Next Read ClubThe Best Fantasy Books to Read Next
Fantasy is a big tent — cozy, found-family stories live on the same shelf as thousand-page political epics, and both count. The books below range across that whole spectrum, chosen because they're genuinely good entry points or genuinely good rewards for readers who already know what they like. No 200-book completionist list, just the ones we'd actually hand you.
Across the 17 fantasy picks here, most are long books with a slow-burning feel — mostly easy to get into, and leaning escapist and mysterious. Use the length, pace and difficulty on each book's page to pick the one that fits your week.
Circe
Madeline Miller
Turns a footnote in mythology into the most compelling character in it.
Medium · Easy pace · Easy to follow
The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller
You know how it ends from history class. It will still destroy you.
Medium · Easy pace · Beginner-friendly
A Game of Thrones
George R.R. Martin
The book that redefined how brutal and political fantasy could be.
Long · Can't put it down pace · Moderate
The Hobbit
J.R.R. Tolkien
The warmest, most fun entry point into fantasy as a genre.
Medium · Easy pace · Beginner-friendly
The Fellowship of the Ring
J.R.R. Tolkien
The foundation nearly all modern fantasy is still built on.
Long · Slow pace · Moderate
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
J.K. Rowling
Still one of the best 'getting back into reading' books that exists.
Medium · Fast pace · Beginner-friendly
The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune
About as warm and gentle as fantasy gets, with real heart underneath.
Medium · Easy pace · Beginner-friendly
The Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern
Reads like wandering through an impossibly beautiful dream.
Long · Slow pace · Easy to follow
Mistborn: The Final Empire
Brandon Sanderson
Fantasy's best-known 'magic as a system of rules' worldbuilding.
Long · Fast pace · Easy to follow
The Name of the Wind
Patrick Rothfuss
Some of the most quotable prose in modern fantasy.
Long · Slow pace · Easy to follow
The Way of Kings
Brandon Sanderson
For readers who want to disappear into a world for a very long time.
Long · Slow pace · Moderate
Good Omens
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Genuinely one of the funniest fantasy novels ever written.
Medium · Fast pace · Beginner-friendly
American Gods
Neil Gaiman
A uniquely American mythology, built from the ground up.
Long · Slow pace · Moderate
The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman
A short book that hits like a much longer one.
Short · Easy pace · Beginner-friendly
Legends & Lattes
Travis Baldree
The definition of a cozy read — low stakes, high comfort.
Short · Slow pace · Beginner-friendly
Kafka on the Shore
Haruki Murakami
For when you want a book that refuses to fully explain itself.
Long · Slow pace · Challenging
Piranesi
Susanna Clarke
Strange, beautiful, and unlike almost anything else you've read.
Medium · Slow pace · Easy to follow
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