May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the United States. Formerly AAPI Heritage Month and now more properly AANHPI Heritage Month, it’s the ideal time to turn your focus toward the incredible cultural contributions of AANHPI creators here in the U.S. It’s not just about expanding your perspective—books abound by superb, award-winning AANHPI authors across genres, including fantasy.
In fact, there are so many that figuring out what to add to your book pile might be the hardest part. Here, we’ve rounded up ten of the best fantasy novels by AANHPI authors, where fantasy is about more than dragons (though they do make an appearance). There’s action, characters in the dark glitz of Hollywood and the shadows of imperialism in worlds filled with practical magic. You can follow a terrifying werewolf through the Mughal Empire, dive into Hawaiian and Filipino folklore or march into battle with a group of outlaws. You’ll find all that and more on our list of must-read books by AANHPI authors.
The Water Outlaws by SL Huang
This “wuxia” martial arts fantasy written by the first woman to be a professional armorer in Hollywood offers non-stop action. Arms instructor Lin Chong is a perfect soldier—even when the Empire doesn’t seem to be a perfect system, she follows the rules and enforces them. But when a single, bitter man tries to ruin her, she is forced to turn to a group of bandit outlaws, marginalized people who fight for the downtrodden people of the Empire.
The Devourers by Indra Das
Young scholar Alok is looking for inspiration. He stumbles on it when he finds a man who claims to be a shapeshifter and, more specifically, a werewolf. His story extends back in time into the era of the Mughal Empire and dives into a study of greed, colonization and the desire of men to eat up and conquer whatever they can find. Two tales unfold—one in the past and a tale of queer desire unspooling in the present—in this dark, literary fantasy about werewolves and violence.
Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
Take the silver age of Hollywood, starlets and their hopes of being the next big thing… add a dollop of dark, fae-like magic of sold souls, disappearances, bargains, blood and sacrifices… and you have Nghi Vo’s lush fantasy world in which young Luli Wei is trying to become a star. She knows that as a Chinese American, she’ll only be able to get so many roles, but in her drive to succeed, Wei is willing to do whatever it takes.
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
Feminist retellings of old myths have been steadily growing in popularity. In Kaikeyi, we’re transported into the world of the Sanskrit epic the Ramayana from the point-of-view of a famously villainized queen. Queen Kaikeyi is the third wife of the king of Ayodhya. She’s had to fight to get where she is and then to maintain her strength and position. So when her son is going to be disinherited, she decides to do anything rather than let that happen—even if it means becoming hated.
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn
When Noa is seven years old, he falls overboard into the waves and a shark carries him in its jaws back to the boat. The event forms the basis of a powerful local legend that Noa will be what Hawaii needs to recover and rebound from its ghosts and the continued violence of imperialism. But what about the other two children in Noa’s family? We watch as the three children grow up in this story about Hawaii, its folklore and the violence that has defined its recent history.
Never Have I Ever by Isabel Yap
In thirteen short stories, Yap takes on Filipino folklore and politics, urban legends and cults, queer love and teen girl friendship, and paints rich wild worlds that peek out through the corners and alleys of everyday life. A special highlight is “Have You Heard the One About Anamaria Marquez?”, in which urban legends, violence against teen girls and the struggle to grow up all swirl together into one thick horror story—but the collection includes witches, romance and much, much more.
Babel by R.F. Kuang
Robin Swift is headed from Canton to England to study at the illustrious Babel, Oxford University’s prestigious Royal Institute of Translation where magical silverworking supports the expansion of the British empire. At first, he’s enthralled by all things Babel, from its challenges to its promises. But more and more, he begins to see the prejudice and imperialism haunting its dark corners, and when the Hermes Society, a radical group rebelling against the institute’s role in politics reaches out, he has to consider where his loyalties will lie in this award-winning, best-selling fantasy novel.
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard
Looking for a book you can read in a weekend? Check out this novella inspired by precolonial Vietnam. When she was young, Thanh was sent as a hostage to the country trying to colonize her own, where she survived a fire that haunts her to this day. Now, she’s back home as a young princess and diplomat. When a delegation from her former captors arrives, including her childhood crush, she’ll have to make difficult decisions about what’s right for her kingdom—and for her heart.
On Fragile Waves by E. Lily Yu
Firuzeh and her brother Nour were born surrounded by war in Afghanistan. When their parents decide to flee from there to Australia, the children bring their stories, folklore and the accompanying magic with them. In their long struggle to find a new home, Firuzeh picks up a new companion: the persistent ghost of a good friend. Yu took more than seven years to write this book, obsessively researching to produce a rich, deep tale of what it means to be a refugee and asylum seeker far from home and at the mercy of too many violent turns and betrayals.
After the Dragons by Cynthia Zhang
This cozy, low-stakes fantasy novel features Kaifei, a college student trying to save abandoned and ill dragons while dealing with the pollution-created plague “burnt lung,” and Eli, the American medical researcher who develops a crush on Kai and is determined to help him. The book confronts what it’s like to feel like you’re drowning in a world where everything seems past the point of no return—and how we can find comfort and care even when things are bleak.
