Fantasy Books That Will Make You Cry
Some fantasy books leave you staring at the wall when you finish. These are the ones that do it — emotionally uncompromising stories where the cost of the story feels real.
- 1
The Song of Achilles
by Madeline Miller
Madeline Miller writes mythology like it happened to people you love. Bring tissues.
- 2
The Poppy War
by R.F. Kuang
R.F. Kuang does not protect her characters. The most emotionally honest war fantasy ever written.
- 3
Babel
by R.F. Kuang
A slower devastation — about what it costs to fight a system that was designed to destroy you.
- 4
Circe
by Madeline Miller
Not a sad book in the traditional sense, but it will make you feel things you didn't expect to feel.
- 5
Crooked Kingdom
by Leigh Bardugo
The ending of the Six of Crows duology is one of fantasy's great gut-punches. Read Six of Crows first.
- 6
A Memory Called Empire
by Arkady Martine
An ambassador trying to prevent a war she cannot stop. The grief in this book is quiet and then suddenly overwhelming.