"Reader, beware! If you've been reading in a genre long enough, it's easy to convince yourself you know every book in it that's worth knowing — which is exactly why I've put together this list of the best fantasy books you've never heard of. Every book listed below — except one — has been on store shelves for at least a year, and many much, much longer than that. But with fewer than 500 Goodreads reviews each, these titles are unsung gems, waiting for new readers to discover them.
The mere mention of fantasy conjures images of dragons, knights, elves, and magic spells. There's a lot more to speculative fiction than that, however. To that end, I've picked books from across the genre, including epic fantasy quests, urban fantasy adventures, and tales that blur the line between fantasy and science fiction. In addition, this selection spans more than 40 years of fantasy publishing and represents a broad spectrum of cultures — from Viking Norway to the contemporary Chinese diaspora."
