Best Fantasy Books of 2016

Below you will find a list of the fantasy books published in 2016 that we enjoyed most. Click on a book title to read the full review.

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders

All the Birds in the Sky is an intense emotional roller-coaster that flits between genres, using both sci-fi and fantasy to get its message across and although it does pit them against each other, ...

Published: 2016

Nevernight by Jay Kristoff (The Nevernight Chronicle: Book 1)

If the Harry Potter series and The Lies of Locke Lamora ever got together and decided to have a dark book baby, they would call it Nevernight. This is the sort of book I dr...

Published: 2016

Touch of Iron by Timandra Whitecastle (The Living Blade: Book 1)

This fantasy novel had everything I love: fast-paced plot, fearless female main character, no-holds-barred fight scenes, some romantic/sexy moments and laugh-out-loud humour. It’s gritty, swe...

Published: 2016

The Wheel of Osheim by Mark Lawrence (Red Queen's War #3)

All the horrors of Hell stand between Snorri Ver Snagason and the rescue of his family, if indeed the dead can be rescued. For Jalan Kendeth getting back out alive and with Loki's Key is all th...

Published: 2016

The Silent Army by James A Moore (Seven Forges series #4)

The City of Wonders has been saved by nearly miraculous forces and the Silent Army is risen, ready to defend the Fellein Empire and Empress Nachia at any cost. The power that was hidden in the Moun...

Published: 2016

Wrath by John Gwynne (The Faithful and The Fallen #4)

Events are coming to a climax in the Banished Lands, as the war reaches new heights. King Nathair has taken control of the fortress at Drassil and three of the Seven Treasures are in his possession...

Published: 2016

The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin (The Passage Trilogy #3)

In life I was a scientist called Fanning. Then, in a jungle in Bolivia, I died. I died, and then I was brought back to life… Prompted by a voice that lives in her blood, the fearsome warrior...

Published: 2016

Hope and Red by Jon Skovron (Empire of Storms #1)

Olivia: Superb fantasy packed with daring pirates, brave warriors, intelligent thieves and revolution. Hope and Red is a phenomenal read with something for everyone....

Published: 2016

Aftermath by Tim Marquitz (Demon Squad: Book 9)

What do you do when your life crumbles around you? If you're Frank "Triggaltheron" Trigg you climb into a bottle looking for oblivion. Of course he couldn't even get that right. A...

Published: 2016

Fellside by MR Carey

Fellside is a maximum security prison on the edge of the Yorkshire moors. It's not the kind of place you'd want to end up. But it's where Jess Moulson could be spending the rest of her ...

Published: 2016

The Creeping Shadow by Jonathan Stroud (Lockwood & Co #4)

Lucy has left Lockwood & Co. A freelance operative, she is hiring herself out to other agencies – agencies that might value her ever-improving skills. But now Lockwood needs her help. Pen...

Published: 2016

The Obelisk Gate by NK Jemisin (The Broken Earth: Book 2)

The season of endings grows darker, as civilization fades into the long cold night. Essun has found shelter, but not her missing daughter. Instead there is Alabaster Tenring, destroyer of the world...

Published: 2016

Roses and Rot by Kat Howard

What would you sacrifice for everything you ever dreamed of? Imogen has grown up reading fairy tales about mothers who die and make way for cruel stepmothers. As a child, she used to lie in bed wis...

Published: 2016

Down Station by Simon Morden (Down Station #1)

A small group of commuters and tube workers witness a fiery apocalypse overtaking London. They make their escape through a service tunnel. Reaching a door they step through... and find themselves o...

Published: 2016

Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan

Tricia Sullivan has written an extraordinary, genre defining novel that begins with the mystery of a woman who barely knows herself and ends with a discovery that transcends space and time. On the ...

Published: 2016

Hex by Thomas Olde Heuvelt

Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay until death. Whoever comes to stay, never leaves. Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a se...

Published: 2016

Downfall of the Gods by KJ Parker

If you visit the Temple and ask nicely for forgiveness, you might get it - assuming you aren't Lord Archias and you haven't killed the Goddess's favorite musician, Lysippus. But even go...

Published: 2016

The Sudden Appearance of Hope by Claire North

The Sudden Appearance of Hope is an excellent novel, one that looks at complex themes with much more depth before providing a biased social commentary. There is barely any escapism to be found...

Published: 2016

A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab (A Darker Shade of Magic #2)

Kell is plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, he is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila. As Red London prepares for the Element Games ...

Published: 2016

Stiletto by Daniel OMalley (The Checquy Files #2)

THE CHECQUY: A centuries-old covert organization that protects the nation from supernatural threat. THE GRAFTERS: A centuries-old supernatural threat. After centuries of rivalry and bloodshed, two ...

Published: 2016

This Savage Song by VE Schwab (Monsters of Verity #1)

Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city, a grisly metropolis where the violence has begun to create real and deadly monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father,...

Published: 2016

Burned by Benedict Jacka (Alex Verus series: Book 7)

Alex Verus has a magic shop in Camden, London, and an uncanny ability to see the future. But suddenly everyone can see Alex's future. Because the Mage's Council of Great Britain just n...

Published: 2016

The Watcher of Dead Time by Edward Cox (Relic Guild Trilogy #3)

Labrys Town, home to a million humans cut off from the rest of the universe, has been invaded. Those who protected it have been deposed. The Relic Guild are scattered across the worlds of the Aelfi...

Published: 2016

The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun by JRR Tolkien

Set 'In Britain's land beyond the seas' during the Age of Chivalry, The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun tells of a childless Breton Lord and Lady (the 'Aotrou' and 'Itroun' of ...

Published: 2016

The Burning Page by Genevieve Cogman (The Invisible Library Series #3)

When it's your job to save the day - where do you start? Librarian spy Irene has standards to maintain, especially while on probation. And absconding from a mission via a besieged building does...

Published: 2016

The Guns of Empire by Django Wexler (The Shadow Campaigns #4)

As the roar of the guns subsides and the smoke of battle clears, the country of Vordan is offered a fragile peace... After their shattering defeats at the hands of brilliant General Janus bet Vhaln...

Published: 2016

With Blood Upon the Sand by Bradley Beaulieu (The Song of the Shattered Sands #2)

Ceda, now a Blade Maiden in service to the kings of Sharakhai, trains as one of their elite warriors, gleaning secrets even as they send her on covert missions to further their rule. She knows the ...

Published: 2016

A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers (Wayfarers #2)

Lovelace was once merely a ship's artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has to start over in a synthetic body, in a world...

Published: 2016

Time: The Immortal Divide by KS Turner (The Chronicles of Fate and Choice: Book 3)

This world and all worlds are fated to end. The prophet, Jychanumun, has tried to prevent it. He has spent millennia walking between life and death to find a way. The powerful Shaa-kutu have tried ...

Published: 2016