Here is a list of some of the most popular fantasy YA series at the moment!
The Folk of the Air by Holly Black
The Folk of the Air Series by Holly Black is a very popular fantasy YA series. With fey, magic, and Kings, it’s no surprise. This is a YA series with complex characters and dark themes – perfect for those who want an easy read but wouldn’t normally pick up a book from this genre
Book 1 in the series is The Cruel Prince..
Premise:
Jude was seven when her parents were murdered and she and her two sisters were stolen away to live in the treacherous High Court of Faerie. Ten years later, Jude wants nothing more than to belong there, despite her mortality. But many of the fey despise humans. Especially Prince Cardan, the youngest and wickedest son of the High King.
To win a place at the Court, she must defy him–and face the consequences.
As Jude becomes more deeply embroiled in palace intrigues and deceptions, she discovers her own capacity for trickery and bloodshed. But as betrayal threatens to drown the Courts of Faerie in violence, Jude will need to risk her life in a dangerous alliance to save her sisters, and Faerie itself.
Fable by Adrienne Young
A slow, gradual story, the Fable Series is a story of survival, family and danger on the treacherous sea. This is a harsh world for our young protagonist, but one that’s vivid and offers a thrilling adventure.
Book 1 in the series is Fable.
Premise:
For seventeen-year-old Fable, the daughter of the most powerful trader in the Narrows, the sea is the only home she has ever known. It’s been four years since the night she watched her mother drown during an unforgiving storm. The next day her father abandoned her on a legendary island filled with thieves and little food. To survive she must keep to herself, learn to trust no one, and rely on the unique skills her mother taught her. The only thing that keeps her going is the goal of getting off the island, finding her father, and demanding her rightful place beside him and his crew. To do so Fable enlists the help of a young trader named West to get her off the island and across the Narrows to her father.
But her father’s rivalries and the dangers of his trading enterprise have only multiplied since she last saw him, and Fable soon finds that West isn’t who he seems. Together, they will have to survive more than the treacherous storms that haunt the Narrows if they’re going to stay alive.
The Grishaverse Series by Leigh Bardugo
Book 1 in The Grishaverse Series, Shadow and Bone, has recently been adapted into a well-recieved Netflix show. The romance is tropey but everyone is here for the drama! The world-building will suck you in and never let you go.
The series consists of 3 separate book series:
- Shadow and Bone
- Six of Crows
- King of Scars
All of these are very popular. If you want to read them in publication order, you should read them in the same order as shown above, beginning with the Shadow and Bone trilogy.
Premise:
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha . . . and the secrets of her heart.
Arc of a Scythe by Neal Shusterman
In a world with no hunger, disease, war or death, the Arc of a Scythe Series explores what could happen in a fantasy world where the population is getting out of control. There are scythes who are masters of taking lives, ensuring that the right people die when it is ordered.
Book 1 is Scythe.
Premise:
A world with no hunger, no disease, no war, no misery. Humanity has conquered all those things, and has even conquered death. Now scythes are the only ones who can end life—and they are commanded to do so, in order to keep the size of the population under control.
Citra and Rowan are chosen to apprentice to a scythe—a role that neither wants. These teens must master the “art” of taking life, knowing that the consequence of failure could mean losing their own.
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
The Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi has a great premise, interesting, dystopian world and strong characters that pull the story along. Juliette has a curse which means she can kill someone with a single touch, and for that she was locked up – but then the Reestablishment thinks she might be useful…
Book 1 is Shatter Me.
Premise:
Juliette hasn’t touched anyone in exactly 264 days.
The last time she did, it was an accident, but The Reestablishment locked her up for murder. No one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal. As long as she doesn’t hurt anyone else, no one really cares. The world is too busy crumbling to pieces to pay attention to a 17-year-old girl. Diseases are destroying the population, food is hard to find, birds don’t fly anymore, and the clouds are the wrong color.
The Reestablishment said their way was the only way to fix things, so they threw Juliette in a cell. Now so many people are dead that the survivors are whispering war – and The Reestablishment has changed its mind. Maybe Juliette is more than a tortured soul stuffed into a poisonous body. Maybe she’s exactly what they need right now.
Juliette has to make a choice: Be a weapon. Or be a warrior.
Closing Thoughts on these Popular Fantasy YA Series
There are so many more Fantasy YA series, but too many to list in one post! If we have missed your favourites, let us know in the comments or join us on Discord.
