Best Fantasy Books of 2026

Bardugo's standalone set in the Spanish Inquisition follows Luzia, a scullery maid who uses minor magic to survive, and the dangerous attention that magic attracts when she's pushed to display it publicly. Darker and more literary than the Grishaverse books, with a richly researched historical setting and a protagonist whose survival instincts are tested at every turn. For readers who want their fantasy with real historical weight.

The third Empyrean book delivered everything the fanbase demanded and then some. Yarros expanded the mythology significantly, pushed Violet and Xaden into genuinely new territory, and planted revelations that will reshape the remaining books. The ending left readers genuinely devastated and desperate for book four. If you haven't started the Empyrean series, this is the year.

Kuang continues her run as the most ambitious writer working in dark fantasy. Following Babel and Yellowface, Katabasis takes on translation, mythology, and descent narratives in characteristically uncompromising fashion. Not an easy read — nothing Kuang writes is — but one that rewards the investment with ideas that stay with you long after you've finished.

For readers who haven't discovered the Cradle series — one of the most beloved progression fantasy series ever written — 2026 is the perfect time to start. Lindon begins as the weakest member of his clan and builds toward something extraordinary across eleven books, with each volume escalating the stakes and the power in ways that feel earned rather than arbitrary. The action writing is some of the best in the genre.

A debut that came out of nowhere and stunned reviewers — a 600-page epic with a massive cast, a tournament at an elite academy for scholars of magic, and a murder mystery threading through the competition. For readers who want Fourth Wing's tournament energy but with more literary ambition and moral complexity. One of the best debuts in years.

Harrow's standalone gothic fantasy follows a young woman who takes a job at the mysterious Starling House and gets drawn into its century-old secrets. Beautiful prose, a genuinely unsettling atmosphere, and a romance built into the darkness of the house itself. For readers who want their 2026 fantasy reading to feel literary and atmospheric rather than action-driven.

Del Toro's vampire novel with Daniel Kraus brings the filmmaker's visual imagination to prose — sumptuous, horrifying, and deeply strange in all the ways del Toro's best work is. For readers who want their 2026 fantasy reading to feel genuinely dangerous and unlike anything else they've read.

The latest Murderbot Diaries entry continues one of the most beloved sci-fi series of the last decade. If you haven't met Murderbot — a security construct who would rather watch TV than save humans — 2026 is the year to fix that. Wells writes action and character with equal skill, and the series has won multiple Hugo Awards. All Systems Red is the perfect starting point.