6 Best Fantasy Books You'll Love To Read [March 2023]

The best fantasy books from Next Chapter [March 2023]

The fantasy book genre has been a popular category of fiction since the early 20th century. It is a genre that incorporates elements of magic, supernatural creatures, and mythical worlds into the narrative. Fantasy books are known for their imaginative settings, complex characters, and intricate plotlines. They often explore themes such as good versus evil, the hero's journey, and the struggle for power.

One of the most defining features of the fantasy genre is its ability to transport readers to new and fantastical worlds. Whether it's exploring the magical realm of Middle-earth in J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" or wandering through the wizarding world of Harry Potter, fantasy books allow readers to escape reality and immerse themselves in a world of wonder and magic.

Another hallmark of the fantasy genre is the use of mythical creatures and supernatural beings. Dragons, unicorns, witches, and wizards are just a few examples of the fantastical creatures that often appear in these books. Through their unique and imaginative worlds, fantasy authors can explore timeless themes and moral lessons, making their books both entertaining and thought-provoking.

Below, you’ll find some the best fantasy books from Next Chapter, all available from Amazon, Apple Books, B&N, Rakuten Kobo & Google Books. Whether it’s epic fantasy, contemporary fantasy, sword and sorcery or another variety you’re into, we believe any of the books on this page will deliver!

If you enjoy one of the stories below, please don’t forget to leave the author a review! Don’t agree with our choices? Please leave a comment and let us know which fantasy eBook is your favorite :)

eBooks featured on this page

• Shadows Of The Soul (Shaded Souls Book 1) by Raymond Riddle

• The Black Wall (Tides Book 2) by R.A. Fisher

• The Keep In The Marsh (Escaping Dragons Book 1) by Neil O’Donnell

• Bloodstone (The Curse Of Time Book 1) by M.J. Mallon

• The Art of Effective Dreaming (Enchanted Australia Book 3) by Gillian Polack

• Kingmaker (The Hunter And Chekwe Adventures Book 1) by Aaron M. Fleming

Shadows Of The Soul (Shaded Souls Book 1) by Raymond Riddle

Book excerpt

Across the valley, the Manticorian Armada’s ruler continued to stir her bitter plots. Glimpsing into the evening sun, she noticed a small creature flying towards her before crash-landing at her tent’s doorway.

“Your majesty…they have arrived!” The extremely winded imp collapsed, prostrating himself as he spoke. “They have taken up position directly across the ravine from us,” he panted nervously. “Shall I relay this to General Orsiyensko?”

From the dimly lit tent covered in various eccentricities, a deft flick of her wrist instructed him to do no such thing. Rising from the mound of pillows, the afternoon sun accentuated the vibrant blue tones of her skin. Various raised tattoos glinted from the diamond trails encrusted randomly across her body.

Our rendezvous is planned. The bishop, knights, and rooks all in position. They will never know what hit them.

The thoughts creeping in Maria’s head produced a wicked grin across her face. Internally, she laughed. Her inner thoughts soon translated into maniacal giggles. The evening sun glinted off her now-fading scales, returning her to a more humanoid form.

Before her, the Manticorian Armada scrambled in preparation. Continuing past the imp, she strode into the camp, waving at a nearby attendant who quickly scurried from his post. As she passed a nearby campfire, a shadowy mystic stepped from the smoking flames, bowing as he appeared. Pulling a pen from his side pocket, a notepad appeared in his furred hand.

“Your benevolence, how can I be of assistance?” The bone pen twitched in his fingers, eager to do her bidding.

“My messengers…where are they?”

Flicking the pen into a stationary position, his fingers flew into action, the dark dusty gases of the pad glowing in response to his tactile requests.

“Messenger four is returning from the delivery to Esper, messenger ten is en route to General Anzu…” Pausing his hand, floated across the screen. Before him materialized the flight paths and military positionings of their troops. “…and messengers three, fifteen, six, and two are still en route to their directed destinations.” The werewolf’s eyes glinted in the afternoon sunlight. “They will arrive by nightfall.”

Stopping, Maria’s head panned back and forth, surveying the chasm before her.

Here. Here is where we crush her spirit.

“Excellent. Have number four report directly to me upon its arrival.”

Nodding, his hands again went to work, entering the needed data to alter the messenger’s intended destination.

“And Gireon?”

Looking up, he stopped. “Yes, my queen?”

“Have the portals been stabilized?” She leaned to one side, arms folded across her chest.

Gireon stepped forward, the gaseous pad now trailing smoke in the wind. His left hand reached out, fingers weaving intricate symbols as he chanted.

The Black Wall (Tides Book 2) by R.A. Fisher

Book excerpt

Syrina was bored. She was used to waiting in uncomfortable places, but she’d milled around the villages in the foothills for eight weeks waiting for Mann to show up. Now she’d spent another three watching his bored army waiting for him to come back through the tunnel. She’d decided two weeks ago that watching a mob of bored people was the only thing more boring than being one of them.

Things hadn’t been too bad until she’d reached the Black Wall. She’d taken the Great Road from Fom, and reasoned that if Mann and his army had somehow passed her on their way to Valez’Mui, at least she’d hear about it.

They hadn’t passed her. She’d waited in Valez’Mui for three months before Mann arrived from the south. Some misplaced desire for secrecy had compelled him to travel by sea around the Ristro Peninsula, and he’d paid for it. All her intelligence said that he’d departed the Upper Peninsula with three ships, but he arrived in Valez’Mui with two, undermanned at that. The Corsairs had taken their toll.

At least back in Valez’Mui, she hadn’t been bored.

She didn’t have many contacts left in the Yellow Desert from when she’d done work for Ormo there years ago. Valez’Mui was a city-state of transients. Nomads, indentured servants, and the slaves who didn’t survive long enough to be called residents. She was glad she didn’t need too many contacts this time around, and the one she needed most was still there. On the other hand, she and he hadn’t parted on good terms.

Syrina could have approached Vesmalimali as someone other than the old man who’d scammed him out of his steamship seventeen years before, but she didn’t want to take the time to build a new relationship with a rogue-corsair-turned-crime lord. Not when the previous one had worked so well right up to the end. Anyway, Ves had done well for himself as the smuggler known as Whitehook. Not that he was the forgiving sort, but she hoped two decades of success had softened him enough that he wouldn’t try to kill her outright. Again.

Valez’Mui was a sprawling city of intricate marble buildings and wide, palm-lined boulevards. Kiosks and bazaars filled every square, shaded by linen sheets held aloft by arches carved into flowering vines. The city of a half-million people slept through the hottest part of the day and came alive again as the sun set over the Great Road, which was so wide here she couldn’t see the far shore through the haze rising from the river.

Docks lined its banks, stretching for spans past where the city ended. Behind those sprawled the warehouses of the slavers. Between the city and the desert to the east, spread the nomad camps, twice as large as the city proper, ever changing as caravans came and went with stone from the Black Wall and the marble quarries, and slaves from the villages in the foothills.

The Keep In The Marsh (Escaping Dragons Book 1) by Neil O’Donnell

Book excerpt

A possum rustling among the weeds woke Thomas just as he was dreaming of fishing with his father. The smith opened his eyes to find himself in a staring contest with the marsupial, which appeared to be chewing on some unspecified insect. Thomas froze and just watched the animal chew, the sound of it crunching down on the insect’s exoskeleton somewhat unnerving. For the animal’s part, it seemed bothered by the human’s presence, as if to say: “Who the hell invited you here?”

A moment later, the possum moved off into the nearby brush; Thomas rolled on to his back and looked up at the sky through the tent’s opening. Not a cloud in the sky could be seen anywhere, leaving the stars and planets above to radiate a brilliant light show, as if 10,000 candles were lit by heavenly beings signaling either a welcome to humanity or a warning. Dreading the thought of the later, Thomas got up, leaving his tent to find Haley tending the fire, the others all deep in sleep as evidenced by disparate snores that left him wondering how anyone could sleep.

“You should go back to sleep,” Haley whispered as he approached and took a seat by the fire. An arctic chill rested upon the air, making the fire a welcome companion at the moment. Haley’s back was to the fire and she was gazing into the sky with the aid of a spyglass.

“Can’t sleep so I might as well be warm,” Thomas replied as he squinted into the darkness of space. “Are you looking for aliens or shooting stars?”

She giggled quietly. “Heavens no. Merely looking out at the planets wondering if someone out there is looking back at me with their own telescope.”

“Isn’t that heresy?” he joked.

“Very funny. Actually, it was a priest at the temple who taught us about astronomy. I had wanted to become a librarian at the temple and assist in their observations of the cosmos.”

“But they wouldn’t let a woman in, would they?”

“No, they wouldn’t. Father Richard fought to get me admitted, but the other priests wouldn’t budge.” She turned the brass spyglass over in her hands, marveling at its simplicity and functionality. “He gave me this two summers back. Said I should continue my studies and find answers to my questions.”

“Your questions? Like, is the planet flat or round?”

She smiled at his jest. Few questioned that the world was round any more. “It’s actually a spheroid, not round,” she said as she extended the spyglass and looked up at the brightest constellations.

Thomas quietly laughed. “I’m still hoping there’s an entire world of creatures living beneath the ground, giants battling for some ancient artifact of power.” She shot him a look of disappointment. “I’m just messing with you. So, why did you take up travelin’ with this lot?”

“We’re all from the same city and have the same problem.”

“And the problem?”

Bloodstone (The Curse Of Time Book 1) by M.J. Mallon

Book excerpt

I continued to wander along the Fen Rivers Walkway where usually a few random dog walkers and over enthusiastic joggers crossed my way, but today I saw no one. My eyes sought out but were repelled by the fork in the route ahead. I glanced to the right and marvelled at the bright lights that seemed to tempt me to walk toward the city centre. To my left, a sombre darkness led to the neighbouring village. The river that flowed within the banks of the shadowed side appeared stagnant, the dark murky colour resembling an oil slick. I shivered in the shadows while noting the contrast in the dappled sparkling sunlight, rich with goodness beckoning from the other side.

Even though the shadows disturbed me, I couldn’t help but find them fascinating. I snapped photos of the dancing sable-coloured silhouettes on the pathways and the trunks of the trees. I resumed my walk and noticed a gentle dappling of darkened markings which appeared to my left. Glancing in the far distance to the right, a narrow boat on the river caught my eye. Adjusting my camera lens, I zoomed in. I photographed the boat deck filled with patterned plant pots which extended a sunny welcome to anyone who passed by.

Questions swirled in my mind. I wondered who lived there and if the people living on the houseboat would describe themselves as happy? The cheerfulness of the scene seemed to suggest they were, but I knew from experience that hidden below the surface it could be different. The strangeness I had sensed while in the shadows took a while to leave me.

I had taken about twelve images using the disparity between light and darkness to good effect. I acknowledged this success, but with a glance at my watch, I realised I must make my way home.

I paused and turned, stepping over to the pathway entrance. From the corner of my eye, I spotted two lads who I’d never seen before. The boys hesitated to the left of the trail as if they were hiding in the far reaches of the deepening shadows. I observed as they scrutinised my movements, their eyes never leaving my form. An uneasy feeling crept over me. I glanced over my shoulder to keep them in sight. I felt vulnerable dressed in my short skirt and tugged at it to lengthen the material, but my legs remained on show, bare and exposed. A niggling protestation echoed in my head: ‘You should have listened to your mother’s warning and stayed away from the river pathway...’

I exhaled, and the voice in my head quietened. I focused on the lads. They had a threatening air about them, and with mounting tension in my muscles, I watched them stride towards me. The taller boy had a dark mop of unruly hair and leering eyes that unnerved me. His friend’s hoodie obscured his face, and I couldn’t see his features. His presence created a thread of fear in my mind.

The Art of Effective Dreaming (Enchanted Australia Book 3) by Gillian Polack

Book excerpt

Work is neat today. There’s no reason or logic behind it, but it is. I’m doing exactly the same dull old stuff as always; it’s just that, somehow, I’m enjoying it. Better be careful – I might get addicted to it. Addicted to work – how unFayish.

So far today, I’ve sent out an urgent minute to the Minister’s office trying the chase up a decision that should have been made two weeks ago. I’ve put a bomb under an economist (one of my favourite activities – I love making the lives of economists miserable) and I’ve done all my filing and all my typing and cleared out my desk a hundred percent.

One hundred percent is an awful lot of clearing for a messy Fay. There is a giant pile of papers on the floor, waiting patiently to be recycled. I have a theory that once they are recycled they come back again, get written on or printed on, and the whole process starts again. There’s a paper plot – a permanent invasion of my desk by a mere seven pages worth of paper molecules. What does a paper molecule look like, I wonder? Is it latticed and rainbow coloured? Or is it flat white and brick like?

I know why I’m cheerful, too. It’s the sudden and magic disappearance of a cold. Going to bed early was such a good idea. The night’s sleep seems to have done wonders.

I suppose this means I should do something super-exciting tonight. I could watch TV (shock, horror) or go to a movie (oh, unheard of!) or spend the evening on the phone (now, who to ring?) or, or… I could go to bed early and keep my promise to Belle, and visit her. Put down coldly on paper like that, it looks a bit stupid. I mean, imagine going to bed to keep a promise to an invention of your own. An idea that’s almost ludicrous.

Well, I may do it nonetheless. It’s more exciting than the alternatives.

***

“Well, I’m here!” announced Fay with a flourish.

Belle looked up at her, consideringly, “It only took you three days.”

Fay deflated immediately. “I was so sure I had it right this time.”

“Don’t worry,” said Belle, “I’m used to you. Anyway, I’m being nice to you today.”

“Why,” asked Fay.

“I want you to do me a favour.”

All sorts of strange thoughts passed through Fay’s wayward mind. She wondered if Belle wanted her to describe the world she lived in, or to explain how she got to and fro, or to make up a story she (Belle) could see happen. All of Fay’s thoughts concerned the odd awareness Belle seemed to display of who Fay was.

Unfortunately for Fay’s theories, Belle wanted nothing of the sort. “I’ve got a touch of morning sickness and I don’t want to have to explain it to the world, so I’m pretending I’ve got a cold and I’m staying in bed.” Belle grinned conspiratorially – she certainly didn’t look as if she was suffering from morning sickness. “And Persa’s been a pest and ‘borrowed’ my embroidery.”

“Why on earth?” ask Fay, bewildered. To borrow a half-finished cushion cover was not her idea of a sensible act.

“Who knows? Persa’s a law unto herself. Anyway, now I’ve got a bit of time on my own and no-one’s bothering me to tell them to do this or that or the other – Gods, I’m sick of being in charge of this tumble-down household – I want to do something calming.”

“Counting to five hundred is more calming than embroidery,” suggested Fay, helpfully. “And talking to me is more soothing than almost anything.”

Kingmaker (The Hunter And Chekwe Adventures Book 1) by Aaron M. Fleming

Book excerpt

Dahlia Rancher slapped the mayor of Dangritown right across the face. She put her whole arm into it and snapped her wrist and the crack of her palm hitting his cheek echoed off the garden walls. He was a tall, corpulent man, but he reeled, tripped over his own breakfast table, tried to catch himself on the tablecloth, and went sprawling in a jumble of scattered prawns, slices of beef, and spilled beer. She felt like a dozen hornets had stung her palm all at once, but she wasn’t done, and she pulled her knife out of her daily pouch.

“If you ever touch me again…” she snarled and took a step toward the mayor.

“Help!” he howled. “Hurry!”

The back gate of the garden burst open and a pair of sturdy men in matching orange tunics dashed into the garden. Then they saw Dahlia and skidded to a stop, confused. They were expecting trouble, but all they saw was a…woman? She could see confusion in their eyes.

“I thought your guards were busy helping the police,” Dahlia spat at the mayor. He sputtered and started to get up, but she made a jabbing motion at him with her knife, and he slumped back down. The guards took a step forward but stopped when she glared at them.

Dahlia heard familiar footsteps behind her.

There you go: the best fantasy books from Next Chapter in 03/2023. We hope you enjoy the stories - and if you do, please leave a comment below, or a review in Goodreads or your favorite store. We’d love to hear from you!