8 of the Best “Blank of Blank and Blank” SFF Books

For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts Malik’s younger sister, Nadia, as payment into the city, Malik must make a terrible deal to get her back: he must kill Karina, the Crown Princess of Ziran. 

Karina, however, has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated and Karina wants to resurrect her through ancient magic. The spell demands the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia festival's big competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are ready to destroy one another. Instead, they choose a very different path …

Sixteen-year-old Beckan and her friends are the only fairies brave enough to stay in Ferrum when war breaks out. Tensions have always been high between the magical creatures of this land, but now things are more troubled than ever. There's friction between the immortal fairies, the subterranean gnomes, and the mysterious tightropers who arrived to "liberate" the fairies. 

When Beckan's clan is forced to venture into the gnome underworld to survive, they find themselves forming an unlikely alliance. Danger is around every corner, and now Beckan is wondering where her loyalties lie as she's caught between her friends, her new allies, and an unexpected love.

No list like this could ever be complete without the book that helped to popularize modern romantasy and make it a publishing phenomenon. Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a sign of her prowess as a huntress, but then a creature drags her into the depths of the magical land in retribution. Feyre discovers that her captor is not truly a beast, but one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled her world. 

His name is Tamlin and while she is captive to him, she cannot help but become fascinated by his fiery passion and immense power. The world of the Fae is nothing like she was told, and now it's at risk thanks to a looming shadow of ancient evil that threatens to devour Tamlin's world. Only Feyre can find a way to prevent it.

Around the world, scorched black handprints are mysteriously appearing on doorways, left behind by winged strangers who crept into our world through a slit in the sky. Karou is a 17-year-old art student living and working in Prague. She's trying to get over her lousy ex-boyfriend, but nefarious forces have their eye on her. 

Karou knows magic and runs strange "errands" for the demonic creatures who raised her. Her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head and isn't dyed. On one of her trips, she is confronted by an angelic-looking figure named Akiva, whose wings are ablaze. Their love is passionate, but Karou's hidden past could destroy everything.

A young royal from the far north of a land reminiscent of Imperial China is sent southward for a political marriage. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated. She's alone and ostracised by the rest of the world, including her so-called allies. 

Rabbit, a handmaiden who was sold by her parents to the palace for a paltry price, befriends the emperor's lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.

Isabella Riosse dreams of life far away from her home island, into the wilds her cartographer father once mapped, but she's forbidden to leave the tiny isle she calls home. When her closest friend disappears into the island’s Forgotten Territories, she volunteers to guide the search. Her father's maps can help guide the way, as well as her ability to read the stars and navigate the seas. 

The world beyond her safe home island is dangerous, populated by monsters and demons of ancient myth. By following her maps and her heart, Isabella discovers the true end of her journey: to save the island itself.

The kingdoms of Elsira and Lagrimar have been separated for centuries by the Mantle, a magical veil that has forced the warring lands into a tenuous peace. Now, the Mantle is beginning to crack, and the True Father, ruler of Lagrimar and the most powerful Earthsinger in the world, finally sees a way into Elsira to seize power once and for all. Jasminda is an outcast in her small town thanks to the color of her skin and her gift of Earthsong. 

Her quiet life is disrupted when a group of Lagrimari soldiers wander into her valley with an Elsiran spy, believing they are still in Lagrimar. Through Jack, the spy, Jasminda learns that the Mantle is weakening, and she might be the only one who can help to reinforce it. Jasminda and Jack race to unveil an ancient mystery and the true power of the Earthsong.

Casiopea Tun is desperate to enjoy the freedom and revelry of the Jazz Age but she's too busy cleaning the floors of her wealthy grandfather’s house in her small Mexican hometown to have any fun. Her dreams of a new life take an unexpected turn when she finds a curious wooden box in her grandfather’s room. She opens it and unleashes the trapped spirit of the Mayan god of death. 

He wants her help in recovering his throne from his treacherous brother, and if she fails, she will die. But if she succeeds, her life could change forever. Now the guide of this alluring god, Casiopea journeys from the jungles of Yucatán to the bright lights of Mexico City and into the dark depths of the Mayan underworld.