The Lord of The Rings. A Song of Ice and Fire. The Wheel of Time. What do all of these critically acclaimed fantasy series have in common? They’re all old news. If you’re looking for the cutting edge, haute couture fantasy of today, these ten authors are the it-girls of the modern era. Despite many of them being middle aged, they’re a high fantasy Brat Pack. When it comes to being in style, it doesn’t matter how old you are, it matters how old you feel. These 10 best fantasy novels of the 2020’s feel like they were just born (published?) yesterday.
The House In The Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune’s The House In The Cerulean Sea is anything but drab grimdark, it’s an all the rage new style called cozy fantasy – fantasy that hits like a hot cup up of coffee and a slow kiss on the face. It’s the story of Linus Baker, a bureaucrat who works an agency responsible for the care of magical children – except his bosses only really care about whether or not he gets his paperwork done right. Things change for Linus when he’s sent to investigate a titular seaside house where a group of magical orphans live along with their charismatic caretaker. What he’s supposed to be looking for are clerical errors are procedural discrepancies, but what he finds is the found family that he didn’t know he needed. This book is the warm hug you didn’t know you needed (or maybe you did, poor baby).
Piranesi
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke is the story of a man who can’t be bothered to live in a normal house like some trad fantasy enjoyer, he lives cool, magical house because he can’t be bound by old ideas! He also doesn’t really have a choice. Piranesi’s house is gargantuan, a labyrinth of hallways that lead to rooms wide enough to fit oceans (the envy of any New York City shoebox apartment dweller). But unlike New Yorkers, Piranesi isn’t able to pop outside to the deli for a chop cheese, he’s trapped inside! His work, according to his only visitor, is also too important to give up – he’s tasked to catalogue the many statues that haunt the house’s halls at the behest of an enigmatic man known as The Other. Why does Piranesi live in this house? How does he avoid paying rent? What’s the WiFi password? Some of these questions will be answered, but only for those brave enough to dive deep into this book’s strange pages.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune
The Empress of Salt and Fortune may take place in a distant past inspired by mythical China, but believe you me, Nghi Vo’s novel is 100% the stuff of cutting edge fantasy future. Recorded by a non-binary monk (slay) and recounted by an elderly lesbian (also slay) this is the tale of Empress In-yo, a woman who rose from captive princess to regent of the realm (the slayest). Forced into an arranged marriage with a tyrant, In-yo has to use all of her political wits in order to survive the swirling whirlpool of courtly intrigue. Thankfully, she’s got a trust handmaiden named Rabbit to cling to as an emotional floaty, and the pair begin to swim toward political revolution like salmon upstream. And just like salmon (the ones that don’t get eaten by the grizzlies in the nature docs, that is) they get there. Sensual. Sinister. Sapphic. This novel is everything a modern reader needs.
Harrow The Ninth
Following up on the success of goth lesbian space opera Gideon The Ninth, Tamsyn Muir returns with a sequel packing more interstellar intrigue, more bone-related magic, and yes, more lesbians. Harrow the Ninth picks up not long after where Gideon the Ninth left off, but I literally can’t tell you the plot at all lest you be spoiled for the first book. What I can tell you is that the novel takes risks, like any cutting edge work of fantasy should. Half of the story is written in the second person. Who does that? Don’t worry, it’s not some tired literary author trope, there’s a real plot reason for why the narration is scattered and confused, almost like the Hot Topic styled protagonist of this novel is slowly losing her mind – and we’ll find out why.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is set during a totally awesome and deeply under-referenced swath of world history: The Islamic Golden Age. Shannon Chakraborty’s novel follows the titular Amina, a renowned pirate who is prepping to spent her own golden years in retirement. Like a grizzled action movie protagonist called in to do “one last job” Amina is soon to discover that the plot has other plans for her. After she learns that her granddaughter has gone missing while hanging out with a spooky occultist (not the best decision) Amina decides to take to the high seas once more in search for her lost kin. Her adventure leads her to mystical pearls with magic powers, demons responsible for past personal tragedies, and deep dives into the shifting tides of gender identity. Anyone who doesn’t love a queer pirate fantasy can walk the plank.
The Blacktongue Thief
Christopher Buehlman has never been one for old school good vs. evil fantasy, preferring to paint his protagonists in shades of morally grey. The Blacktongue Thief is the story of Kinch Na Shannack, a recent graduate of a thieving guild’s training program, now attempting to steal his way out of student loan debt. They should have taught him how to pick his marks better, because his sticky fingers nearly get cut off after he tries to rob a grizzled veteran who happens to have a tight relationship with the literal goddess of death. Thrown together by a robbery gone wrong, Kinch and his target-turned-ally Galva are now intertwined by fate – not even Kinch’s skillful fingers can untie this knot.
Six Crimson Cranes
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim might be inspired by a work of trad fantasy, but I can assure you, it’s a modern myth through and through. Set in a kingdom reminiscent of East Asia, the plot revolves around Shiori’anma – a princess who possesses forbidden magic. Instead of hiding it away and accepting her fate as a bride-to-be, Shiori’anma sticks it to the man and lets her magic fly free on her wedding day. Her stepmother Raikama is not amused, and curses Shiori’s six brothers to turn into cranes. Adding insult to injury, Raikama puts a spell on Shiori: for every word the princess speaks, one of her brothers will die. Up a creek without a paddle or a voice to cry for help, Shiori must venture off alone to find her brothers and lift the curse – without saying a word. Or, she could say one word, she’d still have five more brothers. It’s a trade-off.
A Master of Djinn
A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark is the story of a woman who saved the universe from annihilation only a couple months ago. When you’re working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, that’s an everyday part of the job. While Agent Fatma el-Sha’arawi thought she could handle anything, she finds herself at wit’s end attempting to solve the murder of a cult by the very figure they worship – back from the dead. The famous magician Al-Jahiz has returned after 50 years, and he’s not happy with the state of modern affairs. Al-Jahiz (or someone doing a really good impression of him) has come to bring about a social reckoning. Unless Agent Fatma can stop him, he’ll reshape 20th century Cairo, and then the world, into something unrecognizable.
The Witch’s Heart
The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornichec is the story of a little known figure from Viking myth: the jötunn Angrboda, mother of monsters, wife of Loki, and witch extraordinaire. It’s for that last aspect of her character that the All Father Odin wants her dead – she refused to grant him a prophecy and he tried to burn her at the stake. After fleeing into the woods, she meets her trickster god hubby-to-be, and the pair produce three magical children. Years later, Angrboda’s peace is shattered when Odin levels his singular peeper back in her direction. He gave up the other in exchange for wisdom, but now he’s only got eyes for revenge. Lucky for Angrboda, she’s got the help of a huntress with a penchant for violence, and enough motherly rage to protect her kids from Ragnarok-style annihilation.
The Jasmine Throne
Tasha Suri’s The Jasmine Throne is set in an empire inspired by mythic India, ruled by a ruthless tyrant who has just banished his only sister from the realm. Imprisoned in a faraway temple, Malini spends her days plotting just how to get back at her sibling, and after she discovers that one of her maidservants possesses long forgotten magic, she thinks she’s found the solution. Though the pair start off trusting each other less than a mosquito would a bug zapper, they soon find themselves by electrified by the current of sapphic love – enough to short circuit an entire kingdom.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
