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Fantasy Books of the Year

Every Fantasy Release of 2026, Ranked by Reader Votes

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Fantasy Books of the Year

Every fantasy novel of 2026 worth knowing about, in one list: epic and dark fantasy, cozy and historical fantasy, urban fantasy and romantasy, from the big names to the debuts.

The best-rated of them are on Best Fantasy Books of 2026 So Far. Here you decide: give a book a thumbs up or down and the ranking moves with the votes.

The ranking

1

The Poet Empress

The Poet Empress

In a famine-stricken empire where poetry is magic and women are forbidden to read, Yin Wei, a peasant girl, becomes the concubine of the cruel Prince Guan Terren to save her family. Drawn into palace intrigue and rebelli...

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2

Daughter of Crows

Daughter of Crows

by Lawrence, Mark

Set a thief to catch a thief. Set a monster to punish monsters.The Academy of Kindness exists to create agents of retribution, cast in the image of the Furies – The Kindly Ones – against whom even the gods hesitate to st...

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3

The Red Winter

The Red Winter

by Sullivan, Cameron

In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake.Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries...

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4

The Astral Library

The Astral Library

Have you ever wished you could live inside a book? Welcome to the Astral Library, where books are not just objects, but doors to new worlds, new lives, and new futures.Alexandria “Alix” Watson has learned one lesson from...

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5

Isles of the Emberdark

Isles of the Emberdark

by Sanderson, Brandon

All his life, Sixth of the Dusk has been a traditional trapper of Aviar - the supernatural birds his people bond with - on the deadly island of Patji. Then one fateful night he propels his people into a race to modernize...

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6

The Girl with a Thousand Faces

The Girl with a Thousand Faces

Mercy Chan is a triad exorcist with a mysterious past. After washing up on the shores of Hong Kong with no memory during World War II, she found a home in Kowloon Walled City, an infamous, ghost-infested slum full of los...

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7

Seek the Traitor's Son

Seek the Traitor's Son

by Roth, Veronica

Elegy Ahn is a soldier who guards her small country against the Talusar, a stronger nation whose religion is built around a deadly Fever. When she and the Talusar general Rava Vidar are summoned to hear a prophecy that o...

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8

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter

Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter

by Fawcett, Heather

A woman who runs a cat rescue in 1920s Montreal turns to a grouchy but charming wizard to help save the shelter in this heartwarming cozy fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of the Emily Wilde series.Agnes...

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9

The Book Witch

The Book Witch

by Shaffer, Meg

Rainy March is a proud third-generation book witch, sworn to defend works of fiction from all foes real and imaginary. With her magical umbrella and feline familiar, she jumps into and out of novels to fix malicious alte...

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10

Victorious

Victorious

by Schwab, V. E.

The ExtraOrdinaries, people whose powers came from a brush with death, have been lying low since the last showdown. But when EON, the organisation whose relationship with them is about to change, falls under a new direct...

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11

Rites of the Starling

Rites of the Starling

by Perry, Devney

Calandra’s five kingdoms are on the verge of destruction. The crux migration is coming. And in the wake of a devastating attack, I’ve been separated from the man who owns my heart.I’m lost. Terrified. Homesick. Hunted by...

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12

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me

This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me

by Andrews, Ilona

Outlander meets Game of Thrones in this blockbuster new epic fantasy series from the #1 New York Times bestselling author duo Ilona Andrews.\ \ When Maggie wakes up cold, filthy, and naked in a gutter, it doesn't take he...

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13

Our Lady of Blades

Our Lady of Blades

by Castell, Sebastien De

Blood Week has been banned in Rijou, but the streets still run red, and now murder is sanctioned by the courts. A mysterious duellist who calls herself Lady Consequence, a former noble whose family was killed and who was...

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14

A Trade of Blood

A Trade of Blood

by Bennett, Robert Jackson

The heir to a powerful family sits in jail, accused of murder. Unless the detective Ana Dolabra can clear him, a farming canton could erupt into war, and the case is only the latest thread in a subtler web of death woven...

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15

The Midnight Train

The Midnight Train

When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop?No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you reall...

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16

Nine Goblins

Nine Goblins

by Kingfisher, T

No one knows exactly how the Goblin War began, but folks will tell you that goblins are stinking, slinking, filthy, sheep-stealing, henhouse-raiding, obnoxious, rude, and violent. Goblins would actually agree with all th...

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17

Twelve Months

Twelve Months

by Butcher, Jim

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard, has always managed to save the day—but, in this powerful entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling Dresden Files, can he save himself?One year. 365 days. Twelve months....

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18

Pretenders to the Throne of God

Pretenders to the Throne of God

by Tchaikovsky, Adrian

A city is under siege by the Palleseen, a powerful army whose attack has stalled while it waits for reinforcements. Within the walls, the defenders, the citizens and some former Palleseen soldiers sworn to two cults hold...

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19

Steel Gods

Steel Gods

by Swan, Richard

Industrial revolution beckons. Spiritual catastrophe looms. And the Empire of the Wolf teeters on the brink... The true horror of the Great Silence has been revealed. As nation after nation succumbs to the mind-plague...

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20

The Demon King

The Demon King

by Brett, Peter V.

Humanity has won the war against the demons of the Core, but the demon king Alagai Ka has escaped across the sea to build a new hive, and the hunt for him goes on. Olive and Darin follow him to an unexplored continent, w...

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21

The Fox and the Devil

The Fox and the Devil

by White, Kiersten

Anneke has a complicated relationship with her father, Abraham Van Helsing—doctor, scientist, and madman devoted to studying vampires—up until the night she comes home to find him murdered, with a surreally beautiful wom...

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Trending Books in Fantasy Books of the Year

Daughter of Crows

Daughter of Crows

Buy on Amazon

Isles of the Emberdark

Isles of the Emberdark

Sanderson, Brandon

Buy on Amazon

The Splintered Sun

The Splintered Sun

Buy on Amazon

Nightshade and Oak

Nightshade and Oak

Buy on Amazon

The Bone Door

The Bone Door

Buy on Amazon

The Red Winter

The Red Winter

Sullivan, Cameron

Buy on Amazon

Seek the Traitor's Son

Seek the Traitor's Son

Buy on Amazon

Twelve Months

Twelve Months

Buy on Amazon

Silver and Blood

Silver and Blood

Mihalik, Jessie

Buy on Amazon

A Trade of Blood

A Trade of Blood

Bennett, Robert Jackson

Buy on Amazon

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