Thanks to the positive avalanche of fantasy titles hitting shelves in late February, we’re all pretty much starting March with a book hangover. The glut of titles from last month may explain why the list of new releases is a little lighter than in previous months—but that doesn’t mean there aren’t some excellent choices for fantasy fans in March.
This month’s list includes everything from a pair of highly anticipated sequels from two of the most popular authors in the genre, to a uniquely buzzy YA debut, a Sapphic feminist mythology retelling, and several thrilling new romantasy titles to boot.
Here are our picks for the best fantasy books arriving this March.
The Prisoner’s Throne by Holly Black
Release Date: March 5 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Why You’ll Love It: The latest installment in Holly Black’s beloved Folk of the Air series, this highly anticipated sequel to last year’s The Stolen Heir sees Prince Oak imprisoned by the newly crowned Wren, and desperate to prevent his sister the High Queen of Elfhame from starting a war to get him back. A twisty mirror to the duology’s first installment, this story will delight those who can’t get enough of the world of Faerie, with all its dark corners and complicated intrigue.
Publisher’s Description: Prince Oak is paying for his betrayal. Imprisoned in the icy north and bound to the will of a monstrous new queen, he must rely on charm and calculation to survive. With High King Cardan and High Queen Jude willing to use any means necessary to retrieve their stolen heir, Oak will have to decide whether to attempt regaining the trust of the girl he’s always loved or to remain loyal to Elfhame and hand over the means to end her reign—even if it means ending Wren, too.
With a new war looming on the horizon and treachery lurking in every corner, neither Oak’s guile nor his wit will be enough to keep everyone he loves alive. It’s just a question of whom he will doom.
A Feather So Black by Lyra Selene
Release Date: March 12 from Orbit
Why You’ll Love It: The story of a queen’s daughter who becomes the key in a battle for Matic, this adult debut from popular YA author Lyra Selene has it all: A complex heroine, a genuinely compelling love quadrangle, political intrigue, sexy Fae, and lots more. A romantasy that’s worth your time.
Publisher’s Description: In a kingdom where magic has been lost, Fia is a rare changeling, left behind by the wicked Fair Folk when they stole the High Queen’s daughter and retreated behind the locked gates of Tír na nÓg.
Most despise Fia’s fae blood. But the queen raises her as a daughter and trains her to be a spy. Meanwhile, the real princess Eala is bound to Tír na nÓg, cursed to become a swan by day and only returning to her true form at night.
When a hidden gate to the realm is discovered, Fia is tasked by the queen to retrieve the princess and break her curse. But she doesn’t go with her is prince Rogan, Fia’s dearest childhood friend—and Eala’s betrothed.
As they journey through the forests of the Folk, where magic winds through the roots of the trees and beauty can be a deadly illusion, Fia’s mission is complicated by her feelings for the prince…and her unexpected attraction to the dark-hearted fae lord holding Eala captive. Irian might be more monster than man, but he seems to understand Fia in a way no one ever has.
Soon, Fia begins to question the truth of her mission. But time is running out to break her sister’s curse. And unraveling the secrets of the past might destroy everything she has come to love.
Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
Release Date: March 12 from St. Martin’s Press
Why You’ll Love it: The long-awaited sequel to Jay Kristoff’s fantasy doorstopper Empire of the Vampire, Empire of the Damned is a sequel that ups the stakes—which were plenty high enough—-of its original, adding in new characters, perspectives, and worldbuilding, even as it turns some of our initial assumptions about the characters we thought we knew and what kind of story we’re reading on their heads.
Publisher’s Description: Gabriel de León has saved the Holy Grail from death, but his chance to end the endless night is lost. Drawn into an uneasy alliance with the mysterious vampire Liathe, Gabriel must now deliver the Grail to ancients of the Blood Esani, and learn the truth of how Daysdeath might be finally undone.
But the Last Silversaint faces peril, within and without. Pursued by terrors of the Blood Voss, drawn into warfare between the Blood Dyvok and duskdancers of the frozen Highlands, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the Grail learn her truth.
And that truth may be too awful for any to imagine.
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The Hedgewitch of Foxhall by Anna Bright
Release Date: March 12 from HarperTeen
Why You’ll Love It: A cozy fantasy romance infused with Welsh mythology and folklore from the author of the (wildly underrated) Beholder duology, this story of a witch who undertakes a quest to restore magic to medieval Wales is a sparkling springtime winner.
Publisher’s Description: Ffion is the last hedgewitch in Foxhall. To work her magic, she takes only what nature can spare, unlike the witches of the powerful Foxhall coven, who sacrifice whole forests to fuel their spells. But across the warring kingdoms of Wales, all magic is fading. Even the dragons have vanished.
Prince Taliesin would love nothing more than to watch magic die. But when his father charges Tal and his brother, Dafydd, with destroying King Offa’s dyke—the massive earthen wall raised by their Mercian enemies to the east, which may be the cause of magic’s disappearance—he begrudgingly seeks aid from a witch.
Because whichever prince succeeds in destroying the dyke will win the throne, and Tal is willing to do whatever it takes to become king. Even if the Foxhall coven refuses to help him. Even if he’s forced to team up with a spitfire hedgewitch who hates him almost as much as he hates her magic. And even if Dafydd proves to be a worthier rival than he anticipated…for the crown, and for Ffion’s heart.
Sunbringer by Hannah Kaner
Release Date: March 12 from Harper Voyager
Why You’ll Love It: The sequel to Hannah Kaner’s excellent (and underrated) series opener Godkiller picks up immediately where its predecessor left off, as the threat of rebellion and war grows across the land and the kingdom reels in the wake of Kissen’s sacrifice.
Publisher’s Description: Gods are forbidden in the kingdom of Middren—but now they are stirring, whispering of war. Godkiller Kissen sacrificed herself to vanquish the fire god Hseth, who murdered her family and endangered her friends. But gods cannot be destroyed so easily, and Hseth’s power threatens to reform with even greater strength and a thirst for vengeance. As tensions rise throughout the land, the kingdom needs its Godkiller more than ever.
Still reeling from the loss of Kissen, young noble Inara and her little god of white lies, Skedi, have set out to discover more about the true nature of their bond. As the divide between gods and humans widens, Inara and Skedi will uncover secrets that could determine the fate of the war to come.
Meanwhile, Elogast, no longer a loyal knight of King Arren, has been tasked with killing the man he once called friend. The king vowed to eradicate all gods throughout the land, but has now entered into an unholy pact with the most dangerous of them all. And where his heart once beat, a god now burns. . .
The Last Bloodcarver by Vanessa Le
Release Date: March 19 from Roaring Brook Press
Why You’ll Love It: One of the buzziest YA fantasies of the spring, The Last Bloodcarver is a Vietnamese-inspired dark fantasy that boasts richly detailed worldbuilding and asks complex questions about identity, lost heritage, medical ethics, and more.
Publisher’s Description: Nhika is a bloodcarver. A cold-hearted, ruthless being who can alter human biology with just a touch. In the industrial city of Theumas, she is seen not as a healer, but a monster that kills for pleasure.
When Nhika is caught using her bloodcarving abilities during a sham medical appointment, she’s captured by underground thugs and sold to an aristocratic family to heal the last witness of their father’s murder.
But as Nhika delves deeper into their investigation amidst the glitz of Theumas’ wealthiest district, she begins to notice parallels between this job and her own dark past. And when she meets an alluring yet entitled physician’s aide, Ven Kochin, she’s forced to question the true intent behind this murder. In a society that outcasts her, Kochin seems drawn to her…though he takes every chance he gets to push her out of his opulent world.
When Nhika discovers that Kochin is not who he claims to be, and that there is an evil dwelling in Theumas that runs much deeper than the murder of one man, she must decide where her heart, and her allegiance, truly lie. And — if she’s willing to become the dreaded bloodcarver Theumas fears — to save herself and the ones she’s vowed to protect.
Song of the Huntress by Lucy Holland
Release Date: March 19 from Redhook
Why You’ll Love It: This feminist fantasy retelling of the Wild Hunt is set in 60 AD Britain and follows the story of a pagan peasant woman who must make a deal with the king of the Otherworld to save her people. But when the deal goes wrong, she’s forced to serve as the Lord of the Hunt, riding for centuries and leaving everyone she loved behind. Can a Saxon queen help her break her curse—and save humanity?
Publisher’s Description: Britain, 60AD. Hoping to save her lover, her land, and her people from the Romans, Herla makes a desperate pact with the king of the Otherworld. But years pass unheeded in his realm, and she escapes to find everyone she loved long dead. Cursed to wield his blade, she becomes Lord of the Hunt. And for centuries, she rides, leading her immortal warriors and reaping wanderers’ souls. Until the night she meets a woman on a bloody battlefield—a Saxon queen with ice-blue eyes.
Queen Æthelburg of Wessex is a proven fighter. But when she leads her forces to disaster in battle, her husband’s court turns against her. Yet King Ine needs Æthel more than ever. Something dark and dangerous is at work in the Wessex court. His own brother seeks to usurp him. And their only hope is the magic in Ine’s bloodline that’s lain dormant since ancient days.
The moment she and Æthel meet, Herla knows it’s no coincidence. The dead kings are waking. The Otherworld seeks to rise, to bring the people of Britain under its dominion. And as Herla and Æthel grow closer, Herla must find her humanity—and a way to break the curse—before it’s too late.
The Emperor and the Endless Palace by Justinian Huang
Release Date: March 26 from MIRA
Why You’ll Love It: Timey wimey and romantic, this sweeping gay love story spans multiple timelines — 4 BC, 1740s China, and present-day Los Angeles—-and asks pointed and poignant questions about love as a two men are reborn across lifetimes and drawn back to one another again and again.
Publisher’s Description: “What if I told you that the feeling we call love is actually the feeling of metaphysical recognition, when your soul remembers someone from a previous life?”
In the year 4 BCE, an ambitious courtier is called upon to seduce the young emperor—but quickly discovers they are both ruled by blood, sex and intrigue.
In 1740, a lonely innkeeper agrees to help a mysterious visitor procure a rare medicine, only to unleash an otherworldly terror instead.
And in present-day Los Angeles, a college student meets a beautiful stranger and cannot shake the feeling they’ve met before.
Across these seemingly unrelated timelines woven together only by the twists and turns of fate, two men are reborn, lifetime after lifetime. Within the treacherous walls of an ancient palace and the boundless forests of the Asian wilderness to the heart-pounding cement floors of underground rave scenes, our lovers are inexplicably drawn to each other, constantly tested by the worlds around them.
As their many lives intertwine, they begin to realize the power of their undying love—a power that transcends time itself…but one that might consume them both.
Lacy Baugher Milas is the Books Editor at Paste Magazine, but loves nerding out about all sorts of pop culture. You can find her on Twitter @LacyMB