From grand epics to mythological retellings to cozy tales, the best fantasy books of July 2024 run the gamut of the genre. The month ahead is packed with highly-anticipated fantasy books, and we’re here to help you find them all!
This July, you’ll find new titles from beloved authors like Lev Grossman and Deborah Harkness. There are new takes on old myths alongside quirky twists on the fantasy genre. And, of course, we’ve got a few romantasy releases for you, too. Read on to find all our picks for the best fantasy books of July 2024!
The Night Ends with Fire by K.X. Song
Release date: July 2
Read it if: You’re all about morally-complex characters, rich world-building, and twists. In this magic-infused Mulan retelling, a young woman escapes by joining the army. She must choose where her loyalties lie: a mystical being who encourages her spirit, or a prince who touches her heart.
Publisher’s synopsis: The Three Kingdoms are at war, but Meilin’s father refuses to answer the imperial draft. Trapped by his opium addiction, he plans to sell Meilin for her dowry. But when Meilin discovers her husband-to-be is another violent, ill-tempered man, she realizes that nothing will change for her unless she takes matters into her own hands.
The very next day, she disguises herself as a boy and enlists in her father’s place.
In the army, Meilin’s relentless hard work brings her recognition, friendship—and a growing closeness with Sky, a prince turned training partner. But has she simply exchanged one prison for another? As her kingdom barrels toward destruction, Meilin begins to have visions of a sea dragon spirit that offers her true power and freedom, but with a deadly price.
With the future of the Three Kingdoms hanging in the balance, Meilin will need to decide whom to trust—Sky, who inspires her loyalty and love; the sea dragon spirit, who has his own murky agenda; or an infuriating enemy prince who makes her question everything she once knew—about her kingdom and about her own heart.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Reckless by Lauren Roberts
Release date: July 2
Read it if: You love classic YA fantasy tropes and today’s romantasy trends. A prince of a brutal kingdom must hunt down the lowborn rebel he can’t stop thinking about.
Publisher’s synopsis: The kingdom of Ilya is in turmoil…
After surviving the Purging Trials, Ordinary-born Paedyn Gray has killed the King and kickstarted a Resistance throughout the land. Now she’s running from the one person she had wanted to run to.
Kai Azer is now Ilya’s Enforcer, loyal to his brother Kitt, the new King. He has vowed to find Paedyn and bring her to justice.
Across the deadly Scorches, and deep into the hostile city of Dor, Kai pursues the one person he wishes he didn’t have to. But in a city without Elites, the balance between the hunter and hunted shifts. And the battle between duty and desire is deadly.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Gilded Crown by Marianne Gordon
Release date: July 2
Read it if: You’re intrigued by books where death itself is practically (or literally) a character. A woman with the gift to raise the dead must save and then protect a princess.
Publisher’s synopsis: The first time Hellevir visited Death, she was ten years old…
Since she was a little girl, Hellevir has been able to raise the dead. Every creature can be saved for a price, a price demanded by the shrouded figure who rules the afterlife, who takes a little more from Hellevir with each soul she resurrects.
Such a gift can rarely remain a secret. When Princess Sullivain, sole heir to the kingdom’s throne, is assassinated, the Queen summons Hellevir to demand she bring her granddaughter back to life. But once is not enough; the killers might strike again. The Princess’s death would cause a civil war, so the Queen commands that Hellevir remain by her side.
But Sullivain is no easy woman to be bound to, even as Hellevir begins to fall in love with her. With the threat of war looming, Hellevir must trade more and more of herself to keep the Princess alive.
But Death will always take what he is owed.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee (translated by Sandy Joosun Lee)
Release date: July 9
Read it if: You prefer your fantasy books on the cozier, quirkier side. A mysterious store on a magical plane sells dreams to all those who come to “shop”.
Publisher’s synopsis: In a mysterious town hidden in our collective subconscious, there’s a department store that sells dreams. Day and night, visitors both human and animal shuffle in to purchase their latest adventure. Each floor specializes in a specific type of dream: childhood memories, food dreams, ice skating, dreams of stardom. Flying dreams are almost always sold out. Some seek dreams of loved ones who have died.
For Penny, an enthusiastic new hire, working at Dallergut is the opportunity of a lifetime. As she uncovers the workings of this whimsical world, she bonds with a cast of unforgettable characters, including Dallergut, the flamboyant and wise owner, Babynap Rockabye, a famous dream designer, Maxim, a nightmare producer, and the many customers who dream to heal, dream to grow, and dream to flourish.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Blood-Dimmed Tide by Stephen Aryan
Release date: July 9
Read it if: You love epic fantasies inspired by real history and culture. Royals, magic-wielders, and schemers seek to leave their mark on the world in a clash of empire.
Publisher’s synopsis: Kaivon, the last Persian General, is celebrating as Hulagu Khan’s dream of conquering the whole world lies in tatters. But the fight is not yet done, as Persia is still occupied by Mongol invaders.
Betrayed by his cousin in the north, Hulagu must strike back at the Golden Horde, weakening the Mongol Empire even further with another civil war.
Temujin, the youngest son of Hulagu, has developed abilities that can destroy a city’s walls in a heartbeat. Unwilling to trust his father with something so powerful, he abandons the Empire. Recruited by others like him, Temujin seeks to restore balance to the world, whilst learning more about what he has become.
Kokochin is the newest member of a secret society that protects Persia. She has found her purpose, but her double life has been exposed. Now, she must find a way to escape the clutches of Empress, who seeks to use Kokochin’s abilities to further their husband’s plans of conquest.
Deep within the Empire, a new threat is rising. One so dangerous that it could overshadow the legacy of Genghis Khan and change the world.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Sky on Fire by Jenn Lyons
Release date: July 9
Read it if: You’d happily read a hybrid of Fourth Wing and Six of Crows. A loner joins (somewhat unwillingly) a daring heist in a world ruled by dragons.
Publisher’s synopsis: Anahrod lives only for survival, forging her own way through the harsh jungles of the Deep with her titan drake by her side. Even when an adventuring party saves her from capture by a local warlord, she is eager to return to her solitary life.
But this is no ordinary rescue. It’s Anahrod’s past catching up with her. These cunning misfits―and their frustratingly appealing dragonrider ringleader―intend to spirit her away to the dragon-ruled sky cities, where they need her help to steal from a dragon’s hoard.
There’s only one problem: the hoard in question belongs to the current regent, Neveranimas―and she wants Anahrod dead.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
Release date: July 9
Read it if: You’d love to live in a cottagecore library fantasy. A magical librarian flees a revolution, returns to the remote island where she grew up, and opens a spellshop.
Publisher’s synopsis: Kiela has always had trouble dealing with people. Thankfully, as a librarian at the Great Library of Alyssium, she and her assistant, Caz―a magically sentient spider plant―have spent the last decade sequestered among the empire’s most precious spellbooks, preserving their magic for the city’s elite.
When a revolution begins and the library goes up in flames, she and Caz flee with all the spellbooks they can carry and head to a remote island Kiela never thought she’d see again: her childhood home. Taking refuge there, Kiela discovers, much to her dismay, a nosy―and very handsome―neighbor who can’t take a hint and keeps showing up day after day to make sure she’s fed and to help fix up her new home.
In need of income, Kiela identifies something that even the bakery in town doesn’t have: jam. With the help of an old recipe book her parents left her and a bit of illegal magic, her cottage garden is soon covered in ripe berries.
But magic can do more than make life a little sweeter, so Kiela risks the consequences of using unsanctioned spells and opens the island’s first-ever and much needed secret spellshop.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Shadowstitch by Cari Thomas
Release date: July 9
Read it if: You love coming-of-age fantasy and covens that stick together. Twin witches and their coven find themselves in danger from a witch hunt sweeping across London.
Publisher’s synopsis: Anna survived the attempt to bind her magic, but Anna and her coven aren’t free from danger yet.
Haunted by her aunt’s death, living in fear of her curse, and fated to love the one man she can never have, the last thing Anna needs is a witch hunt. Now she must conceal her magic once more or risk losing everything.
But when deadly hysteria strikes across the capital, and in her own school, the coven are left dangerously exposed. Delving deeper into the magical underworld of London, Anna and her twin sister Effie must find a way to work together to protect the coven.
But as the witch hunt intensifies and the hysteria spirals out of control, can Effie and Anna truly trust each other?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
These Deathless Shores by P.H. Low
Release date: July 9
Read it if: Villain origin stories have always intrigued you. A former “Lost Boy” returns to the magical island to face down the forces that derailed her life.
Publisher’s synopsis: Jordan was once a Lost Boy, convinced she would never grow up. Now, she’s twenty-two and exiled to the real world, still suffering withdrawal from the addictive magic Dust of her childhood. With nothing left to lose, Jordan returns to the Island and its stories—of pirates and war and the heartlessness of youth—intent on facing Peter one last time, on her own terms.
If that makes her the villain…so be it.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Navola by Paolo Bagigalupi
Release date: July 9
Read it if: You love reading about Renaissance history and politics. A powerful family’s scion prepares to take power in a Game of Thrones-esque tale inspired by the Medici clan.
Publisher’s synopsis: In Navola, a bustling city-state dominated by a handful of influential families, business is power, and power is everything. For generations, the di Regulai family—merchant bankers with a vast empire—has nurtured tendrils that stretch to the farthest reaches of the known world. And though they claim not to be political, their staggering wealth has bought cities and toppled kingdoms. Soon, Davico di Regulai will be expected to take the reins of power from his father and demonstrate his mastery of the games of Navolese diplomacy: knowing who to trust and who to doubt, and how to read what lies hidden behind a smile. But in Navola, strange and ancient undercurrents lurk behind the gilt and grandeur—like the fossilized dragon eye in the family’s possession, a potent symbol of their raw power and a talisman that seems to be summoning Davico to act.
As tensions rise and the events unfold, Davico will be tested to his limits. His fate depends on the eldritch dragon relic and on what lies buried in the heart of his adopted sister, Celia di Balcosi, whose own family was destroyed by Nalova’s twisted politics.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
Release date: July 16
Read it if: You’ve been waiting forever for Grossman’s post-Magicians epic, or you love Arthurian legends. After the fall of Camelot, a mismatched group of knights struggle to restore order and uncover secrets.
Publisher’s synopsis: A gifted young knight named Collum arrives at Camelot to compete for a spot on the Round Table, only to find that he’s too late. The king died two weeks ago at the Battle of Camlann, leaving no heir. Only a handful of the knights of the Round Table survive.
They aren’t the heroes of legend, like Lancelot or Gawain. They’re the oddballs of the Round Table, from the edges of the stories, like Sir Palomides, the Saracen Knight, and Sir Dagonet, Arthur’s fool, who was knighted as a joke. They’re joined by Nimue, who was Merlin’s apprentice until she turned on him and buried him under a hill. Together this ragtag fellowship will set out to rebuild Camelot in a world that has lost its balance.
But Arthur’s death has revealed Britain’s fault lines. God has abandoned it, and the fairies and monsters and old gods are returning, led by Arthur’s half-sister Morgan le Fay. Kingdoms are turning on each other, warlords lay siege to Camelot and rival factions are forming around the disgraced Lancelot and the fallen Queen Guinevere. It is up to Collum and his companions to reclaim Excalibur, solve the mysteries of this ruined world, and make it whole again. But before they can restore Camelot they’ll have to learn the truth of why the lonely, brilliant King Arthur fell and lay to rest the ghosts of his troubled family and of Britain’s dark past.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Second Son by Adrienne Tooley
Release date: July 16
Read it if: Sapphic romantasies (and striking covers) are your jam. An apothecary and a princess must navigate their fates in a world of warring gods and prophecies.
Publisher’s synopsis: The centuries-old prophecy has been fulfilled at last: the New Maiden has returned to Velle. Unfortunately, so has a malicious demi-god, whose elusive prophet is intent on converting the New Maiden’s followers. The Second Son is a vengeful, angry deity, whose psalm resonates with the disenfranchised.
With Elodie on the throne and Sabine in her own unique position of power, it should be easy enough to track down the culprit. Yet even as they’re falling in love, both girls are keeping dangerous secrets from each other. The cult of the Second Son threatens to overthrow not only the Church of the New Maiden but also Velle’s monarchy. Elodie and Sabine must navigate impossible odds to dismantle the root of his power, all while their lives hang in the balance.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness
Release date: July 16
Read it if: You’ve been eagerly awaiting the next All Souls novel. A witch confronts her own family’s dark past while trying to protect her children from what’s to come.
Publisher’s synopsis: Deborah Harkness first introduced the world to Diana Bishop, an Oxford scholar and witch, and vampire geneticist Matthew de Clermont in A Discovery of Witches. Drawn to each other despite long-standing taboos, these two otherworldly beings found themselves at the center of a battle for a lost, enchanted manuscript known as Ashmole 782. Since then, they have fallen in love, traveled to Elizabethan England, dissolved the Covenant between the three species, and awoken the dark powers within Diana’s family line.
Now, Diana and Matthew receive a formal demand from the Congregation: They must test the magic of their seven-year-old twins, Pip and Rebecca. Concerned with their safety and desperate to avoid the same fate that led her parents to spellbind her, Diana decides to forge a different path for her family’s future and answers a message from a great-aunt she never knew existed, Gwyneth Proctor, whose invitation simply reads: It’s time you came home, Diana.
On the hallowed ground of Ravenswood, the Proctor family home, and under the tutelage of Gwyneth, a talented witch grounded in higher magic, a new era begins for Diana: a confrontation with her family’s dark past and a reckoning for her own desire for even greater power—if she can let go, finally, of her fear of wielding it.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
