Fantasy fiction · United States
The Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel
Voted on by readers of Locus Magazine, the Best Fantasy Novel award has been given since 1978 and is the reader-driven benchmark for fantasy writing. Winners 2010–2025.
Alongside its Science Fiction Novel counterpart, the Locus Fantasy Award has recognised the breadth of the genre — from high fantasy epics to mythopoeic retellings to dark suburban fairy tales. NK Jemisin and China Miéville each have multiple wins, and Naomi Novik won in consecutive years (2019 and the Locus recommendations for her work).
The award year corresponds to works published in the prior calendar year, making the 2025 winner A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher a recognition of the best fantasy of 2024.
Winners
- 2010 The City & The City China Miéville Find on Amazon →
- 2011 Kraken China Miéville Find on Amazon →
- 2012 A Dance with Dragons George R.R. Martin · more by this author Find on Amazon →
- 2014 The Ocean at the End of the Lane Neil Gaiman · more by this author Find on Amazon →
- 2015 The Goblin Emperor Katherine Addison Find on Amazon →
- 2016 Uprooted Naomi Novik · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2017 All the Birds in the Sky Charlie Jane Anders · more by this author
- 2018 The Stone Sky N.K. Jemisin · more by this author
- 2019 Spinning Silver Naomi Novik · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2020 Middlegame Seanan McGuire
- 2021 The City We Became N.K. Jemisin · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2022 Jade Legacy Fonda Lee · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2023 Babel, or the Necessity of Violence R.F. Kuang · more by this author
- 2024 Witch King Martha Wells · more by this author In our catalogue Book club guide →
- 2025 A Sorceress Comes to Call T. Kingfisher · more by this author
Years are the award year; winning books were published in the prior calendar year. Some years in the 2010s omitted pending title verification. The full award history runs from 1978.
Winners verified against the prize's official records. For the complete history, see the official The Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel site.
Common questions
What is the Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel?
An annual reader-voted award given by Locus Magazine — the SF/F industry's trade publication. It covers all fantasy sub-genres: epic, mythopoeic, urban fantasy, dark fantasy and beyond.
How does the Locus Fantasy Award relate to the Hugo and World Fantasy Award?
All three are prestigious fantasy awards but chosen differently. The Hugo is voted on by WorldCon members; the World Fantasy Award by a small panel of judges; the Locus Award by Locus Magazine readers — typically the largest voter pool of the three.