Are you not in the mood to start a long fantasy book series that might take you a few months to get through? Why not pick one of the standalone fantasy books instead?
I am not against the idea that you shouldn’t read fantasy book series, but it does leave you feeling low when you finish a book that ends on a cliffhanger only to find out that the next book isn’t out yet, and might not come out for a year or two.
But that’s not the case with standalone books. They have a self-contained story, and you won’t have to wait for another book.
Standalone fantasy books have a much more focused story because the authors don’t have the luxury of going on a tangent and must stick to the central premise. The characters are also well-developed, and everything comes together nicely in the epic finale!
So, if you aren’t in the mood to start reading a fantasy book series, you might want to check out some popular standalone fantasy novels mentioned below and choose one as your next read!
Best Standalone Fantasy Books to Read in 2025
1. 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.
An ocean is imprisoned within the labyrinth of halls; waves thunder up staircases, and rooms are flooded instantly. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands 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 of another person emerges, and a terrible truth unravels, revealing a world beyond the one that Piranesi has always known.
2. The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien
Bilbo Baggins is a hobbit who enjoys a comfortable, unambitious life, rarely traveling any farther than his pantry or cellar. But his contentment is disturbed when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves arrive on his doorstep one day to whisk him away on an adventure.
They have launched a plot to raid the treasure hoard guarded by Smaug the Magnificent, a large and very dangerous dragon.
Bilbo reluctantly joins their quest, unaware that on his journey to the Lonely Mountain, he will encounter both a magic ring and a frightening creature known as Gollum.
3. The Sword of Kaigen by M.L. Wang
For hundreds of years, the mighty fighters of the Kusanagi Peninsula have held the Kaigenese Empire’s enemies at bay, earning their frozen spit of land the name ‘The Sword of Kaigen.’
Born into Kusanagi’s legendary Matsuda family, fourteen-year-old Mamoru knows that he has to master his family’s fighting techniques and defend his homeland. But when an outsider arrives and exposes the sham, Mamoru realizes that he might not have much time to become the fighter he was bred to be.
Worse, the Empire he was bred to defend may stand on a foundation of lies.
Misaki told herself that she left the passions of her youth behind when she married into the Matsuda house. Determined to be a good housewife and mother, she hid away her sword and everything from her days as a fighter in a faraway country.
But with her growing son asking questions, the threat of an impending invasion, and her frigid husband grating on her nerves, Misaki finds the fighter in her clawing its way back to the surface.
4. 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!
5. The Stand by Stephen King
First came the days of the plague!
Then came the dreams—dark dreams that warned of the coming of the dark man—the apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads, the warlord of the charnel house, and Prince of Evil.
His time is at hand. His empire grows in the West, and the Apocalypse looms!
6. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke
The year is 1806. England is beleaguered by the long war with Napoleon, and centuries have passed since practical magicians faded into the nation’s past. But scholars of this glorious history discover that one remains: the reclusive Mr. Norrell, whose displays of magic send a thrill through the country.
Proceeding to London, he raises a beautiful woman from the dead and summons an army of ghostly ships to terrify the French. Yet the cautious, fussy Norrell is challenged by the emergence of another magician: the brilliant novice Jonathan Strange.
Young, handsome, and daring, Strange is the very antithesis of Norrell. So begins a dangerous battle between these two great men, which overwhelms the fight between England and France!
7. 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 quite like the Rapture not to happen.
And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist!
8. Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
For twenty years, Sciona has devoted every waking moment to studying magic, fueled by a mad desire to be the first woman ever admitted to the High Magistry at the University of Magics and Industry.
When Sciona finally passes the qualifying exam and becomes a highmage, she finds her challenges have just begun. Her new colleagues are determined to make her feel unwelcome, so they give her a janitor instead of a qualified lab assistant.
Sciona and her peers do not realize that her taciturn assistant was not always a janitor. Ten years ago, he was a nomadic hunter who lost his family on their perilous journey from the wild plains to the city.
At first, the mage and outsider have a fractious relationship. But working together, they uncover an ancient secret that could change the course of magic forever—if it doesn’t get them killed first.
9. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there when it was not yesterday. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves and is only open at night.
But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained expressly for this purpose since childhood.
Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing. However, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker, and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
10. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission—and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn’t know that!
He can’t even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he’s been asleep for a very long time. And he’s just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company.
With his crewmates dead and his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, he must puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species.
And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he’s got to do it all alone. Or does he?
11. The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
The youngest, half-goblin son of the Emperor has lived his entire life in exile, distant from the Imperial Court and the deadly intrigue that suffuses it. But when his father and three half brothers in line for the throne are killed in an “accident,” he has no choice but to take his place as the only surviving rightful heir.
Entirely unschooled in the art of court politics, he has no friends, no advisors, and the sure knowledge that whoever assassinated his father and brothers could make an attempt on his life at any moment.
Surrounded by sycophants eager to curry favor with the naïve new emperor and overwhelmed by the burdens of his new life, he can trust nobody. Amid the swirl of plots to depose him, offers of arranged marriages, and the specter of the unknown conspirators who lurk in the shadows, he must quickly adjust to life as the Goblin Emperor.
All the while, he is alone, trying to find even a single friend… and hoping for the possibility of romance, yet also vigilant against the unseen enemies that threaten him, lest he lose his throne–or his life.
12. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
The only life Tress has known on her island home in an emerald-green ocean has been a simple one, with the simple pleasures of collecting cups brought by sailors from faraway lands and listening to stories told by her friend Charlie.
But when his father takes him on a voyage to find a bride and disaster strikes, Tress must stow away on a ship and seek the Sorceress of the deadly Midnight Sea.
Amid the spore oceans where pirates abound, can Tress leave her simple life behind and make her own place sailing a sea where a single drop of water can mean instant death?
13. Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
Religion is a competitive business in the Discworld. Everyone has their own opinion and their own gods—of every shape and size—all fighting for faith, followers, and a place at the top
So when the great god Om accidentally manifests himself as a lowly tortoise, stripped of all divine power, it’s clear he’s become less important than he realized. In such instances, you need an acolyte, and fast!
Enter Brutha, the Chosen One – or at least the only One available. He wants peace, justice, and love, but that’s hard to achieve in a world where religion means power and corruption reigns supreme!
14. The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Carolyn is not so different from the other people around her. She enjoys guacamole, cigarettes, and steak and is adept at using a phone. Her clothes are a bit tricky, but everyone says nice things about her outfit. After all, she was a normal American herself once.
That was a long time ago—before her parents died. Before she and the others were taken in by the man they called Father.
Raised according to Father’s ancient customs, she and her adopted siblings have studied in his Library, learned some secrets of his power, and questioned whether Father is God.
Now, Father is missing—perhaps even dead—and the Library that holds his secrets stands unguarded. Carolyn must prepare for a battle against fierce competitors with powers far exceeding her own!
15. Babel, or The Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang
It’s 1828, and Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, preparing for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel.
The tower and its students are the world’s center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.
For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. However, knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland.
As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide where his loyalties lie!
16. Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Tigana is the magical story of a beleaguered land struggling to be free. It is the tale of a people so cursed by the black sorcery of a cruel despotic king that even the name of their once beautiful homeland cannot be spoken or remembered!
But years after the devastation, a handful of courageous men and women embark upon a dangerous crusade to overthrow their conquerors and bring back to the dark world the brilliance of a long-lost name—Tigana.
Against the magnificently rendered background of a world both sensuous and barbaric, this sweeping epic of passionate people pursuing their dreams is breathtaking in its vision, forever changing the boundaries of fantasy fiction.
17. A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
Although Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the universe’s destruction last summer.
So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, Al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case.
Al-Jahiz transformed the world 50 years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be Al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions.
His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo, which threatens to spill over onto the global stage!
18. The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Achilles, son of the cruel sea goddess Thetis and the legendary king Peleus, is strong, swift, and beautiful, irresistible to all who meet him. Patroclus is an awkward young prince exiled from his homeland after an act of shocking violence. Brought together by chance, they forge an inseparable bond despite risking the gods’ wrath.
They are trained by the centaur Chiron in the arts of war and medicine, but when word comes that Helen of Sparta has been kidnapped, all the heroes of Greece are called upon to lay siege to Troy in her name.
Seduced by the promise of a glorious destiny, Achilles joins their cause and torn between love and fear for his friend, Patroclus follows. Little do they know that the cruel Fates will test them both as never before and demand a terrible sacrifice.
19. Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie
There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them, they have bled the land white.
While armies march, heads roll, and cities burn, behind the scenes, the bankers, priests, and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king.
War may be hell, but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso’s employ, it’s a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular – a shade too popular for her employer’s taste.
Betrayed, thrown down a mountain, and left for dead, Murcatto’s reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance. Whatever the cost, seven men must die!
20. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh
Deadly storms have ravaged Mina’s homeland for generations. Floods sweep away entire villages while bloody wars are waged over the few remaining resources.
Her people believe the Sea God, once their protector, now curses them with death and despair. In an attempt to appease him, a beautiful maiden is thrown into the sea each year to serve as the Sea God’s bride, hoping that one day, the “true bride” will be chosen and end the suffering.
Many believe that Shim Cheong, the most beautiful girl in the village—and the beloved of Mina’s older brother Joon—may be the legendary true bride. But on the night Cheong is to be sacrificed, Joon follows Cheong out to sea, even knowing that to interfere is a death sentence. To save her brother, Mina throws herself into the water in Cheong’s stead.
Swept away to the Spirit Realm, a magical city of lesser gods and mythical beasts, Mina seeks out the Sea God, only to find him caught in an enchanted sleep. Mina sets out to wake the Sea God and end the killer storms once and for all!
21. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
Catherine may be one of the most desired girls in Wonderland and a favorite of the unmarried King of Hearts, but her interests lie elsewhere.
A talented baker, all she wants is to open a shop with her best friend. But according to her mother, such a goal is unthinkable for the young woman who could be the next queen.
Then Cath meets Jest, the handsome and mysterious court joker. For the first time, she feels the pull of true attraction.
At the risk of offending the king and infuriating her parents, she and Jest enter into an intense, secret courtship. Cath is determined to define her own destiny and fall in love on her terms. But in a land thriving with magic, madness, and monsters, fate has other plans!
22. The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
In 1714, in a moment of desperation, a young woman in France makes a Faustian bargain to live forever and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.
Thus begins Addie LaRue’s extraordinary life and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.
But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore, and he remembers her name!
23. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.
When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim, fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and the fate of two kingdoms, will be forever altered.
Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar.
But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk!
24. The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman
Kinch Na Shannack owes the Takers Guild a small fortune for his education as a thief, which includes lock-picking, knife-fighting, wall-scaling, fall-breaking, lie-weaving, trap-making, plus a few small magics. His debt has driven him to lie in wait by the old forest road, planning to rob the next traveler that crosses his path.
But today, Kinch Na Shannack has picked the wrong mark.
Galva is a knight, a survivor of the brutal goblin wars, and the handmaiden of the goddess of death. She is searching for her queen, who has been missing since a distant northern city fell to giants.
Unsuccessful in his robbery and lucky to escape with his life, Kinch now finds his fate entangled with Galva’s!
25. Fairy Tale by Stephen King
Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, but he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink.
Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape.
When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house with a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling an impossible story, and a far too huge a responsibility for a boy to shoulder.
Because within the shed is a portal to another world whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world and ours.
In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, there are grand towers that pierce the clouds, exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments, dungeons, games in which men and women must fight each other to the death, and a magic sundial that can turn back time!
26. The Spear Cuts Through Water by Simon Jimenez
The people suffer under the centuries-long rule of the Moon Throne. The royal family—the despotic emperor and his monstrous sons, the Three Terrors—holds the countryside in its choking grip.
They bleed the land and oppress the citizens with the frightful powers they inherited from the god locked under their palace. But that god cannot be contained forever!
With the aid of Jun, a guard broken by his guilt-stricken past, and Keema, an outcast fighting for his future, the god escapes from her royal captivity and flees from her own children, the triplet Terrors who would drag her back to her unholy prison.
And so it is that she embarks with her young companions on a five-day pilgrimage in search of freedom—and a way to end the Moon Throne forever!
27. The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
In 1893, there’s no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box.
But when the Eastwood sisters—James Juniper, Agnes Amaranth, and Beatrice Belladonna—join the suffragists of New Salem, they begin to pursue the forgotten words and ways that might turn the women’s movement into the witch’s movement.
Stalked by shadows and sickness, hunted by forces who will not suffer a witch to vote—and perhaps not even to live—the sisters must delve into the oldest magics, draw new alliances, and heal the bond between them if they want to survive.
Conclusion
Reading a series of books is certainly rewarding, as the author has more room to develop a character and the story, but that doesn’t mean that standalone books can’t do that.
All the standalone fantasy books I mentioned in this list are some of the best books you’ll ever read. Not only do they deliver a well-written story, but the characters in it are pretty great, and you won’t feel that the story was rushed at any moment.
So, if you aren’t in the mood to read a series that contains three, four, five, or more books and want to read a single book with a self-contained story, pick one of these standalone fantasy books and start reading!
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