The Greatest Fantasy Books Since 2018

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Genres

Fantasy

Fantasy is a genre of literature that typically involves imaginative and supernatural elements, often set in a fictional world or alternate reality. These stories often feature mythical creatures, magic, and epic battles between good and evil. Fantasy books can range from high fantasy, which includes complex world-building and intricate plotlines, to urban fantasy, which blends fantastical elements with contemporary settings. The genre allows readers to escape into a world of wonder and adventure, where anything is possible.

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  1. 126. The Confessional by Paige Hender

    A Graphic Novel

    New Orleans, 1922: newly turned vampire Cora Velasquez lives in a speakeasy run by a coven and turns to the charismatic Father Orville Thibodeaux for salvation. When he learns her true nature, their clandestine bond becomes a tense, morally charged struggle over desire, power, and control.

    The 12775th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  2. 127. The Country Under Heaven by Frederic S. Durbin

    After surviving an explosion at Antietam, former Union soldier Ovid Vesper begins having mysterious visions. In the 1880s American West he follows those visions across a nation still recovering from the Civil War, encountering hidden, otherworldly dangers and helping the people he meets while searching for personal peace and answers.

    The 12776th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  3. 128. Drome by Jesse Lonergan

    In a fledgling world shaped from nothing, humanity’s violence summons a demigoddess from the sea who teaches a language of peace and helps a desert city arise. As order and chaos collide and unseen powers stir, the story follows love, war, and mortality in a visually inventive creation myth.

    The 12779th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  4. 129. The Starving Saints by Caitlin Starling

    Aymar Castle has been under siege and its people are starving—until mysterious, godlike visitors arrive, healing the sick and replenishing stores in exchange for worship. Three women—a battle-hardened hero, a troubled ex-nun who practices dangerous magic, and a serving girl with a secret—must navigate the visitors’ intoxicating influence, shifting loyalties, and the violence of their shared pasts as the castle unravels into ecstatic, dangerous madness. To survive, they will have to confront the power at work in the walls and the truths between them.

    The 12823rd Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  5. 130. Witchcraft For Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

    Fifteen-year-old Fern is sent to the Wellwood Home in 1970 Florida, a secretive institution where unmarried pregnant girls are controlled and isolated. There she bonds with other residents and, after a librarian gives her an old book on witchcraft, encounters a new kind of power — one that forces them to reckon with secrecy, control, and the costs of taking agency back.

    The 12824th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  6. 131. King Sorrow by Joe Hill

    Arthur Oakes, an outsider with a troubled family, is drawn into a desperate plan when a single act of courage puts his incarcerated mother at risk. He and five friends steal a rare, cursed book and attempt an arcane ritual to summon the dragon-demon King Sorrow as vengeance against those who torment them. Set between 1980s Midwest America and modern England, the novel follows the six damaged friends as their pact with a dangerous supernatural force leads to unforeseen and escalating consequences.

    The 12827th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  7. 132. Silver Elite by Dani Francis

    Wren Darlington, a powerful psychic Mod hiding from those who would kill her kind, is captured and forced into Silver Block, an elite enemy training program. Forced to conceal her abilities while plotting from within, she must navigate deadly training, shifting loyalties, and a fraught relationship with her commanding officer, Cross Redden. As tensions escalate, Wren has to decide how far she’ll go to survive and what she’s willing to sacrifice to protect others.

    The 12828th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  8. 133. Bat Eater And Other Names For Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker

    Cora Zeng cleans crime scenes in Chinatown while trying to cope with the trauma of seeing her sister pushed in front of a train and the killer’s whispered words, “bat eater.” As the murderer remains at large, Cora grows increasingly numb and haunted: bat carcasses start appearing at clean-up sites and the recent victims are all East Asian women. Between grief, cultural rituals like the Hungry Ghost Festival, and signs of something sinister, Cora must confront the dread she has been avoiding.

    The 12829th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  9. 134. Harriet Tubman by Bob the Drag Queen

    In an imaginative re-telling, Harriet Tubman returns in an age of miracles and asks a former hip‑hop producer, Darnell Williams, to help her create a musical about her life. Over the course of one week they work to craft a show that confronts their pasts and explores themes of freedom, love, and music.

    The 12830th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  10. 135. Of Monsters And Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

    Demeter is an interstellar transport ship whose human passengers start dying under strange, supernatural circumstances. To survive and protect those onboard, the ship and its crew—an unlikely mix including a werewolf, an engineer reanimated from the dead, an ancient pharaoh, a vampire, and a swarm of spider drones—must confront a centuries-old vampire while the story examines identity, loyalty, and what it means to be labeled a monster.

    The 12831st Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  11. 136. Pan by Michael Clune

    Fifteen-year-old Nicholas begins having sudden panic attacks and unsettling moments of dissociation that lead him to wonder whether something like the Greek god Pan could be inside him. Alongside his friends Ty and Sarah, he searches for meaning in books, music, and the reckless rituals at a local party house, forcing him to confront anxiety, identity, and the strange workings of consciousness.

    The 12890th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org or Amazon
  12. 137. The Eleventh Hour by Salman Rushdie

    A Quintet of Stories

    Set across Chennai, Bombay, and an English college, the novel follows two quarrelsome elderly men confronting private losses amid wider national upheaval, a magical musician in an unhappy marriage to a multibillionaire, and an undead academic bent on settling old scores. Through linked, often fantastical episodes, it examines aging, memory, and the difficulty of saying goodbye to the places and people that shape a life.

    The 12934th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  13. 138. Lessons In Magic And Disaster by Charlie Jane Anders

    In a world where magic and technology coexist, a group of unlikely friends must navigate the complexities of their intertwined destinies. As they grapple with their burgeoning powers and the looming threat of a catastrophic event, they learn that the true essence of magic lies not in spells or incantations, but in the bonds they forge and the courage they muster. Amidst the chaos, they discover that sometimes the greatest lessons come from the disasters they face together, revealing the resilience of the human spirit and the transformative power of friendship.

    The 12977th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  14. 139. All That We See Or Seem by Ken Liu

    Julia Z, once known as the “orphan hacker,” is drawn out of a quiet life when a lawyer asks for help after his wife Elli — a performer who creates shared virtual dream experiences — is kidnapped. Using her cybersecurity and hacking skills, Julia navigates virtual realities and criminal networks to unravel a complex, high-stakes mystery. The story explores the blurred boundaries between technology, identity, privacy, and the nature of shared dreams without revealing key plot twists.

    The 12991st Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  15. 140. Engines Of War by R.S. Ford

    Set in an empire consumed by all-out war, Engines of War follows rival guilds and a cast of characters as magic-powered machines and political intrigue reshape the battlefield. Tense and fast-paced, it explores shifting loyalties, conspiracies, and the personal costs of conflict as the trilogy reaches its conclusion.

    The 13054th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  16. 141. Female Fantasy by Iman Hariri-Kia

    Joonie, a devoted romance-reader, is obsessed with Ryke, the merman hero from her favorite series. When she discovers he’s modeled on a real person, she sets off on a road trip to find him—bringing her brother’s irritating but attractive best friend along—and discovers that turning fantasy into reality comes with unexpected complications. A playful, steamy romantic comedy that also explores fandom and the tropes of the genre.

    The 13057th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  17. 142. The Blackfire Blade by James Logan

    When Lukan Gardova arrives in the spired city of Korslakov to claim his father’s legacy in the Blackfire Bank, his vault key is stolen by a mysterious thief called the Rook. Chasing the thief with his companions draws them into a tangle of murder and deception, and into an uneasy alliance with Lady Marni Volkova, who has her own secrets and an agenda that will lead them into Korslakov’s dangerous past and a long‑lost alchemical formula that could change the city forever.

    The 13063rd Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  18. 143. Aunt Tigress by Emily Yu-Xuan Qin

    Tam, who has spent years suppressing her dangerous supernatural side, is pulled back into a violent magical world when her estranged Aunt Tigress is murdered. Inheriting an undead fox and a host of old enemies, she must face creatures drawn from Chinese and Siksiká Nation–inspired folklore while navigating guilt, a budding sapphic romance, and the question of whether monsters can have happy endings.

    The 13066th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  19. 144. The Isle In The Silver Sea by Tasha Suri

    In a Britain shaped by living stories, witch Simran and knight Vina are bound to repeat the tragic tale of the Knight and the Witch across centuries. As the two women fall in love, they must decide whether to follow their desires when doing so seems to doom them both. When a mysterious assassin begins targeting tales like theirs, they seek a way to break the cycle by creating a story strong enough to change their fate.

    The 13075th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  20. 145. Blob by Maggie Su

    Vi Liu, a twenty-three-year-old of Taiwanese and white heritage, is drifting through life in a Midwestern college town when she rescues a mysterious sentient blob outside a bar. As the creature becomes part of her life, Vi tries to shape it into her ideal partner and is compelled to confront loneliness, past relationships, and the role of race and identity in her search for belonging. The story blends humor and tenderness as Vi navigates love, control, and self-discovery.

    The 13190th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  21. 146. These Memories Do Not Belong To Us by Yiming Ma

    Decades in the future under the authoritarian state of Qin, citizens use implanted Mindbanks to record and transfer memories, creating a new market and new ways to control perception. When a man inherits his late mother’s Mindbank—containing memories from before, during, and after the war that made Qin dominant—he suspects the Party may have altered them and decides to risk everything to reveal what they contain. The novel examines memory, history, and the ways power shapes collective truth.

    The 13191st Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  22. 147. Awakened by A.E. Osworth

    When 30-something queer Brooklynite Wilder suddenly gains the ability to understand every language, they are taken in by a small coven of trans witches — Quibble, a portal traveler; Artemis, the seer and caretaker; and Mary Margaret, a teen with telekinetic powers. As Wilder learns to live with magic and find belonging, the group must face a hostile artificial intelligence that upends their sense of safety and forces them to reckon with questions of consciousness, identity, and embodiment. A character-driven, spoiler-free story about community, transformation, and what it means to belong.

    The 13202nd Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  23. 148. The Conjuring Of America by Lindsey Stewart

    Lindsey Stewart traces the history of conjure women—healers, midwives, and spiritual practitioners—whose herbal remedies, rituals, and crafts shaped African American life from slavery through Jim Crow. Working in secrecy, they preserved ancestral knowledge and created practical responses to oppression, influencing everyday health remedies, music, textiles, and foodways. The book explores how these hidden practices helped communities survive and resist and how their legacy is woven into American culture.

    The 13112th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org
  24. 149. Dracula & Daughters by Emma Carroll

    In gothic Temstown, three cousins—Mina, Buffy and Bella—discover they are descendants of Dracula. Guided by an ancient book and a talking raven, they start a vampire healing company that treats rather than hunts vampires, using newfound powers to investigate strange happenings in the town.

    The 13169th Greatest Book of All Time
  25. 150. Deep Dark by Zohra Nabi

    Cassia Thorne leads a double life in 19th‑century London—selling ballads by day and spending nights in Fleet Prison. When children begin vanishing from the streets, Cassia teams up with a young pickpocket, Teo, and their friend Felix to investigate, uncovering a sinister conspiracy, strange men in blue coats, and rumors of a beast in the city's deep tunnels. A tense, atmospheric, supernatural mystery set in the underbelly of Victorian London.

    The 13170th Greatest Book of All Time
    Purchase from Bookshop.org

Reading Statistics

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Download

If you're interested in downloading this list as a CSV file for use in a spreadsheet application, you can easily do so by clicking the button below. Please note that to ensure a manageable file size and faster download, the CSV will include details for only the first 500 books.

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