The Best Fantasy Books

Why do tales of the paranormal endure? The allure is paradoxical, says Nicole Peeler: it is the realm of ultimate horror and ultimate fantasy. And it requires mystery; some supernatural figures retain more intrigue than others in the age of science. We asked the author and academic to recommend five paranormal fantasy books that speak to the mysteries of today.

Britain offers rich pickings to writers: wild and windswept locations, peculiar folklore, a treasure trove of odd histories and even odder place names. Taking Britain as a starting point, many fantasy authors have produced stories that are at once wonderfully strange and hauntingly plausible. Our fantasy interviewer Sylvia Bishop picks out her top five fantasy books set in Britain for teen readers.

Fantasy romances top bestseller charts, and also dominate an enormous fandom and fan fic culture. Where did this turn towards intimacy in the fantasy epic begin, and what does it offer readers? Bestselling author A.K. Mulford guides us through the delights of romantasy novels: comforting reads, immersive worlds, and a central concern with emotional intimacy – in all its varieties.

The best kind of love involves supporting each other in battle with magical beings, says bestselling fantasy author Valerie Valdes. She recommends the five best fantasies where the couples that spar together star together.

There’s nothing better than discovering an exciting new writer at exactly the moment they break onto the scene. Here novelist Yume Kitasei recommends brand new sci-fi and fantasy (SFF) novels by debut authors coming out in 2023.

Visionary storytelling, or fantasy, is part of our cultural DNA. Far from being simply fantastical or facile, we can use the fantasy realm as a testing ground for important ideas, argues Brian Attebery, a leading scholar of the genre. He talks us through five key works that demonstrate fantasy's many uses, from 1922 through 2010.

Fantasy inspired by West Africa is taking the literary scene for teens and young adults by storm. These books have strong world-building and all the usual fantasy ingredients. At the same time, drawing on rich seams of mythology and magical traditions such as juju, they bring something entirely fresh to the genre. Author Efua Traoré talks us through her pick of West African fantasy novels for teenagers.

Fantasy writers often create vivid, intricately detailed worlds in which their stories unfold. Rich mythmaking of this kind often features alternative religions, languages and cultures, and is known among fans and scholars as ‘mythopoeia’. Here, Samantha Shannon—author of the internationally bestselling The Bone Season sequence—recommends five of the best mythopoeic fantasy books.

In The Neil Gaiman Reader, fans from around the world chose which of Neil Gaiman's writings they liked the best, a great introduction to his writing for anyone not familiar with his work. Here the prolific, genre-bending author recommends some of his own favourite books: comfort reads to turn to in difficult times.

Fantasy novels, with their limitless scope for possibility, appeal to children with vivid imaginations. Here 14-year-old Zoe, who lives in the US and is a big fan of the genre, recommends her current favourites.