The best fantasy books of September 2024 bring all kinds of magic to your shelves. From books full of cozy whimsy to dark and fearsome tales, there’s something for every fantasy fan.
This month’s new releases are definitely worth getting excited about! Andrea Stewart, Abigail Owen, Amy Leow, and others invite you into worlds of god and humans alike. We’ve also got new twists on vampire lore, sprawling empires of magic, dragons, curses, and so much more. Get your TBR ready — here are our picks for the best fantasy books of September 2024.
Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma
Release date: Sept. 3
Read it if: You love Gothic stories, dark academia, and vampire lore. An heiress infiltrates a mysterious university to get close to the vampire she blames for her sister’s disappearance.
Publisher’s synopsis: It began long before my time, but something has always hunted our family.
Orphaned heiress Kidan Adane grew up far from the arcane society she was born into, where human bloodlines gain power through vampire companionship. When her sister, June, disappears, Kidan is convinced a vampire stole her—the very vampire bound to their family, the cruel yet captivating Susenyos Sagad.
To find June, Kidan must infiltrate the elite Uxlay University—where students study to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and vampires and inherit their family legacies. Kidan must survive living with Susenyos—even as he does everything he can to drive her away. It doesn’t matter that Susenyos’s wickedness speaks to Kidan’s own violent nature and tempts her to surrender to a life of darkness. She must find her sister and kill Susenyos at all costs.
When a murder mirroring June’s disappearance shakes Uxlay, Kidan sinks further into the ruthless underworld of vampires, risking her very soul. There she discovers a centuries-old threat—and June could be at the center of it. To save her sister, Kidan must bring Uxlay to its knees and either break free from the horrors of her own actions or embrace the dark entanglements of love—and the blood it requires.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Games Gods Play by Abigail Owen
Release date: Sept. 3
Read it if: You love the idea of mythology crossed with Hunger Games-style competition. A cursed clerk is commanded to enter a deadly contest on behalf of Hades himself.
Publisher’s synopsis: I have never been favored by the gods. Far from it, thanks to Zeus.
Living as a cursed office clerk for the Order of Thieves, I just keep my head down and hope the capricious beings who rule from Olympus won’t notice me. Not an easy feat, given San Francisco is Zeus’ patron city, but I make do. I survive. Until the night I tangle with a different god.
The worst god. Hades.
For the first time ever, the ruthless, mercurial King of the Underworld has entered the Crucible―the deadly contest the gods hold to determine a new ruler to sit on the throne of Olympus. But instead of fighting their own battles, the gods name mortals to compete in their stead.
So why in the Underworld did Hades choose me―a sarcastic nobody with a curse on her shoulders―as his champion? And why does my heart trip every time he says I’m his?
I don’t know if I’m a pawn, bait, or something else entirely to this dangerously tempting god. How can I, when he has more secrets than stars in the sky?
Because Hades is playing by his own rules…and Death will win at any cost.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Gods Below by Andrea Stewart
Release date: Sept. 3
Read it if: You love tales of sisterhood amidst dangerous, fantastical stakes. A young woman risks it all to save her sister in a world living under a god’s wrath.
Publisher’s synopsis: A divine war shattered the world leaving humanity in ruins. Desperate for hope, they struck a deal with the devious god Kluehnn: He would restore the world to its former glory, but at a price so steep it would keep the mortals indebted to him for eternity. And, as each land was transformed, so too were its people changed into strange new forms – if they survived at all.
Hakara is not willing to pay such a price. Desperate to protect herself, and her sister Rasha, she flees her homeland for the safety of a neighboring kingdom. But when tragedy separates them, Hakara is forced to abandon her beloved sister to an unknown fate.
Alone and desperate for answers on the wrong side of the world, Hakara discovers she can channel the magic from the mysterious gems they are forced to mine for Kluehnn. With that discovery comes another: her sister is alive, and only the rebels plotting to destroy the God Pact can help rescue her.
But only if Hakara goes to war against a god.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Vilest Things by Chloe Gong
Release date: Sept. 10
Read it if: You like your fantasy books with a Shakespearean twist. Gong’s Antony & Cleopatra-inspired sequel features a body-swap, an empire in turmoil, and a love triangle (and then some).
Publisher’s synopsis: Calla Tuoleimi has succeeded in the impossible. Despite the odds, she has won San-Er’s bloody games and eliminated King Kasa, her tyrant uncle and the former ruler of Talin. She now serves as royal advisor to Kasa’s adopted son, August Shenzhi, who has risen to the throne.
Only Calla knows it isn’t really August.
Anton Makusa is still furious about Calla’s betrayal in the final round of the games. In an impossible feat, he took over August’s body to survive. He has no intention of giving up this newfound power. But when his first love, the beautiful, explosive Otta Avia, awakens from a yearslong coma and reveals a secret that threatens the monarchy’s authority over Talin, chaos erupts. As tensions come to a boiling point, Calla and Anton must set their conflicts aside and head to the kingdom’s far reaches to prevent anarchy…even if their empire might be better off burning.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Scarlet Throne by Amy Leow
Release date: Sept. 10
Read it if: You love fantasy worlds with twisty politics and divine interventions. A so-called living goddess strikes a deal with a demon to keep her hold on power.
Publisher’s synopsis: Binsa is a “living goddess,” chosen by the gods to dispense both mercy and punishment from her place on the Scarlet Throne. But her reign hides a deadly secret. Rather than channeling the wisdom of an immortal deity, she harbors a demon.
Though, one cannot remain a living goddess forever. When her temple’s priests decide that Binsa’s time in power has come to an end, a new girl, Medha, is selected to take over her position as goddess. But Binsa refuses to be discarded into a life of uncertainty as a young woman, and she strikes a deal with her demon: She will sacrifice her people’s lives in order to magnify his power, and in return, he will help her seize control from the priests once and for all.
But how much of her humanity is she willing to trade for the sake of ambition? Deals with demons are rarely so simple.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Ending Fire by Saara El-Arifi
Release date: Sept. 10
Read it if: You love sprawling, epic fantasy worlds with tons of players. In the final book of a trilogy, an empire falls as a final battle looms.
Publisher’s synopsis: The Wardens’ Empire is falling. A vigilante known only as the Truthsayer is raising an army against the wardens. Sylah and Hassa must navigate the politics of this new world, all the while searching for Anoor.
Across the sea, the Blood Forged prepare for war, requesting aid from other governments. Jond’s role as major general sees him training soldiers for combat, but matters of the heart will prove to be the hardest battlefield.
The Zalaam celebrate the arrival of the Child of Fire, heralding the start of the final battle. Anoor’s doubts are eclipsed by the powers of her new god. Soon the Zalaam will set off on their last voyage—and few expect to return.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Witch of Colchis by Rosie Hewlett
Release date: Sept. 10
Read it if: You love feminist retellings of ancient mythology. This time, we get Medea’s side of Greek myth, portraying her as a kindhearted outcast with mysterious power.
Publisher’s synopsis: A disgraced daughter. A fearsome witch. A woman more myth than mortal.
Medea, princess of Colchis, longs for a different life. Since childhood, she has been shunned from her family, tormented by her people, and treated with shame. All because of a unique and dangerous talent: witchcraft.
But when a dashing young hero, Jason, arrives to claim the famed Golden Fleece, Medea sees her opportunity for escape. Her offer to help Jason sets in motion a journey that will test every ounce of strength, magic, and loyalty she has. A journey that will see her battle monsters, dethrone kings, and confront a love more brutal than any before.
A journey that will ultimately end in betrayal, bloodshed, and a dark power impossible to forget.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Seasons of Flesh and Flame by A.G. Howard
Release date: Sept. 17
Read it if: You love stories of complicated family bonds and magical beings. After taking her sister’s place, a girl must rebuild the very realm that tore her family apart.
Publisher’s synopsis: Nix Loring stepped into Mystiquel to face the Goblin King and break her family’s curse. When she found her twin, Lark, held captive for three years and forced to power the magical realm with her imagination, Nix offered herself up in her sister’s place.
Now, Nix wants nothing more than to be home with the people she loves. Instead, she’s tasked to create beauty from a world fallen to desolation. She finds herself drawn to the faerie creatures under her care-and even reluctantly drawn to the Goblin King himself. But how can she rebuild the very realm that tore her family apart?
Back home, her uncle and boyfriend desperately plan a rescue. But Lark, having learned Nix was meant to be the Goblin King’s captive in the first place, resents how her twin stole everything belonging to her during her absence. Worse yet, Lark harbors an unspeakable secret that could destroy what little she has left.
As time draws closer to the rescue, Lark grapples with the darkness growing inside: should she help save her sister, or finally get her revenge?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
A Dark and Drowning Tide by Alison Saft
Release date: Sept. 17
Read it if: You love dark academia tales tinged with folklore. After their mentor is murdered, an expedition to a mythical spring turns into a deadly mystery.
Publisher’s synopsis: Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a fabled spring. The magical spring promises untold power, which the king wants to harness in order to secure his reign over the embattled country of Brunnestaad. Lorelei is determined to use this opportunity to prove herself and make her wildest, most impossible dream come true: to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to lands she’s only read about.
The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader—Lorelei’s beloved mentor—is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are the five remaining expedition mates, each with their own motive. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again—and a coup begins in earnest.
But there are other dangers lurking in the dark: forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons hiding beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood.
As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth—and resist their growing feelings for each other—they discover that their leader had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei question whether justice is worth pursuing, and if this kingdom is worth saving at all.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Fear the Flames by
Rewitched by Lucy Jane Wood
Release date: Sept. 17
Read it if: You prefer cozy fantasy with found family and sisterhood, a la Charmed or a magical Gilmore Girls. A struggling witch tries to prepare for her coven’s upcoming test of her magic.
Publisher’s synopsis: Belladonna Blackthorn hasn’t lost her magical spark, precisely . . . but she hasn’t seen it in a while either.
With her witchcraft under wraps and a toxic boss making her days miserable, Belle is struggling to keep her beloved Lunar Books afloat and just make it through the day. The last thing she has time for is perfecting her magic.
So when her thirtieth birthday brings a summons from her coven and a trial that tests her worthiness as a witch, Belle fears the worst. With only the month of October left to prove herself or risk losing her magic forever, Belle will need all the help she can get—from the women in her life, from an unlikely mentor figure and even from an infuriating coven watchman who’s sworn to protect her…
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Lies We Conjure by Sarah Henning
Release date: Sept. 17
Read it if: Your love for fantasy is only matched by your love of mysteries. Two normal sisters find themselves trapped in a locked-room murder mystery alongside a bunch of witches.
Publisher’s synopsis: Ruby and her sister, Wren, are normal, middle-class Colorado high school students working a summer job at the local Renaissance Fest to supplement their meager college savings.
So when an eccentric old lady asks them to impersonate her long-absent grandchildren at a fancy dinner party at the jaw-dropping rate of two grand―each―for a single night… Wren insists it’s a no-brainer. Make some cash, have some fun, do a good deed.
But less than an hour into the evening at the mysterious Hegemony Manor, Ruby is sure she must have lost her mind to have agreed to this.
The hostess is dead, the gates are locked, and a magical curse ensures no one can leave until they solve both her murder and the riddles she left behind―in just three days. Because everyone else at this party is a powerful witch. And if the witches realize Ruby and Wren are imposters? The sisters won’t make it out of Hegemony Manor alive.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
A Fire in the Sky by Sophie Jordan
Release date: Sept. 24
Read it if: You’re intrigued by a Beauty and the Beast-esque tale with dragon shifters. A royal servant marries a “beastly” warrior in a princess’s place, in a land of dangerous dragons and dying magic.
Publisher’s synopsis: Dragons are extinct. Witches are outcast. Magic is dying. But human lust for power is immortal.
Dragon fire no longer blisters the skies over Penterra, but inside the lavish palace, life is still perilous…especially for Tamsyn. Raised in the glittering court alongside the princesses, it’s her duty to be punished for their misdeeds. Treated as part of the royal family but also as the lowliest servant, Tamsyn fits nowhere. Her only friend is Stig, Captain of the Guard…though sometimes she thinks he wants more than friendship.
When Fell, the Beast of the Borderlands, descends on her home, Tamsyn’s world becomes even more dangerous. To save the pampered princesses from a fate worse than death, she is commanded to don a veil and marry the brutal warrior. She agrees to the deception even though it means leaving Stig, and the only life she’s ever known, behind.
The wedding night begins with unexpected passion—and ends in near violence when her trickery is exposed. Rather than start a war, Fell accepts Tamsyn as his bride…but can he accept the dark secrets she harbors—secrets buried so deep even she doesn’t know they exist? For Tamsyn is more than a royal whipping girl, more than the false wife of a man who now sees her as his enemy. And when those secrets emerge, they will ignite a flame bright enough to burn the entire kingdom to the bone.
Magic is not dead…it is only sleeping. And it will take one ordinary girl with an extraordinary destiny to awaken it.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Thirteenth Child by Erin A. Craig
Release date: Sept. 24
Read it if: You like fairytales that stick to their darker roots. A young healer is sent to a dangerous royal court to try to heal a king already doomed to die.
Publisher’s synopsis: Hazel Trépas has always known she wasn’t like the rest of her siblings. A thirteenth child, promised away to one of the gods, she spends her childhood waiting for her godfather—Merrick, the Dreaded End—to arrive.
When he does, he lays out exactly how he’s planned Hazel’s future. She will become a great healer, known throughout the kingdom for her precision and skill. To aid her endeavors, Merrick blesses Hazel with a gift, the ability to instantly deduce the exact cure needed to treat the sick.
But all gifts come with a price. Hazel can see when Death has claimed a patient—when all hope is gone—and is tasked to end their suffering, permanently. Haunted by the ghosts of those she’s killed, Hazel longs to run. But destiny brings her to the royal court, where she meets Leo, a rakish prince with a disdain for everything and everyone. And it’s where Hazel faces her biggest dilemma yet—to save the life of a king marked to die. Hazel knows what she is meant to do and knows what her heart is urging her toward, but what will happen if she goes against the will of Death?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner
Release date: Sept. 24
Read it if: You like cozy mysteries and quirky casts with a touch of magic (or you totally crushed on Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Giles). A librarian enlists a motley crew to exorcise a demon and solve a string of murders.
Publisher’s synopsis: Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count…but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural.
When someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town’s new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the “Demon-Hunting Society,” Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
