Sci-Fi And Fantasy Books I Want To Read

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It's almost spooky season! That's the perfect time for reading magical or mysterious books. Here are 10 sci-fi and fantasy novels from my to-be-read Pinterest board.

Sci-Fi & Fantasy To Read

Babel by R.F. Kuang

Adult Fantasy

Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he’ll enroll in Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation—also known as Babel. The tower and its students are the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver-working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as the arcane craft serves the Empire's quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide:

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

Why I want to read it: The hype! It seems like everybody loves this book. Also, I really want to find a good dystopia. It's been a while since I read one.

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That Time I Got Drunk And Saved A Demon by Kimberly Lemming

Adult Fantasy Rom-Com

Spice trader Cinnamon's quiet life is turned upside down when she ends up on a quest with a fiery demon.

All she wanted to do was live her life in peace—maybe get a cat, expand the family spice farm. Really, anything that didn't involve going on an adventure where an orc might rip her face off. But they say the Goddess has favorites, and if so, Cin is clearly not one of them. 

All demon Fallon wants to do is kill an evil witch enslaving his people. And, who can blame him? But he's dragging Cinnamon along for the ride. On the bright side, at least he keeps burning off his shirt.

Why I want to read it: The synopsis reminds me of Legends & Lattes. The main character wants a quiet life, but she ends up involved in demon shenanigans. Sounds like a fun time.

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Agnes Aubert's Mystical Cat Shelter by Heather Fawcett

Adult Historical Fantasy

Agnes Aubert leads a meticulously organized life—and she likes it that way. As the proudly type-A manager of a much-needed cat rescue charity, she has devoted her life to finding forever homes for lost cats.

But after she is forced to move the cat shelter, Agnes learns that her new landlord is using her charity as a front—for an internationally renowned and thoroughly disreputable magic shop. Owned by the disorganized—not to mention self-absorbed, irritating, but also decidedly handsome—Havelock Renard, magician and failed Dark Lord, the shop draws magical clientele from around the world, partly due to the quality of Havelock’s illicit goods as well as their curiosity about his shadowy past and rumors of his incredible powers. Agnes's charity offers the perfect cover for illegal magics.

Agnes couldn’t care less about the shop—magical intrigue or not, there are cats to be rescued. But when an enemy from Havelock’s past surfaces, the magic shop—and more importantly, the cat shelter—are suddenly in jeopardy. To save the shelter, will Agnes have to set aside her social conscience and protect the man who once tried to bring about the apocalypse—and is now trying to steal her heart?

Why I want to read it: Can I just stay "ditto" and point to the book above this one? The plot sounds like a fun time! Also, the author's other book, Emily Wilde's Encyclopaedia Of Faeries, is an all-time-favorite fantasy book of mine. I'm hoping this one is just as good.

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The Raven Scholar by Antonia Hodgson

Adult Fantasy

Let us fly now to the empire of Orrun, where after twenty-four years of peace, Bersun the Brusque must end his reign. In the dizzying heat of mid-summer, seven contenders compete to replace him. They are exceptional warriors, thinkers, strategists—the best of the best.

Then one of them is murdered.

It falls to Neema Kraa, the emperor’s brilliant, idiosyncratic High Scholar, to find the killer before the trials end. To do so, she must untangle a web of deadly secrets that stretches back generations, all while competing against six warriors with their own dark histories and fierce ambitions. Neema believes she is alone. But we are here to help; all she has to do is let us in.

Why I want to read it: Murder mystery + magical competition. That's a combination I can't pass up. Reviewers love the quirky, intelligent main character.

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Bury Our Bones In The Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab

Adult Fantasy

Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 1532.
London, 1837.
Boston, 2019.

Three young women, their bodies planted in the same soil, their stories tangling like roots.

One grows high, and one grows deep, and one grows wild.

And all of them grow teeth.

Why I want to read it: The synopsis is not helpful. I have no idea what this book is about! It's V.E. Schwab, so I'm going to guess it's about women who commit violence. Sometimes you need a good feminine rage story.

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The Antidote by Karen Russell

Adult Fantasy

The Antidote opens on Black Sunday, as a historic dust storm ravages the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska. But Uz is already collapsing—not just under the weight of the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl drought, but beneath its own violent histories. The Antidote follows a "Prairie Witch," whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate.

Russell's novel is above all a reckoning with a nation’s forgetting—enacting the settler amnesia and willful omissions passed down from generation to generation, and unearthing not only horrors but shimmering possibilities.

Why I want to read it: Karen Russell is one of my favorite writers. I don't understand how a human can be so brilliant. Her stories are like puzzles. Y0u start out with a bunch of odd pieces that don't seem to make sense. Then everything snaps together at the end, and you're kind of stunned. How does she find meaningful connections between such random stuff? Her books are weird, but in a way that makes complete sense.

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The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham

Adult Science Fiction Classic

In the sleepy English village of Midwich, a mysterious silver object appears and all the inhabitants fall unconscious. A day later the object is gone and everyone awakens unharmed— except that all the women in the village are discovered to be pregnant.

The resultant children of Midwich do not belong to their parents: all are blond, all are golden-eyed. They grow up too fast and their minds exhibit frightening abilities that give them control over others. This brings them into conflict with the villagers just as a chilling realization dawns on the world outside.

Why I want to read it: It's modern classic that sounds odd. I want to read more odd classics. Also, I think this book inspired several horror movies.

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How To Become The Dark Lord And Die Trying by Django Wexler

Adult Science Fiction

Davi has done this all before. She’s tried to be the hero and take down the all-powerful Dark Lord. A hundred times she’s rallied humanity and made the final charge. But the time loop always gets her in the end. Sometimes she’s killed quickly. Sometimes it takes a while. But she’s been defeated every time.

This time? She’s done being the hero and done being stuck in this endless time loop. If the Dark Lord always wins, then maybe that’s who she needs to be. It’s Davi’s turn to play on the winning side.

Why I want to read it: This synopsis is awesome. Sometimes you get tired of being good and want to watch everything burn. The book sounds snarky and like it's going to have a lot of fun with sci-fi tropes.

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Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

Mythology Fiction

Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon thousands of statues, each one different from all the others. Within the labyrinth of halls an ocean is imprisoned; waves thunder up staircases, rooms are flooded in an instant. But Piranesi is not afraid; he understands the tides as he understands the pattern of the labyrinth itself. He lives to explore the house.

There is one other person in the house—a man called The Other, who visits Piranesi twice a week and asks for help with research into A Great and Secret Knowledge. But as Piranesi explores, evidence emerges of another person, and a terrible truth begins to unravel, revealing a world beyond the one Piranesi has always known.

Why I want to read it: I've met a few people who say this is their favorite book ever. I want it to be my favorite book ever.

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The Lies Of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

Adult Fantasy

An orphan’s life is harsh—and often short—in the mysterious island city of Camorr. But young Locke Lamora dodges death and slavery, becoming a thief under the tutelage of a gifted con artist. As leader of the band of light-fingered brothers known as the Gentleman Bastards, Locke is soon infamous, fooling even the underworld’s most feared ruler. But in the shadows lurks someone still more ambitious and deadly. Faced with a bloody coup that threatens to destroy everyone and everything that holds meaning in his mercenary life, Locke vows to beat the enemy at his own brutal game—or die trying.

Why I want to read it: People have been recommending this book to me for years because I love stories about villains. I promise I'll read it eventually. It's just so big.

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Which sci-fi and fantasy books are on your to-be-read list?