Norah Sullivan is a navigator: a person who can manipulate probability. The same day her ability manifests, she and her father are swarmed by flickerbeasts. When a flickerbeast bites you, your risk of death skyrockets. Desperate for a cure, Norah applies to the Academy of Navigation, where there are rumors of information on beast bites hidden in the archives. Once on campus, Norah learns the only way into the archives is to win a team trial that pushes your navigation abilities to the brink. She'll need to rely on her roommates, as well as her peer mentor, the handsome Vik Souza, if she has any hope of winning.
When I sink into a story, I like the world to blossom around me. I want magic to spark, a city to build up brick by brick, and culture to fill the spaces in between. I want big red grasshoppers, and magical music, and flowers blooming from a character’s hands—those rich, unique elements that make a fantasy world feel real, tangible, and thrilling.
These six YA fantasy books have particularly exceptional worldbuilding. Each of them spends the time to immerse us in a world that is carefully built and filled out, a world that is rich with detail and distinctly new. From the vast Africanfuturist world of Nnedi Okorafor to the smaller cathedral world of Rachel Gillig, these books have exciting magical systems and folklore-inspired stories to feed us. Brothers are turned into cranes, omens hover over us in dreams, magic is channeled through song and script, and amidst it all, the protagonists are just trying to survive, whether it’s getting through a year of school, winning a soccer game, or simply making it through another day.
So pick up your cup of coffee or tea and get ready to sink deep into a YA fantasy with worldbuilding that will delight, surprise, and surround you.
Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor
Sunny, a young albino girl who’s always felt outcast, learns that she is one of the Leopard People, and has the power to become invisible and shift time. She and her friends dive into a parallel world in Nigeria, one filled with giant red grasshoppers, frightening masquerades, a magical script based on a real system of symbols, and much more. Okorafor’s world is filled both with the regular elements of a young tween’s life—soccer, bullies, friends—and with well-crafted magic based on Nigerian folklore and culture.
The Knight and the Moth by Rachel Gillig
Six Diviners sit in the Aisling Cathedral, passing on their predictions for the future based on Omens they’ve received. When knight Rodrick appears on the scene, Sybil is turned off by his disrespect, but is forced to get his help when her fellow Diviners begin to disappear. The star of this novel’s worldbuilding is Sybil’s pet and sidekick, a gargoyle named Bartholomew. While the world is small, that tightness helps make it all the more lush, rooted in religious parallels and poetic language.
When the Moon Was Ours by Anna-Marie McLemore
While more magical realist than traditional fantasy, this gorgeous book is about two young friends: one with roses growing from her wrists, the other hanging moons all over town. McLemore’s lush writing brings this surreal world to life, with a mysterious stained glass box, the paint that brings moons to life, and much more. Miel and Sam are compelling characters whose story is that much more breathtaking set in this vivid, dream-like reality.
Six Crimson Cranes by Elizabeth Lim
On the morning she was meant to be betrothed, Shiori accidentally exposes her magic, and finds herself banished, her brothers turned into cranes and scattered to the wind. The world is crafted from a delightful medley of European fairytales (particularly Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Wild Swans”) and East Asian folklore (the legends of the moon goddess and the bamboo cutter). Dragons, paper cranes, and an atmospheric setting make for a delightful ride.
A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik
The magic school was a sanctuary, once, for young magic-users who needed to learn before the mals could get to them. But the void has crept closer every year, and now school is about eking out survival and trying to prepare for the bloodbath that is graduation. As El, who is skilled at curses, starts to connect unexpectedly with the well-liked, charming Orion Lake, the two learn intriguing spellwork and try to find ways to get around the dark corners and threatening traps of the school.
Note: While this one is often labeled “adult,” it won the Lodestar Award for Young Adult Book, and takes place at a magical school featuring teen protagonists, so it has crossover potential for any teens who enjoy fantasy and can handle violence and a few dark themes!
Iron Cast by Destiny Soria
In near-Prohibition Boston, a group of people called hemopaths, whose blood is averse to iron but who have fascinating magical powers, try to stay hidden by day while performing beautiful feats of music and theater by night. Soria brings in real-world history of immigration, institutionalization, and underground nightclubs with a wholly original and beautiful take on magic that flows through music, poetry, and more. A beautiful historical fantasy with rich characters to boot.
Want more recommendations? Check out my list of eight cozy YA fantasies, or my list of YA fantasy novels led by “chosen one” protagonists.
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