Fantasy books with great world building?

October 3, 2024 10:18 PM

I’m looking for more rich worlds, especially books written in the last 5 years.

Books I’ve enjoyed: Mask of Mirrors by MA Carrick
A Stranger in Olondria by Sofia Samatar
Witchmark by CL Polk
A Marvelous Light by Freya Marske
To Shape A Dragon’s Breath by Moniquill Blackgoose

posted by azalea_chant to Media & Arts (15 answers total)

ALL THE SOFIA SAMATAR THINGS

I don't know if it's fantasy since the magic is in the spaceships? but Tamsyn Muir's Locked Tomb quadrology(?) has serious world-building involved.
posted by away for regrooving at 11:17 PM on October 3

Everything by Becky Chambers who should be paying me commission at this stage. The richness! (Deliciously soft and yet pretty rigerous scifi). Edit: sorry missed it should be fantasy, but her Monk and Robot lean more that way.
posted by Iteki at 11:17 PM on October 3

Nghi Vo's Singing Hills cycle, definitely. Fonda Lee's Jade trilogy for a more 20th century setting (love letter to Hong Kong cinema, with magic). It started a bit earlier, but Meghan Whalen Turner finally finished her Thief of Attolia cycle a couple years back - the bones of the setting are Greek but all the countries and mythology are her own and so rich.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 11:49 PM on October 3

The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix Harrow is beautifully written and fun and just what you want. I just wish this was a series.
posted by zardoz at 2:24 AM on October 4

Yes I just read The Ten Thousand Doors of January and it's absolutely excellent, I'm going to buy myself a print copy. Beautiful, tragic, lovely, hopeful book.

Also loved Naomi Novik's Scholomance series starting with A Deadly Education
posted by Zumbador at 2:29 AM on October 4

Stormlight Archive basically builds a world starting with geology and hydrology, then figures out evolutionary ecology and thousands of years of human history. That's not how it's revealed in the course of the story (which proceeds in a fairly typical manner of introductions characters and viewpoints), but it results in an extremely rich and organic world. Nice magic system too. Maybe a bit sprawling for some tastes but as a modern high fantasy series with original and complex world building it really works well.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:32 AM on October 4

Not written in the last five years but the Astreiant series by Melissa Scott and Lisa Barnett, starting with Point of Hopes, is well worth checking out.
posted by posadnitsa at 4:36 AM on October 4

The Drowning Empire series by Andrea Stewart

The Mirror Visitor Quartet by Christelle Dabos

The Dandelion Dynasty series by Ken Liu
posted by EvaDestruction at 5:02 AM on October 4

Sarah J. Maas’ book various fantasy series all feature relatively unique worlds. The Crescent City series is especially deep and detailed.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:23 AM on October 4

Katherine Addison's Goblin Emperor/Cemeteries of Amalo series.
posted by terretu at 5:23 AM on October 4

Discworld, by Terry Pratchett. Start with Tiffany Aching, then the Witches, then maybe the Watch series or the one-offs.
posted by Awfki at 5:44 AM on October 4

You have GOT to read the Winternight Trilogy, beginning with The Bear and the Nightingale. It’s historical fantasy about a young woman caught up in the clash of traditional Russian folkloric creatures against the incursion of Orthodox Christianity and it’s one of the best fantasy series I’ve ever read.( And I should admit that I found many of the previous suggestions in this thread to be not that well-written - call me a snob or whatever, but the writing in Winternight is absolutely phenomenal.)
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:12 AM on October 4

A few books that made me feel the same way as A Stranger in Olondria, which I loved:

Piranesi in some ways has the opposite of worldbuilding in that the “world” is very small, but it is rich, and well built enough to be shocking when it shifts.

Hild is slightly off your request in that it’s over 5 years old and not explicitly fantasy, but it’s a wonderfully built world where people believe in magic, and that belief is infused in everything that happens. Plus, its sequel is new, and I’m really enjoying it so far.

Senlin Ascends was also published a little earlier but has more recent sequels, and very strongly reminded me of A Stranger in Olondria in that I felt like a book could be written about any location or character in it.

I can’t second the Scholomance series enough. Absolutely incredible.
posted by tchemgrrl at 6:21 AM on October 4

I quite liked The Priory of the Orange Tree and A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon.
posted by number9dream at 7:21 AM on October 4

AJ Lancaster's Stariel series is similar to A Marvelous Light and quite enjoyable.

I'm re-reading the Tuyo series by Rachel Neumeier, which has a flavor a little like To Shape a Dragon's Breath.

And for some lyrical anti-toxic masculinity I adore The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard.
posted by Illusory contour at 7:24 AM on October 4