New Adult Fantasy Book Recommendations

Hello friends! I’m super excited about this post because I just love New Adult. What is New Adult? It’s an age range, like YA and Adult and Middle Grade, with the focus on 19 to 25-year-old characters. New Adult isn’t exactly a defined age range, especially in fantasy and sci-fi. But it has been gaining more attention these last few years. I’m a big fan because I am in that age gap, and I love reading stories focused on the NA age group. So here are my New Adult Book Recommendations!

{You might also like: Well Played – Book Review}

New Adult Fantasy Book Recommendations

1. Of Silver and Shadow by Jennifer Gruenke

THIS BOOK. OMG. It’s probably going to be one of my favourite books of the year because it just includes everything I love. Magic, enemies to lovers, LGBTQ romance. I’m all here for it. Plus the characters are between 19-23 and I just enjoyed it. Read my review here.

Goodreads Description: Ren Kolins is a silver wielder—a dangerous thing to be in the kingdom of Erdis, where magic has been outlawed for a century. Ren is just trying to survive, sticking to a life of petty thievery, card games, and pit fighting to get by. But when a wealthy rebel leader discovers her secret, he offers her a fortune to join his revolution. The caveat: she won’t see a single coin until they overthrow the King.

Behind the castle walls, a brutal group of warriors known as the King’s Children is engaged in a competition: the first to find the rebel leader will be made King’s Fang, the right hand of the King of Erdis. And Adley Farre is hunting down the rebels one by one, torturing her way to Ren and the rebel leader, and the coveted King’s Fang title.

But time is running out for all of them, including the youngest Prince of Erdis, who finds himself pulled into the rebellion. Political tensions have reached a boiling point, and Ren and the rebels must take the throne before war breaks out.

2. State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury

This is one of my favourite duologies. It’s a political fantasy with incredible worldbuilding and incredible characters. Although the characters are a bit younger, it tackles some very difficult topics and includes some great smut. (I know, I’m just here for the smut). State of Sorrow is also incredibly well written and Melinda Salisbury is one of my favourite authors. This one is a must-read.

Goodreads Description: Sorrow – for that is all she brings us.

A people laid low by grief and darkness.
A cut-throat race for power and victory.
A girl with everything and nothing to lose…

By day, Sorrow governs the Court of Tears, covering for her grief-maddened father, who has turned their once celebrated land into a living monument for the brother who died before she was born.

By night, she seeks solace in the arms of the boy she’s loved since childhood. But one ghost won’t stop haunting her, and when enemies old and new close ranks against her, Sorrow must decide how far she’s willing to go to win…

3. Furyborn by Claire Legrand

I feel like this book does not get enough love. It’s a high fantasy set in an amazing world with an explosive plot. What more could you want? The prologue of Furyborn is one of the best things I’ve ever read, and even though this book features a dual POV, we’re never lost in the story. There’s a very distinct feel to both POVs and the tie-ins between them are just amazing.

Goodreads Description: When assassins ambush her best friend, Rielle Dardenne risks everything to save him, exposing herself as one of a pair of prophesied queens: a queen of light, and a queen of blood. To prove she is the Sun Queen, Rielle must endure seven elemental magic trials. If she fails, she will be executed…unless the trials kill her first.

One thousand years later, the legend of Queen Rielle is a fairy tale to Eliana Ferracora. A bounty hunter for the Undying Empire, Eliana believes herself untouchable–until her mother vanishes. To find her, Eliana joins a rebel captain and discovers that the evil at the empire’s heart is more terrible than she ever imagined.

As Rielle and Eliana fight in a cosmic war that spans millennia, their stories intersect, and the shocking connections between them ultimately determine the fate of their world–and of each other.

4. These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong

I finished this book recently (review coming soon) and it was just such a fun read. Romeo & Juliet meets Shanghai gangsters. What more do you want? The characters are also a bit older and this book has some amazing LGBTQ rep as well. It comes out on the 17th of November so mark your calendars! Chloe Gong is also amazing to follow on Twitter, so do that if you haven’t already. And check out this awesome review by my good friend Mouse That Reads!

Goodreads Description: The year is 1926, and Shanghai hums to the tune of debauchery.

A blood feud between two gangs runs the streets red, leaving the city helpless in the grip of chaos. At the heart of it all is eighteen-year-old Juliette Cai, a former flapper who has returned to assume her role as the proud heir of the Scarlet Gang—a network of criminals far above the law. Their only rivals in power are the White Flowers, who have fought the Scarlets for generations. And behind every move is their heir, Roma Montagov, Juliette’s first love…and first betrayal.

But when gangsters on both sides show signs of instability culminating in clawing their own throats out, the people start to whisper. Of a contagion, a madness. Of a monster in the shadows. As the deaths stack up, Juliette and Roma must set their guns—and grudges—aside and work together, for if they can’t stop this mayhem, then there will be no city left for either to rule.

5. The Poppy War by R.F Kuang

I have been looking for an excuse to make a blog post about this book. As you know, I don’t rate books I read for fun, and I picked up Poppy War for fun last month. I am BLOWN AWAY. It is such an excellent fantasy book that deals with oppression and colonialism and includes the most badass characters. Plus it’s very funny. The characters are morally grey and Rin is the most badass woman ever. READ THIS. Weep at how amazing and heartbreaking this book is.

New Adult Fantasy Book Recommendations

Goodreads Description: 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, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.

Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her colour, 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.

For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .

Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.

There you go! Some of my favourite New Adult Fantasy Book Recommendations!

Looking for even MORE New Adult Recs? Click here!

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