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🔮Fantasy/Sci-fi: books to help you escape reality

36 items

Kaitlyn Luckow

I have read A LOT of fantasy books throughout my life and these fantasy books are the perfect mixture of intrigue, politics, betrayal, characters, and (sometimes) romance.

Sections

Fantasy

Sci-fi

Fantasy

Exploring humanity through the world of fantasy.

I couldn’t put this down. Absolutely brilliant fantasy that doesn’t shy away from the brutality of war. I’m going to go out now and get my hands on the second book to read immediately. So good.

The Poppy War: The award-winning epic fantasy

I absolutely loved this book! It was so fun and I literally could not put it down. I thought the world was really interesting and I loved the conversations surrounding race, colonization, and power. I can't wait to see where this series goes with tho...

Legendborn - Deonn, Tracy

I can’t remember the last time I read a fantasy book in practically one sitting, but I could not put this down.

Bloodmarked

Holy fucking shit. Is this one of my new favorite books of all time ever?! I think so! This storytelling was immaculate. The narration? Perfection. The characters? I’m madly in love with all of them. And I full-on sobbed at the ending. My god. I ca...

The Fifth Season

The BEST fantasy series I've ever read.

The City of Brass: A Novel (The Daevabad Trilogy)

I adored “Girls Made of Snow and Glass” and I was so excited to read Bashardoust’s latest book. It was once again another spectacular fairytale retelling of Sleeping Beauty. I thought that the writing was stunning and the book was well-placed. I didn...

Girl, Serpent, Thorn : Bashardoust, Melissa

This book was a bit hard for me to get into at first and it took me a while to wrap my head around this world, but once I did, I couldn’t put it down. I adored all of the characters in this book and simply can’t wait to read more from them and see m...

We Hunt the Flame

I was rather impressed by this book! I thought that the magical world was extremely well-developed and I felt connected to the characters. At times, the world was a little too complicated for me to follow, there were a lot of moving parts that didn’...

The Merciful Crow - Owen, Margaret

The writing in this book was absolutely phenomenal—I adored it. It was such an ethereal and lyrical fairy-tale retelling. It also had great gender identity representation as well as sexuality, which was not something I was expecting. As much as I en...

Blanca & Roja : McLemore, Anna-Marie

I really enjoyed reading this. The three main characters were so well developed with flaws and distinct personalities. I adored reading all of their perspectives, which in a multi-perspective book is a rarity and a joy. The world was a little hard t...

Three Dark Crowns - Kendare Blake

I really loved her writing and the atmosphere of this book! I was totally intrigued from the start. The plot took a weird turn for me about halfway through the book and I didn’t like it as much. But it’s still a good read!

Sawkill Girls - Claire Legrand

I have so much to say, but overall, this is definitely the start of my new favorite series and I need the next one right now!!! This world was built so well, with so many intricacies and background information. But what is really special are THE CHAR...

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha, 1)

Completely wonderful and awesome. Some parts were quite predictable, but others were complete shocks (so it's comparison to Game of Thrones is accurate). I thought that some of the actual writing could have been a little tighter and more mature, but ...

Falling Kingdoms - Morgan Rhodes

I really enjoyed this book. I adored the two main characters and their sibling relationship. That was my favorite part of the book. I loved the sacrifices they made and the brutality of it all. The pacing was off for me in some parts of the book. Som...

And I Darken : White, Kiersten

I so thoroughly enjoyed this. It's a perfect mixture of everything I love in a book. The big plot-reveals were predictable, but I didn't mind that too much. I need the next one right now.

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, Band 1)

I kind of have mixed feelings about this book. First-off, I LOVED the design and typography of this book. I thought it was stunning. To me, the world in this book was a little underdeveloped and I didn't feel like I had a complete sense of how it all...

WINNERS CURSE (Winner's Trilogy, 1) : Rutkoski

I liked this book even more than I thought I would. Some of the world building could have used a little work; some of it seemed like it was just randomly thrown out there. Although I didn't really connect with any of the characters, I found them very...

An Ember in the Ashes - Sabaa Tahir

It was so good. SO GOOD! Just read it.

The Kiss of Deception: The Remnant Chronicles

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. The whole fae world isn’t something that appeals to me and the names of everything drove me nuts, but the actual story was really well done. I thought that it had a good amount of political intrigue which I wa...

The Cruel Prince (The Folk of the Air, 1)

I expected to like this book, but I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. I adored the characters so much. I loved each and every one of them and never got sick of reading from different perspectives. The characters are loveable, flawed, ...

Six of Crows (Six of Crows, 1) : Bardugo

This was such a fun time. Although this is missing the political intrigue of Chakraborty's other books, I still thoroughly enjoyed this. My favorite part was seeing a main character in her 40s in a fantasy novel. I think I've only read one other book...

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi von Shannon Chakraborty

This book was so delightful. Carriger is so incredibly witty and I found myself laughing out loud multiple times while reading this. It's perfect if you like period dramas, supernatural elements, romance and most importantly kick-butt heroines who do...

Soulless by Gail Carriger

I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish this book

'A Broken Blade' von 'Melissa Blair'

Wow. This book challenged me in ways a book hasn't done in a long time. For the majority of the book I was incredibly frustrated and worried about where this book was going. But I'm glad I kept with it because it was everything it needed to be. It wa...

Masquerade by O.O. Sangoyomi

I saw a lot of bad reviews for this book, so I was scared going in. Was the writing groundbreaking? No. Was the world building non-existent? Yes. Did I have a super fun time? Absolutely. And I can’t wait for the second book.

Assistant to the Villain

I’m calling it now, this will be the romantasy read of 2024. Such an addicting , fast-paced, and swoon-worthy read. I literally read this in one sitting because I couldn’t put it down. I loved the characters, the political intrigue, and the banter of...

A Fate Inked in Blood

This was thoroughly enjoyable. I liked the political intrigue (though it was predictable) and the world-building was interesting. The main characters were frustrating at times, but it was necessary for the plot. I enjoyed their relationship and the c...

'The Bridge Kingdom' by Danielle L. Jensen

An incredible fantasy filled with a strong cast of characters, so many plot twists, and political intrigue.

'A Tempest of Tea' by Hafsah Faizal

A quiet and moving fantasy that I finished in practically one sitting because I was so entranced by the storytelling. Which makes sense, because at its core, this book is a love letter to the importance of storytelling and keeping people alive even i...

The Jinn Daughter by Rania Hanna

Impeccable world-building and vibes. I loved what it had to say about trauma, power, and corruption.

An Academy for Liars

So magical and sweet

Water Moon

Obsessed. This is my favorite type of fantasty book. HEAVY on political intruigue, strategy, and manuvering and heavy on character development. With a sprinkle of romance.

A Dance of Lies

It took a while to get into this book because the world-building was so dense, but once I got into it, I was hooked. I loved the complexities of all the characters and the emphasis it placed on trauma and regaining your power.

The Jasad Heir

Sci-fi

I'm not a huge sci-fi reader (it intimidates me), but here are a few favorites.

Wow. This was such an interesting and impactful read. I loved the themes and topics presented in this book especially in regards to hate as well as trauma. How the book explored the trauma of the main character was so brilliantly done and I’ll rememb...

Ring Shout: Or Hunting Ku Kluxes in the End Times

I really enjoyed this book. Mark Watney is absolutely perfect; as are all the characters. My favorite part of this book was the characters and I wish we could have known more about each of them. Some parts were too science-heavy for me and I understa...

The Martian: A Novel - Andy Weir

This book was so beautiful. I reaaaallly took my time reading this book and it wasn't because it was hard or bad to read, but I just really wanted to soak in every word of it. It's almost impossible to describe this book, but I would probably describ...

More Than This by Patrick Ness