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Six Favorite Fantasy Reads This is the first of three fantasy-favorite lists I'll have for you as I mine What are some of your favorite fantasy reads, whether from the past year or beyond? This is the type of romantic fantasy I adore. Kingfisher imagines richly imagined fantasy worlds, and within them she slots fantastically imperfect This is my fantasy sweet spot.

Six Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I read some entertaining, imaginative, sometimes funny, fantastic fantasy You can find other lists of favorite fantasy reads from past years here . And you can c lick here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm What are some of your favorite fantasy reads? Sarah Rees Brennan is also the author of the fantastic character-driven young-adult fantasy In Other

Six More Favorite Fantasy Reads This is the second of three fantasy-favorite lists I'll have for you Reads to find out about my overall favorite reads from last year, or you can read about past Bossy fantasy What are some of your favorite fantasy reads, whether from the past year or beyond? the worldbuilding and the headstrong, powerful loose cannon of Nahri, as well as the Middle Eastern fantasy I listed Amina in the Greedy Reading List Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I

Six More Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I read lots of entertaining, imaginative, sometimes funny, fantastic fantasy in the past year--enough to make up multiple Greedy Reading List roundups. You can find other lists of favorite fantasy reads from past years here . And you can c lick here for other science fiction and fantasy books I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. What are some of your favorite fantasy reads?

Six More Favorite Fantasy Reads This is the third of three fantasy-favorite lists I've developed as I've What are some of your favorite fantasy reads, whether from the past year or beyond? This is a clever, strange, dark, and often darkly funny fantasy. For more fantasy novels I've loved, please check out the titles at this link . The romantic aspect is less essential than the fantasy elements, which I appreciated.

Six Great Bossy Fantasy Reads I knew I was reading some gooood science fiction and fantasy, but didn't and one of fantasy alone. You can find my recent-ish two lists of favorite science fiction and fantasy reads from the past year and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. What are some of your favorite fantasy reads?

Six Favorite Fantasy Reads I love spending Fridays raving about books I've loved! What are some of your favorite fantasy reads, from the past year or from this one so far? In Blanchet's young adult fantasy debut, Herrick's End, Ollie's only friend Gwen has disappeared. Six Crimson Cranes (Six Crimson Cranes #1) by Elizabeth Lim I was captivated by Lim's fairy tale of a fantasy Why not take this fantasy all the way, after all?).

Six More Great Bossy Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads The Obsessive Wrap-Up of Favorite Reads continues You can click here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. and the gutsy characters facing wartime struggles and challenges, but I was surprised that the book's fantasy I really liked this, but I was surprised by how light it felt on fantasy elements.

Six Great Bossy Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads The Obsessive Wrap-Up of Favorite Reads continues! You can click here for other science fiction and fantasy books that I've reviewed on Bossy Bookworm. I listened to the first installment in Shannon Chakraborty's Amina al-Sirafi fantasy series, The Adventures & Lattes (Legends & Lattes #1) by Travis Baldree The first in the Legends & Lattes series is a cozy fantasy This is a sweet, cozy fantasy story that feels like a big hug; it's a love letter to coffee, to the beauty

Fairy Tales and Retellings For this list, I focused on books with fantastical elements; clear good-and-evil and airborne dragon battles within the books, and the human protagonists are wonderfully faulted and fantastic

Wang is also the author of The Sword of Kaigen  and the YA fantasy series The Volta Academy Chronicles

Novik's newest work, Buried Deep ,  is a collection of thirteen stories that span the worlds of her fantastic Naomi Novik is the author of richly wrought fantasy novels featuring main protagonists I love: Uprooted Novik has also written a series of nine fantastic books about dragons, the Temeraire series. battles within the books' alternate history, and the human protagonists are wonderfully faulted and fantastic

There is a romantic element, but this is, happily for me, a richly built fantasy and not a romantasy. More from this Author--and More Fantasy Novels I've Loved Antonia Hodgson is also the author of the Thomas You might also be interested in other fantasy books I've read and reviewed .

The romantic aspect is less essential than the fantasy elements, which I appreciated. Gillig builds a layered fantasy world on elements of stone and water, and the moth symbolism changes characters' energy is spent on pining and obsessing, where dramatic declarations overshadow a novel's fantasy The Knight and the Moth is built on a spare yet satisfying fantasy world with a limited number of characters For more fantasy/science fiction stories I've loved, please check out these titles .

White's And I Darken , the first book in her Conquerer's Saga series, has cover art that to me evokes fantasy This blend of historical fiction, fantasy, and paranormal continues with LaFevers's Dark Triumph , Mortal relationship growth. 04 The Folk of the Air series by Holly Black The Folk of the Air is a young adult fantasy

Kingfisher writes my favorite kind of fantasy novel: a wonderfully oddball main protagonist, a strange Kingfisher imagines richly imagined fantasy worlds, and within them she slots fantastically imperfect This is my fantasy sweet spot. More Kingfisher and other Fantasy Novels T. You can find my Bossy review of A Sorceress Comes to Call   here and reviews of other fantasy titles

Click the links here to explore Bossy reviews of other dystopian , fantasy , and romantasy titles.

The first in Holland's ocean-focused young adult fantasy series leaves much of the story for later books More Fantasy Books Sara Holland is also the author of the Everless and Havenfall series. For other fantasy books I've reviewed, check out the titles at this link .

If you're interested in other Bossy reviews of fantasy mysteries I've enjoyed, check out the titles at

Tale of Two Cities offered a compelling story of redemption and self-sacrifice with a significant fantasy In this historical fiction-fantasy, characters from Dickens's tale are plunged into a dark, powerful But in Parry's novel he must also reckon with his fantastical origin story (stolen by faeries and pressed

In Kuang's dark academia fantasy novel Katabasis , Alice Law is a postgraduate student in a ruthlessly This is a clever, strange, dark, and often darkly funny fantasy.

For more fantasy novels I've loved, please check out the titles at this link .

It's narrated by the fantastic Julia Whelan.

Dowry of Blood is a shadowy, spooky, sultry story imagining Dracula's wife Constanta and their relationship, in which he exerts control and constricts her actions--until she dares to dream of exploring the world outside in the centuries of life she has left. I wonder if you would have wanted me if you found me like that: vibrant and loved and alive. Constanta is the sole survivor of a brutal medieval massacre in her village--but she's drawing her last breaths. Then a mysterious stranger arrives--seemingly drawn by her wavering between life and death--and promises her eternal life as his bride. Dowry of Blood is a spooky, sultry, shadowy story of Dracula's first wife, and in Constanta's point of view we witness her horror as the full impact of her husband's power and cruelty becomes clear. After years under his strict control (he is not named as Dracula here), the forced isolation begins to grate upon her. New members of their group are brought in, intimately connected to each other yet trapped in the same claustrophobic circle of hell. Constanta flirts with moments of joy and begins to imagine an alternate path to freedom and discovering the wonders out in the world. When Constanta breaks into her husband's private sanctum and discovers his significant studies, hidden knowledge, and vulnerability, Constanta and her precious allies debate whether to attempt to gather the significant courage to act against him or to continue on for centuries more under his confining, constricting thumb. But they have stayed too long in their fortress in the country; her husband's self-assured confidence and careless actions have led murderous villagers to their door. This could be the end of the "family"--or a sudden opportunity to fight for their freedom. I listened to Dowry of Blood as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? You might also want to check out these gothic-feeling stories. For a more playful take on vampires, check out Gail Carriger's Parasol Protectorate series; you can read my review of the witty, fun Soulless here and my take on book two, Changeless, here. I plan to finish this great series at some point. For a very different take, you might check out The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, in which vampires mainly serve as catalysts for change.

In this return to the world of Elfhame (Folk of the Air trilogy), Holly Black takes us deeper into the story of characters Wren and Oak as they determine whether they can trust each other as they attempt to save Madoc. As a child, Wren read lots of fairy tales. That’s why, when the monsters came, she knew it was because she had been wicked. In The Stolen Heir, the first book in Holly Black's Stolen Heir duology, the story returns to the world of Elfhame. (It's important to first read the Folk of the Air trilogy--see link below in order to understand the plot and character development). Suren (Wren), changeling child queen of the Court of Teeth, is forced to band together with the charming, untrustworthy Oak (fae brother of Jude), to try to save Madoc from Lady Nore's Ice Needle Citadel. Wren and Oak were once betrothed, and Wren isn't sure how much of Oak's appealing vulnerability and honesty is real--or if she's being played for a fool. But Wren isn't content to let her fate be shaped by a beautiful, magical prince. She's going to need to wrest control of her own destiny. I didn't feel drawn in by Wren, who feels lost throughout much of the story, and I didn't feel as though Oak was as fully developed as I wanted him to be. I loved the return of the storm hag Bogdana! I listened to this as an audiobook. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? Click here for my review of Black's The Queen of Nothing; I mentioned the great Folk of the Air trilogy in the Greedy Reading List Six Royally Magical Young Adult Series.

This first installment in the series sets up an overlooked princess who becomes a heroine; deadly monsters who may be being treated unfairly; an enemies-to-lovers romance; and shifting loyalties. The dialogue is often dramaaaatic, but I'm in for the next book. Odessa is the oldest daughter of a king, but she has always felt like a placeholder; her father has always focused on vigorously teaching and training her younger sister May as his heir. You might predict that Odessa will be the unlikely heroine of this story when you find out that she has red hair . This character is not going to go along with the plans set out for her, everyone! (Her hair is dyed brown, and Odessa is given only gray clothing to wear by her stepmother, although she doesn't seem to have ever fought this obvious move to keep her in the background.) But wait! When a prince from another region arrives and demands a bride price for protecting the land that Odessa's family rules--and specifies that only Odessa will do--what she understood to be her destiny is upended. Her father frantically demands that she spy, steal, cheat, and lie in her marriage in order to protect her homeland. But the only ones who have ever shown her loyalty or respected her abilities are her unlikely new family and friends. Is she beholden to her origins or to her future? Dear reader, she is going to end up being brave, and finding love, and and Doing the Right Thing. I knew all of this was coming, but I didn't mind it. I did, however, grow weary of Dess's repeated rhetorical questions and revisiting of the same issues over and over, neither of which felt like it moved the plot forward. The dialogue is sometimes dramaaaaatic, but generally the pacing rolled right along in this one. This first romantasy in Perry's planned trilogy offers monsters, royalty, secrets, hidden identities, battle training, some oddly modern-seeming profanity, and, abruptly, some steamy scenes. The swearing felt modern, but the setting felt more medieval. Odessa questions the ethical treatment of (and killing of) the seasonally attacking and deadly monsters in the story, as they seem infected by a negligently manmade disease. A love interest is also affected by a condition he cannot control, so watch out, Odessa! This is all important in setting up book two. Startlingly, we hear (briefly) from the Guardian's point of view at the end of the book. I listened to this as a TWENTY-HOUR audiobook. Devney Perry is also the author of forty romance novels. More Books Like This I'm iffy on "romantasy," but for other books I've read along these lines, please check out this link .

The first in the Legends & Lattes series is a cozy fantasy story about new beginnings, the transformative This is a sweet, cozy fantasy story that feels like a big hug; it's a love letter to coffee, to the beauty

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 create beauty and inspire joy. But it's tough to tame her power when she's been trained since childhood to be expecting attacks and enacting dastardly deeds. Another new arrival to town seems bent on hooking Violet to her past. And Violet is really distracted by the handsome, grumpy alchemist who's renting her the space for her shop. Violet Thistlewaite has lots of my favorite elements: magic, a grumpy-sunshine matchup, a fresh-start promise, and a quest. This is charming, funny, and adorable. Violet has a secret that seems destined for revealing, but the sequence of events surrounding it and the reactions were wholly unexpected. I loved every bit of this book! I listened to Violet Thistlewaite Is Not a Villain Anymore  as a library audiobook . About This Author This is Emily Krempholtz's first novel. I'm in for alll the rest. More Violet, please! The tone and the cozy-magical-mystery focus reminds me of A Witch's Guide to Magical Innkeeping .

I love a historical-fiction-feeling fantasy story like this one, and Blood of the Old Kings sets up

mystery in a post-colonial West African city, but I didn't feel very connected to or invested in the fantastical In Tochi Onyebuchi's fantasy mystery, main protagonist Boubacar is a war veteran and a private investigator Harmattan Season  is a dark, broody, mysterious fantasy story that takes place in an unnamed city in The denouements felt somewhat tedious to me, and the fantastical aspects (the floating buildings and

battles within the books' alternate history; and the human protagonists are wonderfully faulted and fantastic Naomi Novik is also the author of richly wrought fantasy novels featuring main protagonists I love: Uprooted

and the gutsy characters facing wartime struggles and challenges, but I was surprised that the book's fantasy I really liked this, but I was surprised by how light it felt on fantasy elements.

I felt like the story started off slowly, but once the world was built and the background established, I was hooked on the interpersonal relationships, the dramatic conflicts, the creatures' magical abilities, and their evolving quests. Various demons work as mercenaries in Nine Hells, and Bex trusts only them to protect her. Over time, some of these demons have evolved into grumbling lackeys for the Eternal King, or bound slaves. But when Bex and her demons team up with a new client--a powerful male witch who's got it in for the king--it could change everything. The first part of the book felt clunky to me, bogged down by explanations of how Aaron's imagined world works and the basic history of various conflicts and groups (gods, demigods, demons, free demons, witches, warlocks, East Coast/West Coast, heaven, hell--I was reeling a little bit). Eventually the story seemed to hit its stride, and the various demons, magical powers, dark histories, missions--and the Bex-Adrian friendship, client-bodyguard relationship, and growing attraction--made me wonder what would happen next. Neither Bex nor Adrian is exactly what they appear, nor are they following the scripts set out for them. Together, they are more powerful and capable and creative than alone, and they make a formidable team that reimagines reality for their kinds. Now that the world of the books has been built, I expect the second installment to move along at a nice clip; Aaron's dynamic battle scenes were a strength here. I'd love to hear your Bossy thoughts about this book! Rachel Aaron is also the author of the DFZ Changeling series, the Heartstrikers series, the Crystal Calamity series, and other books. I listened to Hell for Hire  as an audiobook.

This second and final installment of Faizal's young adult duology emphasizes on the power of found family over blood ties; reveals chilling, ambitious, ruthless plans for creating a horde of vampires; and pushes characters to sacrifice for love. The first installment in Hafsah Faizal's young adult Blood and Tea series offered intriguing secrets, a swirling mystery, terrible betrayal, heartwarming found family, steady action, and vampires. That book ended with the city reeling from a night of death and destruction. In this second and final book in the duology, grieving Arthie Casimir and her makeshift gang--Flick, Jin, and vampire leader Laith--are eager to upend Flick's mother's political stronghold and to set things to rights, achieving some justice. All sorts of dastardly plots are pursued, thwarted, renewed, and destroyed; terrifying torture and threats are acted upon; family ties are no match for the found-family bonds between friends; political machinations are upended; and some characters are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to save the others. An aspect of the story that comes into play in various forms is a revised understanding of the Other (vampires), pushing those who fear and assume that vampires are only about destruction to accept that they actually live nuanced, valuable, layered existences and illustrate a deep ability to care, fight for what's right, control themselves, and act nobly. I didn't love this installment quite as much as book one, but Faizal keeps the pace moving and progresses the bonds and affection between the main protagonists. The vampire element is expanded and the cutthroat plans for and potential power of an unleashed vampire horde looms over all. I listened to this novel as an audiobook. More from Hafsah Faizal For my review of the first book in this series, please see   A Tempest of Tea . Faizal is also the author of We Hunt the Flame .

While I probably should stop reading "romantasy" because I prefer my fantasy and romance to remain separate I probably need to stop reading "romantasy" or "romantasy"-adjacent books, because I love fantasy stories and I love romantic comedies , but for me, the intersection of romance and fantasy is often unsatisfying

The dark humor is fantastic. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this book or other fantasy books you've loved!

The supporting characters are fantastically odd, fiercely loyal, and a heartwarming support for a girl

the worldbuilding and the headstrong, powerful loose cannon of Nahri, as well as the Middle Eastern fantasy character Nahri, the complex cultural backgrounds clashing in the book, and the Middle Eastern-based, fantastical I listed Amina in the Greedy Reading List Six Four-Star (and Up) Science Fiction and Fantasy Reads I

in a panic, she makes a magical deal in which she lives on...in the world of her sister's favorite fantasy Sarah Rees Brennan is also the author of the fantastic character-driven young-adult fantasy In Other

I read the first in that series, The Magicians , for but me it was short on magic and fantastical elements

Scholomance series and I realized I haven't posted a stand-alone review of some of Novik's other standout fantasy

battles within the books' alternate history, and the human protagonists are wonderfully faulted and fantastic

fiction-feeling story, a Sherlock Holmes and Watson-type investigatory relationship, and fascinating otherworldly fantasy

I love a mix of historical fiction and fantasy, and while this novel isn't as layered and complex or

The first installment in Faizal's Blood and Tea series offers intriguing secrets, a swirling mystery, terrible betrayal, heartwarming found family, steady action--and vampires. "It's teatime, scoundrels." In the first book of Hafsah Faizal's Blood and Tea series, A Tempest of Tea , Arthie Casimir collects secrets--and by doing so, amasses enough power to become a criminal mastermind, exerting her influence within the city's dark underbelly. Her exclusive tea room becomes a posh hangout for vampires each night, but when her bloodhouse is threatened, she must work with one of her enemies in order to protect her livelihood and power. She helps plot to infiltrate the Athereum, an exclusive vampire society, but complex, dark conspiracies threaten to upend all of her plans, endangering Arthie and everyone aligned with her. “Aren’t you afraid?” she asked. “Fear stops life, not death.” Faizal combines secret identities, intricate plots, vampires!, hidden feelings, and wonderfully complex relationships in this mystery. A Tempest of Tea layers heartwarming found family, heartbreaking emotional barriers, and reluctant vulnerability to build characters that I cared about, funny gems, tantalizing moments, and an intriguing build-up to the books to come in this series. The cover artwork, palette, and the book's title felt off to me; they seemed to indicate Cozy Mystery (well, aside from the blood in the teacup), while the story feels more intricate and strange and deep. Do you have any Bossy thoughts about this book? I listened to A Tempest of Tea  as an audiobook. Hafsah Faizal is also the author of We Hunt the Flame .

The cover is arresting, and the sparkles and art are a nod to the novel's fantasy genre.

excited to read this final installment in Freya Marske's Last Binding trilogy, a queer historical fiction fantasy-mystery and compromise, and Marske's storytelling is yet again charming, funny, sometimes dark, and always fantastic

Bovalino's story hooked me with a main protagonist who's a female knight, her best-friend mage, intriguing magic, a terrifying destiny, showstopping secrets, danger and adventure, and a deep romantic connection. I loved every bit of the first book in Bovalino's Hand and the Heart series. Captain Grey Flynn is a knight pledged to protect the mage Kier, who she has known since she was a child. She is not only a blade but a source of magic, a well. Unbeknownst to others, she and Kier have gone through a forbidden process to become tethered, so that magic flows between them like an unspoken language. But Grey is also secretly in love with Kier. Early in the story Grey, Kier, and choice members of their army are assigned to the protection of a young woman and told to spirit her through the mountains to safety. She is believed by many to be the key to the land's future and the heir to its magic. But she is not who the army thinks she is...and Grey herself is hiding an enormous secret about her own identity, which not even Kier knows. This, my friends, is my sweet spot for romantasy. There is no Outrageous Character Swooning meant to stand in for actual character development or used as a shortcut to attraction and bonds. Bovalino offers a wonderful in medias res introduction to the deep emotional and platonic, affectionate connections between Grey and Kier. What keeps the main protagonists apart is a realistic-feeling set of emotional barriers intended to preserve their lifelong friendship--the stakes of messing with their friendship are understandably high. And Grey's secret is significant; it keeps her somewhat at an emotional distance from Kier. All of this feels warranted. As danger intrudes upon the story and everything Grey and Kier have known feels up in the air, their relationship changes, and the dramatic development of a romantic relationship when death is breathing down their necks feels warranted, perfectly complicated, and heartstoppingly saucy. When the swooning arrives, it's after Bovalino has set the perfect stage for it. The magic in Bovalino's world is strange and the circumstances around the island feel like a grayscale, murky pause in the book's action and a potentially heartbreakng tease of a second chance. The pacing sloooowed during this section, but I was invested. I found the ending a little bit unsatisfying, but I didn't expect the direction the story took, either. Bovalino doesn't offer easy answers, but messy, fought-for, and deserved resolutions. I loved this. I listened to The Second Death of Locke  as a library audiobook on Libby . Please check out these Bossy reviews of medieval-set books . You can click this link for more books about knights. More from V. L. Bovalino The second book in the Hand and the Heart series is currently scheduled for publication in fall 2026 and is titled The Thief and the Traitor Bride . Bovalino writes young adult novels under the name Tori Bovalino; this is her first book for adults.

with ballet, an orphan's struggles, and Depression-era Chicago, but once Nocturne shifted into dark fantasy In Alyssa Wees's slim (it's 240 pages) fantasy novel Nocturne, set in the Little Italy of 1930s Chicago But once the fantasy elements became the focus, the story felt more like a series of ethereal concepts You can check out my Bossy reviews of other fantasy titles here.

In Blanchet's young adult fantasy debut, Herrick's End, Ollie's only friend Gwen has disappeared.