For every Tolkien and Sanderson there are a dozen extraordinary fantasy authors who never broke through to mainstream recognition. These 20 books are our picks for the most criminally underread fantasy ever written — hidden gems that reward the readers who find them.
One of fantasy's great hidden gems. On a planet where the collective unconscious of humanity has literally shaped monsters from human fear, a priest and a centuries-old sorcerer who feeds on human suffering must form an uneasy alliance. Gerald Tarrant is one of the most compelling antiheroes in all of fiction. Published in the early 1990s and inexplicably forgotten.
Bennett is one of the most criminally underrated fantasy authors alive. The Divine Cities trilogy — about a world where gods once existed and their bodies now litter conquered cities — blends detective fiction, colonial history, and political philosophy with extraordinary skill. City of Stairs is one of the finest fantasy novels of the 2010s.
McClellan's debut trilogy is set in a world where gunpowder is the basis of magic — Powder Mages can control bullets with their minds and ignite powder with a thought. The flintlock fantasy setting is underused in the genre, and McClellan's political plotting is sophisticated and genuinely surprising.
A conquered land whose very name has been erased from memory by a sorcerer-king. Kay's masterpiece is the most emotionally powerful standalone fantasy ever written — a story about identity, resistance, and what it means to remember. Inexplicably outsold by far lesser books.
View on Amazon →Maia — the despised half-goblin heir who never expected to become Emperor — is one of fantasy's most genuinely kind protagonists. The Goblin Emperor is an antidote to grimdark: a political fantasy about a good person trying to do right in a system designed to corrupt. Beloved by readers who find it, rarely discovered by those who would love it.
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Try the Fantasy Oracle →Myfanwy Thomas wakes up surrounded by dead bodies with no memory of who she is — only a letter from her past self explaining that she's a high-ranking official in a secret British agency that deals with supernatural threats. O'Malley's debut is funny, inventive, and completely unlike anything else in the genre.
View on Amazon →Harry August is born, lives, dies, and is reborn — always at the same point in time, always with his memories intact. When a child delivers a message from the future that the world is ending faster each cycle, Harry must use his extraordinary perspective to find out why. North's novel is one of the most original fantasy concepts of the decade.
View on Amazon →Abraham's quartet is about poets who can capture concepts — like Seedless, the idea of removing seeds from cotton — and bind them into living servants called andat. The magic is unlike anything else in fantasy, and Abraham's exploration of its economic and political consequences over four volumes spanning generations is extraordinary.
An accountant who weaponises economics to destroy an empire from within. The most purely political fantasy novel ever written, with a magic system that consists entirely of fiscal policy and a protagonist whose terrible choices are completely psychologically real. Badly undersold on release, increasingly recognized as a modern classic.
View on Amazon →Fourteen-year-old Mona can make bread come to life and gingerbread men walk. It's not a heroic power — until a murderer starts targeting magical children in her city and Mona is the only magical person left. Kingfisher's novel is funny, warm, and then quietly devastating. A hidden gem for readers of any age.
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