Best Fantasy Books of 2014

Below you will find a list of the fantasy books published in 2014 that we enjoyed most. Click on a book title to read the full review.

The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss (The Kingkiller Chronicle)

The University, a renowned bastion of knowledge, attracts the brightest minds to unravel the mysteries of enlightened sciences like artificing and alchemy. Yet deep below its bustling halls lies a ...

Published: 2014

Fool's Assassin by Robin Hobb (Fitz and the Fool #1)

Robin Hobb. Again. Should be higher. Again. This is the third trilogy with Fitz as the lead. Read The Farseer Trilogy, then read The Tawny Man trilogy, then read this trilogy, which begins with Foo...

Published: 2014

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson (The Stormlight Archive: Book 2)

Return to a planet swept by apocalyptic storms, a world tipping into war as aristocratic families move to control the shard blades and shard plates, ancient artifacts from a past civilisation that ...

Published: 2014

The Oversight by Charlie Fletcher (Oversight Trilogy #1)

Only five still guard the borders between the worlds. Only five hold back what waits on the other side. Once the Oversight, the secret society that polices the lines between the mundane and the mag...

Published: 2014

Queen of the Dark Things by Robert Cargill

Two boys, spirited away into a dark world of myth and folklore that has lived, grown and changed alongside our world, have grown into men and now make their way. But faerie has not forgotten them, ...

Published: 2014

Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence (Red Queen's War #1)

The Red Queen is old but the kings of the Broken Empire fear her as they fear no other. Her grandson Jalan Kendeth is a coward, a cheat and a womaniser; and tenth in line to the throne. While his g...

Published: 2014

Dreams and Shadows by Robert Cargill

In the debut novel Dreams and Shadows, screenwriter and noted film critic C. Robert Cargill takes us beyond the veil, through the lives of Ewan and Colby, young men whose spirits have been enmeshed...

Published: 2014

Exit Wounds by Tim Marquitz (Demon Squad: Book 7)

Actions have consequences. For Frank “Triggaltheron” Trigg, those consequences involve prison. Specifically, an extraterrestrial prison where he and pretty much everyone he cares about ...

Published: 2014

In Dark Service by Stephen Hunt (The Far-Called Sequence #1)

Jacob Carnehan has settled down. He's living a comfortable, quiet life, obeying the law and minding his own business while raising his son Carter ... on those occasions when he isn't having...

Published: 2014

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett (The Divine Cities: Book 1)

The Divine Cities trilogy is quite unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It treats its audience with the same respect and consideration as it shares with its cast. It is a rich, lovingly-cra...

Published: 2014

The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood & Co #2)

Life is never exactly peaceful for Lockwood & Co. Lucy and George are trying to solve the mystery of the talking skull trapped in their ghost jar, while Lockwood is desperate for an exciting ne...

Published: 2014

I Am Grimalkin by Joseph Delaney (The Wardstone Chronicles)

The Wardstone Chronicles now consists of eight main series books and four companion pieces and the challenge for any author writing a series of this length is to keep the quality of the individual ...

Published: 2014

The Blasted Lands by James A Moore (Seven Forges series #2)

The Empire of Fellein is in mourning. The Emperor is dead, and the armies of the empire have grown soft. Merros Dulver, their newly-appointed - and somewhat reluctant - commander, has been tasked w...

Published: 2014

Those Poor, Poor Bastards by Tim Marquitz

I really enjoyed Those Poor, Poor Bastards. Marquitz, Martin and Soward have put something together that I think really harmonizes and enhances each of their unique qualities. The problem is - how ...

Published: 2014

Wolves by Simon Ings

Two friends are working at the cutting edge of this technology and when they are offered backing to take the idea and make it into the next global entertainment they realise that wolves hunt in thi...

Published: 2014

Nameless: The Darkness Comes by Mercedes M Yardley (The Bone Angel Trilogy #1)

Yardley has shown that with Nameless, she has the ability to really make waves with longer form novels. This book is not as focused as Apocalyptic Montessa and Nuclear Lulu, and I don't think i...

Published: 2014

Inside Out by Will Elliott

Inside Out is the story of Denton, a down-and-out no-hoper who lives with his mother and hits rock bottom one day during a road-rage incident. What should be the lowest moment of his life turns int...

Published: 2014

The Boy with the Porcelain Blade by Den Patrick (The Erebus Sequence #1)

Lucien de Fontein has grown up different. One of the mysterious and misshapen Orfano who appear around the Kingdom of Landfall, he is a talented fighter yet constantly lonely, tormented by his defo...

Published: 2014

Midnight Crossroad by Charlaine Harris (Midnight Texas #1)

So welcome to Midnight where nothing is what it seems and not knowing everything about your neighbours may end up getting you killed. I enjoy this kind of story, a mystery/crime/thriller/urban fant...

Published: 2014

Truth and Fear by Peter Higgins (The Wolfhound Century #2)

Investigator Lom returns to Mirgorod and finds the city in the throes of a crisis. The war against the Archipelago is not going well. Enemy divisions are massing outside the city, air raids are a d...

Published: 2014

Shadow Girl by Sally Nicholls

A poignant story about foster care children with a supernatural twist, from the award-winning author of Ways to Live Forever. Clare knows she's at least partly to blame for her problems at scho...

Published: 2014

Tower Lord by Anthony Ryan (Raven's Shadow: Book 2)

Vaelin Al Sorna is tired of war. He's fought countless battles in service to the Realm and Faith. His reward was the loss of his love, the death of his friends and a betrayal by his king. After...

Published: 2014

Ninja: Assassin by Chris Bradford (Ninja Trilogy #3)

Taka's desperate to prove that he has what it takes to become a ninja. He has failed the Grandmaster's test twice already. But when the clan's scrolls are stolen by an enemy samurai he ...

Published: 2014

Devourer of Souls by Kevin Lucia (The Clifton Heights Saga #3)

Welcome to Clifton Heights, an average Adirondack town. It's nice enough, really. Except after dark. Or on cold winter days when you're all alone... Sophan. An ancient game of chance and Fa...

Published: 2014

Assail by Ian C Esslemont (A Novel of the Malazan Empire: Book 6)

Tens of thousands of years of ice is melting, and the land of Assail, long a byword for menace and inaccessibility, is at last yielding its secrets. Tales of gold discovered in the region’s n...

Published: 2014

Broken Monsters by Lauren Beukes

Detective Gabi Versado has hunted down many monsters during her eight years in Homicide. She’s seen stupidity, corruption and just plain badness. But she’s never seen anything like this...

Published: 2014

Skin Game by Jim Butcher (The Dresden Files: Book 15)

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, is about to have a very bad day. As Winter Knight to the Queen of Air and Darkness, Harry never knows what the scheming Mab might want him to ...

Published: 2014

Stealth Dragon Services by Lucinda Hare (The Dragonsdome Chronicles: Book 4)

'The SDS must change if we are to survive. We have to become one people again, as we once were, who live and train and fight together. You have both demonstrated your ability to do this, young ...

Published: 2014

The Forbidden Library by Django Wexler

Late one night Alice Creighton hears her father having an argument with a fairy – a snarling, bald beast with warts and needle-like teeth. The next day her father disappears, never to return....

Published: 2014

The Shadow Throne by Django Wexler (The Shadow Campaigns #2)

The King of Vordan is dying, and his daughter, Raesinia, is destined to become the first Queen in centuries. But politics knows no loyalties, especially for Duke Orlanko, Minister of Information an...

Published: 2014

Blightborn by Chuck Wendig (The Heartland Trilogy #2)

Cael McAvoy is on the run. He’s heading toward the Empyrean to rescue his sister, Merelda, and to find Gwennie before she’s lost to Cael forever. With his pals, Lane and Rigo, Cael jour...

Published: 2014

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison

From the quietly sad story of a lonely young man out of his depth, to the equally quietly triumphant story of a hero who has accepted himself, learned to cope and promises to do a great deal of goo...

Published: 2014

Valour by John Gwynne (The Faithful and The Fallen #2)

The Banished Lands are torn by war as the army of High King Nathair sweeps the realm challenging all who oppose his holy crusade. Allied with the manipulative Queen Rhin of Cambren, there are few w...

Published: 2014

The Bone Clocks by David Mitchell

One drowsy summer's day in 1984, teenage runaway Holly Sykes encounters a strange woman who offers a small kindness in exchange for 'asylum'. Decades will pass before Holly understands ...

Published: 2014

The Magician's Land by Lev Grossman (The Magicians series: Book 3)

Quentin Coldwater has lost everything. He has been cast out of the secret magical land of Fillory and now, friendless and broke, he returns to where his story began: Brakebills Preparatory College ...

Published: 2014

The Girl with all the Gifts by MR Carey

Every morning, Melanie waits in her cell to be collected for class. When they come for her, Sergeant Parks keeps his gun pointing at her while two of his people strap her into the wheelchair. She t...

Published: 2014