Skip to content

Lists and Suggestions for Teens

Home » Services » Teen Services » Lists and Suggestions for Teens

http://mppl.org/services/teen-services/good-reads/?category=teens&list=Spotlight+On%3A+Fantasy

List: Spotlight On: Fantasy


A photo of Heir

Heir

An orphan. An outcast. A prince. And a killer who will bring an empire to its knees. Growing up in the Kegari slums, Aiz has seen her share of suffering. An old tragedy fuels her need for vengeance, but it is love of her people that propels her. Until one hotheaded mistake lands her in an inescapable prison, where the embers of her wrath ignite. Banished from her people for an unforgivable crime, Sirsha is a down-on-her-luck tracker who uses magic to trace her marks. Destitute, she agrees to hunt down a killer who has murdered children across the Martial Empire. All she has to do is carry out the job and get paid. But when a chance encounter leads to an unexpected attraction, Sirsha learns her mission might cost her far more than she's willing to give up. Quil is the crown prince of the Empire and nephew of a venerated empress, but he's loath to take the throne when his aunt steps down. As the son of a reviled emperor, he, better than anyone, understands that power corrupts. When a vicious new enemy threatens the survival of the Empire, Quil must ask himself if he can rise above his tragic lineage and be the heir his people need. Beloved storyteller Sabaa Tahir interweaves the lives of three young people as they grapple with power, treachery, love, and the devastating consequences of unchecked greed, on a journey that may cost them their lives--and their hearts. Literally.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Iron Widow

Iron Widow

The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall of China. It doesn't matter that the girls die from the mental strain. When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But when she gets her vengeance, it becomes clear that she is an Iron Widow, a rare kind of female pilot who can sacrifice males to power up Chrysalises instead. To tame her frightening yet valuable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest male pilot in Huaxia, yet feared and ostracized for killing his father and brothers. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will take over instead, then leverage their combined strength to force her society to stop failing its women and girls. Or die trying.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Divine Rivals

Divine Rivals

When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.

Checking status…

A photo of The Sunbearer Trials

The Sunbearer Trials

As each new decade begins, the Sun's power must be replenished so that Sol can keep traveling along the sky and keep the evil Obsidian gods at bay. Ten semidioses between the ages of thirteen and eighteen are selected by Sol himself as the most worthy to compete in The Sunbearer Trials. The winner carries light and life to all the temples of Reino del Sol, but the loser has the greatest honor of all they will be sacrificed to Sol, their body used to fuel the Sun Stones that will protect the people of Reino del Sol for the next ten years. Teo, a 17-year-old Jade semidiós and the trans son of Quetzal, goddess of birds, has never worried about the Trials... or rather, he's only worried for others. His best friend Niya daughter of Tierra, the god of earth is one of the strongest heroes of their generation and is much too likely to be chosen this year. He also can't help but worry (reluctantly, and under protest) for Aurelio, a powerful Gold semidiós and Teo's friend-turned-rival who is a shoo-in for the Trials. Teo wouldn't mind taking Aurelio down a notch or two, but a one-in-ten chance of death is a bit too close for Teo's taste. But then, for the first time in over a century, Sol chooses a semidiós who isn't a Gold. In fact, he chooses two: Xio, the 13-year-old child of Mala Suerte, god of bad luck, and... Teo. Now they must compete in five mysterious trials, against opponents who are both more powerful and better trained, for fame, glory, and their own survival.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Squire

Squire

Hiding her status as a girl from conquered lands while training as a Squire on her quest to become a Knight, the only path to true citizenship, Aiza navigates friendships and rivalries until she discovers the military's endgame.

Checking status…

A photo of The Stolen Heir

The Stolen Heir

Eight years have passed since the Battle of the Serpent. In the icy north, Lady Nore of the Court of Teeth has reclaimed the Ice Needle Cathedral. She has produced a monster of stick and snow who will do her bidding--and exact her revenge. Suren, child queen of the Court of Teeth, fled to the human world and lives in the woods. When she is chased through the streets by the hag Bogdana, Suren is saved by Prince Oak, the heir to Elfhame--and the boy she was once promised to in marriage. He wants Suren's help on a mission--but can she trust him?

More

Checking status…

A photo of Legendborn

Legendborn

After her mother dies in an accident, sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews wants nothing to do with her family memories or childhood home. A residential program for bright high schoolers at UNC-Chapel Hill seems like the perfect escape--until Bree witnesses a magical attack her very first night on campus. A flying demon feeding on human energies. A secret society of so-called "Legendborn" students who hunt the creature down. And a mysterious teenage mage who calls himself a "Merlin?" and who attempts--and fails--to wipe Bree's memory of everything she saw. The mage's failure reveals Bree's own unique magic and a buried memory with a hidden connection: the night her mother died, another Merlin was at the hospital. Now that Bree knows there's more to her mother's death than what's on the police report, she'll do whatever it takes to find out the truth, even if that means infiltrating Legendborn as one of their initiates. She recruits Nick, a self-exiled Legendborn with his own grudge against the group, and their reluctant partnership pulls them deeper into the society's secrets-- and closer to each other. But when the Legendborn reveal themselves as the descendants of King Arthur's knights and explain that a magical war is coming, Bree has to decide how far she'll go for the truth and whether she should use her magic to take the society down--or join the fight.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Monsters Born and Made

Monsters Born and Made

To ensure her family's survival, sixteen-year-old Koral cheats her way into the Glory Race, a dangerous chariot tournament using sea monsters meant for the ruling elite.

Checking status…

A photo of The Darkening

The Darkening

Vesper Vale is the daughter of revolutionaries. Failed revolutionaries. When her mother was caught by the queen's soldiers, they gave her a choice: death by the hangman's axe, or death by the Storm that surrounds the city and curses anyone it touches. She chose the Storm. And when the queen's soldiers--led by a paranoid prince--catch up to Vesper's father after twelve years on the run, Vesper will do whatever it takes to save him from sharing that fate.

More

Checking status…

A photo of So Let Them Burn

So Let Them Burn

After her sister Elara forms an unbreakable bond with an enemy dragon, seventeen-year-old Faron, who once wielded the magic of the gods to save her island from those same dragon-riding colonizers, must find a way to save her sister and the fate of their world in the face of impossible odds.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Curious Tides

Curious Tides

Emory might be a student at the prestigious Aldryn College for Lunar Magics, but her healing abilities have always been mediocre at best--until a treacherous night in the Dovermere sea caves leaves a group of her classmates dead and her as the only survivor. Now Emory is plagued by strange, impossible powers that no healer should possess. Powers that would ruin her life if the wrong person were to discover them. To gain control of these new abilities, Emory enlists the help of the school's most reclusive student, Baz--a boy already well-versed in the deadly nature of darker magic, whose sister happened to be one of the drowned students and Emory's best friend. Determined to find the truth behind the drownings and the cult-like secret society she's convinced her classmates were involved in, Emory is faced with even more questions when the supposedly drowned students start washing ashore-- alive--only for them each immediately to die horrible, magical deaths. And Emory is not the only one seeking answers. When her new magic captures the society's attention, she finds herself drawn into their world of privilege and power, all while wondering if the truth she's searching for might lead her right back to Dovermere... to face the fate she was never meant to escape.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Seven Faceless Saints

Seven Faceless Saints

During Ombrazia's Second War of Saints, former friends Rossana Lacertosa and Damian Venturi--she is a rebel who wants to dismantle the corrupt system responsible for her father's death while he is the young head of security who serves the city and the saints with unswerving devotion--must work together to investigate murders within the city.

More

Checking status…

A photo of His Face Is the Sun

His Face Is the Sun

Four strangers connected by a forgotten oracle must work together to save their divided kingdom from destruction amidst the brewing conflict and struggle for the pharaoh's throne.

Checking status…

A photo of The Well

The Well

Known to friends and family as Lizzy, she takes care of her grandfather and their goats, she flirts with the woman who helps row the ferry, and she stays away from the fog that comes in the night--and the monsters hiding within it. But Lizzy's life comes apart when she steals a handful of coins from a sacred well to cover a debt. The well requires repayment, but it doesn't deal in coins. It needs wishes, and its minions will drown Lizzy in its depths if she doesn't grant them. Lizzy finds herself on a quest to uncover hidden memories, bestow great wealth, and face the magical secrets that nearly destroyed her family--and are now returning to threaten everything she has ever known. In this breathtaking graphic novel, Jake Wyatt and Choo have created a modern fable based on magic and family secrets, exploring the power--and limits--of wishes.

More

Checking status…

A photo of What the River Knows

What the River Knows

Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that's been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents--who frequently leave her behind. When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archaeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and an ancient golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there's more to her parent's disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe. With her guardian's infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient magic to uncover the truth about her parent's disappearance--or risk becoming a pawn in a larger game that will kill her.

More

Checking status…

A photo of The Will of the Many

The Will of the Many

Vis, the adopted son of Magnus Quintus Ulcisor, a prominent senator within the Hierarchy, is trained to enter the famed Catenan Academy to help Ulciscor learn what the hidden agenda is of the remote island academy. Secretly, he also wants Vis to discover what happed to his brother who died at the academy. He is sure the current Principalis of the academy, Quintus Veridius Julii, a political rival, knows much more than he's revealing. The Academy's vigorous syllabus is a challenge Vis is ably suited to meet, but it is the training in the use of Will, a practice that Vis finds abhorrent, that he must learn in order to excel at the Academy. Will, a concept that encompasses their energy, drive, focus, initiative, ambition, and vitality, can be voluntarily "ceded" to someone else. A single recipient can accept ceded Will from multiple people, growing in power towards superhuman levels. Within the hierarchy your level of Will, or legal rank, determines how you live or die. And there are those who are determined to destroy this hierarchal system, as well as those in the Academy who use it to gain dominance.

More

Checking status…

A photo of The Isles of the Gods

The Isles of the Gods

Selly has salt water in her veins. So when her father leaves her high and dry in the port of Kirkpool, she has no intention of riding out the winter at home while he sails off to adventure. But any plans to follow him are dashed when a handsome stranger with tell-tale magician's marks on his arm commandeers her ship. He is Prince Leander of Alinor and he needs to cross the Crescent Sea without detection so he can complete a ritual on the sacred Isles of the Gods. Selly has no desire to escort a spoiled prince anywhere, and no time for his entitled demands or his good looks. But what starts as a leisure cruise will lead to acts of treason and sheer terror on the high seas, bringing two countries to the brink of war, two strangers closer than they ever thought possible, and stirring two dangerous gods from centuries of rest...

More

Checking status…

A photo of House of Marionne

House of Marionne

17-year-old Quell has lived her entire life on the run. She and her mother have fled from city to city in order to hide the deadly magic that flows through Quell's veins. Until someone discovers her dark secret. To hide from the assassin hunting her and keep her mother out of harm's way, Quell reluctantly inducts into a debutante society of magical social elites, which she never knew existed, called the Order. If she can pass their three rites of membership, mastering their proper form of magic, she'll be able to secretly bury her forbidden magic forever. If her dark magic is discovered, she will be killed. But becoming the perfect debutante is a lot harder than Quell imagined, especially when there's more than tutoring happening with Jordan, her brooding mentor and assassin-in-training. When Quell uncovers the deadly lengths the Order will go to to defend its wealth and power, she's forced to choose: Embrace the dark magic she's been running from her entire life, or risk losing everything, and everyone, she's grown to love.

More

Checking status…

A photo of A Thief Among the Trees

A Thief Among the Trees

Elias, Helene, and Tavi are Fivers -- in training to become elite military recruits for the Martial Empire at Blackcliff Academy. When they're sent on a dangerous mission to steal a heavily-guarded poison on Isle South, the soon find themselves up against surprising enemies -- including other recruits. As the true horror of their assignment is revealed, these three will begin to confront the harrowing realities of Martial rule, their place in the system... and the choices they must make to survive.

More

Checking status…

A photo of A Door in the Dark

A Door in the Dark

Ren Monroe is one of the best wizards in her generation, but top marks at Balmerick University will mean nothing if she fails to get recruited into one of the major houses. Enter Theo Brood. After a failed and disastrous party trick, fate has the two of them crossing paths at the public waxway portal the day before holidays: Theo's punishment is to travel home with the scholarship kids. A fight breaks out, and in the chaos the portal spell misfunctions. Six students are set down in the middle of nowhere--and one of them is dead on arrival. No magic could prepare them for the tangled secrets members of the group are harboring--or for what's following them in the dark woods.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Breath of the Dragon

Breath of the Dragon

Sixteen-year-old Jun dreams of proving his worth as a warrior in the elite Guardian's Tournament, held every six years to entrust the magical Scroll of Heaven to a new protector. Eager to prove his skills, Jun hopes that a win will restore his father's pride--righting a horrible mistake that caused their banishment from his home, mother, and twin brother. But Jun's father strictly forbids him from participating. He believes there is no future in Jun honing his skills as a warrior, especially considering Jun is not breathmarked, born with a patch of dragon scales and blessed with special abilities like his twin. Determined to be the next Guardian, Jun stows away in the wagon of Chang and his daughter, Ren, performers on their way to the capital where the tournament will take place. As Jun competes, he quickly realizes he may be fighting for not just a better life, but the fate of the country itself and the very survival of everyone he cares about.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Powerless

Powerless

Only the extraordinary belong in the kingdom of Ilya--the exceptional, the empowered, the Elites. The powers these Elites have possessed for decades were graciously gifted to them by the Plague, though not all were fortunate enough to both survive the sickness and reap the reward. Those born Ordinary are just that--ordinary. And when the king decreed that all Ordinaries be banished to preserve his Elite society, lacking an ability suddenly became a crime--making Paedyn Gray a felon by fate and a thief by necessity. Surviving in the slums as an Ordinary is no simple task, and Paedyn knows this better than most. Having been trained by her father to be keenly observant since she was a child, Paedyn poses as a Psychic in the crowded city, blending in with the Elites as best she can to stay alive and out of trouble… easier said than done. When Paeydn unsuspectingly saves one of Ilya's princes, she finds herself thrown into the Purging Trials. The brutal competition exists to showcase the Elites' powers--the very thing Paedyn lacks. If the Trials and the opponents within them don't kill her, the prince she's fighting feelings for certainly will if he discovers what she is… completely Ordinary.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Graceling

Graceling

Katsa is a Graceling, one of the rare people born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she lived a life of privilege until the day her ability to kill a man with her bare hands revealed itself during a royal banquet. Now she acts as her uncle's enforcer, traveling the kingdom and threatening those who dare oppose him. But everything changes when she meets Po, a foreign prince Graced with combat skills who is searching for the truth about his grandfather's disappearance. When Katsa agrees to help him, she never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace--or about a terrible secret that could destroy them all.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Infinity Alchemist

Infinity Alchemist

For Ash Woods, practicing alchemy is a crime. Only an elite few are legally permitted to study the science of magic, so when Ash is rejected by the Lancaster Mage's College, he takes a job as the school's groundskeeper instead, forced to learn alchemy in secret. When he's discovered by the condescending and brilliant apprentice Ramsay Thorne, Ash is sure he's about to be arrested, but instead of calling the authorities, Ramsay surprises Ash by making him an offer: Ramsay will keep Ash's secret if he helps her find the legendary Book of Source, a sacred text that gives its reader extraordinary power. As Ash and Ramsay work together and their feelings for each other grow, Ash discovers their mission is more dangerous than he imagined, pitting them against influential and powerful alchemists, Ash's estranged father included. Ash's journey takes him through the cities and wilds across New Anglia, forcing him to discover his own definition of true power and how far he and other alchemists will go to seize it.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Zodiac Rising

Zodiac Rising

When a student is killed over priceless treasure, the Descendants of Chinese zodiac magic assemble a crew to avenge the murder and heist back what is rightfully theirs.

Checking status…

A photo of Sky's End

Sky's End

Exiled to live as a Low, sixteen-year-old Conrad refuses to become heir to his murderous uncle. But Meritocracy is a harsh and unforgiving rule on the floating island of Holmstead, and when his ailing mother is killed by monstrous gorgantauns, Conrad cuts a deal to save the only family he has left. To rescue his sister from his uncle's clutches, Conrad must enter the Selection of the Twelve Trades.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Heartless Hunter

Heartless Hunter

On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is. Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe. He's a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution, and, too late, Rune realizes she might be falling for him. Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow facade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?

More

Checking status…

A photo of Red in Tooth and Claw

Red in Tooth and Claw

Faolan Kelly’s grandfather is dead. She’s alone in the world and suddenly homeless, all because the local powers that be don’t think a young man of seventeen is mature enough to take over his grandfather’s homestead… and that’s with them thinking Faolan is a young man. If she revealed that her grandfather had been disguising her for years, they would marry her off at the first opportunity. The mayor finds a solution that serves everyone but Faolan: He hires a gunslinger to ship her off to the Settlement, a remote fort where social outcasts live under the leadership of His Benevolence Gideon Dillard. It's a place rife with mystery, kept afloat by suspicious wealth. Dillard's absolute command over his staff just doesn't seem right. And neither do the strange noises that keep Faolan up at night. When Faolan finds the body of a Settlement boarder, mangled by something that can’t possibly be human, it’s clear something vicious is stalking the palisades. And as Settlement boarders continue to drop like flies, Faolan knows she must escape to evade the creature’s wrath.

More

Checking status…

A photo of Demon in the Wood

Demon in the Wood

Before he led Ravka's Second Army, before he created the Fold, and long before he became the Darkling, he was just a lonely boy burdened by an extraordinary power. Eryk and his mother, Lena, have spent their lives on the run. But they will never find a safe haven. They are not only Grisha--they are the deadliest and rarest of their kind. Feared by those who wish to destroy them and hunted by those who would exploit their gifts, they must hide their true abilities wherever they go. But sometimes deadly secrets have a way of revealing themselves…

More

Checking status…

A photo of Don't Let the Forest In

Don't Let the Forest In

High school senior Andrew Perrault finds refuge in the twisted fairytales that he writes for the only person who can ground him to reality--Thomas Rye, the boy with perpetually ink-stained hands and hair like autumn leaves. And with his twin sister, Dove, inexplicably keeping him at a cold distance upon their return to Wickwood Academy, Andrew finds himself leaning on his friend even more. But something strange is going on with Thomas. His abusive parents have mysteriously vanished, and he arrives at school with blood on his sleeve. Thomas won't say a word about it, and shuts down whenever Andrew tries to ask him questions. Stranger still, Thomas is haunted by something, and he seems to have lost interest in his artwork--whimsically macabre sketches of the monsters from Andrew's wicked stories. Desperate to figure out what's wrong with his friend, Andrew follows Thomas into the off-limits forest one night and catches him fighting a nightmarish monster--Thomas's drawings have come to life and are killing anyone close to him. To make sure no one else dies, the boys battle the monsters every night. But as their obsession with each other grows stronger, so do the monsters, and Andrew begins to fear that the only way to stop the creatures might be to destroy their creator...

More

Checking status…

A photo of A Language of Dragons

A Language of Dragons

London, 1923. Dragons soar through the skies, and protests erupt on the streets, but Vivien Featherswallow isn't worried. She's going to follow the rules, get a summer internship studying dragon languages, be smart, be sweet, and make sure her little sister never, ever has to risk growing up Third Class. She just has to free one dragon. By midnight, Viv has started a civil war. With her parents and cousin arrested and her sister missing, Viv is brought to Bletchley Park as a codebreaker--if she succeeds, she and her family can all go home again. If she doesn't, they’ll all die. As Viv begins to discover the secrets of a hidden dragon language, she realizes that the fragile peace treaty that holds human and dragon societies together is corrupt, and the dangerous work Viv is doing could be the thread that unravels it.

More

Checking status…

A photo of The Otherwhere Post

The Otherwhere Post

Seven years ago, Maeve Abenthy lost her world, her father, even her name. Desperate to escape the stain of her father's crimes, she lives under a fake name, never staying in one place long enough to put down roots. Then she receives a mysterious letter with four impossible words Your father was innocent. To uncover the truth, she poses as an apprentice for the Otherwhere Post, where she'll be trained in the art of scriptomancy--the dangerous magic that allows couriers to enchant letters and deliver them to other worlds. But looking into her father's past draws more attention than she'd planned. Her secretive, infuriatingly handsome mentor knows she's lying about her identity, and time is running out to convince him to trust her. Worse, she begins to receive threatening letters, warning her to drop her investigation--or else. For Maeve to unravel the mystery of what happened seven years ago, she may have to forfeit her life.

More

Checking status…

© Copyright 2025 Mount Prospect Public Library,
All Rights Reserved

Mount Prospect Public Library

Install Mount Prospect Public Library

Install this application on your home screen for quick and easy access when you’re on the go.

Just tap then “Add to Home Screen”