Please note: this list includes a variety of books appropriate for different levels of maturity. Some may not be appropriate for younger readers, and some may not be challenging enough for older readers. Please do your research to find the perfect book for you.
Throne of Glass – Sarah J Maas
In the dark, filthy salt mines of Endovier, an eighteen-year-old girl is serving a life sentence. She is a trained assassin, the best of her kind, but she made a fatal mistake. She got caught.
The Sin Eater’s Daughter – Melinda Salisbury
Seventeen-year-old Twylla lives in the castle. But although she’s engaged to the prince, Twylla isn’t exactly a member of the court.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor
In general, Karou has managed to keep her two lives in balance. On the one hand, she’s a seventeen-year-old art student in Prague; on the other, errand-girl to a monstrous creature who is the closest thing she has to family.
The Dark Artifices – Cassandra Clare
Together with her parabatai Julian Blackthorn, Emma must learn to trust her head and her heart as she investigates a demonic plot that stretches across Los Angeles, from the Sunset Strip to the enchanted sea that pounds the beaches of Santa Monica.
Monster – Michael Grant
Now the dome is gone and meteors are hitting earth with an even deadlier virus. Humans will mutate into monsters and the whole world will be exposed. As some teens begin to morph into heroes, they will find that others have become dangerously out of control…and that the world is on the brink of a monstrous battle between good and evil.
A Wizard of Earthsea – Ursual L. LeGuin
Tempted by pride to try spells beyond his means, Sparrowhawk lets loose an evil shadow-beast in his land. Only he can destroy it, and the quest leads him to the farthest corner of Earthsea.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Then, on Harry’s eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard.
Tales of the Peculiar – Ransom Riggs
A fork-tongued princess, a girl who talks to ghosts, and wealthy cannibals who dine on the discarded limbs of peculiars are just a few of the characters whose stories will have you hooked.
Good Omens – Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch – the world’s only totally reliable guide to the future, written in 1655, before she exploded – the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea…
Assassin’s Apprentice – Robin Hobb
To be useful to the crown, Fitz is trained as an assassin; and to use the traditional magic of the Farseer family. But his tutor, allied to another political faction, is determined to discredit, even kill him. Fitz must survive: for he may be destined to save the kingdom.
The Hobbit is the unforgettable story of Bilbo, a peace-loving hobbit, who embarks on a strange and magical adventure.
Witty, action-packed and heart-stoppingly thrilling, Demon Road will take you on an epic road-trip across the supernatural landscape of America
Sabriel: The Abhorsen – Garth Nix
After receiving a cryptic message from her father, 18-year-old Sabriel leaves her ordinary school and returns across the Wall into the Old Kingdom. Fraught with peril and deadly trickery, her journey takes her to a world filled with parasitical spirits, Mordicants, and Shadow Hands.
This is a world divided by blood – red or silver. The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane – Neil Gaiman
It began for our narrator forty years ago when the family lodger stole their car and committed suicide in it, stirring up ancient powers best left undisturbed. Dark creatures from beyond the world are on the loose, and it will take everything our narrator has just to stay alive.
Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams – but he can’t pull it off alone. Kaz’s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destruction – if they don’t kill each other first.
The Colour of Magic – Terry Pratchett
Somewhere on the frontier between thought and reality exists the Discworld, a parallel time and place which might sound and smell very much like our own, but which looks completely different. Particularly as it’s carried though space on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown).
Three Dark Crowns – Kendare Blake
In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born: three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic. But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose …it’s life or death.
When Eragon finds a polished stone in the forest, he thinks it is the lucky discovery of a poor farm boy; perhaps it will buy his family meat for the winter. But when the stone brings a dragon hatchling, Eragon soon realizes he has stumbled upon a legacy nearly as old as the Empire itself.
The Raven Boys – Maggie Stiefvater
Blue has spent the majority of her sixteen years being told that if she kisses her true love, he will die. When Blue meets Gansey’s spirit on the corpse road she knows there is only one reason why – either he is her true love or she has killed him.
When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change. But she could never have guessed that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war.
A Court of Thorns and Roses – Sarah J Maas
Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest.
The moment Luce looks at Daniel she knows she has never felt like this before. Except she can’t shake the feeling that she has …and with him – a boy she doesn’t remember ever setting eyes on. Will her attempt to find out why enlighten her – or destroy her?
Spellslinger – Sabastien de Castell
Kellen is moments away from facing his first mage’s duel and the start of four trials that will make him a spellcaster. There’s just one problem: his magic is gone.
Northern Lights – Philip Pullman
Lyra Belacqua and her animal daemon live half-wild and carefree among scholars of Jordan College, Oxford. The destiny that awaits her will take her to the frozen lands of the Arctic, where witch-clans reign and ice-bears fight.
An Ember in the Ashes – Sabaa Tahir
When Laia’s grandparents are brutally murdered and her brother arrested for treason by the empire, the only people she has left to turn to are the rebels. But in exchange for their help in saving her brother, they demand that Laia spy on the the Empire’s greatest military academy.
The Infernal Devices – Cassandra Clare
Something terrifying is waiting for Tessa Gray in London’s Downworld, where vampires, warlocks and other supernatural folk stalk the gaslit streets. Tessa seeks refuge with the Shadowhunters, a band of warriors dedicated to ridding the world of demons.
June and Day have sacrificed so much for the people of the Republic – and each other – and now their country is on the brink of a new peaceful existence. But when a plague outbreak, deadlier than any other, causes panic in the Colonies, and war threatens the Republic’s border cities, the two are thrown back together.
Bella will soon discover that there is a very good reason for Edward’s coldness. He, and his family, are vampires – and he knows how dangerous it is for others to get too close.
The Thousandth Floor – Katharine McGee
When a young woman falls from the top of the supertower, her death is the culmination of a scandal that has ensnared the top-floor elite and bottom-floor. But who plummeted from the roof? And what dark secrets led to her fall? When you’re this high up, there’s nowhere to go but down…
Rebel of the Sands – Alwyn Hamilton
Dustwalk is Amani’s home. The desert sand is in her bones. But she wants to escape. Then a foreigner with no name turns up to save her life, and with him the chance to run. But to where? The desert plains are full of danger. Sand and blood are swirling, and the Sultan’s enemies are on the rise.
Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers, precisely the problem that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. Surely, she tells herself, it has nothing to do with the fact that she is directly descended from Alice Liddell, the real life inspiration for Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland.
The Mortal Instruments – Cassandra Clare
Irresistibly drawn towards a group of demon hunters, Clary encounters the dark side of New York City – and the dangers of forbidden love.
The Reds are humanity’s last hope. Or so it appears, until the day Darrow discovers it’s all al lie. That Mars has been habitable – and inhabited – for generations, by a class of people calling themselves the Golds. A class of people who look down on Darrow and his fellows as slave labour.
Carve the Mark – Veronica Roth
On a planet where violence and vengeance rule, in a galaxy where some are favoured by fate, everyone develops a currentgift, a unique power meant to shape the future. While most benefit from their currentgifts, Akos and Cyra do not – their gifts make them vulnerable to others’ control.
Welcome to Wormwood: a place where curiosity is discouraged and no one has ever left. Until one girl, Vega Jane, discovers a map that suggests a mysterious world beyond the walls. A world with possibilities and creatures beyond her imagining. But she will be forced to fight for her freedom.
Scarlett has never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show. Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure. And for Scarlett and her beloved sister Tella it represents freedom and an escape from their ruthless, abusive father.
No one expects a princess to be brutal. And Lada Dragwyla likes it that way. Ever since she and her brother were abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman sultan’s courts, Lada has known that ruthlessness is the key to survival.
The Ice Dragon – George R.R. Martin
From ancient times the ice dragon was a creature of legend and fear, for no man had ever tamed one. When it flew overhead, it left in its wake desolate cold and frozen land. But Adara was not afraid. For Adara was a winter child, born during the worst freeze that anyone could remember.
College freshman Claire Danvers has had enough of her nightmarish dorm situation, but when she heads off-campus, the imposing old house where she finds a room may not be much better. Her new roommates don’t show many signs of life…
Prince Yarvi has vowed to regain a throne he never wanted. But first he must survive cruelty, chains and the bitter waters of the Shattered Sea itself.
Meet Nathan Byrn …He’s half White Witch, half Black Witch. His mother was a healer, his father is a killer. He’s been kept in a cage since he was fourteen. But if White Witches are good and Black Witches are evil, what happens if you are both?
Otherworld – Jason Segel and Kirsten Miller
There are no screens. There are no controls. You don’t just see and hear it—you taste, smell, and touch it too. In this new reality, there are no laws to break or rules to obey. You can live your best life. Indulge every desire.
The Potion Diaries – Amy Alward
When the Princess of Nova accidentally poisons herself with a love potion meant for her crush, she falls crown-over-heels in lovewith her own reflection. Oops. A nationwide hunt is called to find the cure, with competitors travelling the world for the rarest ingredients.
You can find even more Fantasy Books for Young Adults in WHSmith stores and online
Some really great books here (Phillip Pullman in partcular)! Some books I’ll be adding to my list for sure. The 45th in my opinion should be Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. Partcularly good on Kindle/EReaders for the links into Wiki whilst reading for the historic facts on the classic fantasy / sci-fi stories, characters and authors that are intrinsic to this stories narrative. Any readers born in the 80’s will love it’s nostalgic references even though it’s still a relatively new book. Let’s hope Steven Spielberg’s vision does it justice earky next year for the film version.