Best Fantasy Books of 2024

The Fantasy Novels of 2024 That Won Awards and Readers' Votes

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Which fantasy novels defined 2024? This list ranks the year's books by how many independent signals back them: the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy and Locus awards, and the Goodreads Choice Awards, where readers vote.

Books that won or were shortlisted for several awards come first, followed by the books readers voted for most.

The ranking

1

The Tainted Cup

by Bennett, Robert Jackson

In the mansion of a rich family in the city of Daretana, a high-ranking imperial official has died with a tree sprouting from his body. Ana Dolabra, a brilliant and eccentric investigator, is brought in to find out how,...

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2

A Sorceress Comes to Call

by Kingfisher, T

Cordelia, fourteen, has grown up in a house without closed doors, under the control of her mother, Evangeline, a dangerous enchantress who regularly compels her into total obedience. When Evangeline moves them into the h...

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3

Someone You Can Build a Nest In

by Wiswell, John

Shesheshen has made a mistake fatal to all monsters: she's fallen in love.Shesheshen is a shapeshifter, who happily resides as an amorphous lump at the bottom of a ruined manor. When her rest is interrupted by hunters in...

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4

The Fox Wife

by Choo, Yangsze

In Manchuria in 1908, a woman is found frozen in the snow, and the detective Bao is hired to find out who she was. Meanwhile Snow, a fox spirit, hunts the man she blames for her daughter's death. Their stories follow a t...

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5

The Bright Sword

by Grossman, Lev

Collum, a young and talented knight from the middle of nowhere, travels to Camelot to join the Round Table and meet King Arthur. He arrives two weeks too late: Arthur has died at the battle of Camlann, leaving no heir, a...

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6

The Familiar

by Bardugo, Leigh

AN INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER‘A richly imagined, intricate tale of magic and intrigue’ DEBORAH HARKNESS, #1 bestselling author of A Discovery of Witches‘Riveting… Leigh Bardugo's characters are so three dimensional...

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7

Somewhere Beyond the Sea

by Klune, T. J.

Arthur Parnassus lives a good life built on the ashes of a bad one.He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six dangerous and magical...

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8

Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

by Fawcett, Heather

"When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it's too late in this second installment of the Emily Wilde series"-- Provided by...

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9

The Book of Doors

by Brown, Gareth

Bookseller Cassie Andrews feels something is missing from her life. Then a favourite customer gives her a curious old book. In the front is a handwritten message: This is the Book of Doors. Hold it in your hand, and any...

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10

Empire of the Dawn

Empire of the Dawn

by Kristoff, Jay

From holy cup comes holy light; The faithful hand sets world aright. And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight, Mere man shall end this endless night.Gabriel de León has lost his family, his faith, and his last hope of ending the...

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11

Five Broken Blades

by Corland, Mai

Five dangerous people are drawn together by one mission: to take down the immortal King Joon of Yusan, a kingdom inspired by Korean history and myth, by stealing the enchanted crown that keeps him alive. There is Sora, a...

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12

The Lost Story

by Shaffer, Meg

Best friends Jeremy Cox and Rafe Howell vanish in a West Virginia forest and return six months later with no explanation. Fifteen years on, Rafe is a reclusive artist with no memory of those months, and Jeremy is a famed...

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13

The Black Bird Oracle

by Harkness, Deborah

Diana Bishop journeys to the darkest places within herself—and her family history—in the highly anticipated fifth novel of the beloved #1 New York Times bestselling All Souls series.Deborah Harkness first introduced the...

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14

The Book of Love

Three teenagers who have come back from the dead in Lovesend, Massachusetts, a fictional seaside town, have to work out what happened to them. When a teacher sets up a contest in which the winners stay alive and the lose...

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15

Rakesfall

by Chandrasekera, Vajra

Annelid and Leveret meet as children during the Sri Lankan civil war, and a single act of violence in a demon-haunted wood binds their souls. Their story is carried across many lifetimes, in bodies and under names that k...

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16

The Bog Wife

by Chronister, Kay

For generations, the Haddesley family has kept a covenant with the bog on their land: each generation sacrifices its patriarch, and in return the bog gives the heirs a wife. This time, no bride appears for the eldest son...

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17

An Academy for Liars

by Henderson, Alexis

A student will find that the hardest lessons sometimes come from outside the classroom in this stunning dark academia novel from the acclaimed author of The Year of the Witching and House of Hunger.Lennon Carter’s life i...

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18

A Song to Drown Rivers

Her beauty hides a deadly purpose.Xishi’s beauty is seen as a blessing to the villagers of Yue—convinced that the best fate for a girl is to marry well and support her family. When Xishi draws the attention of the famous...

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19

The Warm Hands of Ghosts

by Arden, Katherine

In January 1918, the Canadian nurse Laura Iven is sent home to Halifax, then returns to Belgium when she learns that her brother Freddie is missing, presumed dead. Working at a private hospital, she hears rumours of ghos...

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20

When Among Crows

by Roth, Veronica

In modern Chicago, Dymitr comes from a family of monster hunters, and he is searching for Baba Jaga, the witch of Polish folklore, who he hopes can help him. Ala is a zmora, a being cursed by a painful sickness who is wa...

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Trending Books in Best Fantasy Books of 2024

When Among Crows

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Rakesfall

Chandrasekera, Vajra

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The Black Bird Oracle

Harkness, Deborah

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The Fox Wife

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The Bright Sword

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The Familiar

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Somewhere Beyond the Sea

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Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands

Fawcett, Heather

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The Bog Wife

Chronister, Kay

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The Book of Love

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