Image via CORGI BOOKS By Luc Haasbroek Published Jun 20, 2026, 12:08 AM EDT Luc Haasbroek is a writer and videographer from Durban, South Africa. He has been writing professionally about pop culture for eight years. Luc's areas of interest are broad: he's just as passionate about psychology and history as he is about movies and TV. He's especially drawn to the places where these topics overlap. Luc is also an avid producer of video essays and looks forward to expanding his writing career. When not writing, he can be found hiking, playing Dungeons & Dragons, hanging out with his cats, and doing deep dives on whatever topic happens to have captured his interest that week. Sign in to your Collider account Add Us On follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap Although tricky to pull off, fantasy is one of the most enjoyable genres when done right . It can transport readers to sprawling kingdoms, haunted cities, magical universities, and forgotten worlds filled with wonder and danger, keeping you flicking through hundreds of pages, desperate to find out what happens next.
With that in mind, this list looks at the fantasy books that keep readers invested from the very first page to the last . These triumphs of literature offer colorful characters, immersive settings, smooth prose, and compelling plots. In the process, they achieve what so few books do: ensuring that our attention basically never wavers.
The cover of the book 'The Way of Kings' by Brandon Sanderson. Image via Tor Fantasy "Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination." The Way of Kings is the first installment in Brandon Sanderson 's gargantuan Stormlight Archive series (with 5 books published already, all door-stoppers). Set on the storm-ravaged world of Roshar, the book follows several interconnected protagonists, including slave-turned-soldier Kaladin, noble scholar Shallan Davar, and war leader Dalinar Kholin.
It's classic fantasy stuff, confidently executed : political intrigue, ancient mysteries, devastating wars, and the gradual return of powers long thought lost. The plot moves quickly and serves up a lot of action, including people doing battle with obscenely powerful magic swords. Admittedly, some characters are a little underwritten, more like archetypes than real people, but the novel compensates with rich worldbuilding, juicy mysteries, and a likable protagonist in Kaladin. His efforts to protect his comrades on the battlefield provide much of the story's emotional weight.
Image via HarperCollins "Too much hate will burn a man to cinders." This one is a fun riff on dark fantasy and vampire tropes. In Empire of the Vampire , the sun has not risen properly in decades, vampires have conquered much of the world, and humanity survives only in isolated strongholds. In this bleak world, our protagonist Gabriel de León, the last of the legendary Silver Saints, recounts the events that led to civilization's collapse. The plot shifts Gabriel between timelines, gradually revealing more about the character and his enemies.
Author Jay Kristoff clearly put a lot of effort into the vampire mythology here , creating several different bloodlines with different leaders, all vying for power. He draws on many classic ideas from vampire stories but manages to make them feel fresh with cool twists or…