Hello, everyone! It feels like some time since I’ve shared a list of the BESTEST OF THE BEST fantasy books with you. So today, we are going to do just that. I’ve read so much fantasy lately that it’s only right that I should share all these amazing wonders with you, so that you can enjoy them as well!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly event hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl and this week’s prompt is:

Books from my favourite genre

I would say that my favourite genre tosses up between historical fiction and fantasy, but when I look back on my reading patterns, I think I reach for fantasy books at least 73.6% more than I do historical fiction. I just really like my dragons, alright? Come to think of it, one day I really should pick up His Majesty’s Dragon (Naomi Novik) considering that is a perfect amalgamation of everything I love. Hm, maybe in June?

So this list comprises of 10 fantasy books you probably haven’t read yet that you ABSOLUTELY must. At the bottom, I will also include some books that are amazing and very popular right now (which you’re more likely to have read).

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1. The Falconer
by Elizabeth May

my review

The book you ALL need in your lives. Scotland + faeries. This book has a fantastic female lead who can see faeries, unlike everyone else. This means she gets into lots of trouble trying to save people from bloodthirsty creatures who rampage through the town. She’s a social outcast and far too wily for a woman (psh). But when she meets up a boy (yesss) who is also a faerie (yaaass) who helps her train and become the ultimate breathing weapon against bad faeries (YUUSSS) the story takes off.

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2. Borderline
by Mishell Baker

my review

Hark! Me wee fiesties, a disability rep! This book is a left-of-centre fantasy novel (urban fantasy, I should say) that highlights a team of disabled people doing some kick-ass stuff. Our main character is in a wheelchair having lost her legs in a failed suicide attempt but she is recruited in from her rehab centre to join this misfits team on some magical security missions. A.k.a, basically she becomes border security (but secretly) against the magical beings who dally on into the real world and wreak havoc. This is some of the BEST diversity I have ever seen in a book.

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3. White Hart
by Sarah Dalton

my review

I’ve been meaning to finish off this series for a few years now (I’ve read books one and two but keep forgetting to pick up book three – that’s the trouble with eBooks, isn’t? They’re not there to physically remind you of their existence). This book is SO UNDERRATED SO HELLLOOO! Come on people! Let’s read this. In this story the MC is the last person in the kingdom who has magical powers. But the King is searching for this last sorceress to marry his son, the Prince, to keep the magic within the royal family line. But our fiesty MC does not like this fate and after venturing through mystic woods and encountering all sorts of trialling challenges, we get one heck of a tale out of this story.

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4. The Neverland Wars
by Audrey Greathouse

my review

Could anyone actually say no to a Peter Pan retelling? I sure couldn’t. This book so deserves a MILLION more love than it’s getting. It’s a spectacular YA retelling of Peter Pan. We get to run away to Neverland, face the difficulties of Peter Pan now being a teenager (all them trips to and fro the real world slowly aged him) and we’re fighting a WAR against adults. Why? Because the nasty adults want to take neverland’s magic and use it for themselves. Children v.s. adults is always a win for me.

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5. The Shadow Queen
by C.J. Redwine

my review

I’m a big fan of Redwine’s work and this is by far my favourite Snow White retelling. This has everything you could possibly want from a retelling (should I mention that the whole series is set within a universe that combines all the fairytales? That every book in the series is centred around a different retelling? SIGN ME UP). There are even dragons in this one as Snow White (who is not called that) fights to reclaim her throne from her wicked, evil, horrid step-mother.

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6. Trick
by Natalia Jaster

my review

This is such a hoot of a laugh. I loved this story. It’s leaning a little more towards adult than YA but is a fantasy tale set in a kingdom following a princess visiting a neighbouring kingdom (I think they’re divided by season) who gets entangled *waggles eyebrows* with that court’s jester. But there are so many wonderful and rich layers to this story that just bring it up above the rest!

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7. The Shattered Court
by M.J. Scott

my review

Now this one is most definitely an adult fantasy. It is something I’ve never heard anyone else talking about but damn, I loved this book. It really takes off in the second half when the world within its page expands and I’m so excited to read the sequel (once again, ready and raring to go on my e-reader but I keep forgetting about it). In this book, royal women who manifest magical powers are immediately bound by rites of marriage within the court. The court controls them by doing so and ensures that they use their magic only to serve the kingdom (harvesting crops, etc). Except when it comes time for our MC to manifest powers, absolutely everything goes spectacularly wrong. BRING ON THE EXPEDITION AND GOOD LOOKING MALE SIDEKICK!

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8. Wards of Faerie
by Terry Brooks

my review

This is a wonderful, expansive high fantasy told by a master of the genre. But it’s a prequel series to The Shannara Chronicles and thus is left in the shadows. But EXCUSE ME, if you love elves, magic, magical creatures, dragons and quests then you really need to read this. We go on so many amazing, Lord of the Rings-esque journies in this and I fell in love with the story.

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9. Shadow of the Fox
by Julie Kagawa

my review || review on BookTube

GASP, this book is one of my favourite of EVER and ever. And nowhere near enough people are reading it! 5k ratings on Goodreads? PEOPLE, stop your dilly-dallying and pick this one up off your TBR. Japanese myth and folklore, fallen samurais, shape-shifts and magic. There are dragons, there are prophecies, there are assassins and most of all, there is a quest. There is nothing NOT to love in this story (I even convinced my mum to read this one).

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10. The Belles
by Dhonielle Clayton

my review

This book is set in a French-inspired fantasy world. We have a world without beauty, people born without colour and U-G-L-Y. That’s where the Belles come in. A select number of specially born girls each generation are born beautiful, with colour . . . and MAGIC. They are employed throughout the kingdom to re-beautify its people, but oh-oh-oh, there are dark powers at play here. Don’t let the flower names and pretty words lull you into a false sense of ease.

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Popular Fantasies that are also WONDERFUL

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That’s a wrap!

What’s your favourite fantasy book?

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~~ Kirstie ~~

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