Top 5 Favorite YA Fantasy Novels
Despite the fact that I write adult fantasy novels, I have a particular fondness for fantasy novels in the YA category. I think its mostly because adult fantasy novels, I have found, are all mostly just rehashed A Song of Ice and Fire. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love George R.R. Martin’s work. Game of Thrones is probably the best adult fantasy novel I’ve ever read (or, at least, top 5) and I find myself going back to it again and again. How most people feel about Harry Potter is how I feel about Martin.
But lets be honest here.
Sometimes, medieval settings get old.
It seems like every adult fantasy novel takes place in a medieval setting. They might have this or that twist to it, but sometimes ya girl likes to read a little fantasy that tastes of JRPGs. Something more vibrant. More colorful. Yeah they might still have the typical fantasy tropes (kings, queens, knights, ect) but can’t we enjoy those things with the saturation turned up a little?
That kind of thing is why I’m drawn to YA fantasy novels. They’re lighter. Frothier. I typically think of them like brain candy, and when I write I like to try and take those aesthetics but frame them for a more adult audience.
Anyway, you’re probably thinking “Yeah yeah okay can we get to the list already?”
Well, impatient reader, we can certainly move on now because I think you get the point.
Without further adeu, here are my top five favorite YA Fantasy Novels!
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Okay so this one I picked up a couple summers ago thinking “Why not give it a shot?”
Turns out, this is literally my favorite YA Fantasy novel.
The story follows Jude, whose mother is killed in the very first pages of the book, and Jude is taken with her twin sister to the realm of faeries to live with their mother’s murderer. Jude and her twin sister must live as humans among faeries of all flavors, being the butt of every joke, the object of every torment, simply because they’re human and everyone else is a faerie. Jude is tortured by Prince Cardan in particular, who goes out of his way to make her life a living hell.
The plot is riddled with intrigue, deception, and the prose is handled so well that you find yourself unable to put it down. When I first read The Cruel Prince I literally struggled to put it down, tore through the second book, and when the third book came out I went and got it ASAP.
This is one I always go back to, and I feel like I’ll keep going back to it again and again!
2. Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian
One time a few years ago my husband and I went out to Barnes and Noble. We were looking at the New Releases table and he happened to pick this one up. He turned to me and said “This looks interesting, don’t you think?”
And I said “Huh, yeah. It kinda does.”
“Do you want to try it?”
“Yeah sure, why not?”
That “yeah sure, why not” ended up eating the next few months of that following year because I devoured this book, and tore through the other two as they came out. I stumbled a bit on the last one because, to me, it felt rushed and like Laura Sebastian had one more book in her for this series but maybe someone told her to keep it to a trilogy. Kind of a stumble at the finish line.
However, we’re not talking about that one yet. We’re still talking about Ash Princess.
Ash Princess follows Theodosia, once the princess to a nation now desolated by a cruel and bloodthirsty villain known as the Kaiser. After her hope is taken from her in the early scenes of the book, Theo must use her mind and her wits to survive the Kaiser and fight for her freedom.
If you haven’t checked this one out yet, you definitely should put it on your ever growing TBR list!
3. A Curse so Dark and Lonely By Brigid Kemmerer
I actually found this book while looking for another book by the same author, so yay for happy accidents!
If you’re a fan of Beauty and the Beast (which, if you are, we’re automatically friends) and you’re a fan of the isekai genre of anime (Isekai = a Japanese genre of portal fantasy and science fiction) then you’ll really enjoy A Curse so Dark and Lonely because it combines the two in a way that I hadn’t expected and am 100% here for.
The story is about Harper, a young girl who finds herself through some really crazy means (crazy in a good way) whisked away into a fantasy realm where autumn is on repeat (which, lets be real here, absolute goals) due to a curse put on the young and handsome Prince Rhen. Rhen has been cursed by a powerful enchantress in true Beauty and the Beast fashion, and he must get Harper to help him break the curse or else his entire kingdom will literally fall to ruins.
The start of this book actually made me angry because, if there’s one thing I can say about YA fantasy, it’s that all the main characters are basically the same (rough and tough tomboys) and they’re always written in first person present tense. This book is no exception.
However.
HOWEVER.
I will admit to being too quick to judge. This book is actually really good and the world is really well fleshed out. Rhen definitely found his way onto my list of fictional boyfriends, and I found myself rooting for Harper after settling more into the story. I feel like sometimes, because I’m a Creative Writing major, I’m too tough on novels that are just supposed to be fun times. Had I picked this up when I was a teenager, I swear I would’ve lived for this series. Even as an adult I can happily count this as one of those Bob Ross “Happy Accidents” for my bookshelf. I didn’t expect to fall so fully in love with this series, but after finishing this one in a single week I ran right out and bought the other two.
4. Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard
I can’t even remember how I found this one. It might have been another happy accident, but however I found it, I really enjoyed it.
In this world people either have red or silver blood. The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite with superpowers. Mare Barrow, our seventeen-year-old protagonist, is a Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, and it seems like nothing will ever change. That is until she discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power. Fearful of Mare's potential, the Silvers hide her in plain view, declaring her a long-lost Silver princess, now engaged to a Silver prince. Mare must weave her way through the Silver court, careful not to get found with Red blood, and survive the court intrigue that surrounds her.
My biggest complaint about this book, and why its at the bottom of the list, is that it reads like Hunger Games. In fact, for a while, I thought it was a Hunger Games redo. That being said, while the two have a lot in common, I realized before long that Red Queen deviates from that vibe and goes off in a direction I much prefer. It’s like what would happen if Ash Princess and Hunger Games had a baby.
Definitely worth a read!
5. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
In Mary's world, which is condensed to a village within a fence that keeps out the “Unconsecrated” (zombies), a few things hold true: The Sisterhood knows best. The Guardians protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never go away, and the fence must always be watched. The fence leads to the Forest of Hands and Teeth, where the zombies gather in hordes. But, slowly, Mary’s truths are failing her. She’s learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future—between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside the small world she’s always known?
Okay, I know what you’re thinking.
“But Makayla, that’s a zombie apocalypse novel! That’s not fantasy!”
And you’re right.
However.
I put it on the list because of the way it reads. The way Carrie Ryan handles the narration, the voice she gives to Mary, the book reads like a fantasy novel. The worldbuilding is like a fantasy novel. That, dearest reader, is why it made the list even though its technically a zombie apocalypse novel.
Also I just love having any opportunity I can find (or invent) to talk about The Forest of Hands and Teeth. I love this book to absolute pieces.
And that’s it for my Top 5 YA Fantasy Novels! I hope I gave you guys some good reading recommendations! Let me know if you check these books out and what you think, or if you have any you think I should read!
Until next time!
