Escape reality and dive into magical fantasy lands with this month’s book list compiled by Charlotte Griffiths
The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb
When the world leaves you feeling blue, you can count on fantasy fiction to lift you from one reality and drop you straight into another – sometimes, delightfully, for many, many thousands of pages.
Disillusioned by current global politics? Slip away into Robin Hobb’s epic Farseer saga, which starts with The Assassin’s Apprentice and continues into multiple mini series for a further 15 books. I accidentally read the entirety of the first trio because I just could not put them down.
It follows young FitzChivalry Farseer, the illegitimate son of a recently abdicated but beloved prince, as he navigates courtly life under the care of his grandfather, the King, and his characterful retinue. It’s told as a first- person retrospective, which gives you a more intimate, human take on the otherworldly events that unfurl around Fitz as he tries to do his best by his family and those who’ve cared for him, while also being used as a political bargaining chip.
There are two flavours of magic in this world: the Skill and the Wit. The former is the telepathic power employed by the ruling classes to observe and control their people, whereas the latter gives the bearer the ability to commune and bond with animals, and is considered taboo by polite society.
Read these books in order of publication, and you’ll soon wonder why they’ve not become a Game of Thrones-style TV epic – yet.
The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon
Buckle up for this riotous queer, feminist, swashbuckling series of warrior nuns, multi-generational queens, alchemists, pirates, a magic-bestowing orange tree and – of course – dragons galore.
The Priory of the Orange Tree is the first in Samantha Shannon’s The Roots of Chaos series. In the island nation of Inys, Queen Sabran the Ninth has not yet borne a daughter to continue her line. This sparks rumours that the Nameless One – an apocalyptic dragon, sealed in the Abyss a thousand years ago by Galian Berethnet, Sabran’s royal ancestor – is on the verge of returning in order to wreak devastation across the land. By Sabran’s side is Ead Duryan, whose real name is Eadaz du Zāla uq-Nāra. She serves as a gentlewoman but is actually a deadly warrior from the South, sent by the Priory of the Orange Tree to protect the queen. Those raised by the Priory know Galian is not the real hero: in their version it was a woman, Cleolind Onjenyu, who stopped the Nameless One long ago.
The shifting nature of truth is a theme for the novel: there are multiple, competing perspectives about the same set of events. What is revered by one culture is reviled by the next, yet they are united in their mistrust of dragons.
However, across the oceans lies the East, where dragons are venerated and the young Tané dreams of becoming a dragonrider –knowing the key to stopping the Nameless One is working with dragons, not against them.
Shannon’s world may have a steep runway, but once you’ve got the basics down you will be completely absorbed. And a fantastic slow-burn, cross-culture romance doesn’t hurt at all…
Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas
Yes, it’s Sarah J Maas, and yes, you absolutely should get on board. It is no spoiler that all of Maas’ series are interlinked, and with two (two!) new books in her A Court of Thorns and Roses arc due in late 2026 and early 2027, now is the perfect time to head back to where it all began: this magnificent eight-book fantasy series Maas started writing at the age of 16.
In Throne of Glass, the young assassin Celaena Sardothien has survived a year in a prison camp where the average inmate lasts three months. She is retrieved by Dorian, the Crown Prince of Adarlan, who gives her the chance to earn her freedom by taking a position as the King’s Assassin. To win, however, she must first battle her fellow killers in a deadly competition to find the individual most suited to this prestigious role.
She agrees and is taken to the tyrannical King of Adarlan’s court, where Chaol Westfall, the Captain of the Royal Guard, trains her back to full strength in preparation for the tournament. Yet, when one of the other participants is brutally murdered, she cannot help but investigate – while also juggling her growing affections for Prince Dorian and constant bickering with Chaol.
It’s a true fairytale for grown-ups; a classic fantasy that will see you and Celaena travel across continents, fight on rooftops, depose royalty and sail with pirates: it’s the perfect series to disappear into over the summer. And of course, once these eight books are done, you have Maas’ other worlds to dive straight into.
New releases
Hooked
By Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton
Butter’s bright-yellow cover was everywhere last summer, so beat the rush and land yourself a copy of this soon. Eriko’s perfect life is a mirage hiding crippling loneliness, so when she stumbles upon a food blog that awakens her appetite for life, she decides to track down the author – but at what cost…
Pixie
By Jill Dawson
The newest historical novel from star local author Jill Dawson, Pixie tells the tumultuous and fascinating tale of Pamela ‘Pixie’ Colman Smith, the illustrator of the classic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck. An epic turn-of-the-century feminist novel about the pursuit of creativity, all Dawson’s books are immediate must-reads and this is no exception.
Witch Trial
By Harriet Tyce
Hot on the heels of the author’s appearance on The Traitors at the start of 2026 is her newest novel – a twisty, sinister, super-gripping legal drama that’s completely compulsive reading. Tyce will appear at the University Arms on 23 April as part of the Cambridge Literary Festival – celebrate the other World Book Day in true literary style!
Check out March 2026’s Book Club and the coffee table reads