What is the best Orbit fantasy novel?

Hugo-sweeping literary heavyweights meet cult breakouts that started out self-published, plus a few swaggering assassin sagas, all under one imprint.

1. 1
   The Fifth Season

   N.K. Jemisin's 2015 opener of the Broken Earth trilogy, set on a continent wracked by apocalyptic seasons; it won the Hugo Award.
   1000pts
2. 2
   The Black Prism

   Brent Weeks' 2010 Lightbringer opener, built around a colour-based magic system and a ruler hiding a secret.
   858pts
3. 3
   The Shadow of What Was Lost

   James Islington's epic fantasy debut that opens the Licanius trilogy, picked up by Orbit in 2017.
   678pts
4. 4
   The Bone Shard Daughter

   Andrea Stewart's 2020 debut about an emperor's daughter in a drifting island empire run on bone-shard magic.
   678pts
5. 5
   Devices and Desires

   K.J. Parker's 2005 opener of the Engineer trilogy, a siege story driven by a vengeful engineer.
   678pts
6. 6
   The Rage of Dragons

   Evan Winter's 2019 African-inspired revenge epic about a young warrior in an endless war.
   555pts
7. 7
   The Shadow of the Gods

   John Gwynne's 2021 Norse-inspired opener of the Bloodsworn saga.
   555pts
8. 8
   The Killing Moon

   Jemisin's 2012 Egypt-inspired fantasy about priests who harvest dreams to deliver peaceful deaths.
   555pts
9. 9
   The Stone Sky

   The 2017 finale of the Broken Earth trilogy, which made Jemisin the first author to win three straight Hugos.
   555pts
10. 10
    Senlin Ascends

    Josiah Bancroft's cult favourite about a schoolteacher searching the Tower of Babel for his lost wife.
    555pts
11. 11
    The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

    Jemisin's 2010 debut about a young woman drawn into the politics of a city where enslaved gods walk among mortals.
    0pts
12. 12
    The Way of Shadows

    Brent Weeks' 2008 Night Angel debut about a street orphan apprenticed to a legendary assassin.
    0pts
13. 13
    The Jasmine Throne

    Tasha Suri's 2021 India-inspired epic about an imprisoned princess and a maidservant with a dangerous secret.
    0pts
14. 14
    The Raven Tower

    Ann Leckie's 2019 fantasy, a Hamlet-like story partly narrated by an ancient god in the form of a stone.
    0pts
15. 15
    Soulless

    Gail Carriger's 2009 steampunk comedy of manners about a soulless spinster among vampires and werewolves.
    0pts
16. 16
    The Magicians' Guild

    Trudi Canavan's first Black Magician novel, about a slum girl who discovers she has magical power.
    0pts
17. 17
    The Obelisk Gate

    The 2016 second Broken Earth novel, in which Essun learns the deeper secrets of orogeny; also a Hugo winner.
    0pts
18. 18
    Jade City

    Fonda Lee's 2017 World Fantasy Award winner, a gangster saga about clans who draw power from magic jade.
    0pts
19. 19
    The Justice of Kings

    Richard Swan's 2022 legal fantasy following a travelling judge of the Imperial Order.
    0pts
20. 20
    The Dragon's Path

    Daniel Abraham's 2011 opener of the Dagger and Coin series, mixing war, banking and a spider-goddess cult.
    0pts

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