is the first chapter in the Hoid's Travels series of standalone books.
People looking to get into Sanderson's work and the Cosmere universe in particular may be intimidated by his gargantuan thousand-page epics. Tress of the Emerald Sea, on the other hand, is a far shorter and considerably more accessible entry, making it a potentially phenomenal introduction to Sanderson. And for those already familiar with Cosmere, it's all the more of a must-read, one of those fantasy books where every chapter is a masterpiece. It's fun, whimsical, subversive, and often downright magical.
6 'Blood Over Bright Haven' (2023)
Those not looking to get into a new high fantasy book series and instead preferring a more low-commitment piece of the genre to read ought to consider M. L. Wang's Blood Over Bright Haven, a dark academia novel that's one of the best entries the genre has seen throughout the last five years. It's set in the prosperous industrial utopia of Tiran, where an ambitious mage is determined to become the first woman accepted into Tiran's highest magical ranks.
The adventure that ensues combines a high-stakes plot with deeply complex character development and sharp social commentary on institutional corruption. The magic system that drives the narrative is both brilliantly creative and deeply nuanced. Add to that Wang's perfect understanding of everything that makes high fantasy and dark academia fans tick, and you get a gem that's bound to go down as one of both genres' biggest 2020s classics a few years from now.
5 'The Tainted Cup' (2024)
Winner of the 2025 Hugo Award for Best Novel, Robert Jackson Bennett's The Tainted Cup is a murder mystery that blends the delightful imagination of the high fantasy genre with the page-turning charm of a well-written thriller. Sharp, witty, and as clever as anyone could demand that a murder mystery be, Tainted Cup intentionally mirrors the structure of a Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson story and delivers it in an engrossing fantasy setting.
It's a triumph of genre-blending creativity that also throws in elements of biopunk, which further enrich Bennett's already-fascinating world-building. The Sherlock-Watson-coded dynamic between the two main characters, from their banter to their evolving relationship, is the fuel that drives the whole narrative with endless energy. Smart, inventive, and with a perfectly built mystery that never overshadows the book's fantasy elements, it's a must-read for both murder mystery fans and high science fantasy lovers.
4 'The Blacktongue Thief' (2021)
Christopher Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief is one of the most exquisitely and ingeniously genre-blending fantasy novels the world has seen throughout the last five years. It's one of the best sword-and-sorcery books of all time, but it also sprinkles in horror, grimdark, comedy, and—of course—high fantasy influences with the creative mastery of an author in full control of his craft. People who love high fantasy that never takes itself too seriously should find it delightful.
With his background in poetry, horror writing, and performing as a roaster in Renaissance fairs, it should come as no surprise that Beuhlman's prose is absolutely enchanting, bringing the high fantasy genre an air of fresh irreverence that it doesn't typically see. Add to that wonderfully immersive worldbuilding, an inventive magic system, and old-school episodic quest storytelling that should immediately charm Dungeons & Dragons fans, and you get a bona fide modern classic.
3 'Wind and Truth' (2024)
Who, if not Sanderson, could possibly be responsible for not just one, but two of the best high fantasy books of the last five years? Another part of the Cosmere universe, Wind and Truth is the fifth and latest installment of the Stormlight Archive series, which Sanderson has proposed will consist of ten books. This is one of those fantasy book series with the best lore, and the level of depth and richness that Wind and Truth brings to that lore cannot be overstated.
Sanderson very intentionally wrote Wind and Truth as a conclusion to the first half of the Stormlight Archive series, and that sense of finality adds an awful lot to the novel's entertainment value. Explosively paced, full of payoffs years in the making, and as massively ambitious as any Sanderson fan could have wanted it to be, it's a climactic masterpiece that makes getting through over 4,000 pages to get to this point entirely worth it.
2 'Jade Legacy' (2021)
Canadian-American speculative fiction author Fonda Lee won the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 2022, and it was perfectly deserved, seeing as it's one of the best fantasy books of the 2020s so far. It's the third and final novel in The Green Bone Saga that began back in 2017, and it may well be the best installment in the series. Marvelously complex and deeply influenced by several East Asian cultural elements, it's a must-read for virtually anyone who loves high fantasy.
There are those who may go so far as to call it one of the best fantasy trilogy conclusions of the whole 21st century; its blend of high fantasy elements and martial-arts gangster drama elements works absolutely flawlessly from beginning to end. It's creative, ambitious, impeccably structured and paced, and so phenomenal all across the board that it's impossible to like high fantasy and not love Jade Legacy.
1 'The Wisdom of Crowds' (2021)
With The Blade Itself, one of the greatest fantasy novels of the late 20th century, Joe Abercrombie introduced the world to the First Law series. It's a massive, sprawling high fantasy universe composed of two trilogies—the first worthy of being counted among the best book trilogies of all time—some standalone novels, and a couple of short story collections. The Age of Madness book trilogy may not be quite as perfect as the First Law trilogy, but it delivered one of the best fantasy books of the 2020s thus far: The Wisdom of Crowds.
It's the long-awaited conclusion of the Age of Madness trilogy, and it's everything that any fan of Abercrombie's work—or of high fantasy as a whole—could possibly want out of an epic novel. Sharply political, emotionally riveting, and with some of the most unrivaled character work and worldbuilding that the subgenre has seen in years, it's an undisputed masterpiece with the kind of perfectly tight and well-structured plotting you don't usually see in trilogy endings. If one were to pick a book to represent the high fantasy literary output of the last five years, Wisdom of Crowds would deserve the crown.
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