12 Captivating Historical Fantasy Books

The third and final installment in the Ronin Trilogy, which also includes Heart of the Ronin and Sword of the Ronin, once again follows Ken’ishi in 13th-century Japan. Ken’ishi is finally working with a powerful samurai lord…but things become complicated when he learns his new master is married to the only woman he’s ever loved. 

With his enemies planning their next attack, he’ll have to learn how to defeat them while still remaining true to himself. 

This trilogy by Katherine Kurtz follows Camber—a Deryni noble in the medieval kingdom of Gwynedd. Camber belongs to a race of magical people who are set apart from ordinary humans; and, as the kingdom and its people suffer at the hands of a tyrant king, Camber must confront the dark magic that lurks in the realm. 

As the beginnings of the English Civil War bubble, young Makepeace is sent to live with her wealthy, estate-owning father's family after the death of her mother. The two small problems? Her father's family is ruthless and cruel, and Makepeace has an unusual ability to see—and be possessed by—ghosts. When her elders attempt to use Makepeace as a weapon, she runs away and finds herself at the center of the Civil War. This charmingly irascible protagonist will delight readers as much as the historical setting.

Both a Nebula and World Fantasy Award finalist, Poul Anderson's A Midsummer Tempest tells the story of an alternate seventeenth-century England—one plagued by a civil war. Bringing Shakespeare's plays to life and presenting them all as fact rather than fiction, Anderson tells the story of King Charles I's nephew, Rupert, who is taken hostage and falls in love with his captor's niece. As the young lovers escape together into the forest, they find the faeries who dwell there and become forever bound to each other...no matter what the outcome of this bloody battle might be. 

The Salt Roads begins in 1804, when a group of women on the Caribbean Island now know as Haiti unknowingly release Ezili—the goddess of sexual desire and love. Ezili then uses her powers to travel across time and space to inhabit three different historical women’s bodies, inspiring uprising and change. Blending fantasy, history, and folklore, Nalo Hopkinson creates a tale that’s touching and disturbing all at the same time.  

This historical fantasy novel set during World War II follows Michael Gallatin, a British operative called out of retirement to help squash a mysterious Nazi plan in occupied Paris. But Gallatin isn’t just any old spy—he’s a werewolf. In a race against time, horrors are unleashed as Gallatin attempts to take down the Nazis. 

This thoughtfully reimagined world features three sisters with powers beyond explanation as they quest for a world that will allow them their freedoms—both as witches and women. 

In 1893 New Salem, Bella, Agnes, and Juniper are women born to a world where all suspected witches are burned. The youngest, Juniper, is unsatisfied by the explanation she hears for refusing the power her grandmother whispered of. As her sisters carve out stingy places in the impoverished city of New Salem, Juniper encourages them to dream bigger. As the three become involved in the suffragette movement, it becomes clear that they'll need all of themselves—and something bigger than they could ever be—to create a more just world. This evocative tale will spin a web of narrative from which it is impossible to escape.

The first book in Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series introduces us to this exciting retelling of the Napoleonic Wars. In Novik’s world, dragons fight alongside man. And for Captain Will Laurence, he’s in for the thrill of a lifetime when he finds a dragon egg that hatches into his most loyal companion: Temeraire. Novik’s debut novel is just the first of nine books that follow Laurence and Temeraire’s adventures. 

Based on Moorish Spain, The Lions of Al-Rassan is set in the same world as some of Guy Gavriel Kay's other works (The Sarantine Mosaic and The Last Light of the Sun). The story follows the conflicts and powerful bonds that can form when people of disparate beliefs collide. 

The plot largely revolves around two legendary warriors—the Jaddite Captain Rodrigo Belmonte and the Asharite Poet Ammar ibn Khairan—as well as Jehane bet Ishak, a Kindath physician. The two warriors are hired as mercenaries, while Jehane is hired as their physician, and their connection (and otherworldly deeds) carry this moving and beautiful tale.

Amidst the Industrial Revolution, Sir Walter Conrad discovers a new source of energy—one that entangles the fey and human worlds in a battle for dominance. Young half-fey Effie finds herself embroiled in the race to capture the energy source, even as she struggles to find her own place in a world filled with eldritch evil, conniving queens, and covetous courtiers. With plenty of elements of gaslamp and steampunk fantasy, readers with an eye for imaginatively-conjured worlds will be quickly enthralled.

Dripping with vivid imagery, The Night Circus takes place in Victorian London. Appearing and disappearing without notice, Le Cirque des Rêves—the Circus of Dreams—comes to town and is open from sunset to sunrise. Within the circus, unimaginable wonders exist. But it soon becomes clear that the circus is part of a dark purpose. Two rivals have been training their protégées, Celia and Marco, in the magical arts from a young age to someday face each other in battle. The catch? Only one can be left standing. 

Get to know the story of King Arthur from the perspective of the women who helped him rise…and fall. Narrated by Morgaine, the priestess of Avalon and King Arthur’s half-sister, she tells her story of love and loss as she fights to save her culture when Christianity threatens to take over. Focused on the high priestesses of Avalon, as well as King Arthur’s wife, Gwenhwyfar, the retelling offers a unique perspective on the legend. 

Beginning in France in the year 1714, this story tells the extraordinary tale of Addie LaRue. In a moment of sheer desperation, Addie strikes a deal so that she will live forever. 

The catch? She will be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Travel across time and space as Addie lives through centuries of culture, art, and history—everything changes when she meets a young man who remembers her name. 

Robert Swift was orphaned by cholera in early 1800s China. When the mysterious Professor Lovell takes over as his guardian, he brings Robert to London to study Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese in preparation for Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation, also known as Babel.

Babel, a school for the practice of magic, has made London a mighty empire. When London pursues war against China, Robert must choose between the school he loves and the motherland he longs for. 

Discover a world where myth and religious history intersect in The Last Days of Magic. 

This novel vividly describes magical creatures, spiritual giants, and historical events from medieval Europe to today. The Celtic goddesses and their fleet of fairies must protect Ireland from England and Rome, led by a Vatican commander who wishes to drive Celtic magic out of Ireland. 

The result of this clash trickles through history down to one particular graduate student, Sarah Hill, who must contend with what she has discovered. 

This is the first book in Peter Gibbon’s thrilling new historical fantasy series set in the ancient world. 

The year is 530 BCE, and Cyrus the Great is at war with Queen Tomyris of the Massagetae on the Scythian steppe. Among the magical warfare, enslaved Persian Xanthro is guided by a mysterious warrior named Naram-Sin and a powerful mage back in time to stop Gula’an, a vicious creature of the underworld, from destroying humanity.