We’re obsessed with books with magic, mythology, and everything in between. Escaping into a new world created by incredible authors, experiencing the joy of learning entirely new (and often deeply complex and well-plotted) magic systems–what more could we possible ask for? With so many amazing fantasies out there, it’s like the greatest gift for our imaginations, not to mention a fabulous escape from real life.
Below, you’ll find some of our favorite books with unique magic systems. Don’t see your favorite? Shout them out in the comments! Keep reading and stay magical, book nerds.
Read These Magical Books
WITH THE MOST UNIQUE MAGIC SYSTEMS!
Monster, Monarch, Maiden by Rae Carson
A sweeping stand-alone fantasy from award-winning and bestselling master of the genre, Rae Carson. After she loses everything, Bria will do whatever it takes to survive—even pledge herself to an enigmatic young man on a perilous quest. Breathtaking adventure and slow-burn romance for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Ava Reid, Elizabeth Lim, and Rebecca Ross.
Bria Angarsold isn’t supposed to be a hero. She’s just a mountain girl with a near useless Gift, living an idyllic life with her sister and her parents, running the family’s thriving inn. But then raiders come, and Bria’s family is destroyed.
One of the last survivors of the raid, Bria doubts she’ll live to see where the captors are taking her. Until the caravan crosses paths with a mysterious traveler and Bria’s luck changes again.
Titus—a moody, secretive young man—has been chosen to complete a perilous quest. One that will make Bria question everything she’s ever believed, from the magic that weaves through their world to the very gods themselves. As the journey unfolds, Bria realizes she has something—someone—new to believe in. She’d follow Titus to the Edge of the World, sworn oath or not, even if neither of them stands a chance at returning from it.
But Bria Angarsold is a survivor. She isn’t useless, and neither is her Gift. And this is her story.
Their Will Undone by R.J. Valldeperas
When a maiden is selected to marry the emperor, her journey to the palace will see her fighting both a spark of magical power and her growing feelings for her broody escort in this romantic fantasy duology opener, inspired by a true story from the Inca empire.
In Amaru, it is an honor to be chosen in the annual harvest and serve the gods'-favored emperor. Nina’s brother has already been chosen, but when the emperor’s men come a second time for her sister, Nina volunteers instead. She is taken to the acllahuasi, a gilded cage where women train to become servants or wives for the ruling class. It is there that a soldier comes to collect her, and Nina learns of her fate—to become a wife...to the emperor.
As the emperor's trusted friend and soldier, Kasik is ordered to retrieve Nina and deliver her untouched. But the emperor’s betrothed is not as he expected. The distrust between Nina and Kasik is thicker than the trees surrounding them, and Kasik’s honor is put to the test when their path back to the capitol leads them into dangerous territory. Their lives and hearts are in peril as forbidden desires are unearthed, along with a stirring of dark magic in Nina that inexplicably ties her to the gods.
What begins as a simple task becomes a tense journey that forces Nina and Kasik to confront where their true loyalties lie—with the emperor and the fate of their people, or with the desires of their own hearts.
Songlight by Moira Buffini
📚 This is the first book in: The Torch Trilogy
They are hunting those who shine.
Elsa is used to hiding the most important parts of herself—her feelings for Rye, her distaste for a world ruled by men, and, most crucially, her gift of songlight. She buries that secret deep inside. In Brightland, those with songlight are called Unhumans and are abhorred. Rye is the only other person Elsa has known with songlight, and their shared bond has brought them together.
Elsa’s world begins to fall apart one desperate, heart-wrenching day and she doesn’t know where to turn until a girl appears before her. But the girl isn’t really there—her songlight has been drawn to Elsa’s frantic grief.
Elsa lives in a remote seaside village; Nightingale, her new friend, lives in a city hundreds of miles away with her father, a government official responsible for rooting out Unhumans. The two never expected to connect via songlight. But when they do, and when they realize the extent of their power, they’ll be thrust in the middle of a war that threatens their very existence.
We’re two songs joined. And there’s a word for that. A harmony.
Legendborn by Tracy Deonn
📚 This is the first book in: The Legendborn Cycle
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 that hunt the creatures 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 unlocks 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 the 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.
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
📚 This is the first book in: The Grishaverse
Surrounded by enemies, the once-great nation of Ravka has been torn in two by the Shadow Fold, a swath of near impenetrable darkness crawling with monsters who feast on human flesh. Now its fate may rest on the shoulders of one lonely refugee.
Alina Starkov has never been good at anything. But when her regiment is attacked on the Fold and her best friend is brutally injured, Alina reveals a dormant power that saves his life—a power that could be the key to setting her war-ravaged country free. Wrenched from everything she knows, Alina is whisked away to the royal court to be trained as a member of the Grisha, the magical elite led by the mysterious Darkling.
Yet nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. With darkness looming and an entire kingdom depending on her untamed power, Alina will have to confront the secrets of the Grisha… and the secrets of her heart.
Serpent & Dove by Shelby Mahurin
📚 This is the first book in: The Serpent & Dove series
Two years ago, Louise le Blanc fled her coven and took shelter in the city of Cesarine, forsaking all magic and living off whatever she could steal. There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.
As a huntsman of the Church, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. But when Lou pulls a wicked stunt, the two are forced into an impossible situation—marriage.
Lou, unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, must make a choice. And love makes fools of us all.
The Enemy’s Daughter by Melissa Poett
It’s been thirty-seven years since the Republic was destroyed. Now two settlements—the five clans and the Kingsland—fight for control of the untainted land. Though the five clans are outnumbered, they’ve finally struck, killing Kingsland’s brutal leader.
In the war that follows, Isadora, an eighteen-year-old healer, risks her life to help injured soldiers. But when she stops an attack from Tristan, a Kingsland assassin, his soldiers shoot her with a poisoned arrow. As Isadora lies dying, Tristan does the unimaginable: He offers to save her life using a rare magic.
In choosing to live, Isadora is unknowingly bound to the mysterious Tristan. Worse, even acknowledging the attraction between them allows him to glean fragments of her memories and the very knowledge he needs to destroy the five clans. But their magical connection works both ways. So to save her people, Isadora will have to open her heart to her most cunning enemy. Because in a race for ultimate survival, she’ll need to destroy Tristan and his people first.
The Twelve by Joey Graceffa
From New York Times bestselling author and renowned creator Joey Graceffa comes a pulse-pounding YA fantasy where witches hunt witches, magic has a price, and sisterhood is the only thing standing between light and darkness.
Welcome to the coven.
Each month, a Zodiac Witch is born, her magic written by the stars.
Ophelia and Serena—twin sisters born on the cusp of Pisces and Aries—are trapped in the cold confines of an orphanage until fate rips them from obscurity. Suddenly, they are invited into The Twelve, a powerful coven. To join, they must swear to hunt Dark Witches, creatures of spectral beauty and razor-sharp teeth who survive by siphoning magic from young witches.
On a secret island, protected by their new sisters, Ophelia and Serena train to use their powers. Serena commands Lightning, raw and untamed. Ophelia wields Water, quiet and waiting. Their paths shift—one chasing power, the other resisting—as the sisters find themselves caught between two destinies. Some choices can never be undone but they must decide, because magic does not wait, and the darkness is coming for them in ways they could never imagine. After all, the stars never shine without casting shadows.
Beneath These Cursed Stars by Lexi Ryan
📚 Don’t miss the sequel: Between These Broken Hearts
Princess Jasalyn has a secret. Armed with an enchanted ring that gives her death’s kiss, Jas has been sneaking away from the palace at night to assassinate her enemies.
Shape-shifter Felicity needs a miracle. Fated to kill her magical father, she’s been using her unique ability to evade a fatal prophecy.
When rumors of evil king Mordeus’s resurrection spread through the shadow court, Jasalyn decides to end him once and for all. Felicity agrees to take the form of the princess, allowing Jas to covertly hunt Mordeus—and starting Felicity on the path that could finally take her home.
While Jasalyn teams up with the charming and handsome Kendrick, Felicity sets out to get closer to the Wild Fae king, Misha. Kendrick helps Jasalyn feel something other than anger for the first time in three years, and Misha makes Felicity wish for a world where she’s free to be her true self. Soon, the girls’ missions are at risk right alongside their hearts.
The future of the human and fae realms hangs in the balance as fates intertwine. Between perilous tasks, grim secrets, and forbidden romances, Jasalyn and Felicity find that perhaps their stars are the most cursed of all.
The Ancient’s Game by Loni Crittenden
Sixteen-year-old Kellan DuCuivre is the descendant of traitors. She never knew her family members or which one of them betrayed the isle of Nanseau. But like all Du orphaned after the war, Kellan is forbidden by law from practicing makecraft, the trade of carving magic into metal that was perfected by the Guild of Engineers and their maker apprentices. No one can know that Kellan has been using makecraft in secret and that, in the wake of a tragic miscarve, she’s been helping her adoptive father, Edgar, run his celebrated makeshop.
But Edgar’s condition is worsening, and his shop is on the brink of ruin. On the eve of the Eighty-Fourth Annual Makers’ Exposition in Nanseau’s sparkling city of Riz, Kellan is thrust into the Guild’s twisted web of political intrigue and ancient secrets when she strikes a dangerous deal with one of its members to save Edgar and his shop. Now Kellan must compete in a rigorous gauntlet against the nation’s elite for a coveted spot as a maker’s apprentice.
But danger lurks at every turn. And as Kellan falls into a budding relationship with the illegitimate son from one of Nanseau’s most revered families, she’s put into the limelight when something sinister begins targeting the Gauntlet’s competitors and wreaking havoc on Riz. Amid a crumbling city and a ticking clock, winning the Gauntlet won’t just be a test of survival—it will mean pulling back the veil of secrets behind the Guild and uncovering the shrouded legacies of Nanseau itself.
The Demonic Inventions of Aurelie Blake by Mara Rutherford
📚 This is the first book in: The Broken Veil duology
In Wisteria, the very act of innovation is forbidden. Any creation—art, music, engineering—conjures a demon from the other side. The greater the innovation, the more dangerous the demon.
This has never stopped Aurelie from inventing—but it has made it more difficult. Her inventions are small by necessity, producing demons that she is capable of dispatching alone. But she knows she’s meant for something greater, and each day has her chafing more at the boundaries of her society.
Destrier lost his parents to demons as a child, and has devoted his life to preventing more senseless murder at the hands of demons. He was young when he joined the hunters, and each year he’s grown stronger. But it’s never enough.
When a mysterious figure offers Aurelie a job she can’t refuse—an impossible, magnificent invention—her decision to accept sets off a chain of events that will alter every aspect of their world… and sparks the connection that will change both Aurelie and Des irrevocably.
With the fierce enemies-to-lovers romance of Heartless Hunter and the high-concept worldbuilding of Arcane, The Demonic Inventions of Aurelie Blake will thrill readers looking for their new cross-genre favorite.
Embrace the Serpent by Sunya Mara
The Serpent King is the most eligible bachelor in the land: a monster with dark and terrible magic and the ruler of the last free kingdom. Riches and power await his future bride — but also a life forever trapped in the games of court.
That fate is eighteen-year-old Saphira’s worst nightmare. Ever since the Empire made her an orphan, she’s found freedom in being invisible. So, despite her rare gift for harnessing the magic in gemstones, she lets an unscrupulous jewelsmith take credit for her increasingly sought-after work.
But when the king sends his most clever huntsman to find the best jewelsmith of all, the spotlight lands on Saphira. Faced with choosing between falling into the Empire’s grasp or marrying a monster, she chooses the latter — even if it means getting increasingly caught between her cold, serpentine husband and his cunning, handsome huntsman.
That Devil, Ambition by Linsey Miller
There is only one school worth graduating from, and it creates as many magicians as it does graves…
First in his class and last in his noble line, Fabian Galloway’s only hope of a good future is passing his elite school’s honors class. It’s only offered to the best thirteen students, and those students have a single assignment: kill their professor.
If they succeed, their student debt is forgiven. However, if an assassination attempt fails or the professor is alive at the end of the year, the students’ lives are forfeit.
And dealing with the professor, a devil summoned solely to kill or be killed, is no easy task.
Fabian isn’t worried, though. He trusts his best friends—softhearted math genius Credence and absent-minded but insightful Euphemia—to help. After all, that’s why he befriended them.
As the months pass and their professor remains impossibly alive, the trio must use every asset they have to survive. Or else failure will be on their academic records—and their tombstones—forever.
Flowerheart by Catherine Bakewell
Clara’s magic has always been wild. But it’s never been dangerous. Then a simple touch causes poisonous flowers to bloom in her father’s chest.
The only way to heal him is to cast an extremely difficult spell that requires perfect control. And the only person willing to help is her former best friend, Xavier, who’s grown from a sweet, shy child into someone distant and mysterious.
Xavier asks a terrible price in return, knowing Clara will give anything to save her father. As she struggles to reconcile the new Xavier with the boy she once loved, she discovers how many secrets he’s hiding. And as she hunts for the truth, she instead finds the root of a terrible darkness that’s taken hold in the queendom—a darkness only Clara’s magic is powerful enough to stop.
Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao
📚 This is the first book in: The Iron Widow series
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn’t matter that the girls often 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 she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through the psychic link between pilots and emerges from the cockpit unscathed. She is labeled an Iron Widow, a much-feared and much-silenced kind of female pilot who can sacrifice boys to power up Chrysalises instead.
To tame her unnerving yet invaluable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest and most controversial male pilot in Huaxia. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will miss no opportunity to leverage their combined might and infamy to survive attempt after attempt on her life, until she can figure out exactly why the pilot system works in its misogynist way—and stop more girls from being sacrificed.
Bone Crier’s Moon by Kathryn Purdie
📚 This is the first book in: The Bone Crier’s duology
Bone Criers are the last descendants of an ancient famille charged with using the magic they draw from animal bones to shepherd the dead into the afterlife—lest they drain the light from the living.
Ailesse has been prepared since birth to become their matriarch, but first she must complete her rite of passage: to kill the boy she’s destined to love.
Bastien’s father was slain by a Bone Crier and he’s been seeking revenge ever since. Now his vengeance must wait, as Ailesse’s ritual has begun and their fates are entwined—in life and in death.
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
📚 This is the first book in: The Blood of Stars duology
Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she’ll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There’s just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.
Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia’s task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise.
And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor’s reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.
This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
📚 This is the first book in: The Monsters of Verity duology
Kate Harker and August Flynn are the heirs to a divided city—a city where the violence has begun to breed actual monsters. All Kate wants is to be as ruthless as her father, who lets the monsters roam free and makes the humans pay for his protection. All August wants is to be human, as good-hearted as his own father, to play a bigger role in protecting the innocent—but he’s one of the monsters. One who can steal a soul with a simple strain of music.
When the chance arises to keep an eye on Kate, who’s just been kicked out of her sixth boarding school and returned home, August jumps at it. But Kate discovers August’s secret, and after a failed assassination attempt the pair must flee for their lives.
Seasons of the Storm by Elle Cosimano
📚 This is the first book in: The Seasons of the Storm duology
One cold, crisp night, Jack Sommers was faced with a choice—live forever according to the ancient, magical rules of Gaia, or die.
Jack chose to live, and in exchange, he became a Winter—an immortal physical embodiment of the season on Earth. Every year, he must hunt the Season who comes before him. Summer kills Spring. Autumn kills Summer. Winter kills Autumn. And Spring kills Winter.
Jack and Fleur, a Winter and a Spring, fall for each other against all odds. To be together, they’ll have to escape the cycle that’s been forcing them apart. But their creator won’t let them go without a fight.
Sabriel by Garth Nix
📚 This is the first book in: The Old Kingdom series
Enter the Old Kingdom, a world of dark secrets and dangerous magic.
As a child, Sabriel was sent across the Wall to Ancelstierre to safety. Now eighteen years old, she receives a cryptic and desperate message from her father, the Abhorsen—the magical protector whose task it is to bind and send back to Death those who won’t stay Dead.
Fiercely determined to help her father, who is perilously trapped in Death, and save him from the sinister Free Magic entity that has somehow ensnared him, Sabriel must prepare to enter Death herself—and find her destiny.
To preserve life, the Abhorsen must enter death.
The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi
📚 This is the first book in: The Gilded Wolves series
It’s 1889. The city is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. Here, no one keeps tabs on dark truths better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. When the elite, ever-powerful Order of Babel coerces him to help them on a mission, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance.
To hunt down the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin calls upon a band of unlikely experts: An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian banished from his home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in arms if not blood.
Together, they will join Séverin as he explores the dark, glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the course of history–but only if they can stay alive.
Witches Steeped in Gold by Ciannon Smart
📚 This is the first book in: The Witches Steeped in Gold series
Divided by their order. United by their vengeance.
Iraya has spent her life in a cell, but every day brings her closer to freedom—and vengeance.
Jazmyne is the Queen’s daughter, but unlike her sister before her, she has no intention of dying to strengthen her mother’s power.
Sworn enemies, these two witches enter a precarious alliance to take down a mutual threat. But power is intoxicating, revenge is a bloody pursuit, and nothing is certain—except the lengths they will go to win this game.
What’s your favorite book with a unique magic system? Tell us in the comments!