10 Best Fantasy Books of the Past 10 Years, Ranked
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Fantasy is a genre going through a major surge right now. It was always around, even centuries ago, but it's been more popular than ever in recent years. Heck, why shouldn't it be? Fantasy provides a form of escapism that lets the imagination run wild, drawing one's attention away from the monotony of everyday life. Fantasy novels are a dime a dozen nowadays, but the truly remarkable do tend to stand out.
Over the last 10 years in particular, fantasy has seen some absolutely excellent books released, which have attracted millions of fans and sold just as many copies. Sure, they might not be the next Harry Potter or anything, i.e., their cultural impact might not be as big, but their critical impact has been even better. These are the best fantasy books of the last 10 years.
10 'The House in the Cerulean Sea' (2020)
Written by T. J. Klune
The House in the Cerulean Sea is frequently spotted on many other articles listing the best fantasy books of the 2020s, and rightfully so. It is pretty good, after all. The story is set in a magical world and follows Linus Baker, a man who works for the Department of Magical Youths. His organization gets wind of an orphanage that is said to be particularly dangerous, prompting Linus to investigate. Whilst there, he falls in love with the caretaker of the orphanage and learns a lot about himself in the process.
While many of the other books on this list are cynical, The House in the Cerulean Sea is hopeful and eager to see the good in everybody. Where many fantasy books play by a rulebook, T. J. Klune's bends the rules just a little, making for a quirky, enjoyable experience. It's not epic fantasy at all; it's just a fun feel-good story with an unapologetically whimsical tone. The award-winning novel isn't even part of a series, either, which means one can finish it and feel satisfied with the ending, without having to wait for a sequel.
9 'Dungeon Crawler Carl' (2020)
Written by Matt Dinniman
Dungeon Crawler Carl is probably the craziest, most bonkers book on this list. It's intentionally non-serious, and is a bit of a mix of science fiction and fantasy — science fantasy, if you will. This LitRPG novel starts off on a post-apocalyptic Earth, which has been turned into dust by a cartoonishly evil alien corporation. To survive, a few remaining humans are forced to enter an 18-level dungeon crawl straight out of old-school role-playing video games.
The book has been described as chaotic, satirical, and even "trashy" at times (which it is, intentionally), but beyond the multiple layers of satire are some pretty deep moments. It reads like a parody of classic fantasy stories, yet it also has a complexity and nuance to it that only Matt Dinniman would be able to write. Any fan of fantasy needs to check this one out, because there's so much to love about it, and so much to reflect upon, too.
8 'Children of Blood and Bone' (2018)
Written by Tomi Adeyemi
Children of Blood and Bone is a YA novel by Tomi Adeyemi — the first in a trilogy of novels. This is actually Adeyemi's very first published novel, and it's a pretty awesome effort. The story takes place in a world called Orïsha, which is inspired by Nigeria and West Africa, true to Adeyemi's heritage. The world is oppressive at first, with society divided into two ethnic groups: the Divîners, who are capable of magic and grow white hair, and the Kosidán, who are non-magical but have an iron grip over the Divîners now that magic has mysteriously disappeared from the world.
After her village is attacked by the Kosidán, a young DivÎner girl named Zélie becomes determined to bring magic back and restore equality to the world. The book was a pretty major event, with Adeyemi scoring an appearance on Jimmy Fallon and a major movie deal, with the first film set to release next year. It might be geared towards a bit of a younger audience, but it's still fun for adults, too, and has the potential to become even more popular when the film comes out.
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.
7 'Crossroads of Ravens' (2024)
Written by Andrzej Sapkowski
Crossroads of Ravens is the newest entry in the critically acclaimed and widely popular The Witcher franchise, with this novel serving as a prequel to all other works released thus far. Basically, it's chronologically the first thing in the timeline, focusing on a young Geralt of Rivia before he became a Witcher. The books were famously adapted into a Netflix TV series, but they have since gone quite far off the beaten path, barely resembling the source material anymore.
This book felt like a wonderful return to form, courtesy of original author Andrzej Sapkowski, who's still got his mojo even 30 years after the first book came out in Poland. It's an interesting origin story for one of the most intriguing and mysterious characters in fantasy, one that manages to keep the same tone as the original books. For fans of the show, you are not going to want to miss this release, especially not after it was nominated for the Janusz A. Zajdel Award, which is only given to the very best of Polish fantasy writers.
6 'The Jasmine Throne' (2021)
Written by Tasha Suri
Tasha Suri wrote The Jasmine Throne, the first in a series of novels with an impressive and immersive world. The series, known as The Burning Kingdoms trilogy, is set in a high fantasy world, though it is inspired by Ancient India. Most fantasy stories go for Medieval European settings, making this one a much-needed breath of fresh air. It also feels much more authentic, with Suri having Indian heritage herself.
The story begins with an empire in chaos and a mysterious disease spreading across the land, prompting magical intervention. But it's not just a story for the sake of telling a story — there is a lesson to be had if you read between the lines. Mainly, the story is about how absolute power can corrupt and how none of that power comes without a monumental cost. It received widespread approval and became a huge hit on social media.
5 'The Burning God' (2020)
Written by R. F. Kuang
Author R. F. Kuang has been in a lot of headlines lately, and it's all because of her critically acclaimed novels, which have been blowing up all over social media and sold millions of copies. While her best book is definitely a subject for debate amongst her fans, to this author, her best has to be The Burning God, the third in a stunning and absolutely epic high fantasy trilogy.
Inspired by her Chinese heritage, Kuang created a world based on Imperial China, only containing a lot more magic and monsters. It's actually surprising how deep this book gets. At first, it seems like a romantasy or a YA fantasy, but the content is mature and dark, nestling it comfortably within the grimdark subgenre. Not only are Kuang's books entertaining, but they also contain important social commentary — a result of Kuang's ongoing work in academia. Kuang has achieved quite a lot in just 29 years and has become insanely popular due to her stellar work.
4 'Fire & Blood' (2018)
Written by George R. R. Martin
Fire & Blood is less of a novel and more of a fictitious historical account, written by George R. R. Martin. The book details the extensive family history of House Targaryen, one of the most important factions in his novel series A Song of Ice and Fire, which later became the television phenomenon Game of Thrones. Fire & Blood actually served as the basis for a spin-off TV series, known as House of the Dragon.
While fans of the novels would definitely prefer Martin to finish the main series, considering the last installment came out in 2011, Fire & Blood was still a pretty great read. It did a lot for the vast lore of the Seven Kingdoms, detailing lineages a whole three centuries prior to the main event. It's always a pleasure to jump back into the world of Westeros. Plus, those who watch House of the Dragon could easily use this book as a companion piece should they get confused about who's who in the show.
3 'Deadhouse Landing' (2017)
Written by Ian Cameron Esslemont
Malazan: Book of the Fallen is considered one of the most quintessential series in modern fantasy literature. The series was started in 1999 by Canadian author Steven Erikson, and it has since expanded to include a large shared universe that multiple authors have contributed to. Deadhouse Landing is one of these books, being part of Malazan's side series, Path to Ascendancy. Only, instead of Erikson being at the helm, Ian Cameron Esslemont is in charge of this one.
It might not be as monumental or epic as some of the other books in the series, especially the ones in the main sequence, but it's still an excellent book filled with a surprising amount of clever humor. Quite a few Malazan side books have come out in the years since this one's release, but this one still stands just a touch above the rest. It's honestly shocking that Malazan hasn't had a TV series yet; the series is so good that it should be a serious contender for a live-action adaptation.
2 'The Fall of Gondolin' (2018)
Written by J. R. R. Tolkien
The Fall of Gondolin is another book that isn't quite a novel, but is more of a historical account. It was written by the one and only J. R. R. Tolkien and is set thousands of years before his critically acclaimed The Lord of the Rings saga. Tolkien died some time ago, so this book was compiled, completed, and posthumously published by his son, Christopher Tolkien. The book consists of three different accounts of the Fall of Gondolin, along with some extra information regarding Tolkien's writings and the lore of Middle-earth.
The story is known as one of the greatest battles of Middle-earth, involving the Dark Lord Morgoth assaulting the hidden Elvish city of Gondolin after its whereabouts are betrayed. The city is assailed by balrogs and orcs, and it is eventually reduced to rubble, its residents forced to evacuate. It's one of the greatest tragedies in Middle-earth — an epic tale of catastrophic devastation. It's also a crucial piece of Tolkien's lore that simply demands to be read. It may not be the best thing Tolkien ever wrote, but it's certainly the best to come out in recent years.
1 'Oathbringer' (2017)
Written by Brandon Sanderson
Oathbringer is the third entry in Brandon Sanderson's ongoing The Stormlight Archive series, which is part of his shared literary universe known as the Cosmere. The premise of the universe is that each series or novel takes place on its own planet within the same galaxy. Each planet has its own unique system of magic. Stormlight takes place on Roshar, a hostile, barren world constantly plagued by highstorms, which are hurricane-like weather events that regularly sweep across the planet. But the highstorms are the least of humanity's worries, as the crustaceous humanoids known as the Listeners have resurrected an ancient evil to destroy the humans. To survive, humanity must refound a magical order known as the Knights Radiant, which has been defunct for over a millennium.
This 1,200-page monster of a book is so epic in all the right ways. There are multiple large-scale battles, thrilling duels to the death, and some genuinely moving moments. It's emotional and rife with character development, and is arguably the best Cosmere book thus far. It's hard to decide what the best part of it is. Is it the unique and interesting world? The genuine moral wisdom found in its pages? Or is it simply a really good story? Actually, it's all of the above. While it might not be Sanderson's best book according to Goodreads, it is certainly in the top three, a spot that it more than deserves. It is one of the most popular and best-rated fantasy books out there, one that earns its spot as the best fantasy novel of the last 10 years.
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