30 Best High Fantasy & Epic Fantasy Books to Read in 2024

If you’re a fan of fantasy literature, you know that there are few things more satisfying than immersing yourself in well-crafted high fantasy or epic fantasy books. From sprawling worlds filled with magic and mythical creatures to complex characters on quests to save their kingdoms, these books offer an escape from reality that’s hard to resist.

But with so many options, it can be challenging to know where to start. That’s why I’ve compiled a list of the best epic fantasy and high fantasy books to help guide you on your journey.

High fantasy and epic fantasy are two subgenres of fantasy literature that have captivated readers for decades. While they share similarities, they also have distinct characteristics that set them apart. Whether you prefer a quest-driven story or a complex political drama, you will find a book or a book series in the list below you’d love to start reading.

So prepare to embark on a journey to far-off lands filled with adventure, danger, and wonder. From classic works to modern masterpieces, our list has something for everyone.

Best High Fantasy & Epic Fantasy Books (2024)

1. The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

From the blurb:

One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.

In ancient times, the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him.

After many ages, it fell by chance into the hands of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins.

From Sauron’s fastness in the Dark Tower of Mordor, his power spread far and wide. Sauron gathered all the Great Rings but always searched for the One Ring that would complete his dominion.

When Bilbo reached his eleventy-first birthday, he disappeared, bequeathing to his young cousin Frodo the Ruling Ring and a perilous quest: to journey across Middle-earth, deep into the shadow of the Dark Lord, and destroy the Ring by casting it into the Cracks of Doom!

2. The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson

From the blurb:

Roshar is a world of stone and storms where uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.

It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the “Knights Radiant,” but their Shardblades and Shardplate – mystical swords and suits of armor that transform ordinary men into near-invincible warriors. – remain.

Men trade kingdoms for Shardblades. Wars were fought for them and won by them!

One such war rages on a ruined landscape called the Shattered Plains. There, Kaladin, who traded his medical apprenticeship for a spear to protect his little brother, has been reduced to slavery. In a war that makes no sense, where ten armies fight separately against a single foe, he struggles to save his men and to fathom the leaders who consider them expendable.

3. The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

From the blurb:

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legends. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth returns.

What was, what will be, and what is, may yet fall under the Shadow.

Moiraine Damodred arrives in Emond’s Field on a quest to find the one prophesized to stand against The Dark One, a malicious entity sowing the seeds of chaos and destruction.

When a vicious band of half-men, half-beasts invade the village seeking their master’s enemy, Moiraine persuades Rand al’Thor and his friends to leave their home and enter a larger, unimaginable world filled with dangers waiting in the shadows and in the light.

4. The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie

From the blurb:

Logen Ninefingers, the infamous barbarian, has finally run out of luck. Caught in one feud too many, he’s on the verge of becoming a dead barbarian – leaving nothing behind him but bad songs, dead friends, and many happy enemies.

Nobleman Captain Jezal dan Luthar, a dashing officer and paragon of selfishness, has nothing more dangerous in mind than fleecing his friends at cards and dreaming of glory in the fencing circle. But war is brewing, and on the battlefields of the frozen North, they fight by altogether bloodier rules.

Inquisitor Glokta, cripple turned torturer, would like nothing better than to see Jezal come home in a box. But then Glokta hates everyone: cutting treason out of the Union one confession at a time leaves little room for friendship. His latest trail of corpses may lead him right to the rotten heart of government if he can stay alive long enough to follow it.

Enter the wizard, Bayaz. A bald old man with a terrible temper and a pathetic assistant, he could be the First of the Magi, he could be a spectacular fraud, but whatever he is, he’s about to make the lives of Logen, Jezal, and Glokta a whole lot more difficult.

5. The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu

From the blurb:

Wily, charming Kuni Garu, a bandit, and stern, fearless Mata Zyndu, the son of a deposed duke, seem like polar opposites. Yet, in the uprising against the emperor, the two quickly become the best of friends after a series of adventures fighting against vast conscripted armies, silk-draped airships, and shapeshifting gods.

Once the emperor has been overthrown, however, they each find themselves the leader of separate factions—two sides with very different ideas about how the world should be run and the meaning of justice.

6. Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

From the blurb:

For a thousand years, the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear in a world where ash falls constantly. For a thousand years, the Lord Ruler 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. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he recruited the underworld’s elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers who relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history but the downfall of the divine despot.

But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel’s plan looks more like the ultimate long shot until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life.

Like him, she’s a half-Skaa orphan, but she’s lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kelsier is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.

Related: How to Read Mistborn Series in Order?

7. The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin

From the blurb:

Three terrible things happen in a single day!

Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter.

Meanwhile, mighty Sanze – the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization’s bedrock for a thousand years – collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman’s vengeance.

And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.

Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She’ll break it herself to save her daughter if she must!

8. A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin

From the blurb:

Long ago, in a time forgotten, a preternatural event threw the seasons out of balance.

Trouble is brewing in a land where summers can last decades and winters a lifetime. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the north of Winterfell, sinister forces are massing beyond the kingdom’s protective Wall.

To the south, the king’s powers are failing—his most trusted adviser dead under mysterious circumstances, and his enemies emerging from the shadows of the throne.

At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the frozen land they were born to. Now Lord Eddard Stark is reluctantly summoned to serve as the king’s new Hand, an appointment that threatens to sunder not only his family but the kingdom itself.

A Game of Thrones tells a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counter-plots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, allies and enemies, the fate of the Starks hangs perilously in the balance as each side endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts!

9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis

From the blurb:

Narnia… the land beyond the wardrobe door, a secret place frozen in eternal winter, a magical country waiting to be set free.

Lucy is the first to find the secret of the wardrobe in the professor’s mysterious old house. At first, her brothers and sister don’t believe her when she tells them of her visit to the land of Narnia.

But soon Edmund, then Peter and Susan step through the wardrobe themselves.

In Narnia, they find a country buried under the evil enchantment of the White Witch. When they meet the Lion Aslan, they realize they’ve been called to a great adventure and bravely join the battle to free Narnia from the Witch’s sinister spell.

10. Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson

From the blurb:

The Malazan Empire simmers with discontent, bled dry by interminable warfare, bitter infighting, and bloody confrontations. Even the imperial legions, long inured to the bloodshed, yearn for some respite. Yet Empress Laseen’s rule remains absolute, enforced by her dread Claw assassins.

For Sergeant Whiskeyjack and his squad of Bridgeburners and for Tattersail, surviving cadre mage of the Second Legion, the aftermath of the siege of Pale should have been a time to mourn the many dead.

But Darujhistan, the last of the Free Cities of Genabackis, yet holds out. It is to this ancient citadel that Laseen turns her predatory gaze.

However, it would appear that the Empire is not alone in this great game. Sinister, shadowbound forces gather as the gods prepare to play their hand!

11. Eragon by Christopher Paolini

From the blurb:

When Eragon finds a polished blue stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself.

His simple life is shattered overnight, and he is thrust into a dangerous new world of destiny, magic, and power.

With only an ancient sword and the advice of an old storyteller for guidance, Eragon and the fledgling dragon must navigate the dangerous terrain and dark enemies of an Empire ruled by a king whose evil knows no bounds!

12. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

From the blurb:

An assassin is summoned to the castle in a land without magic, where the king rules with an iron hand. She comes not to kill the king but to win her freedom.

If she defeats twenty-three killers, thieves, and warriors in a competition, she will released from prison to serve as the king’s champion. Her name is Celaena Sardothien.

The Crown Prince will provoke her. The Captain of the Guard will protect her. But something evil dwells in the castle of glass—and it’s there to kill.

When her competitors start dying one by one, Celaena’s fight for freedom becomes a fight for survival and a desperate quest to root out the evil before it destroys her world.

Related: How to Read Throne of Glass Series in Order?

13. Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

From the blurb:

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. Now, its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.

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.

With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha and her heart.

14. The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

From the blurb:

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.

15. Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb

From the blurb:

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals – the old art known as the Wit – gives him solace and companionship.

But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners, and how to kill a man secretly as he trains to become a royal assassin.

16. The Gunslinger by Stephen King

From the blurb:

Stephen King’s iconic high fantasy series, The Dark Tower, blends sci-fi, futuristic dystopia, spaghetti Western, and high fantasy genres.

The Gunslinger tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, tracking an enigmatic magician known only as the “man in black.”

Following his quarry across the demon-infested Mohaine Desert, Roland confronts a mad preacher woman and her murderous flock, holds palaver with a speaking demon, and finally befriends a young boy from our world named Jake Chambers.

Jake joins Roland on his quest, but while Roland travels with his young companion Jake, the man in black travels with Roland’s soul in his pocket.

17. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss

From the blurb:

Told in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.

The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

The Name of the Wind is an epic fantasy series with a high-action story written with a poet’s hand; it is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.

18. The Magicians by Lev Grossman

From the blurb:

Quentin Coldwater is brilliant but miserable. A senior in high school, he’s still secretly preoccupied with a series of fantasy novels he read as a child, set in a magical land called Fillory.

Imagine his surprise when he finds himself unexpectedly admitted to a very secret, very exclusive college of magic in upstate New York, where he receives a thorough and rigorous education in the craft of modern sorcery.

He also discovers everything people learn in college: friendship, love, sex, booze, and boredom. Something is missing, though. Magic doesn’t bring Quentin the happiness and adventure he dreamed it would.

After graduation, he and his friends make a stunning discovery: Fillory is real. But the land of Quentin’s fantasies turns out to be much darker and more dangerous than he could have imagined. His childhood dream becomes a nightmare with a shocking truth at its heart!

19. The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

From the blurb:

Gavin Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is the high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm preserve a tenuous peace.

Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live.

When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he’s willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.

20. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

From the blurb:

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: How to Read ACOTAR Series in Order?

21. Wizard’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind

From the blurb:

In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell, appears in Richard Cypher’s forest sanctuary seeking help… and more.

His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. In a dark age, it takes courage to live and more than mere courage to challenge those who hold dominion. Richard and Kahlan must take up that challenge or become the next victims.

Beyond awaits a bewitching land where even the best of their hearts could betray them. Yet, Richard fears nothing as much as what secrets his sword might reveal about his soul. Falling in love would destroy them—for reasons Richard can’t imagine, and Kahlan dare not say.

In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword—to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the rules of battle have just changed… or that their time has run out.

22. Malice by John Gwynne

From the blurb:

Young Corban watches enviously as boys become warriors under King Brenin’s rule, learning the art of war. He yearns to wield his sword and spear to protect his king’s realm. But that day will come all too soon!

The Banished Lands has a violent past where armies of men and giants clashed shields in battle, the earth running dark with their blood.

Although the giant clans were broken in ages past, their ruined fortresses still scar the land. But now giants stir anew, the very stones weep blood, and there are sightings of giant wyrms.

Those who can still read the signs see a greater threat than the ancient wars. Sorrow will darken the world as angels and demons make it their battlefield. Then, there will be a war to end all wars!

23. The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington

From the blurb:

It has been twenty years since the end of the war. The dictatorial Augurs—once thought of almost as gods—were overthrown and wiped out during the conflict, their much-feared powers mysteriously failing them.

Those who had ruled under them, men and women with a lesser ability known as the “Gift,” avoided the Augurs’ fate only by submitting themselves to the rebellion’s Four Tenets.

A representation of the Four Tenets is now written into the flesh of any who use the Gift, forcing those so marked into absolute obedience.

As a student of the Gifted, Davian suffers the consequences of a war fought—and lost—before he was born. Despised by most beyond the school walls, he and those around him are all but prisoners as they attempt to learn control of the Gift. Worse, as Davian struggles with his lessons, he knows there is further to fall if he cannot pass his final tests.

But when Davian discovers he can wield the forbidden power of the Augurs, he sets into motion a chain of events that will change everything!

24. Red Rising by Pierce Brown

From the blurb:

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.

He discovers that humanity has already reached the surface of Mars 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. There, he will stop at nothing to bring down his enemies… even if he has to become one of them to do so!

Related: How to Read Red Rising Series in Order?

25. The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang

From the blurb:

When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, to Rin’s guardians, and to 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 easy 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!

26. The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

From the blurb:

The Omehi people have been fighting an unwinnable fight for almost two hundred years. Their society has been built around war and only war.

The lucky ones are born gifted. One in every two thousand women has the power to call down dragons. One in every hundred men can magically transform himself into a bigger, stronger, faster killing machine.

Everyone else is fodder, destined to fight and die in the endless war. Young, gift-less Tau knows all this, but he has a plan of escape. He will get himself injured, get out early, and settle down for marriage, children, and land. Only he doesn’t get the chance!

Those closest to him are brutally murdered, and his grief swiftly turns to anger. Fixated on revenge, Tau dedicates himself to an unthinkable path!

27. The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon

From the blurb:

The House of Berethnet has ruled Inys for a thousand years. Still unwed, Queen Sabran the Ninth must conceive a daughter to protect her realm from destruction – but assassins are getting closer to her door.

Ead Duryan is an outsider at the court. Though she has risen to the position of lady-in-waiting, she is loyal to a hidden society of mages. Ead keeps a watchful eye on Sabran, secretly protecting her with forbidden magic.

Across the dark sea, Tané has trained to be a dragon rider since she was a child but is forced to make a choice that could see her life unravel.

Meanwhile, the divided East and West refuse to parley, and forces of chaos and an ancient enemy are rising from their sleep.

28. The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks

From the blurb:

Living in peaceful Shady Vale, Shea Ohmsford knew little of the troubles that plagued the rest of the world. Then the giant, forbidding Allanon, revealed that the supposedly dead Warlock Lord was plotting to destroy the world.

The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness was the Sword of Shannara, which could only be used by a true heir of Shannara – Shea being the last of the bloodline, upon whom all hope rested.

Soon, a Skull Bearer, a dread minion of Evil, flew into the Vale, seeking to destroy Shea. To save the Vale, Shea fled, drawing the Skull Bearer after him!

29. Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan

From the blurb:

Field Marshal Tamas’ coup against his king sent corrupt aristocrats to the guillotine and brought bread to the starving. But it also provoked war with the Nine Nations, internal attacks by royalist fanatics, and the greedy to scramble for money and power.

Stretched to his limit, Tamas is relying heavily on his few remaining powder mages, including the embittered Taniel, a brilliant marksman who also happens to be his estranged son, and Adamat, a retired police inspector whose loyalty is being tested by blackmail.

Now, as attacks batter them from within and without, the credulous are whispering about omens of death and destruction—just old peasant legends about the gods waking to walk the earth.

No modern educated man believes that sort of thing. But they should!

30. From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L. Armentrout

From the blurb:

Chosen from birth to usher in a new era, Poppy’s life has never been her own.

The life of the Maiden is solitary. Never to be touched. Never to be looked upon. Never to be spoken to. Never to experience pleasure. Waiting for the day of her Ascension, she would rather be with the guards, fighting back the evil that took her family, than preparing to be found worthy by the gods.

The entire kingdom’s future rests on Poppy’s shoulders, a responsibility she’s not quite sure she wants.

Because a Maiden has a heart. And a soul. And longing. And when Hawke, a golden-eyed guard honor bound to ensure her Ascension, enters her life, destiny and duty become tangled with desire and need.

Forsaken by the gods and feared by mortals, a fallen kingdom is rising again, determined to take back what they believe is theirs through violence and vengeance. As the shadow of those cursed draws closer, the line between what is forbidden and what is right becomes blurred!

Conclusion

In summary, high fantasy and epic fantasy books offer readers a chance to escape into a magical world filled with adventure, magic, and mythical creatures. From J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” to George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire,” there are countless books and series to choose from.

When selecting epic or high fantasy books to read, consider the world-building, character development, and plot because that would ensure you have a fun and enjoyable reading experience.

In conclusion, I’d like to say that don’t be afraid to explore new authors and series, and always keep an open mind because you might be about to pick a high fantasy or an epic fantasy book series that might become your all-time favorite!