YA Fantasy

“Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True Love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest Ladies. Snakes. Spiders... Pain. Death. Brave men. Cowardly men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles.” ―William GoldmanThe Princess Bride


Compiled by:
Sam O. and Lizzy S.
All of Us Villains

Amanda Foody, Christine Lynn Herman
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Foody)

Every generation, seven families select a champion to compete in a tournament to the death for control of high magick--but this year, a salacious tell-all book draws reporters, tourists, and government agents to Ilvernath to watch the bloody curse unfold and some of the champions are determined to thwart their destinies and rewrite their stories.


Angel Mage

Garth Nix
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Nix)

More than a century has passed since Liliath crept into the empty sarcophagus of Saint Marguerite, fleeing the Fall of Ystara. But she emerges from her magical sleep, and once again renews her single-minded quest to be united with her lover, Palleniel, the archangel of Ystara.


Ballad & Dagger

Daniel José Older
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Older)

When Mateo and Chela discover each other and their powers during a political battle between neighborhood factions, they set aside their differences to unravel the mystery behind their sunken homeland and to stop a dangerous political operative who is trying to harness their gifts to unleash terror on the world.


Blood Like Magic

Liselle Sambury
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Sambury)

After failing to come into her powers, Voya--a Black witch living in near-future Toronto--is forced to choose between losing her family's magic forever, a heritage steeped in centuries of blood and survival, or murdering her first love, a boy who is supposedly her genetic match.


The Buried and the Bound

Rochelle Hassan
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Hassan)

Aziza El-Amin, the only hedgewitch in Blackthorn, Massachusetts, teams up with a cursed boy looking for answers and a young necromancer in order to eradicate a new threat in the woods and take back her hometown.


The Candle and the Flame

Nafiza Azad
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Azad)

Fatima lives in the city of Noor, on the Silk Road, which is currently protected by the Ifrit, djinn of order and reason, from attacks by the violent and ruthless Shayateen djinn--but when one of the most important Ifrit dies she finds herself drawn into the intrigues of the court, the affairs of the djinn, and the very real dangers of a magical battlefield.


Children of Ragnarok

Cinda Williams Chima
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Chima)

Desperate to escape her demon master, runecaster Reggin Eiklund flees to the Grove, while Eiric Halvorsen, falsely accused of murdering his modir and stepfadir, journeys to the Grove at the behest of a powerful jarl interested in restoring magic to the world.


Daughter of the Moon Goddess

Sue Lynn Tan
(Science Fiction & Fantasy - SF Tan)

Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the feared Celesial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing the elixer of immortality. But when Xingyin's magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.


Fable

Adrienne Young
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Young)

As the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home Fable has ever known. To survive she kept to herself, learned to trust no one and relied on the unique skills her mother taught her. Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to demand her rightful place beside her father. 


The Gilded Ones

Namina Forna
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Forna)

Inspired by the culture of West Africa, a feminist fantasy debut traces the experiences of an intuitive girl who is invited to leave her discriminatory village to join the emperor's army of near-immortal women warriors.


In Deeper Waters

F.T. Lukens
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lukens)

Prince Tal has long awaited his coming-of-age tour. After spending most of his life cloistered behind palace walls as he learns to keep his forbidden magic secret, he can finally see his family's kingdom for the first time. His first taste of adventure comes just two days into the journey, when their crew discovers a mysterious prisoner on a burning derelict vessel.


The Keeper of Night

Kylie Lee Baker
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Baker)

Ren Scarborough has been collecting souls in the London streets for centuries. When her failure to control her Shinigami abilities drives Ren out of London, she flees to Japan to seek the acceptance she's never gotten from her fellow Reapers.


Legends and Lattes

Travis Baldree
(Science Fiction & Fantasy - SF Baldree)

Come take a load off at Viv's cafe, the first & only coffee shop in Thune. Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly may just upset her plans.


Lion's Legacy

Lev AC Rosen
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Rosen)

Tennessee Russo joins his estranged father in his search for ancient rings belonging to the Sacred Band of Thebes.  But will his dad let Tennessee do the right thing with the rings if they find them? And what is the right thing? Who does queer history belong to?


The Lost Dreamer

Lizz Huerta
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Huerta)

Indir is a Dreamer, descended from a long line of seers; able to see beyond reality, she carries the rare gift of Dreaming truth. But when the beloved king dies, his son has no respect for this time-honored tradition. As violent change shakes Indir's world to its core, she is forced to make an impossible choice: fight for her home or fight to survive.


A Magic Steeped in Poison

Judy I. Lin
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lin)

Ning enters a cutthroat magical competition to find the kingdom's greatest master of the art of brewing tea, but political schemes and secrets make her goal of gaining access to royal physicians to cure her dying sister far more dangerous than she imagined.


The Merciful Crow

Margaret Owen
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Owen)

Fie, a chieftain from a lowly cast of mercy-killers, must rely on her wits and bone magic to smuggle the crown prince of Sabor to safety.


The Moonlit Vine

Elizabeth Santiago
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Santiag)

Told with interstitial historical chapters, Taaina (Ty) must draw from the strength of her Taaino ancestors to bring her family and community hope and healing after a devastating incident.


Raybearer

Jordan Ifueko
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Ifueko)

Tarisai has always longed for the warmth of a family. She was raised in isolation by a mysterious, often absent mother known only as The Lady. But The Lady has other ideas, including a magical wish that Tarisai is compelled to obey: Kill the Crown Prince once she gains his trust.


Road of the Lost

Nafiza Azad
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Azad)

Croi is compelled by a summoning spell leave her home in the Wilde Forest and travel into the Otherworld, where the enchantment that made her into a brownie begins to break, revealing her true identity, her hidden magick, and her forgotten heritage.


The Shadows Between Us

Tricia Levenseller
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Levense)

Alessandra is tired of being overlooked, but she has a plan to gain power: 1) Woo the Shadow King. 2) Marry him. 3) Kill him and take his kingdom for herself. She knows what she deserves, and she's going to do everything within her power to get it. But Alessandra's not the only one trying to kill the king.


Spice Road

Maiya Ibrahim
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Ibrahim)

When she learns that her brother is spreading the nation's secret spice magic to outsiders, Shield warrior Imani sets out on a dangerous mission to find him, discovering secrets that lie beyond the Forbidden Wastes--and in her own heart.


Spin the Dawn

Elizabeth Lim
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Lim)

Disguising herself as a boy to compete for the position of imperial tailor, Maia must somehow complete the impossible task of sewing three magic gowns for the emperor's bride-to-be from the sun's laughter, the moon's tears, and the blood of stars.


The Sunbearer Trials

Aiden Thomas
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Thomas)

Transgender demigod Teo is unexpectedly selected for the Sunbearer Trials, a fierce competition among demigod heroes where the winner sacrifices the loser to Sol, their blood fueling the Sun Stones that protect Reino del Sol.


There Will Come a Darkness

Katy Rose Pool
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Pool)

For generations the Seven Prophets guided humanity with their visions, ending wars and uniting nations--until the day they vanished, leaving behind the promise of a looming Age of Darkness and the birth of a Prophet who could be the world's salvation, or the cause of its destruction.


This Woven Kingdom

Tahereh Mafi
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Mafi)

To all the world, Alizeh is a disposable servant, not the long-lost heir to an ancient Jinn kingdom forced to hide in plain sight. The crown prince, Kamran, has heard the prophecies foretelling the death of his king. But he could never have imagined that the servant girl with the strange eyes, would one day soon uproot his kingdom--and the world.


A Thousand Steps into Night

Traci Chee
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Chee)

When Miuko, a girl who's never longed for adventure is hit with a curse that begins to transform her into a demon, she embarks on a quest to reverse the curse and return to her normal life, but along the way is forced to confront her true power within.


We Rule the Night

Claire Eliza Bartlett
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Bartlet)

Revna is a skilled factory worker, manufacturing magical war machines for the Union of the North. Linne disguised herself as a man to join the army, in defiance of her powerful father and the law. Both girls are offered a reprieve from punishment: Use your magic in a special women's military flight unit, and undertake terrifying, deadly missions under cover of darkness.


Wings of Ebony

J. Elle
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Elle)

Half-god, half-human Rue is snatched from her Houston home to Ghazan, a secret land of gods, by her estranged father, then must face an evil determined to steal everything from her.


The Witch King

H.E. Edgmon
(Young Adult Fiction - Y Edgmon)

Wyatt, a transgender witch, hides in the human world after he loses control of his magic, but his fiancé, Emyr, a fae prince, is at risk of losing his throne if he does not find and marry Wyatt.