Between our long-standing love for historical fiction and our desire for worlds charged with magic, it’s no wonder that the book community has it down bad for historical fantasy: books where real historical events or worlds overlap with magical systems, unusual creatures, or fantastic twists. The magic often allows authors to stretch the scope of their stories, imbuing them with extra drama or exciting character reimaginings. These historical fantasy books have creative, unexpected arcs and spins on either neglected histories or histories we already think we know plenty about. Infusing these landscapes with folklore or myth is another way to meld the two together, acknowledging two important pieces of a culture or country.
In the following historical fantasy books, writers break the rules between genres, twisting histories into new creations or infusing chronologies with shadowy secrets. A golem helps a Jewish girl escape Germany at the beginning of World War II; a vampire twists her way through years of American history; a young girl refuses to accept her fate during a famine, and takes on her brother’s identity (and with it, his destiny of greatness). Dive into these well-researched, fantasy-infused stories and disc...
English (US)