5 Great Fantasy Novels You Won't Want to Miss

by MK French

You will want to add these great fantasy novels to your TBR pile.

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Guardians of Dawn: Ami by S. Jae-Jones

August 2024; Wednesday Books; 978-1250191458
ebook, print (368 pages); YA fantasy

Li Ami is sent to the outermost West to care for her mentally ill father, whose ravings might be prophecy. When her father is arrested for stealing, Ami must serve the presiding Beast by finding a cure to the mysterious blight that is decimating their harvest. Magical corruption is on the rise throughout the Morning Realms and the threat of the Mother of Ten Thousand Demons looms large. Jin Zhara, the newly empowered Guardian of Fire, needs the Guardian of Wood to stem the growing tide of undead. The two must journey to the Root of the World in order to seal the demon portal there and restore balance to an increasingly chaotic world.

This is the second Guardians of Dawn novel, after Zahra. It helps to know her story, as we don't get a detailed description of the relationships in her retinue, but it's not necessary. Where Zahra's story has elements of Cinderella, Ami has echoes of Beauty and the Beast; she offers her services to the scarred guard known as the Beast in exchange for her father’s punishment for breaking off a branch of the holy tree known as the Pillar. She's trying to figure out the blight as a plague of undead also sweeps the land. The two start with separate story threads, but Zahra is looking for Ami's scholar father.

Once everyone meets, there is still the problem of the undead scourge that is coming, the anti-ki, and the possible weapon that was left in the hands of a princess long thought dead. We get an inkling of who that is long before it's explicitly revealed, and the romances blooming in the midst of danger are cute. Ami and the Beast have that will they/won't they action going, Han turns out to be demisexual, and the connections between all of the guardians are important not just for their own growth, but in figuring out the secrets of the lost text that Zahra is looking for.

I enjoyed the story and the continuation of the fight against demons. Ami isn't sure of herself or her role in helping to save the world. So many of us will understand her hesitant nature, the difficulty fitting in or meeting expectations. But as she grows into her role, so can we. There is still unrest and danger, as well as folio pieces to gather. The other novels to come are bound to be just as good. 

Buy Guardians of Dawn: Ami at Amazon

A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher

August 2024; Tor Books; 978-1250244079
audio, ebook, print (336 pages); fantasy

Cordelia lives with her mother in a house without doors. Her only allowed friend is her mother's white horse Falada, whom she rides daily. Her mother forces her to be silent and motionless for hours or days on end and is an evil sorcerer. Her mother moves them into the manor home of a wealthy older Squire and his sister Hester. They're likely her mother's next victims, but Cordelia feels at home for the very first time. Now she must decide whether to obey her mother or save the people who have become like family.

Cordelia's punishment is horrifying: her mother literally controls her body and keeps her from moving, speaking, eating, or even using the bathroom without her mother's explicit direction. This is the only world she has known, with no agency, belongings, or privacy of her own. She's pushed into the world of polite society under her mother's thumb, but Hester is aware that Cordelia has been abused, but not how. Hester feels protective and has friends of her own that she tries to enlist to help Cordelia and her brother, but isn't aware she's up against a ruthless sorceress willing to do anything to get what she wants.

Poor Cordelia literally shakes and has no idea how anything works when she first arrives at the manor and slowly comes out of her shell. Hester felt sorry for herself and her age and soon moved beyond her own immediate needs to try helping others. Like other T. Kingfisher books, it's a subtle battle. There are some flashy moments, and I was surprised by them. The clues for how the story would end are there, and I enjoyed the way we got a fitting conclusion for the characters. 

Buy A Sorceress Comes to Call at Amazon

The Wind That Sweeps the Stars by Greg Keyes

August 2024; Titan Books; 978-1789095500
audio, ebook, print (400 pages); fantasy

Yash of Zeltah is treated as a barbarian when she arrives at Honaq for her marriage to prince Chej. It's meant to avert war, but armies are already present and ready to move. Yash is an assassin, poised to defeat the masters of the nine towers and all who oppose her, even the emperor. Zeltah depends on her success.

The book opens right after the wedding ceremony; the Emperor has no intention of honoring the truce and has contrived reasons to start a war with Yash's people. But she had been training for years on various kinds of combat, as the various sorcerers had stolen spirits of the land and enslaved them to do the magical bidding of their masters to gain more power. Among the nine masters, some are allied with the Emperor, and some plan to move against him to seize the throne. On top of that, Chej is deemed a lesser prince, ready to be sacrificed for political means due to his lackluster abilities within the empire as well as the fact that he's attracted to men and therefore considered an abomination. Yash as a barbarian is also considered less than, and her own abilities would similarly mark her as an abomination within the empire.

From the start, this book is filled with action sequences. There are flashbacks that give us Yash's training and background, as well as lore and her ability to change forms. This is more than a simple war between kingdoms, but the struggle of power over the land, spirits, and heritage. We get different POV chapters to flesh out the main characters and see what's really important to them as this night of betrayal goes on. This is as much a story about mercy as it is about fighting, however. Not everyone in the fortress city is able to make decisions about war, and most have nothing to do with it. Yash at first thought she had to kill everyone, but that's an avenue almost impossible to take. Her real mission is justice and retribution, not revenge, which influences her decisions for the final battle. It's an epic story, and will definitely keep readers guessing right until the very end of the book. 

Buy The Wind That Sweeps the Stars at Amazon

The Crimson Crown by Heather Walter

August 2024; Del Rey; 978-0593598368
audio, ebook, print (544 pages); fantasy

Ayleth is a young witch hiding from the White King and his brutal war against witchcraft. She doesn't know what her magical gifts are, so she sets off on a quest to the White Palace, a decadent world of drama and deceit. Ayleth soon meets Jacquetta, a witch who once held Ayleth’s heart—and betrayed her. There are dark forces at play within the castle and with the White King himself. Now Ayleth and Jacquetta must set aside the past and work together to survive.

The Crimson Crown is the first book of a duology, telling the story of the wicked stepmother in Snow White. Ayleth is the second daughter of a witch descended from one of the five Ancestors who saved the land generations ago. They created bloodstones that held the dark forces known as Malum away from the world of humans, dwarves, and witches. When the human kings shifted their view of witchcraft and blamed them for evil, hunts began to kill them and eradicate their bloodlines. Always feeling less than, Ayleth left her Sanctum for the city, hoping to find the lost bloodstones to help restore the land and get her sister back from the dead. She poses as a Sister of the approved goddess and manages to get into the palace as well. This gets her closer to the probable location of the bloodstones, but also her former maybe-lover Jacquetta who had betrayed her and left years ago when her Sanctum was attacked, and the White King who keeps staring at her uncomfortably.

We have an incredible amount of worldbuilding in the beginning, so there is a lot to learn about Ayleth's world with the witches, then as a Sister, then in the royal household. There are many secrets in the palace, and Ayleth tries to look for answers as she continues to pose as a courtier. While she and Jacquetta have a push-pull relationship, the king is also close and takes an interest in Ayleth. His attention comes across as creepy and menacing at once, and the court politicking is tense to read. The final third of the book moves much quicker, with a sense of dread and finality to it. The conclusion of the book is chilling, and there is both dread and anticipation for the conclusion. The finale is definitely worth the slower start to the novel. 

Buy The Crimson Crown at Amazon

Practical Rules for Cursed Witches by Kayla Cottingham

August 2024; Delacorte Press; 978-0593813973
audio, ebook, print (432 pages); YA fantasy 

Delilah Bea is no stranger to magic: her absentee father is the world’s most famous cursebreaker, and all the women in her family are fated to never find true love. Delilah plans to use her magical Calling to break the Bea family curse but is instead tapped to break the curse of the Pelumbra twins. In their powerful family, one pair of twins every generation is doomed to have one twin drain the other of life and magic. Kieran Pelumbra is growing weaker as his twin sister Briar grows stronger and monstrous. Setting out together to break the curse, it's soon apparent that others in the family don't want the curse broken. Delilah is also drawn to Briar. Time is running out for the twins, and Delilah has her own curse to bear.

This world is full of magic, with curses, blessings, and geasa commonplace. Witches must take part in a Calling to prove themselves worthy of their magic; if they fail, their magic is sealed away. Delilah has six months to complete her task, which is complicated by the fact that no one knows the actual wording of the curse itself. Kieran tracks down Briar, who has been on the run for months, and they go from place to place looking for clues about the curse. The Pelumbra family has grown prosperous over the generations, and it's due to the twins and the curse that haunts them. 

As the team travels around, Kieran gets a chance to see more of the world than the estate he was kept in, Briar gets a chance to be something other than a curse repository, and Delilah grows up and faces herself as well as the legacy of her father. We eventually find out what the curse actually is, as well as the curse on the Bea family. Not everything is what they thought it was, and I enjoyed the showdown at the end, and the hint of happily-ever-after endings for our main cast. A fun book I couldn't put down. 

Buy Practical Rules for Cursed Witches at Amazon

Born and raised in New York City, M.K. French started writing stories when very young, dreaming of different worlds and places to visit. She always had an interest in folklore, fairy tales, and the macabre, which has definitely influenced her work. She currently lives in the Midwest with her husband, three young children, and a golden retriever. 

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