Best fantasy novels by year
Here’s an update to this list. I haven’t yet read any fantasy novels published in 2024.
Winner | Runner Ups | |||
Year | Author | Title | Author | Title |
2023 | Travis Baldree | Bookshops & Bonedust | James Morrow | Behold the Ape |
2022 | Naomi Novik | The Golden Enclaves | Travis Baldree | Legends & Lattes |
Robert Jackson Bennett | Lockland | |||
Melissa Caruso | The Ivory Tomb | |||
Margarita Montimore | Acts of Violet | |||
2021 | Claire North | Notes from the Burning Age | Melissa Caruso | The Quicksilver Court |
Naomi Novik | The Last Graduate | |||
2020 | Alix E. Harrow | The Once and Future Witches | Robert Jackson Bennett | Shorefall |
Margarita Montimore | Oona Out of Order | Melissa Caruso | The Obsidian Tower | |
Matt Haig | The Midnight Library | |||
Naomi Novik | A Deadly Education | |||
V. E. Schwab | The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue | |||
Jo Walton | Or What You Will | |||
2019 | Alix E. Harrow | The Ten Thousand Doors of January | Melissa Caruso | The Unbound Empire |
Jo Walton | Lent | Ann Leckie | The Raven Tower | |
Erin Morgenstern | The Starless Sea | |||
Claire North | The Pursuit of William Abbey | |||
2018 | Jasper Fforde | Early Riser | Robert Jackson Bennett | Foundryside |
Melissa Caruso | The Defiant Heir | |||
Matt Haig | How to Stop Time | |||
Kate Morton | The Clockmaker’s Daughter | |||
2017 | Neal Stephenson & Nicole Galland | The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O. | James Alan Gardner | All Those Explosions Were Someone Else’s Fault |
Melissa Caruso | The Tethered Mage | |||
Barbara Gowdy | Little Sister | |||
Fonda Lee | Jade City | |||
Claire North | The End of the Day | |||
2016 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Children of Earth and Sky | Will McIntosh | Faller |
Matt Ruff | Lovecraft Country | Claire North | The Sudden Appearance of Hope | |
Jo Walton | Necessity | |||
2015 | Claire North | The Gameshouse | Silvia Moreno-Garcia | Signal to Noise |
Claire North | Touch | |||
Karina Sumner-Smith | Defiant | |||
Karina Sumner-Smith | Towers Fall | |||
Jo Walton | The Philosopher Kings | |||
2014 | Claire North | The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August | Julie E. Czerneda | A Play of Shadow |
Gregory Maguire | Egg & Spoon | |||
Karina Sumner-Smith | Radiant | |||
Jo Walton | The Just City | |||
Jo Walton | My Real Children | |||
2013 | Guy Gavriel Kay | River of Stars | Julie E. Czerneda | A Turn of Light |
2012 | Will McIntosh | Hitchers | Joanne Bertin | Bard’s Oath |
2011 | Erin Morgenstern | The Night Circus | Carrie Vaughn | After the Golden Age |
Jo Walton | Among Others | |||
2010 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Under Heaven | Matt Haig | The Radleys |
Karin Lowachee | The Gaslight Dogs | |||
Nnedi Okorafor | Who Fears Death | |||
2009 | Brandon Sanderson | Warbreaker | ||
2008 | Ursula K. Le Guin | Lavinia | ||
2007 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Ysabel | Nalo Hopkinson | The New Moon’s Arms |
Sarah Zettel | Sword of the Deceiver | |||
2006 | Daniel Quinn | After Dachau | ||
2005 | Brandon Sanderson | Elantris | Orson Scott Card | Magic Street |
Elizabeth Kostova | The Historian | |||
Michelle Sagara | Cast in Shadow | |||
2004 | Guy Gavriel Kay | The Last Light of the Sun | Sarah Zettel | The Firebird’s Vengeance |
Kelley Armstrong | Industrial Magic | |||
2003 | Audrey Niffenegger | The Time Traveler’s Wife | Orson Scott Card | The Crystal City |
Jo Walton | Tooth and Claw | Gregory Maguire | Mirror Mirror | |
Sarah Zettel | The Usurper’s Crown | |||
2002 | Sarah Zettel | A Sorcerer’s Treason | Christopher Moore | Lamb |
2001 | Ursula K. Le Guin | The Other Wind | Eoin Colfer | Artemis Fowl |
Jasper Fforde | The Eyre Affair | |||
Tanya Huff | The Second Summoning | |||
2000 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Lord of Emperors | Nalo Hopkinson | Midnight Robber |
Mercedes Lackey | Brightly Burning | |||
1999 | Joanne Bertin | Dragon and Phoenix | Orson Scott Card | Enchantment |
Gregory Maguire | Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister | |||
1998 | Yves Meynard | The Book of Knights | Joanne Bertin | The Last Dragonlord |
Charles de Lint | Someplace to Be Flying | Orson Scott Card | Heartfire | |
Barbara Gowdy | The White Bone | |||
Tanya Huff | Summon the Keeper | |||
Guy Gavriel Kay | Sailing to Sarantium | |||
Jim Munroe | Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask | |||
Sean Russell | The Compass of the Soul | |||
1997 | Neil Gaiman | Neverwhere | Charles de Lint | Trader |
Candas Jane Dorsey | Black Wine | |||
Sean Russell | Beneath the Vaulted Hills | |||
1996 | George R. R. Martin | A Game of Thrones | Terence M. Green | Shadow of Ashland |
Sean Russell | Sea Without a Shore | |||
Megan Whalen Turner | The Thief | |||
1995 | Robin Hobb | Assassin’s Apprentice | Robert T. Bakker | Raptor Red |
Orson Scott Card | Alvin Journeyman | |||
Dave Duncan | Past Imperative | |||
Guy Gavriel Kay | The Lions of Al-Rassan | |||
Gregory Maguire | Wicked | |||
Garth Nix | Sabriel | |||
Philip Pullman | The Golden Compass | |||
Sean Russell | World Without End | |||
1994 | Sean Stewart | Nobody’s Son | Charles de Lint | Memory and Dream |
James Morrow | Towing Jehovah | |||
Anne Rice | Taltos | |||
1993 | Anne Rice | Lasher | Peter S. Beagle | The Innkeeper’s Song |
Barbara Hambly | Dog Wizard | |||
Laurell K. Hamilton | Guilty Pleasures | |||
1992 | Guy Gavriel Kay | A Song For Arbonne | Sean Russell | Gatherer of Clouds |
1991 | Sean Russell | The Initiate Brother | Piers Anthony | Tatham Mound |
Angela Carter | Wise Children | |||
1990 | Guy Gavriel Kay | Tigana | Barbara Hambly | The Dark Hand of Magic |
Pratchett & Gaiman | Good Omens | Robert Jordan | The Eye of the World | |
Ursula K. Le Guin | Tehanu | |||
James Morrow | Only Begotten Daughter | |||
Anne Rice | The Witching Hour | |||
R.A. Salvatore | Homeland | |||
1989 | Orson Scott Card | Prentice Alvin | Peter David | Howling Mad |
Robert Charles Wilson | Gypsies | |||
1988 | Orson Scott Card | Red Prophet | Terry Brooks | Wizard at Large |
Barbara Hambly | The Silicon Mage | |||
Anne Rice | The Queen of the Damned | |||
Fred Saberhagen | Stonecutter’s Story | |||
Tad Williams | The Dragonbone Chair | |||
1987 | Orson Scott Card | Seventh Son | Terry Brooks | The Black Unicorn |
Ken Grimwood | Replay | Peter David | Knight Life | |
Stephen R. Donaldson | A Man Rides Through | |||
Barbara Hambly | The Witches of Wenshar | |||
Moore & Gibbons | Watchmen | |||
Terry Pratchett | Mort | |||
Fred Saberhagen | Sightblinder’s Story | |||
1986 | Frank Miller | Batman – The Dark Knight Returns | Terry Brooks | Magic Kingdom For Sale – Sold! |
Stephen R. Donaldson | The Mirror of Her Dreams | |||
Barbara Hambly | The Silent Tower | |||
Guy Gavriel Kay | The Darkest Road | |||
Guy Gavriel Kay | The Wandering Fire | |||
Fred Saberhagen | Woundhealer’s Story | |||
Robert Charles Wilson | A Hidden Place | |||
1985 | Barbara Hambly | Dragonsbane | Terry Brooks | The Wishsong of Shannara |
Anne Rice | The Vampire Lestat | |||
1984 | Barbara Hambly | The Ladies of Mandrigyn | Guy Gavriel Kay | The Summer Tree |
Fred Saberhagen | The Third Book of Swords | |||
1983 | Tim Powers | The Anubis Gates | Piers Anthony | On a Pale Horse |
Fred Saberhagen | The First Book of Swords | Marion Zimmer Bradley | The Mists of Avalon | |
Stephen R. Donaldson | White Gold Wielder | |||
Barbara Hambly | The Armies of Daylight | |||
Barbara Hambly | The Walls of Air | |||
Fred Saberhagen | The Second Book of Swords | |||
1982 | Barbara Hambly | The Time of the Dark | Terry Brooks | The Elfstones of Shannara |
Stephen R. Donaldson | The One Tree | |||
David Eddings | Pawn of Prophecy | |||
Raymond E. Feist | Magician: Apprentice | |||
1980 | Stephen R. Donaldson | The Wounded Land | ||
1979 | Stephen R. Donaldson | The Power That Preserves | Michael Ende | The Neverending Story |
1978 | Stephen R. Donaldson | The Illearth War | ||
1977 | Terry Brooks | The Sword of Shannara | ||
Stephen R. Donaldson | Lord Foul’s Bane | |||
1976 | Anne Rice | Interview with the Vampire | Patricia A. McKillip | The Riddle-Master of Hed |
1975 | ||||
1974 | ||||
1973 | William Goldman | The Princess Bride | Ursula K. Le Guin | The Farthest Shore |
1972 | Richard Adams | Watership Down | ||
1971 | Ursula K. Le Guin | The Tombs of Atuan | John Gardner | Grendel |
1970 | ||||
1969 | ||||
1968 | Peter S. Beagle | The Last Unicorn | Ursula K. Le Guin | A Wizard of Earthsea |
1967 | ||||
1966 | Jack Vance | The Eyes of the Overworld |