Best Faerie Books for Fantasy Nerds
This post we will be exploring our favorite Faerie books we’ve read so far! The search for good books never ends, but we wanted to share our current favorites with you. We hope we can add a few new Faerie books to your TBR list!
A Modern Faerie Tale By Holly Black
A Modern Faerie Tale consists of three books: Tithe, Valiant, and Ironside. I know we’ve mentioned this series before, but it certainly falls into this category! Not only is it my favorite Faerie book series, but also my favorite book series. If you still haven’t read these books, I strongly urge you to do so. These are technically Young Adult Fantasy genre books, but they have drug, sexual and violent themes. Holly Black effortlessly weaves together the beautiful and magical side of The Fae, and the dark, twisted side. Which is one of the reasons I love this series so much! A lot of people, when they think of fairies, think of cute tiny creatures with wings, but in these books they are anything but.
This series follows a Fae named Kaye, while she leads a relatively normal life with her mom, she is dragged into the dark world of the Fae on an epic and sometimes terrifying adventure. There are vast amounts of different creatures that are part of “The Fae”, sometimes peaceful and breath-takingly beautiful, and sometimes quite horrible. This series is full of loss, love and the battle between good and evil. If you yearn to peek into the dark side of the faerie world, I highly recommend you read these books as soon as you can.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
If you’ve read some of our other posts, you know this is one of Clever’s favorite series. This Beauty and the Beast retelling recasts the beast as a shape-shifting Fae who is trapped in his beast form, due to a curse, of course. After Feyre kills a Fae that is trapped in wolf form, the “beast” forces her to become his prisoner as punishment. But if you think this series is going to be predictable, you are wrong. This faerie world is so immersive and creative, and full of darker themes that make the imaginary world relevant to the reader.
These books blew my expectations out of the water, and I literally cried when I finished the series because I was so sad to say goodbye to the characters. Sarah J. Maas gives her characters so much depth and most are not who you expect them to be. By the end of the books I really felt like I knew them, and this gave the action and plot so much more weight.
The Throne of Glass series is also an amazing faerie read, but Feyre and the Court of Dreams have a special place in my heart. Which Sarah J. Maas series is your favorite?
The Cottingley Secret by Hazel Gaynor
This book is different from our other books on this list in that the story is based on real events. The book is based on the claim by two young girls in England that they have seen fairies, and the photos they have to prove it. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of Sherlock Holmes, himself proclaimed the photos to be authentic. The author actually interviewed one of the girls’ daughters, who shared her mother’s story for the writing of this book. The story is sweet, and full of magic and hope. The book forces us to ask ourselves the question, do I believe that fairies could be real?
The Darkest Part of the Forest By Holly Black
You may have noticed this book is also by Holly Black, which will be a recurring theme in this post, but when it comes to faeries, I don’t think anyone portrays their world better than Holly Black. The Darkest Part of the Forest is easily another of my favorite books. It’s setting is a town called Fairfold, where humans and Fae co-exist. Most people find it intriguing but Hazel and Ben know better, they already have experience with the dark side of the Fae, and are soon dragged into it after years of seeming peace. At the center of the town there is a Prince with pointy ears and horns, who sleeps in a glass coffin, never having been awoken, until now.
Again, the dark and quite terrifying side of faeries are extremely prevalent in this book. It also portrays the struggle of humans and faeries co-existing, and the struggles of being a teenager in love. If this peaks your interest, definitely get your hands on this book!
Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
Most of the books on this list involve a journey into an epic faerie world, but this one has the faeries entering our seemingly normal world. They are all around, watching, and only a select few can see them. These are the cloverhands, and Deirdre Monaghan is one of them. The faeries are drawn to her because of her talents, and they mean to cause her harm.
Deirdre discovers her talent for seeing faeries shortly after a mysterious boy shows up at her school and coaxes out her many abilities. She is drawn to the boy, but can sense that he is keeping secrets. The story is enticing and mesmerizing, just like Deirdre’s whirlwind romance. It constantly kept me guessing until the very end. The author wove the story with Celtic lore and created an array of faerie creatures, some beautiful and some terrifying. I have yet to read the rest of the series, but I definitely plan on it!
The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
This book starts out with strange and scary things happening to a seemingly normal girl. The beginning of this book thoroughly creeped me out, and I was drawn into the story. Our main character is soon given a compelling reason to venture into the dangerous faery realm. She encounters both terrifying and humorous obstacles on her journey, all of which kept me entertained. Our character soon learns that she is the daughter of a Faery King, which complicates her plans.
The Iron King was well paced and kept me hooked the entire time. I was able to sympathize with the main character, although I felt at the beginning of the story that the “social outcast” card was a bit overplayed. I enjoyed the side characters and love interests, and the dynamic of the group kept things interesting and amusing. The whole idea of the Iron Fey was original, and the backstory to them felt realistic within the context of the world. This book pondered the theme of magic and nature versus science and technology, and I thought it was well done.
The Poison Eaters By Holly Black
You might be thinking, another Holly Black book? But bear with me, because if you haven’t read any of her books you wouldn’t understand how artfully well she writes Faerie stories! Now this book is a collection of short stories. They’re all very different but unique in their own way, and all take place in a word of faeries and fantasy. It makes this list because every time you finish one story you are wanting more, and the next short story certainly delivers. There are a few I like more than others, that truly stuck with me to this day. One of the short stories in this book, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, turned into its own book! That book is about vampires, but it is an excellent fantasy read.
What Do You Think?
Did you like our list? If any of the books look interesting, click here to view the our list on bookshop.org and support local bookstores! As an affiliate, we do earn if you make any purchases. Did we miss any books you think should be on this list? Let us know in the comments! If you would like to check out the books on our list, just click the image of the book for the Amazon link. Thank you for checking out our blog, and if you enjoy our posts feel free to buy us a coffee, we promise to share!
-Clever & WTF
