Take a moment to think about your favorite fantasy book and/or TV series. What comes to mind? Maybe wizards and/or knights with elves, dwarves, goblins, and dragons. While those can also be fun, so much of what is considered fantasy is Tolkien-esque or Arthurian: medieval-age, European-feeling journeys with swords and magic against familiar foes, mostly told through the white male view (even when written by a woman). The list of “The Most Popular Fantasy on Goodreads1” in fact, is made up almost exclusively of that. Of the top ten series, nine are written by men (plus JK Rowling), and all are white.

One of the great things about fantasy is that it can be anything—that’s what makes it fantastic. Here are some award-winning fantasy series by female authors that introduce the readers to new influences, magic systems, and creatures pulled from different traditions.

Ember in the Ashes Quartet by Sabaa Tahir

Laia is a slave. Elias is a soldier. Neither is free.

Books

Main series

  • An Ember in the Ashes.

  • A Torch Against the Night.

  • A Reaper at the Gates.

  • A Sky Beyond the Storm.

Graphic novels

  • A Thief Among the Trees.

  • A Spark Within the Forge.

  • 3rd TBA.

Heir duology

  • Heir.

  • 2nd TBA.

Author

Sabaa Tahir is from California and grew up in a motel run by her family, which served in part as inspiration for her book All My Rage. She is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and is a self-proclaimed indie music lover and nerd.

She is Pakistani-American and describes a scene in Heir being drawn from US drone strikes on Pakistan. 2 This is certainly not an influence in any of the top ten series discussed above and brings a heavy but important viewpoint.

Culture, magic, & creatures

The Ember in the Ashes Series (Ember for short) is set in a fictional world ruled by “The Empire”. The world has a “sense of different cultures—from Roman to Moroccan”.3

Early in the series, protagonist Laia is brought into a deadly military academy as a spy. There are vibes of Fourth Wing, Divergent, and Hunger Games with ruthless classmates.

The quartet largely follows Laia and classmates Elias and Helene. Beyond surviving school, the world deals with Jinn, Wraiths, Wights, and Ghuls4:

  • Jinn: ancient creatures of smokeless fire that walked the earth long before mankind was born.

  • Wraiths: malevolent, magical creatures born out of sorcerous experimentation. They're prone to attacking humans, and must be killed by decapitation.

  • Wights: tiny, winged magical creatures, wights are small, swift, and crafty. Known as tricksters, they have a reputation of luring humans into trouble or death.

  • Ghuls: malevolent creatures of shadow who feed off blood and pain. They are often found on battlefields and in prisons, though they are attracted to any living creature that is suffering. The

The Daevabad trilogy

“There is a reason they say ‘Be careful what you wish for…'”

Books

Main trilogy:

  • The City of Brass.

  • The Kingdom of Copper.

  • The Empire of Gold.

Additional stories:

  • The River of Silver.

Author

Shannon Chakraborty is a fantasy author with books receiving numerous nominations in the SFF world, including Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards and New York Times bestseller lists. She is originally from New Jersey, converted to Islam in her teenage years, and did a study abroad in Cairo. The Daevabad Trilogy was written for her community to see Muslim representation in SFF without needing to see offensive stereotypical content. “Our young people, our girls and our boys, should have representation, people that they can look up to as heroes.”5

Culture, magic, & creatures

Protagonist Nahri and djinn warrior Dara start the series in 18th-century Cairo and adventure to the magical kingdom of Daevabad. Throughout the series they meet many fantasy creatures and beings6:

  • Marid (mārid): powerful water elementals.

  • Daeva/Djinn (jinn): ancient fire elementals and shapeshifters who live for millennia.

  • Simurgh: scaled firebirds.

  • Peri (parī): air elementals.

  • Rukh (roc): enormous predatory firebirds that the peri can use for hunting.

  • Shedu: mythical winged lions.

  • Ghouls: the reanimated, cannibalistic corpses of humans.

  • Karkadann: a magical beast similar to an enormous rhinoceros with a horn as long as a man.

Legacy of Orïsha series

“They killed my mother. They took our magic. They tried to bury us. Now we rise.”

Books

  • Children of Blood and Bone.

  • Children of Virtue and Vengeance.

  • Children of Anguish and Anarchy.

Author

Tomi Adeyemi is an actress, model, speaker, and award-winning author7. The Legacy of Orïsha series has been consistently on the New York Times bestseller list, and the first in the series, Children of Blood and Bone, won the Hugo. Of the series, she says, “I had a lot of different reasons for writing the book, but at its core was the desire to write for Black teenage girls growing up reading books they were absent from. That was my experience as a child. Children of Blood and Bone is a chance to address that. To say you are seen.”8

Culture, magic & creatures

The series largely follows the protagonist Zélie Adebola in the land of Orïsha and the Yoruba language. Magic has disappeared, and she fights to bring it back. Though the true battles are with discrimination, power imbalances, and violence from authority, inspired in part by the police brutality and murders of Michael Brown, Philando Castille, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd, and Breonna Taylor.9 She calls the book “cake with asparagus,” as readers really enjoy it but also get something healthy out of it.10 This story too can be heavy, real, and visceral, but so very important.

The magic system comes from people with different abilities to manipulate, control, and/or generate different elements:

  • Reapers: spirits of the living and the dead.

  • Connectors: mind, consciousness, and dreams of others.

  • Tiders: water and ice.

  • Burners: fire.

  • Winders: air and wind.

  • Grounders and Welders: earth and metals.

  • Lighters: light and darkness.

  • Healers and Cancers: heal or infect with sicknesses and diseases.

  • Seers: see into the past, present, and future.

  • Tamers: animals.

Green Bone Saga by Fonda Lee

“Family is duty. Magic is power. Honor is everything."

Books

Main trilogy:

  • Jade City.

  • Jade War.

  • Jade Legacy.

Additional stories:

  • The Jade Setter of Janloon.

  • Jade Shards.

Author

Fonda Lee is a black belt martial artist and former corporate strategist, which combine nicely in the Green Bone Saga. Originally from Calgary, Canada, she now lives and writes in the US. Jade City won the World Fantasy Award, and her books have been shortlisted for Nebula and Locus Awards.

Culture, magic, & creatures

Fonda says that her initial idea was a “wuxia gangster saga that takes place in a modern world with guns and cars, but where combat is hand-to-hand and power rests with those who have jade.”

She really delivers on that idea as readers follow the Kaul family of the No Peak CClan,who battle with the Mountain Clan for territory, honor, revenge, and more. Jade grants magical abilities and enhancements of strength, steel, perception, lightness, deflection, or channeling.

The monsters are all human in this series, but the interplay of jade magic and its effects on the body with the drug “shine” against business, politics, and clan wars gives a refreshing look at what the fantasy genre can be.

References

1 The Most Popular Fantasy on Goodreads.
2 Sabaa Tahir Refuses to Pull Her Punches.
3 Mapping An Ember in the Ashes
4 The Empire.
5 S. A. Chakraborty.
6 Author's Note and Further Reading from The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi.
7 Tomi Adeyemi.
8 Tomi Adeyemi: ‘I want a little black girl to pick up my book one day and see herself on the cover’. The Guardian.
9 Bringing the Magic
10 Children of Blood and Bone: Cake with Asparagus.