Goodreads Readers Pick 6 Best Fantasy Books Released Since 2020, According to Goodreads

Fantasy Finds Its Audience

Launched in 2007, Goodreads has become a major social reading and book review platform. Users can rate and review books, and fantasy is among the genres that attract strong enthusiasm on the site.

The account highlights fantasy releases from the 2020s, including romantasy and sequels to established series. It points to character writing, world-building and pacing as qualities readers value.

The Empire of Gold Concludes

S.A. Chakraborty’s The Empire of Gold is the third installment in the Daevabad Trilogy. After a coup places their home under a new queen’s rule, the characters escape to Cairo and seek unexpected allies to reclaim it.

The book is praised as both a satisfying finale and a work that stands on its own. Its strengths include morally complex characters, djinn-inspired world-building, Egyptian cultural influences and political themes. The account also notes that sequels can receive higher Goodreads ratings because some readers leave a series after its first book.

A Dangerous Academy Mission

The Will of the Many begins Australian author James Islington’s ongoing epic fantasy series, The Hierarchy. Its protagonist, Prince Diago, is a fugitive who enters an elite academy under a false identity to find an ancient weapon and bring down a brutal empire.

A runner-up for Best Fantasy in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards, the 640-page novel is described as tightly paced. Its story draws on dark academia and Roman Empire-inspired world-building, and features a layered magic system and a final twist that readers have praised.

Fourth Wing Begins Empyrean

Rebecca Yarros developed Fourth Wing after her publisher asked her to submit proposals for a new romantasy imprint. The book became the first installment in her Empyrean series. The account identifies Fourth Wing as one of the notable fantasy books of the 2020s, alongside works that demonstrate the continuing popularity and variety of the genre.