The Isle in the Silver Sea offers a medieval setting, magical elements, a story within a story, romantasy without swooning, and characters fighting to reimagine their futures. This fantasy novel about the power of storytelling was wonderful. In an alternate medieval England, an island exists because of stories. Those who play key roles in tales die and are repeatedly reborn into various versions of the characters they must play, and they are fated to reenact their own battl

This debut cozy novel showcases many of my favorite elements--magic, banter, a grumpy-sunshine hard-won romance, and a quest--within a charming, surprising story that I loved. The powerful dark lord Shadowfade is dead, and Violet Thistlewaite is determined to shed her identity as the Thornwitch, Shadowfade's right-hand woman, and start anew. She decides to settle in the nearby town of Dragon's Rest and open a flower shop, attempting to use her magical powers for good and to c

The Everlasting involves jaunts through multiple versions of the same story, as our fantastic main protagonists shift and change, bravely outsmart those who would control them, dare to hope for a future together, and fight dark forces until the bitter end. This is adventure-heavy, sometimes tender, and always intriguing. I loved it. Sir Una Everlasting was a legendary knight in the kingdom of Dominion, an orphan who rose to greatness and died in service to her queen. Her bra

This faerie-centric reimagining of Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities offered a compelling story of redemption and self-sacrifice with a significant fantasy undercurrent that is key to the plot. I felt bogged down by the explanations of the workings of the faerie system, its punishments, and its policies. I feared this was the best of times; I hoped it could not get any worse. H. G. Parry's novel A Far Better Thing  is a twist on Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities , and Parr

I loved the dark--and often darkly funny--journey of Cambridge postgraduate magick students Alice and Peter to hell, a quest they undertake because their advisor has died and they really need his recommendations. Also, they each fear they're the one who killed him. ...maybe going on meant believing in what she couldn't possibly know. Maybe if she went on she could find some way to make this pain stop. In Kuang's dark academia fantasy novel Katabasis , Alice Law is a postgrad

Novik's novella The Summer War reads like a fable, with unexpected twists and turns; duty, clever evasion, and curses; a strange world...

I loved my first T. Kingfisher read. This was dark, sometimes wryly funny, haunting, and intriguing, and the resolutions to the...

Mandanna's is a fun magical story featuring an oddball cast of characters, satisfying justice, love, chosen family, funny dialogue, and...

The shadowy, eerie tone of the first title in Gillig's Stonewater Kingdom series gives way to heartwarming, sometimes funny moments as an...

While I probably should stop reading "romantasy" because I prefer my fantasy and romance to remain separate, I was taken with the...

I loved the worldbuilding and the headstrong, powerful loose cannon of Nahri, as well as the Middle Eastern fantasy setting. I found...

Kellen begins as a principled, headstrong young man lacking in the magic crucial for power, familial stability and social standing in his...

In this first installment of The Bleeding Empire, Kim sets three characters on paths to discover their worth, their purpose, and their...

Frances White's debut is a locked-room mystery on a magical ship full of uncertain alliances, deadly vendettas, and a sassy and...

I may not have followed all of the echoes in time, creatures convincingly impersonating other creatures, or protagonists' complex,...

Bardugo's rich world-building sets the scene in Spain during the Inquisition, as a scullery maid with magical abilities is thrust into...