I just finished The Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarrow 🥵 and need something juicy and engaging to take away the pain of waiting for Book 3 in her series. I love dark, character-driven fiction with high fantasy, romance, and magical realism thrown in for good measure. I’ve read all of Sarah Maas and Deborah Harkness, just an FYI before we get this party started!
by annelisesh
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I really enjoyed the *Daughter of Smoke & Bone* trilogy, by Laini Taylor. Pretty sure it matches all your key terms!
To Shape A Dragon’s Breath, by Moniquill Blackgoose. It is SO good. Slightly more modern but I was pleasantly surprised to find it was better than Forth Wing.
The Temeraire series, by Naomi Novik. Retelling of Napoleonic wars except there are dragons. And several very hawt aviators.
Any of the World of the Elderlings books by Robin Hobb. Talk about well-developed worlds and magic system. I enjoyed the Liveships and the Farseer Trilogy the most.
Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series.
This next one doesn’t have any dragons and is definitely sci-fi, but it is highly addictive, has incredible characters, and goes on forever: The Vorkosigan books, by Lois McMaster Bujold. 13 books already out, you won’t have to wait for the next one. I prefer fantasy, mostly, but this was a sci-fi that sucked me right in and I will never regret it.
Rebecca Roanhorse’s Between Earth and Sky trilogy is so good! But…only the first two books – Black Sun (#1) and Fevered Star (#2) – are currently out. Mirrored Heavens (#3) doesn’t release until June, so you’ll have the same problem as The Empyrean series if you read it now. But it’s definitely worth a read, so put it on your TBR for late next spring/early summer if it sounds interesting!
One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig and its sequel were two of my favorite reads this year!! It’s a gothic fantasy. The magic system is SO unique and intricate. And there’s romance 🤭it’s actually perfect.