You are looking for the best fantasy books for beginners because you want to explore the genre, as fantasy books offer a unique escape from reality, allowing you to explore imaginative worlds filled with magic and wonder.
However, it can be daunting to embark on your fantasy reading journey if you’ve never read a fantasy novel. Most of the books in the fantasy genre are pretty huge, and you will feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of pages to read, let alone the intense storyline that sometimes spans thousands of years.
But don’t let that stop you from exploring the genre because there are so many incredible stories to read. If you’ve never read a fantasy book but are eager to dip your toes in this genre, hoping to one day read massive books without feeling overwhelmed, I am here to help you!
In this article, I’ve prepared a list of some of the best fantasy books for beginners that serve as the perfect entry point to the genre. Once you complete one of the books mentioned on the list, you’ll want to read more and soon become a fantasy nerd!
So, let’s not waste any more time and jump right into the list featuring the best fantasy books perfect for beginners!
Best Fantasy Books for Beginners in 2025
1. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
For a thousand years, the ash fell, and no flowers bloomed; the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear, and the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible.
Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a scarred, heartbroken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler’s most hellish prison. Kelsier “snapped” and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn.
As a brilliant thief and natural leader, Kelsier recruited the underworld’s elite allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers..
But even with the best criminal crew assembled, Kel’s plan to take down the Lord Ruler looks more like the ultimate long shot until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life.
2. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan, and junior librarian has always feared that his dream chose poorly.
Since he was five, he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, which is half the world away and out of his reach. Then, a stunning opportunity presents itself in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.
What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?
The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream of her before he knew she existed?
Related: Best Book Duologies to Read
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive.
Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle.
Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!
Related: Harry Potter Books in Order
4. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons: Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black.
Kell was raised in Arnes—Red London—and officially serves the Maresh Empire as an ambassador, traveling between the frequent bloody regime changes in White London and the court of George III in the dullest of Londons, the one without any magic left to see.
Kell is a smuggler, unofficially servicing people willing to pay for even the smallest glimpses of a world they’ll never see. It’s a defiant hobby with dangerous consequences, which Kell is now seeing firsthand.
After an exchange goes awry, Kell escapes to Grey London and runs into Delilah Bard, who first robs him, then saves him from a deadly enemy, and finally forces Kell to spirit her to another world for a proper adventure!
5. Good Omens by Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter – the world’s only reliable guide to the future – the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea!
People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its beginning, so it’s natural to be skeptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day.
This time, though, the armies of Good and Evil really appear to be massing. The four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons – one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel – would like the Rapture not to happen.
And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist!
6. Circe by Madeline Miller
In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child—neither powerful like her father nor viciously alluring like her mother.
Turning to the world of mortals for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power: the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.
Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts, and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.
But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians!
7. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist.
As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly.
Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.
8. Storm Front by Jim Butcher
Harry Dresden is the best at what he does. Well, technically, he’s the only one at what he does. So when the Chicago P.D. has a case that transcends mortal creativity or capability, they come to him for answers.
The “everyday” world is full of strange and magical things—and most don’t play well with humans. That’s where Harry comes in. It takes a wizard to catch a—well, whatever. There’s just one problem. Business, to put it mildly, stinks.
So when the police bring him in to consult on a grisly double murder committed with black magic, Harry sees dollar signs. But where there’s black magic, there’s a black mage behind it. And now that mage knows Harry’s name. And that’s when things start to get interesting.
9. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
Percy Jackson is about to be kicked out of boarding school again—he can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Is he supposed to stand by while a bully picks on his scrawny best friend? Or not defend himself when his teacher turns into a monster and tries to kill him?
Mythical creatures seem to be walking straight out of the pages of Percy’s Greek mythology textbook and into his life. What’s worse, he’s angered a few of them: Zeus’s master lightning bolt has been stolen, and Percy is the prime suspect.
Percy and his friends Grover, the satyr, and Annabeth, the demigod daughter of Athena, must find and return Zeus’s stolen property and bring peace to a warring Mount Olympus. They travel across the country to the gates of the Underworld in Los Angeles, facing a host of enemies determined to stop them.
10. The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune
Linus Baker leads a quiet, solitary life. At forty, he lives in a tiny house with a devious cat and his old records. As a Case Worker at the Department in Charge Of Magical Youth, he spends his days overseeing the well-being of children in government-sanctioned orphanages.
When Linus is unexpectedly summoned by Extremely Upper Management, he’s given a curious and highly classified assignment: travel to Marsyas Island Orphanage, where six dangerous children reside: a gnome, a sprite, a wyvern, an unidentifiable green blob, a were-Pomeranian, and the Antichrist.
Linus must set aside his fears and determine whether or not they’re likely to bring about the end of days. But the children aren’t the only secret the island keeps.
Their caretaker is the charming and enigmatic Arthur Parnassus, who will do anything to keep his wards safe!
11. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter—has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue—no one except for Marra herself.
Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.
On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon.
Together, the five intend to be the hand that closes around the prince’s throat and finally free Marra’s family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler.
12. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a terrifying creature arrives to demand retribution. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she knows about only from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world.
As she adapts to her new home, her feelings for the faerie, Tamlin, transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie she’s been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae.
But something is not right in the faerie lands. An ancient, wicked shadow is growing, and Feyre must find a way to stop it or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever.
Related: ACOTAR Books in Order
13. Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, and its walls lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from the others.
Within the labyrinth of halls, an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, and rooms flood in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as well as the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.
There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.
14. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
Darrow is a Red, a member of the lowest caste in the color-coded society of the future. Like his fellow Reds, he works all day, believing that he and his people are making the surface of Mars livable for future generations.
Yet he spends his life willingly, knowing that his blood and sweat will one day result in a better world for his children.
But Darrow and his kind have been betrayed. Soon, he discovers that humanity has already reached the surface generations ago. Vast cities and sprawling parks spread across the planet. Darrow—and Reds like him—are nothing more than slaves to a decadent ruling class.
Inspired by a longing for justice and the memory of lost love, Darrow sacrifices everything to infiltrate the legendary Institute, a proving ground for the dominant Gold caste, where the next generation of humanity’s overlords struggle for power!
15. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic and keep her head down. As an orphan who lost her parents at a young age, she’s used to being alone, and she follows the rules—with one exception: an online account where she posts videos pretending to be a witch.
When an unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic, she doesn’t know what to do.
It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and… Jamie.
The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children; as far as he’s concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat.
16. Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.
The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first-ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success—not to mention that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.
If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won’t be able to go it alone.
But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. Whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.
17. Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros
Twenty-year-old Violet Sorrengail was supposed to enter the Scribe Quadrant, living a quiet life among books and history. Now, the commanding general—her tough-as-talons mother—has ordered Violet to join the hundreds of candidates striving to become the elite of Navarre: dragon riders.
But when you’re smaller than everyone else, and your body is brittle, death is only a heartbeat away… because dragons don’t bond to “fragile” humans. They incinerate them.
With fewer dragons willing to bond than cadets, most would kill Violet to better their own chances of success. The rest would kill her just for being her mother’s daughter—like Xaden Riorson, the most powerful and ruthless wingleader in the Riders Quadrant.
She’ll need every edge her wits can give her just to see the next sunrise!
Related: Fourth Wing Books in Order
18. Fireborne by Rosaria Munda
Annie and Lee were just children when a brutal revolution changed their world, giving everyone—even the lowborn—a chance to test into the governing class of Dragonriders.
Now, they are both rising stars in the new regime despite backgrounds that couldn’t be more different. Annie’s lowborn family was executed by Dragonfire, while Lee’s aristocratic family was murdered by revolutionaries. Growing up in the same orphanage forged their friendship, and seven years of training have made them rivals for the top position in the dragon-riding fleet.
But everything changes when survivors from the old regime surface, bent on reclaiming the city.
With war on the horizon and his relationship with Annie changing fast, Lee must choose to kill the only family he has left or betray everything he’s come to believe in. And Annie must decide whether to protect the boy she loves… or step up to be the champion her city needs.
19. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near-impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh!
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free.
Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha—and the secrets of her heart.
Related: Leigh Bardugo Books in Order
20. Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it shocked everyone: the test officials, Rin’s guardians, and Rin herself. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.
But surprises aren’t always good because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard.
Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly mythical art of shamanism.
Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.
While the Nikara Empire is at peace, it has been at odds with the Federation of Mugen. War can break out anytime, and Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people!
Conclusion
These are all some of the best fantasy books for beginners, and they will entice you with their unique storylines and interesting characters and serve as the perfect entry point to the genre!
Pick one of these books to begin your fantasy reading journey, and share the list with your friends, too!
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