Fantasy has a series problem. Pick up a promising novel and you may be signing up for five, ten, or fourteen books, some of which haven't been written yet. Sometimes you just want a whole story: a beginning, a middle, and an ending, between two covers.
Every book on this list tells a complete story in one volume.
Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson
Sanderson is best known for long series, which makes Warbreaker the ideal way to try him. In the city of Hallandren, breath is currency, and people who gather enough of it can bring cloth and objects to life. Two princesses from a rival kingdom end up at the center of a coming war, while a god who doesn't believe in his own divinity investigates a murder. It shares a universe with Sanderson's other books, but you don't need to have read any of them. See the book.
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Two agents on opposite sides of a war fought across time start leaving each other letters, and slowly fall in love. It's under 200 pages and won the Hugo, Nebula, and Locus awards. It's the kind of book people finish and immediately start again. Published in paperback and a deluxe hardcover.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
A unicorn learns she may be the last of her kind and leaves her forest to find out what happened to the others. Published in 1968, it's a fairy tale that knows it's a fairy tale, funny on nearly every page and heartbreaking on a few. See the book.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
Fencing, giants, a revenge quest, and true love. The novel is stranger and sharper than the film, framed as an abridgement of a book that never existed. We carry a handsome illustrated hardcover.
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova
A long, slow-burning gothic novel about three generations of scholars hunting for Dracula through libraries, archives, and monasteries across Europe. Perfect for autumn reading. See the book.
When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill
In 1955, hundreds of thousands of American women spontaneously turn into dragons and fly away, and everyone agrees never to talk about it. A furious, funny, alternate-history novel about everything a society refuses to say out loud. See the book.
The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
Two sisters live where a river flows out of Faerie, and one of them is about to be murdered. A short, lyrical retelling of an old murder ballad. Published in paperback and hardcover.
Replay by Ken Grimwood
A man dies at 43 and wakes up in his college dorm room at 18, with every memory intact. Then it happens again. Winner of the 1988 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel, it is a strong choice for readers drawn to second chances and time loops. See the book.
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
Not fantasy, but a perfect standalone for anyone who likes big ideas: a man wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory, and slowly realizes that saving Earth is up to him. From the author of The Martian. See the book.
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