Hello all! I haven't done a book recommendation post in ages so I figured it was time to do one! Today I'm going to be recommending fantasy books. There's a mix of YA/Adult in here and I'm super excited to talk about these because every book I'm listing is one that I enjoyed. Let's get started!
The first book I'm recommending is Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young. In terms of reading experience, this book was such a quick read for me and I was sucked in from the first page. I ended up finishing it in one sitting and absolutely adored it. This is also a standalone, so if you're not looking for a series commitment, this is the one for you! However, if you do love this book, there's a companion novel coming out this fall! You can find my review here.
Part Wonder Woman, part Vikings—and all heart.
Raised to be a warrior, seventeen-year-old Eelyn fights alongside her Aska clansmen in an ancient rivalry against the Riki clan. Her life is brutal but simple: fight and survive. Until the day she sees the impossible on the battlefield—her brother, fighting with the enemy—the brother she watched die five years ago.
Faced with her brother's betrayal, she must survive the winter in the mountains with the Riki, in a village where every neighbor is an enemy, every battle scar possibly one she delivered. But when the Riki village is raided by a ruthless clan thought to be a legend, Eelyn is even more desperate to get back to her beloved family.
She is given no choice but to trust Fiske, her brother’s friend, who sees her as a threat. They must do the impossible: unite the clans to fight together, or risk being slaughtered one by one. Driven by a love for her clan and her growing love for Fiske, Eelyn must confront her own definition of loyalty and family while daring to put her faith in the people she’s spent her life hating.
The next recommendation I have is the Six of Crows duology by Leigh Bardugo. Everyone in the book community seems to rave about this series and I can tell why. I've only read the first book in the duology but I enjoyed it both times I read it--once on my own and once for a class. The rich storytelling, fantastic cast of characters, and a heist make it a great story! Plus, as a duology, there's not a huge series commitment if you're not one for longer series. You can find my review here.
Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right price—and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he can’t pull it off alone. . . .
A convict with a thirst for revenge
A sharpshooter who can’t walk away from a wager
A runaway with a privileged past
A spy known as the Wraith
A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums
A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes
Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction—if they don’t kill each other first.
Next, I want to talk about Furyborn by Claire Legrand which is the first in a trilogy. This is a book that I discovered last year and absolutely loved. There's magic, prophecies, quests, morally ambiguous characters, and more! The sequel is coming out in a few months and I'm beyond excited for it. This series truly is something you don't want to miss! You can find my review here.
The stunningly original, must-read fantasy of 2018 follows two fiercely independent young women, centuries apart, who hold the power to save their world...or doom it.
When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed...unless the trials kill her first.
One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable--until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire's heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.
As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world--and of each other.
Next I'm recommending a series that I just recently discovered a few months ago and absolutely fell in love with: the Witchlands series by Susan Dennard with the first book being Truthwitch. I read all the books that are currently released over the course of a couple months and fell in love with this story and these characters, especially with the most recent release. Click on the book titles to read my non-spoiler reviews for each: Truthwitch (1), Windwitch (2), Sightwitch (2.5), Bloodwitch (3).
In a continent on the edge of war, two witches hold its fate in their hands.
Young witches Safiya and Iseult have a habit of finding trouble. After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.
Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.
In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.
My next recommendation is The City of Brass trilogy by S.A. Chakraborty. I actually just started reading this trilogy last week but am already enthralled with it! I'm still currently reading book 2 but it's already even more amazing than the first. It's such a lush world with magic and amazing political/social tensions and mind games. Unlike the previous books on this list, this one is an adult fantasy don't let that scare you! The writing style is easy to follow and the story just sucks you in until you're obsessed. You can find my review for book one here!
Nahri has never believed in magic. Certainly, she has power; on the streets of 18th century Cairo, she’s a con woman of unsurpassed talent. But she knows better than anyone that the trade she uses to get by—palm readings, zars, healings—are all tricks, sleights of hand, learned skills; a means to the delightful end of swindling Ottoman nobles.
But when Nahri accidentally summons an equally sly, darkly mysterious djinn warrior to her side during one of her cons, she’s forced to accept that the magical world she thought only existed in childhood stories is real. For the warrior tells her a new tale: across hot, windswept sands teeming with creatures of fire, and rivers where the mythical marid sleep; past ruins of once-magnificent human metropolises, and mountains where the circling hawks are not what they seem, lies Daevabad, the legendary city of brass, a city to which Nahri is irrevocably bound.
In that city, behind gilded brass walls laced with enchantments, behind the six gates of the six djinn tribes, old resentments are simmering. And when Nahri decides to enter this world, she learns that true power is fierce and brutal. That magic cannot shield her from the dangerous web of court politics. That even the cleverest of schemes can have deadly consequences.
After all, there is a reason they say be careful what you wish for...
The next recommendation is for one of my all time favorite series: A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (ACOTAR for short). I discovered this series back when I was first getting back into reading and fell in love. The first book is a Beauty and the Beast retelling and was good but the follow up books took this series to a whole new level! There's three books and a novella that have been released that are all a complete story. While there are more books coming out, they're told from different character perspectives and are a new story. The magic, amazing characters, and beautiful world, though, will have you crawling back for more! Non-spoiler book reviews: ACOTAR (1), ACOMAF (2), ACOWAR (3), ACOFAS (3.5).
Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.
And last, but certainly not least, my last recommendation of this post is the Throne of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas. This is my favorite series of all time and it's such an amazing one! It spurred me falling back in love with reading and I'm made so many friends over this book and had so many amazing opportunities because of this series. It's a badass, magical series that keeps you on your toes and has you laughing, screaming, and crying all within the same breath. Non spoiler book reviews: The Assassin's Blade (0.5), Throne of Glass (1), Heir of Fire (3), Empire of Storms (5), Tower of Dawn (6), Kingdom of Ash (7).
After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.
Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.
Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.
Thanks for reading!
xoxo
Lauren
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