The Best Fantasy Books for Teens and Tweens

Percy Jackson and the Olympians is one of the most successful and beloved middle grade fantasy series of our times. Combining Greek mythology and a hero struggling at school, it has all of the ingredients for relatability and epic adventure. In the first book of the series, Percy Jackson stumbles into the world of gods when he’s suspected of stealing Zeus’s lightning bolt. He and his friends embark on an adventure in pursuit of the real thief. Middle grade readers who are interested in or curious about Western mythology can dive into all seven books in the completed series.

Sabaa Tahir’s debut YA fantasy inspired by Ancient Rome introduces readers to the oppressive Martial Empire where all who challenge the brutal status quo face terrible consequences. Laia, a slave, and Elias, a soldier in the military academy, live in different worlds. They clash when Laia agrees to spy on the Empire for the rebels who promise to rescue her brother from imprisonment. Elias is drawn to Laia whose arrival contributes to his secret misgivings about serving the Empire.

C.S. Lewis’s classic is poised to earn the attention of a new generation of readers with the arrival of Greta Gerwig’s Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. Young readers can either start with the chronologically first book in The Chronicles of Narnia following the perilous adventures of children entering the portal to the magical world of Narnia, or they can begin with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, the first and most well-known of the seven books published.

This YA fantasy follows Alex who does not want to be a bruja. But brujeria runs in her family and when Alex casts a curse to rid herself of magic on her Deathday, it goes all wrong. Her family disappears and Alex is left with their magic. Now, she’ll have to journey into the strange, liminal land of Los Lagos with an ambitious brujo to find her family, embarking on a journey of self-discovery.

Teens taken with Arthurian legend will love The Legendborn Cycle. The first book in the ongoing YA fantasy series follows 16-year-old Bree Matthews grieving the death of her mother and trying to forget her childhood at a UNC-Chapel Hill residential program for bright high schoolers. There, Bree is introduced to a secret society of “Legendborn” students who hunt down demons. Her own magic unlocked by the misdeeds of a student named Merlin, Bree becomes an initiate to solve the mystery of her mother’s death. Now, she’s faced with an impossible decision: take down the Arthurian society that played a part in her mother’s death, or fight alongside them in an impending magical war?

The first book in a horror series written for middle grade readers takes us into the world of Caribbean folklore. Fearless young Corrine changes her destiny when she chases a jumbie into the forest. The next day, she meets Severine, a beautiful stranger determined to claim Corrine’s island home for the jumbies, magical tricksters considered the stuff of fiction. Corrine has to tap into hidden magical powers to save her island from the jumbies.

This celebrated middle grade fantasy novel follows Tristan Strong who’s grieving his best friend. Unable to save his friend in a bus accident and stuck at his grandparents’ house in Alabama, Tristan’s only comfort is his friend’s journal. When a strange creature shows up at his grandparents’ and tries to steal the journal, Tristan unlocks hidden strength, punching a hole in a Bottle Tree and opening up a portal into the MidPass. There, he teams up with Black gods to save the world.

Bardugo is a big name in YA books thanks, in part, to the Grishaverse, launched by Shadow and Bone. This dark fantasy takes readers into Bardugo’s expansive world through Alina Starkov an orphan enlisted as a soldier bound for the Shadow Fold, which she’s unlikely to survive. But a dormant magic bursts to life in her when her regiment is attacked. The Darkling, the powerful leader of the elite magical military, thinks she might be the solution they’ve been looking for, and now Alina must navigate the machinations of the Grisha.

One of the biggest YA fantasy feature film adaptations arrives early in 2027. Now is a great time to read the book that inspired the film. Adeyemi’s debut novel is an epic, fast-paced fantasy adventure following fierce divîner Zelie out to avenge her mother and save the people of Orïsha, joined by her brother Tzain, and the oppressive king’s daughter, Princess Amari. The three embark on a quest to claim a magical scroll stolen by the king with his soldiers, including Amari’s brother, close on their heels.

In this YA fantasy drawing from East Asian folklore, an exiled princess bands together with a paper crane, a dragon, and her former betrothed to rescue her brothers from a curse that turned them into cranes and rescue the kingdom from a plot to steal the throne. The curse took her voice, but she still has the forbidden magic that drew the ire of her sorceress stepmother.

This YA paranormal fantasy combines romance and magic. Yadriel’s family won’t accept his gender and in setting out to prove himself as a brujo he summons the ghost of the school’s bad boy. Yadriel wants to find the ghost of his murdered cousin, and Julian wants to solve the mystery of his death. As they work together toward their goals, sparks begin to fly.