The 72 Most Popular Fantasy Novels of the Past Three Years

Pam wrote: "I have 'Daughter of the Moon Goddess' in my TBR pile, but because I'm in the UK, a lot of these aren't available, and in any case I'm reluctant to splash cash on unknown authors I may not like, so ..."
Goodreads is based in/aimed at readers in the US. I've given up mostly reading their reviews, & no longer do any myself. There are some great/very good fantasy authors form the UK - have you read Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series? & Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London - both those had books published in the last 3 years, not to mention they both have a great sense of humour. Then there's Philip Pullman's second trilogy (still waiting for book 3 ...).
I'd also recommend anything by Seanan McGuire - tho you might not want to start with Middlegame.

kristi turner wrote: "I have actually read 7 of these books and have another 5 on my tbr list at the moment. May add a few more.
I actually thing The Night Circus by Erin Morganstein and the Hazlewood by Melissa Albert ..."

Definitely think Night Circus and Hazel Wood belong on here, but I guess they are going by raw numbers. Still, I don't know anyone who has not already read or who doesn't want to read The Night Circus. And Hazel Wood is one of my favorites!

Cerulea wrote: "What criteria were used to select the books on this (or any Goodreads Best of Genre) list? Are they listed in a particular order?"

It says in the intro - based on GR stats and reviews - listed in order of most popular first, descending.

I've only read 6 of these, but several of them are on my TBR.
However, two of the ones I've read - Year of the Witching and Priory of the Orange Tree - were disappointing. Witching was more horror than witchy, and I did not like. Priory was just *that* close to being really good - so much potential, but it meandered all over the place and I couldn't get a bead on it. So annoying.
However, anything Schwab or Bardugo is golden in my book.

Pity there's no Gaiman, as he probably hasn't published anything in the last three years, being so busy with showrunning Good Omens and Sandman. However, if you have not read any Gaiman, you should just start. Go ahead. Start anywhere. The Graveyard Book. Coraline. American Gods. Sandman.

It’s so very sad to see books all written by US/UK/AUS authors. The world is so vast but goodreads only bothers to include books in english…

SlowRain wrote: "Hi, everyone! I'm a lapsed Fantasy reader. I used to read it in my teens, but went a different path in my 20s. Recently there seems to have been a resurgence of interest in Fantasy, with new author..."

Brandon Sanderson is incredible! Warbreaker is a standalone and the Mistborn trilogy is also great! If you want really high fantasy, try Way of Kings.

I'm surprised the Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee wasn't mentioned (Jade City, Jade War, Jade Legacy)? It was my favorite fantasy trilogy in recent years. I guess Jade City was published over 3 years ago, but the last 2 books came out in 2019 and 2021.

I still have 10+ "Want to Read" books in this list *sweats*

I have bought a copy of "The Priory Of The Orange Tree". I cannot wait to get into it.

SlowRain wrote: "Hi, everyone! I'm a lapsed Fantasy reader. I used to read it in my teens, but went a different path in my 20s. Recently there seems to have been a resurgence of interest in Fantasy, with new author..."

Sounds like me! Read it heaps in my teens, moved away from it in my 20s/30s and then found myself publishing a high fantasy in my 40s! What goes around I suppose.

I have really enjoyed a lot of indie fantasy books recently - personal fav is Songs of the Wicked by C.A Farran (I've got a gushing review of it) but I love Hannah Whitten's Wilderwood series, and Empire of the Vampire (def NOT a YA book).

There is a whole amazing world of fantasy out there, much more than there was 20 years ago that's for sure. Happy reading!

I've read 22 of the 72 and there is a mix of books I loved and books I couldn't stand. This is a strange list, popularity is such an interesting phenomenon.

I would love GR to start separating books for adults from YA. Most of their lists are aimed to teens so not really much to see here

Hmm, not sure that most of the books here can count as an fantasy, more like some books here have some elements of fantasy.
A lot of great fantasy works missing here, and some romance books set in token fantasy settings are pushed to the list.
Probably tagging and algorithm thing, I highly doubt that this is a curated list...

Erin Morgenstern's first book, "Knight Circus" was amazing. The Starless Sea, shown here doesn't measure up but is okay.

Cerulea wrote: "What criteria were used to select the books on this (or any Goodreads Best of Genre) list? Are they listed in a particular order?"

This is NOT a Best of list, but Most Popular--the two criteria are in the paragraph at the top. It's apparently some balance between numbers of folks who claim to have read the book and the ratings they've assigned to them.

I think most Best lists are based on ratings and, to some degree, "editorial" opinion.

I only read 2 of the above. Crescent city is a powerful book about friendship beyond death.

Andy wrote: "Most of the series was not in the last 3 years, but Michael J. Sullivan's series "Legends of the First Empire" concluded with Age of Empyre in 2020. That is a fantastic series, and not only stands ..."

Absolutely agree. I had the "privilege" of being a gamma reader for "Farilane" and generally snap up his books via the Kickstarters.

They were fantastic, I loved the stories 🔥🔥

Been reading fantasy for 40 plus years. Light bringer series is as good as anything I have read in last 10

I really loved the first two books in the Esoteric Alchemy series by Ryan Kurr, which should be getting more attention than it has. Really imaginative indie author.
I also really enjoyed House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune, more than his other book Under the Whispering Door. Not usually something I'd read, but I liked it!
Joe Abercrombie is always a winner for me though, excellent storytelling. I liked Age of Madness, but not as much the First Law Trilogy—SO GOOD!

I have read one while I have 5 on the TBR list but found at these 3-4 I am interested in. My TBR just got longer.

How do I save or bookmark this post?

This huge list is cool enough !

I have read just one- blood and ash series. But you know what I literally added all and I mean it all of them in my tbr list. Who else did this😂✌️.

I've read about five of these, but where is Kevin Hearne? A Blight of Blackwings, published in 2020 was amazing and has a 4.46 rating on Goodreads. It needs to be on these fantasy lists...

I've read 13 books from this list.

SlowRain wrote: "Hi, everyone! I'm a lapsed Fantasy reader. I used to read it in my teens, but went a different path in my 20s. Recently there seems to have been a resurgence of interest in Fantasy, with new author..."

I would recommend The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon and Piranesi by Susanna Clark

I'm surprised. I've read a lot more of these than I thought I did! I'll have to add a few more to my TBR.

I have read 11 on this list. 2 were 4 star reads, the rest were all 5 stars, so I'd agree with this! Most of the rest are on my TBR.

Audrey wrote: "I've read 12 and DNF'd another. Absolutely hated Addie LaRue and Cerulean Sea."

That bodes bad for me as I have a buddy read for Addie and didn't like Cerulean Sea either. Kind of knew it wasn't my cup of tea by description and Addie is the same, so... we will see.

I find this list a bit subjective as some have fewer than 10,000 ratings and review around 3.65 or lower which isn't "Most popular" Ratings and number of people that marked read should both be high, but many of these don't have either. Any that are below 3.7 rated and below 20,000 marked read should not be on the list, which is quite a few. Don't know where they picked them from.

I've read 5, have a few more on my TBR

Empire of the Vampire was my top book for 2021. Absolutely amazing writing by Jay Kristoff. By far the best vampire book written (imo obviously). I've read quite a few of the others on the list with quite a few already on my tbr. I know Book of Night didn't rate highly from everyone, but I quite enjoyed it.

Colin wrote: "Joe Abercrombie is amazing! Please read the First Law trilogy... mind blowing."

Agreed!

i have read 14 on the list. The Sword of Kaigen won Self Published Fantasy Blog Off ( SPFBO of Spiff-Bo), a contest started by author Mark Lawrence with the help of 10 fantasy bloggers. Check out Mark Lawrence's Blog for more info. It a great way to discover new authors to love, In fact the year The Sword of Kaigen won SPFBO 5, I personally had it as a 6 way tie, That contest was really good. Almost all the books are also part of Kindle Unlimited.

I read House of Earth and Blood and Ninth House. They're both really good books by really good authors. Another one I've recently read is Kaikeyi, which I would recommend, although it can be a bit slow in the beginning.

SlowRain wrote: "Hi, everyone! I'm a lapsed Fantasy reader. I used to read it in my teens, but went a different path in my 20s. Recently there seems to have been a resurgence of interest in Fantasy, with new author..."

I love the Witcher books! Definitely high fantasy for adults. I also highly recommend the Three Dark Crowns series by Kendare Blake--it's technically YA but it's so well written that I think you'll enjoy it!

I read seven of these and planning to read a few more!

SlowRain wrote: "Hi, everyone! I'm a lapsed Fantasy reader. I used to read it in my teens, but went a different path in my 20s. Recently there seems to have been a resurgence of interest in Fantasy, with new author..."
In terms of a book that reads very high fantasy, but has amazing characters and moral discussions, I would recommend Banewreaker by Jacqueline Carey. It's inspired by Lord of the Rings, but is more interested in looking at both sides of the conflict rather than having a "big bad". The "villain" is essentially the main character. And the series is only two 300ish page books.
If you are looking for something that has very beautiful writing (while also having great characters, exploration of deeper topics, and a fantasy setting) I would recommend The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow. It's a standalone, and also a great book.

From Blood and Ash is such a overrated book actually, ~sighs~

There’s a mix of awesome to lousy on this list!
Nemisin and James have been favs but these two titles were DNF.
Bardugo’s early series was a rave but this one was four stars.
I gave five stars to: Schwab, Hackwith, Novik, Hoffman (is magic fantasy? This was so good)
Check out Michael J. Sullivan for epic Epic Fantasy! I started with Age of Myth (1 of 6) many years ago and he’s had several new titles in his series that could be on this list. His audio books are narrated by Tim Gerrard whose performance is excellent. Sullivan writes the entire series before he publishes the first title; and he self publishes via Kickstarter that’s how loyal his fans are!

Good list though I agree that what is considered fantasy genre has expanded and maybe that is ok, but I do see some solid fantasy authors missed here.

No Brian McCllelan, Django Wexler, Anthony Ryan, Miles Cameron, Bradley Beaulieu, Michael Fletcher (maybe too dark for some)... They all have had books within the last 3 years and are very popular.

One that isn't as popular is Evan Winter. His Rage of Dragons is outstanding. Do yourself a favor and get it.

Another that is not as popular is the Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman.

Happy reading all!!

I've read over 20 of these, and many more of them are on my TBR. God, I love Fantasy.

I'm more updated than I thought. I've read 16 books from the list, and I have more on my tbr.

I absolutely love She Who Became the Sun

I own 61/72 of these books. Time to confront my shopping problem.

SlowRain wrote: "Hi, everyone! I'm a lapsed Fantasy reader. I used to read it in my teens, but went a different path in my 20s. Recently there seems to have been a resurgence of interest in Fantasy, with new author..."

Katherine Addison's The Goblin Emperor sounds like it'd fit your tastes! Great worldbuilding, engaging characters, a complex but not bewildering political system, some real-world issues examined through a fantasy lens. I thought it would be more bleak than it turned out to be; it's a very hopeful book in the end. There's a new companion trilogy with two books out now that is led by a tertiary character from TGE (and it's excellent in a completely different way), but TGE is a standalone.

I second Piranesi (a very literary look at portal fantasy but not at all pretentious).

The Queen's Thief series - mostly adventure and politics but with definite fantastical overtones, set in an ancient Mediterranean-inspired world - is technically YA, but Megan Whalen Turner's prose is some of the highest quality I've ever read in any genre, and her relationship dynamics cannot be beat. The series began in the 90s but just finished in 2020.

N.K. Jemisin's other books get a lot of the spotlight now but my favorite of hers will probably always be The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms (though the other two books in the trilogy were disappointing).

Terry Pratchett's Going Postal isn't literary but is no less clever and well-conceived for it - it's hilarious and incisive and extremely satisfying.

And I know you said that you wanted either standalones or completed series, but technically Heaven Official's Blessing by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu is completed, it's just that the English translation isn't all published yet. I love the story so far - it's a love story between a kind-natured god who used to be extremely powerful but is now a lowly scrap collector, and a ghost king with mysterious ties to the god's past. It can be very lighthearted and silly, and it can also be very heavy on violence and complicated moral issues.

Sorry for the very long reply - fantasy is my favorite genre, with so much to offer! Have fun rediscovering it!

The three books I read from this selection "Ninth House", "The Sword of Kaigen" and "Black Sun" I thoroughly enjoyed. I tend to shy away from fantasy these days because I don't want to commit myself to long series. Much as I enjoyed Black Sun I felt compelled to read the next book Fevered Star because so many plot threads were left unfinished. I wish fantasy had more standalone novels.

YES HELLS LIBRARY FINALLY GETTING THE ATTENTION IT DESERVES

Thanks for the effort to make this list. However, for myself this list is not as useful when you mix in so many YA books in.

I DNF’ about four of these, and Daughter Of The Moon and the Ninth House were so incredibly boring. Glad I got to add some new titles to my TBR stack though.

B. wrote: "I'm also curious about why She Who Became the Sun is fantasy; perhaps the author plans to introduce more fantastical elements to later books and the publisher is calling it fantasy now? Book one wa..."

Ale wrote: "Like.. i read, AND LOVED, She Who Became the Sun (was one of my few 5 stars actually), but this is an historical fiction book, it only for like 2/3 pages mention a potential fantasy aspect, but 90% of the book is historic. So I feel like it shouldn't belong in this category.
Another half of this post are mythologic books, I get they have a lot more fantasy aspect.. but they are retellings of classical books."

What's so not fantastic about ghosts and starting an earthquake from the sheer power of one's destiny? Also, remember what was so red about the Red Turbans? Their Prince of Radiance's power was red. How's any of that historical, alt- or otherwise?