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.
English (US)