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The 60 Most Popular Fantasy Novels of the Past 3 Years
Dedicated fantasy readers are a voracious lot. We read like there’s no tomorrow, in part because we have to. Fantasy books have a famous tendency for longish page counts, and any given novel is usually part of a longer series, anyway.
As such, today’s spotlight collection—the most popular fantasy novels on Goodreads from the past three years—may set a record for total pages. We’ve got the supercomputer chewing on the numbers right now, but it’s taking a while.
The collection below features the most popular fantasy titles published between July 2021 and June 2024, as measured by Goodreads members’ ratings and reviews as well as their Read and Want to Read shelves. Each book has an average star rating of 3.5 or higher. To narrow the focus, we’ve excluded YA fantasy and books typically slotted with the romantasy designation. For series with multiple qualifying books in our three-year time span, we included whichever book was most popular overall.
You’ll find plenty of familiar author names below, including genre aces like Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black, N.K. Jemisin, T.J. Klune, and Brandon Sanderson. The nice thing about fantasy, of course, is that you can choose destinations from across the multiverse. Vaishnavi Patel’s Kaikeyi, for instance, features a kingdom based on the Hindu epic the Ramayana. R.F. Kuang’s brilliant Babel features a devastating alternate-history approach to the colonial-era British Empire. And who knows what Stephen King is up to…
Click on the book cover images for more information about each title, and add any interesting leads to your Want to Read shelf. Feel free to continue the discussion in the comments section, but please remember to play nice. Be the comments section you want to see in the world.
How many of these popular fantasy novels have you read? Let's talk books in the comments below!
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Jason
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Jul 05, 2024 01:40AM
The only one I've read is Fairy Tale by Stephen King it was excellent. Im not really a fantasy fan, I'm more inclined toward thrillers, but I think I will expand my horizons and maybe check out something by Brandon Sanderson he seems to be a fan favorite. Any suggestions for a fantasy -curious reader would be great.
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Jason wrote: "The only one I've read is Fairy Tale by Stephen King it was excellent. Im not really a fantasy fan, I'm more inclined toward thrillers, but I think I will expand my horizons and maybe check out som..."I recommend Sanderson's first Mistborn trilogy:
The Final Empire
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
I read the first one on a whim in December, and grabbed copies of the other two immediately after because I loved it so much.
Jason wrote: "The only one I've read is Fairy Tale by Stephen King it was excellent. Im not really a fantasy fan, I'm more inclined toward thrillers, but I think I will expand my horizons and maybe check out som..."I also enjoyed Fairy Tale, When Women Were Dragons and Ink, Blood, Sister, Scribe are also excellent reads.
14 + a few on my TBR list. The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean is one of the weirdest (in a good way) book I have ever read - really enjoyed it. Mark Lawrence's The Book that Wouldn't Burn + The Book that Broke the World, not to mention Gareth Brown's The Book of Doors, are very peculiar too - couldn't put them down! Highly recommended.
Of the seven I've read (plus one DNF), The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is my favourite, and I think has the widest appeal. It is so entertaining. I read the first page in a book shop and the MC's sarcasm immediately drew me in, then the world building and plot kept me there. So fun.
I’ve read 11 and have 26 others on my TBR list!! If the book featured here is part of a series then I include it as long as I have the first book on my TBR. So many good ones!
I've read 5 and another 5 are on my TBR. I'll recommend The Starling House and the Warm Hands of Ghosts to anyone who will listen. Those were incredible magical realism stories that are just chef's kiss!
It's mildly concerning how many books are on my TBR list and how few are already on my read list.This speaks volumes about my endless TBR pile...
I've read 19 of those. The absolute standout for me was "The Spear Cuts Through Water". Poetic perfection if I ever saw one.
How can a book from April 2024 be on this list? Really? It's one of the most popular books of the past 3 years? How? Seeing that makes me questions this whole list. Is it just publishers paying for exposure?
Read 19 of these! Starling House and Ordinary Monsters are all time faves
I've read 6, but all were just okay. Maybe I'm becoming less of a fan of this genre. I hope some of these recs in the comments will bring me back in!
For me just one that I am currently reading and many that I have and are in my TBR list but then there are many that I want to read and will do in time no hurry I seem to be reading the back catalog for my fantasy books. Right on folks, Keep on reading.
I read 22 of these and I have 3 more of them in progress. Seems like I need to read more and stop looking at book lists.
I've 29 of them and have on my TBR!
I have read 14 of these books. Most of the others I wouldn’t even look at because they are series and due to long standing unhappiness with the second or the third book in the series. I will only read books that are standing alone.
Jason wrote: "The only one I've read is Fairy Tale by Stephen King it was excellent. Im not really a fantasy fan, I'm more inclined toward thrillers, but I think I will expand my horizons and maybe check out som..."I've only read 4 of Sanderson's books and enjoyed them. My favorite of the books was Warbreaker. For now, at least at my last check, it's still a stand alone. So, if you want to try his books and don't want to commit to a series, try one of his stand alones first. I'm personally glad I started with Warbreaker because if i had started with Mistborn, I may not have understood what was going on plus, it wasnt a favorite but I did like the next 2 books. But. It may ne different for you. This is only a suggestion of course :-)
Thia Reads A Lot wrote: "How can a book from April 2024 be on this list? Really? It's one of the most popular books of the past 3 years? How? Seeing that makes me questions this whole list. Is it just publishers paying for...""The collection below features the most popular fantasy titles published between July 2021 and June 2024, as measured by Goodreads members’ ratings and reviews as well as their Read and Want to Read shelves. Each book has an average star rating of 3.5 or higher"
If you take note of JULY 2021 to JUNE 2024...that's how theyre able to include April. It looks like this was posted July 5th, 2024.
Read the whole part that I included. These are books that folks have read and have on their want to read shelves and have rated on average, a 3.5/5 stars. If you watch booktube or booktok, many of these books are very popular there as well.
Almost all of these were already on my TBR list and now I've added the rest.
Definitely lots I want to check out on this list! Fairy Tale, The Familiar are certainly ones I've wanted to check out for a while.
i’ve read 24 books of these 🤩🤭 my top 3 favorites are:1. The Will Of The Many
2. Jade Legacy
3. Trees Of The Emerald Sea
Jason wrote: "The only one I've read is Fairy Tale by Stephen King it was excellent. Im not really a fantasy fan, I'm more inclined toward thrillers, but I think I will expand my horizons and maybe check out som..."If you liked Fairy Tale, I would definitely recommend The Ninth House and Hellbent by Leigh Bardugo. This series is dark, gritty, and intelligent making the victories of the characters all the more satisfying.
I’ve read 49 of these!
Read 2 and have 18 on my tbr✌️
I plan to read Babel soon. Is it any good? I read The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo and Sword Catcher by Cassandra Clare. Both were disappointing. Can you recommend me a book to read from this list? I stopped supporting T.J. Klune, so don't recommend any books from him.
a TON of these books have community scores of 3.5 or lower. no thanks GR! lol
These books are so interesting. I have a Stephen King one have not tried it yet, but I want to.
I just read Babel. It was okay but could've been better. Can you recommend me another book to read from this list?
I prefer when fantasy and romantasy are separated :(Because often fans of Fourth Wing won't like LOTR and vice versa.
Coffeeshopkitty wrote: "Jason wrote: "The only one I've read is Fairy Tale by Stephen King it was excellent. Im not really a fantasy fan, I'm more inclined toward thrillers, but I think I will expand my horizons and maybe..."Just started Ninth House. Read the Grisha books which hooked me.
Absolutely loved Fourth Wing and Iron Flame. Can’t believe they didn’t make the cut here.
This list is near perfection! If I could only read 5 Fantasy Autors from this list for the rest of my life I would happily pick Brandon Sandeson, T. Kingfisher, Holly Black, Naomi Novik and V.E. Schwab. I'm thrilled to see multiple books by Brandon Sanderson and T. Kingfisher on this list - I am obsessed with both of them. There are also a ton of books on this list that I cant wait to read such as The Tainted Cup, The Warm Hands of Ghosts, and The Familiar.
James wrote: "Jason wrote: "The only one I've read is Fairy Tale by Stephen King it was excellent. Im not really a fantasy fan, I'm more inclined toward thrillers, but I think I will expand my horizons and maybe..."If you liked Brandon Sanderson’s Mistborn Trilogy, I highly recommend the second Trilogy, the Wash and Wayne series, as well as the Stormlight Archive Series! Brandon Sanderson is an amazing writer! He really keeps you captivated. It’s hard to put his books down! There are currently 4 books in the 10 book series, with book 5 due to come out this November.
The other 2 of his books on this list, Tress of the Emerald Sea and the Sunlit Man, are also really good reads!
The Tainted Cup was one of the best books I’ve read this year! It was a fantasy but also a great mystery in the tradition of Holmes and Watson.
I'm curious how "popular" was defined in deciding the 30 most popular books. I've been a voracious reader of fantasy for the past 30 years and I haven't heard of most of these.
Thia Reads A Lot wrote: "How can a book from April 2024 be on this list? Really? It's one of the most popular books of the past 3 years? How? Seeing that makes me questions this whole list. Is it just publishers paying for..."Which book are you referring to. Not good to question without stating your basis.
I agree with Renee. How didn't they make the list? Are they not classified as Romantsay?
The Tainted Cup was a very fun and unique read, I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would
Keeper of Enchanted Rooms is a fun start to a good story. I recently discovered T. Kingfisher and especially recommend Nettle & Bone. Thorn Hedge was good too. I plan to read more Kingfisher. I guess Martha Wells' Murderbot series is more sci-fi than fantasy. (Witch King was not my favorite of hers.) Do yourself a favor and read All Systems Red, if you haven't already.
Did anyone else read The Mask of Mirrors (Rook & Rose trilogy) by M.A. Carrick? I really loved that series.
No, it's not on the list. The Fourth Wing was DNF. Negative stars from me.
Jason wrote: "The only one I've read is Fairy Tale by Stephen King it was excellent. Im not really a fantasy fan, I'm more inclined toward thrillers, but I think I will expand my horizons and maybe check out som..."If you like Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson is probably a good choice! Sanderson often has very elaborate world building, with many characters and a kind of elevated writing style (or at least the German translations have that feel). Although I have not read it myself yet, I'd start with the Trees of the Emerald Sea, since other books by him are part of really big series.
An other recommendation:
- The Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. Since you like thrillers this might be something for you, it's an Urban Fantasy Crime series. Not exactly thriller, but still" And the magic system is done very well.
I think both could be a great start for your fantasy journey. They both go into differente directions with the genre!
Pity not to see any Joe Abercrombie or Guy Gavriel Kay on the list. I should try Sanderson again as I really didn't like anything about The Final Empire; read like Marvel superpowers meets unrealistic Hunger Games style dystopia (though Hunger Games did it better; and don't even get me started on Sanderson's style). The rest looks like a generic list of bestsellers, and those aren't always the best.
Catherine wrote: "I agree with Renee. How didn't they make the list? Are they not classified as Romantsay?"I think they are now considered a bit of a given, like when Harry Potter and Game of Thrones books were clogging up the lists. I think most people have already read them or added them to their TBR without any help from this list. I know I’ve read them all.
But I never would have added The Tainted Cup to my TBR without the lovely readers above.
Just a thought.
I feel like at least one of Sarah J Mass books should be on here as well as Fourth Wing.
I’ve read six and thirteen on my TBR.Out of the six I’ve read, my absolute favorite was When Women Were Dragons!
I have only read 3 of these books but they were all amazing. Only thing I do wish is that I had the time to read all of the books on this list
