# The 19 Best Fantasy Novels of the 2010s

> Doorstopper epics rub shoulders with lyrical standalones and boundary-pushing debuts from a decade that reinvented the genre. Cast your vote!

*By YPB Team · Published June 10, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-19-best-fantasy-novels-of-the-2010s*

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## Current results (3 votes)

1. **Gideon the Ninth** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 1000/1000)
   Tamsyn Muir's genre-bending 2019 novel of necromancers and swordplay in a decaying empire.
2. **Words of Radiance** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 844/1000)
   Sanderson's 2014 second Stormlight Archive volume, expanding the world of Roshar.
3. **The City of Brass** — 33.33% (1 votes · score 844/1000)
   S.A. Chakraborty's 2017 debut weaving djinn lore through an eighteenth-century Middle Eastern setting.
4. **The Way of Kings** — 0% (0 votes · score 818/1000)
   Brandon Sanderson's sprawling 2010 epic that launched the ambitious ten-book Stormlight Archive.
5. **Circe** — 0% (0 votes · score 682/1000)
   Madeline Miller's 2018 retelling of the Greek sorceress's life, crowned by readers as a decade favorite.
6. **Prince of Thorns** — 0% (0 votes · score 682/1000)
   Mark Lawrence's dark 2011 debut following a ruthless young prince in a ruined world.
7. **The Traitor Baru Cormorant** — 0% (0 votes · score 454/1000)
   Seth Dickinson's 2015 novel of economics, empire, and rebellion told through a brilliant accountant.
8. **The Fifth Season** — 0% (0 votes · score 454/1000)
   N.K. Jemisin's 2015 apocalyptic epic that won the Hugo and opened her Broken Earth trilogy.
9. **The Goblin Emperor** — 0% (0 votes · score 273/1000)
   Katherine Addison's 2014 court-intrigue novel about an outcast half-goblin thrust onto a throne.
10. **The Wise Man's Fear** — 0% (0 votes · score 273/1000)
   Patrick Rothfuss's 2011 sequel in the Kingkiller Chronicle, continuing the tale of Kvothe.
11. **Spinning Silver** — 0% (0 votes · score 273/1000)
   Naomi Novik's 2018 fairy-tale-inspired novel of debt, sacrifice, and winter magic.
12. **Six of Crows** — 0% (0 votes · score 273/1000)
   Leigh Bardugo's 2015 heist fantasy following a crew of misfits in the Grishaverse.
13. **The Priory of the Orange Tree** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Samantha Shannon's 2019 standalone epic of dragons, religion, and four interlocking viewpoints.
14. **The Night Circus** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Erin Morgenstern's atmospheric 2011 debut about a magical competition staged in a mysterious circus.
15. **The Bear and the Nightingale** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Katherine Arden's 2017 debut steeped in Russian folklore and a fearless heroine.
16. **Uprooted** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Naomi Novik's 2015 standalone fantasy of a corrupted wood and a reluctant village girl.
17. **A Darker Shade of Magic** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   V.E. Schwab's 2015 adventure of parallel Londons connected by rare magic-wielding travelers.
18. **The Poppy War** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   R.F. Kuang's brutal 2018 military fantasy inspired by twentieth-century Chinese history.
19. **Jade City** — 0% (0 votes · score 1/1000)
   Fonda Lee's 2017 gangster fantasy of warring clans wielding magical jade in a modern-feeling city.

Tags: fantasy, books, 2010s