Want to bring a little magic to the waning months of the year? The best fantasy books of December 2024 can do just that!
This year’s final batch of fantasy titles include much-anticipated sequels by Xiran Jay Zhao, Thea Guanzon, Brandon Sanderson, and Davinia Evans, among others. Or, if you’d rather dive into a brand-new world, we’ve got that too, with new titles from Rachel Howzell Hall, Chelsea Iversen, and more.
Get your TBR list ready for some magical reads over the holiday break! Here are all our picks for the best fantasy books of December 2024.
The Shadowed Land by Signe Pike
Release date: December 3
Read it if: You love Arthurian legends but want a reimagining for your best fantasy books of December 2024. The third book in a series, this epic revisits the ancient histories that inspired the enduring legend.
Publisher’s synopsis: Kingdom of Gododdin, AD 580. After defeating the Angles at the Battle of the Caledonian Wood, Languoreth, her daughter Angharad, brother Lailoken, and the warrior Artúr mac Aedan are reunited. But all too soon, fate pulls each back to their own path.
Artúr receives a mysterious summons from his father in Dalriada. Languoreth and Lailoken return to Strathclyde with the dangerous former bishop Mungo in tow, determined to maintain the fragile peace between the Christians and the people of the Old Way. Meanwhile, Angharad must travel deep into the shadowed land of the Picts, hoping to become the initiate of Briochan, a druid who practices the secret Celtic art of summoning weather.
As they rise to their destinies, they are pushed to impossible new frontiers. Each must decide whether they are willing to do what it takes to be the heroes their harrowing days demand.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Last One by Rachel Howzell Hall
Release date: December 3
Read it if: You like your fantasy books with plenty of mystery and a touch of romance, too. Lost in a desolate hellscape, a young woman fights to survive, learning from a mysterious blacksmith.
Publisher’s synopsis: Thrown into a desolate land of sickness and unnatural beasts, Kai wakes in the woods with no idea who she is or how she got there. All she knows is that if she cannot reach the Sea of Devour, even this hellscape will get worse. But when she sees the village blacksmith fight invaders with unspeakable skill, she decides to accept his offer of help.
Too bad he’s as skilled at annoying her as he is at fighting.
As she searches for answers, Kai only finds more questions. Especially regarding the blacksmith who can ignite her body like a flame, then douse it with ice in the next breath.
And no one is what―or who―they appear to be in the kingdom of Vinevridth. Including the man whose secrets might be as deadly as the land itself.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt by Chelsea Iversen
Release date: December 3
Read it if: Your preferences for the best fantasy books of December 2024 lean less epic and more garden-witch-meets-gothic. An abandoned young woman cares for a magical garden while unwinding the truth of her family’s secrets.
Publisher’s synopsis: Harriet Hunt is completely alone. Her father disappeared months ago, leaving her to wander the halls of Sunnyside house, dwelling on a past she’d rather keep buried. She doesn’t often venture beyond her front gate, instead relishing the feel of dirt under her fingernails and of soft moss beneath her feet. Consequently, she’s been deemed a little too peculiar for popular Victorian society. This solitary life suits her fine, though – because, outside, magic awaits.
Harriet’s garden is special. It’s a wild place full of twisting ivy, vibrant plums, and a quiet power that buzzes like bees. Caring for this place, and keeping it from running rampant through the streets of her London suburb, is Harriet’s purpose.
But a woman alone in the world is vulnerable. Soon, a sinister plot involving her father’s disappearance begins to take shape, with Harriet herself at its center. Everything she holds dear – from the thorny roses she tends to her very freedom itself – is at stake. To save herself, Harriet will have to unearth her past, discover the secrets of her garden, and finally embrace the wild magic inside of her.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Rebel Blade by Davinia Evans
Release date: December 3
Read it if: Your idea of the best fantasy books of December 2024 includes something a little quirkier. Magical chaos reigns as monsters rise and magicians fight to save their city.
Publisher’s synopsis: Siyon Velo has given magic back to the Mundane. But with it, monsters of myth have awoken to cause chaos in Bezim and–of course–everyone’s blaming him. Hunted high and low, Siyon struggles against the rising tide of mystery, magic and mayhem threatening the city that’s turned its back on him.
In the Flower District, Lady Sable has unleashed chaos. But in the Avenues, Anahid is desperate to keep her slippery secrets just a little longer, until Zagiri can join the froth and frippery of high society. With scandal stalking the sisters and revolution rumbling anew, the best–and the worst–they can do may not be enough to save their city…
The Alchemist must rise, or Bezim will burn.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Wind and Truth by Brandon Sanderson
Release date: December 6
Read it if: You’re already a fan of Sanderson’s Stormlight Archives. The fifth entry follows the ensemble cast as they fight for the fate of the entire Cosmere.
Publisher’s synopsis: Dalinar Kholin challenged the evil god Odium to a contest of champions with the future of Roshar on the line. The Knights Radiant have only ten days to prepare―and the sudden ascension of the crafty and ruthless Taravangian to take Odium’s place has thrown everything into disarray.
Desperate fighting continues simultaneously worldwide―Adolin in Azir, Sigzil and Venli at the Shattered Plains, and Jasnah in Thaylenah. The former assassin, Szeth, must cleanse his homeland of Shinovar from the dark influence of the Unmade. He is accompanied by Kaladin, who faces a new battle helping Szeth fight his own demons . . . and who must do the same for the insane Herald of the Almighty, Ishar.
At the same time, Shallan, Renarin, and Rlain work to unravel the mystery behind the Unmade Ba-Ado-Mishram and her involvement in the enslavement of the singer race and in the ancient Knights Radiant killing their spren. And Dalinar and Navani seek an edge against Odium’s champion that can be found only in the Spiritual Realm, where memory and possibility combine in chaos. The fate of the entire Cosmere hangs in the balance.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
A Monsoon Rising by Thea Guanzon
Release date: December 10
Read it if: You’re always on board for twisty enemies-to-lovers and elemental magic. A political marriage brings emotional turmoil for would-be lovers on opposite sides of an epic war.
Publisher’s synopsis: After a lifetime of war, Alaric and Talasyn were thrust into an alliance between their homelands that was supposed to end the fighting; however, being married to their sworn foe feels far from peaceful. Now Talasyn must play the part of Alaric’s willing empress while her allies secretly plot to overthrow his reign. But the longer the couple are forced together, the harder it becomes to deny the feelings crackling like lightning between them. When the time comes to act, can she trust him, or must she ignore her heart for the sake of so many others?
As the master of the Shadowforged Legion, Alaric has trained for battle all his life, but marrying a Lightweaver might be his most dangerous challenge yet. With tensions between nations churning, he needs to focus on the greater threat—the Moonless Dark, a cataclysmic magical event that could devour everything. Only he and Talasyn can stop it, with a powerful merging of light and shadow that they alone can create together. But saving their world from this disaster is a mere preface to his father’s more sinister schemes, and his wife is a burning flame in the darkness, tempting both his loyalties and his desires.
The Hurricane Wars aren’t over. It’s time to choose what—and who—to fight for. The world holds its breath amidst a whirlwind of new magic and old secrets that could change everything.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao
Release date: December 24
Read it if: You’ve been waiting for ages for this Chinese-history-meets-Pacific-Rim sequel. After seizing power from a brutal government, a young woman must weigh who to trust and how to avoid letting her darkest instincts lead the way.
Publisher’s synopsis: After suffering devastating loss and making drastic decisions, Zetian finds herself on the seat of power in Huaxia, but she has also learned that her world is not as it seems. Revelations about an enemy who dangles one of her loved ones as a hostage force Zetian to share power with a dangerous man she cannot simply depose. Despite their mutual dislike and distrust, the two must work together to take down their common enemy and stoke a revolution against the systems of exploitation that plague their world.
However, power is not so easy to wield once seized, and a revolution is not so easy to control once unleashed. As Huaxia’s former elites strike back and the common people’s fervor for justice turns bloody and paranoid, can Zetian remain a fair and just ruler? Or will she be forced to rely on fear and violence and succumb to her darker instincts in her quest for vengeance and liberation?
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
A Sky of Emerald Stars by A.K. Mulford
Release date: December 24
Read it if: You’re a fan of shifter romance and court politics. The best fantasy books of December 2024 must include this sequel set in an enchanted world on the brink of war.
Publisher’s synopsis: After the long, despotic reign under the evil sorceress, Sawyn, life in the Golden Court is finally rebuilding. New leadership means new beginnings, and Sadie Rauxtide—now a royal guard—has been grappling with how she’ll fit into her new home. But when a rival Wolf king, Nero, kidnaps the Queen’s friend and mentor Ora, any hopes for peace are lost.
The Golden Court springs into action, and Sadie is tasked with an important mission: travel with Navin and Maez to try to win new allies and uncover Nero’s hidden secrets. Yet Navin has secrets of his own, and Sadie is tasked with uncovering them while battling her growing attraction to the man who betrayed her. She has a mission, but the heart wants what it wants. And fate? Fate has its own magic, and it’s one more thing out of her control.
Meanwhile, Queen Calla is forced to seek help from the Ice Wolf pack in order to stop Nero’s prejudicial rule. However, the Queen of Taigos makes Calla’s objectives impossible with their capricious relationship standing in the way—completely unwilling to commit in helping Calla rescue Ora and repeatedly dismissing Calla’s new gender identity. With no true allyship from Taigos Court, Calla battles between diplomacy and being their true self as they realize coming out is only the beginning of their journey of self-discovery.
Get it on Amazon or support your local bookstores through Bookshop.org.
