The 60 Most Popular Fantasy Novels of the Past 3 Years
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Dedicated fantasy readers are a voracious lot. We read like there’s no tomorrow, in part because we have to. Fantasy books have a famous tendency for longish page counts, and any given novel is usually part of a longer series, anyway.
As such, today’s spotlight collection—the most popular fantasy novels on Goodreads from the past three years—may set a record for total pages. We’ve got the supercomputer chewing on the numbers right now, but it’s taking a while.
The collection below features the most popular fantasy titles published between July 2021 and June 2024, as measured by Goodreads members’ ratings and reviews as well as their Read and Want to Read shelves. Each book has an average star rating of 3.5 or higher. To narrow the focus, we’ve excluded YA fantasy and books typically slotted with the romantasy designation. For series with multiple qualifying books in our three-year time span, we included whichever book was most popular overall.
You’ll find plenty of familiar author names below, including genre aces like Leigh Bardugo, Holly Black, N.K. Jemisin, T.J. Klune, and Brandon Sanderson. The nice thing about fantasy, of course, is that you can choose destinations from across the multiverse. Vaishnavi Patel’s Kaikeyi, for instance, features a kingdom based on the Hindu epic the Ramayana. R.F. Kuang’s brilliant Babel features a devastating alternate-history approach to the colonial-era British Empire. And who knows what Stephen King is up to…
Click on the book cover images for more information about each title, and add any interesting leads to your Want to Read shelf. Feel free to continue the discussion in the comments section, but please remember to play nice. Be the comments section you want to see in the world.
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Jason
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Jul 05, 2024 01:40AM
![Jason Biehl](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
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![James Baker](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
I recommend Sanderson's first Mistborn trilogy:
The Final Empire
The Well of Ascension
The Hero of Ages
I read the first one on a whim in December, and grabbed copies of the other two immediately after because I loved it so much.
![Susan](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1710505262p1/167491226.jpg)
I also enjoyed Fairy Tale, When Women Were Dragons and Ink, Blood, Sister, Scribe are also excellent reads.
![Carra](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1328544216p1/6743045.jpg)
The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean is one of the weirdest (in a good way) book I have ever read - really enjoyed it. Mark Lawrence's The Book that Wouldn't Burn + The Book that Broke the World, not to mention Gareth Brown's The Book of Doors, are very peculiar too - couldn't put them down! Highly recommended.
![Bella](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1594867079p1/8523466.jpg)
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi is my favourite, and I think has the widest appeal. It is so entertaining. I read the first page in a book shop and the MC's sarcasm immediately drew me in, then the world building and plot kept me there. So fun.
![devynreads](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1641338360p1/50975574.jpg)
![Lexi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1640636923p1/144833827.jpg)
![Lia](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1614439576p1/41162093.jpg)
This speaks volumes about my endless TBR pile...
![Gabi](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1608919962p1/84001290.jpg)
![Thia Reads A Lot](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1624194039p1/41461861.jpg)
![Lisa](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1671768855p1/4913184.jpg)
![Vikas](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1697689387p1/3633211.jpg)
![Vanessa](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1320253615p1/6855646.jpg)
![Meredith Miller](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/f_25x33-d79c46f9428d2aea1444d67c091766a6.png)
![Bridget (Mom of 2 -MiMi to 1)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1714895138p1/5281527.jpg)
I've only read 4 of Sanderson's books and enjoyed them. My favorite of the books was Warbreaker. For now, at least at my last check, it's still a stand alone. So, if you want to try his books and don't want to commit to a series, try one of his stand alones first. I'm personally glad I started with Warbreaker because if i had started with Mistborn, I may not have understood what was going on plus, it wasnt a favorite but I did like the next 2 books. But. It may ne different for you. This is only a suggestion of course :-)
![Bridget (Mom of 2 -MiMi to 1)](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1714895138p1/5281527.jpg)
"The collection below features the most popular fantasy titles published between July 2021 and June 2024, as measured by Goodreads members’ ratings and reviews as well as their Read and Want to Read shelves. Each book has an average star rating of 3.5 or higher"
If you take note of JULY 2021 to JUNE 2024...that's how theyre able to include April. It looks like this was posted July 5th, 2024.
Read the whole part that I included. These are books that folks have read and have on their want to read shelves and have rated on average, a 3.5/5 stars. If you watch booktube or booktok, many of these books are very popular there as well.
![James Gilbert](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1696926330p1/170594989.jpg)
![Brenda Waworga](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1507467774p1/62212312.jpg)
1. The Will Of The Many
2. Jade Legacy
3. Trees Of The Emerald Sea
![Coffeeshopkitty](https://cdn.statically.io/img/s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_25x33-ccd24e68f4773d33a41ce08c3a34892e.png)
If you liked Fairy Tale, I would definitely recommend The Ninth House and Hellbent by Leigh Bardugo. This series is dark, gritty, and intelligent making the victories of the characters all the more satisfying.
![Law](https://cdn.statically.io/img/images.gr-assets.com/users/1663675779p1/156286696.jpg)