Cozy Fantasy Ultimate Guide | Over 30 books and series that I LOVED!

cozy fantasy is a genre that has blown up recently  but because it's so newly popular I keep seeing the same four books recommended over and over. I've read 30 different cozy fantasy books and series that I love and I'm gonna tell you  about all of them. First we're gonna do a little bit of background on the genre  but please feel free to use the time stamps to skip right to the recommendations. So what is cozy fantasy? this term is going to mean something different to everybody usually it  mean

s low stakes and little to no content warnings it's the first chapter of The Hobbit we're hanging  out in the Shire nobody's going on any quests personally my favorite cozy fantasy is a little  bit darker than that it's what the amazing tick toker feed the writer calls Nazgul cozy fantasy  she says we're still in the Shire but we're also a depressed Ghoul who needs some trauma and dark  magic to make us feel at home I will link her in the description she also has I think a YA  cozy fantasy that

is coming out or is out I will link that as well so I would love to know  in the comments what your personal definition of cozy fantasy is okay now let's talk about where to  find Cozy fantasy Recs I'm not gatekeeping these from you middle grade or YA probably has the  widest variety of traditionally published cozy fantasy because books written for a younger  audience tend to have less violence and Gore hopefully as Publishers catch on that we all want  more books in this genre they'll start pub

lishing some adult books as well fantasy romance is also  a really great place to look since romances can be really sweet and heartwarming graphic novels  personally I've had great success with cozy sci-fi and cozy fantasy graphic novels recently and  Indie publishing is a fantastic place to look I love finding authors on Tik Tok or searching on  Amazon because like I said earlier traditional publishing has kind of just figured out that  we all want to buy books in this genre people have been wr

iting in this genre traditional  publishing just wasn't ready to publish it until now so personally I would love to know  especially if you have Recs from Indie authors if you could put those in the comments I would  be so appreciative and I mean I'm not gonna stop reading this genre anytime soon so if you want to  subscribe I'm sure I'll be talking about a lot of cozy fantasy recs in the future but seriously once  you find an author that you like dig through their back list chances are they've

written more than  one cozy book long-term subscribers know that I read at least one T. Kingfisher book a month  our definitions of cozy fantasy are going to be different and that's okay I'll do my best in  the recommendations to give you a heads up when things are a little bit darker or more high stakes  but as always please check content warnings and take care of yourself. on to the books so you've  probably already read Legends and lattes it's the quintessential cozy fantasy book our hero put

s  down her sword and opens up a coffee shop at a fantasy world where most people have never heard  of coffee lots of found family a little a bit of romance and an adorable Mouse Baker if you liked  this I recommend the tea Dragon Society Series this is an adorable middle grade graphic novel  series there are three of them out so far I have the first two in here we have tea dragons who grow  leaves or flowers and you can Brew those leaves or flowers to make magical tea the art is beautiful  and

the messages are as heartwarming as the tea or for something with a little bit more plot  and action but will still make You Weep at how nice everyone is to each other try can't spell  treason without tea we're following two badass women who are in love as they flee their old lives  to open up a Bookshop that sells tea this Sapphic relationship is everything just the way they  communicate and talk through disagreements and tough decisions was so heartwarming and healthy  this made my heart so ha

ppy and the second book just came out I have ordered it it's in the mail  on its way to me it's called a pirate's life for tea there's a baby Griffin named ponder that I am  very excited about this Series has more plot than some some people like in their cozy fantasy but  it's just what I wanted because the found family is so strong and this relationship is such a great  example about working through tough situations together. for more tea related cozies you could  try my favorite cozy sci-fi ev

er which is the Monk and the robot duology by Becky Chambers  the first one is a psalm for the wild built and the second one is a prayer for the crown shy  but this is really one reading experience we're following a tea monk as they try to figure out  what their purpose in life is and also a robot as it attempts to answer the question what do  humans need I sobbed multiple times reading this it envisions a post-capitalistic world where  our society centers care and I just want to live within the

pages of this book for other things  in this same vein of what's my purpose slash cozy career moments try garlic and the vampire and  garlic and the witch which is an adorable graphic novel series about an anxious bulb of garlic or  join Rosemary on an inter-species crew aboard a spaceship this has action and plot things get  life-threatening but it also has Next Level found family the way that Becky Chambers writes  found family is my absolute favorite thing I loved watching our characters nav

igate relationships and  understanding different cultures everybody made mistakes sometimes but they were all genuinely  just trying to do what was best for everyone else I'm really excited to continue in this series  with a closed and common orbit next up you could try the graphic novel nimona our main character  basically adopts a villain because she wants to be his sidekick it's funny it's heartwarming and  it plays on the hero villain Trope in a way that I really loved or watch our main char

acter make  doe come to life in a Wizard's guide to defensive baking T Kingfishers middle grade is prime cozy  fantasy it's funny but still dark so things do get a little life-threatening there's a bone  horse in here that is so cool and most of the fighting violence happens with bread so there's  not a lot of Gore which means it feels a lot more low stakes than some of T Kingfisher's other  stuff Small Miracles is about the Fallen angel of petty Temptations and if you like chocolate you  need t

o read this book I ended up liking this a lot more than the similar story of good Omens  by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman there was too much casual racism and sexism in that one for  me to have a good time but Small Miracles gave me pretty much everything I wanted out of that book  anyways the book of Zog is a lovecraftian cozy fantasy our main character is an Eldritch Horror  I'm only about 50 of the way through this one so I can't give you final thoughts yet but make sure  you stay tuned for

my February wrap up to hear what I thought of the last half of this I will be  honest the first chapter of this felt like it was written with heavy use of a thesaurus but it is  turning into a really sweet story I'm just not sure if it's all gonna come together at the end so  maybe hold off on this until I give final thoughts in my February wrap up okay the murderbot Diaries  are 100 % going to be too violent for most people to class is cozy fantasy but I do really think  that this series deser

ves a place on this list the first book is called all systems red but this  is the only one that I own I think it's the fifth book in the series it's the only full-length  novel so the rest of them are novellas I think it deserves a place on this list because of the  incredible found family and conversations about finding purpose book one did feel a little bit  rushed to me but I still think about book two and the conversations that we had in there I  just had a fantastic time I binged this Seri

es this year and I loved all of them we're following  a security unit that is a half robot half-human construct and this SEC unit calls itself murderbot  it's sarcastic and funny and it's been treated pretty poorly in the past but it finds Some Humans  that help it start a new life such a wonderful series and I'm really excited to see what Martha  Wells does next she has a fantasy book coming out this year okay now let's talk about books that  you should pick up if you love the very secret socie

ty of irregular witches this is a witch who's  living an isolated life who goes to tutor three young witches who are orphans it's adorable and  a very similar story to the house in the cerulean sea so you've probably already read that but have  you tried this adorable witchy graphic novel with a werewolf love interest it's got really amazing  deaf representation and a beautiful art style too and if you're looking for more cozy fantasy  romance boy do I have recommendations for you half a soul is

Regency fairy romance I just fell  in love with this book it does have fairies so the beginning and the end do get dark but the middle  is pure cozy I'm really excited to pick up the second book in the series which is about a fairy  Godfather who has no idea what he's doing or may I present to you my favorite author of all time: T  Kingfisher. her books are pretty dark but they're so funny and they feel really cozy to me probably  the most cozy is swordheart and the saint of Steel series does g

et violent and gory there's a lot  of talk of decapitation and dead things and the third book has kind of a death trap saw situation  going on but all of these romance books are set in the same world and that world is cozy there are  still things like sexism and discrimination in this world but the main characters that we're  following are all genuinely good people who are just trying to do what's best for each other  there are some minor quests but we're not trying to save the world we're just

trying to help a  small group of people and find some happiness along the way I also love that these books are  following people in their 30s I feel like it's so hard to find books written about people in this  age range especially in cozy fantasies since a lot of the things that I found so far lean younger or  are straight up YA or middle grade there's also the Clockwork boys series that's set in this same  world so if you really love these and you want to continue on in that world I would reco

mmend the  Clockwork boys it's a suicide mission found family but it does get pretty dark so in the Cozy fantasy  recommendations I'm gonna stick with sword art and the saint of Steel series as my recommendations  seriously if you read one thing on this list please let it be a T Kingfisher I think there's  at least five on this list she's my favorite author an oldie but a goodie if you haven't read  the night circus yet I do recommend it everyone has such genuine love for the circus and it feels

  very Whimsical and magical to uncover all of the different tents alongside our main characters okay  I don't think I would classify this next chunk as romance but they do have a lot to say about love  Howl's Moving Castle if you love the movie I do highly recommend the book it was really fun to  see a lot of the characters backstories that the movie didn't have time to go into and a lot of the  story did end up getting changed I think Howl's much more annoying in the book than he was in the  f

ilm and I really love seeing what elements were changed in the book to movie adaptation I think  the movie is still my favorite of the two but I do still highly recommend the book on a Sunbeam  is a beautiful graphic novel we're following our main character at two different times in her  life first while she is at boarding school getting to know her girlfriend we're following  their relationship and then later as she has her first job aboard a spaceship she's also in that  later timeline trying

to find her way back to her girlfriend who is currently in a very remote part  of space I would say this has very similar Vibes to the long way to a small angry Planet but even  Cozier if possible and like I said the art is just stunning I also love Neil Gaiman his books are  dark but they do have a lot of warmth and wit in them try Stardust to follow a boy who is trying to  find a fallen star to bring back to the girl that he wants to marry ocean at the end of the lane is  very dark and please

approach with caution check content warnings for this one for sure but I still  did find it cozy in a Nazgul kind of way or try my personal favorite which is the graveyard book  the main character's entire family is murdered in the first scene but trust me it really is cozy  the ghosts in the graveyard up the hill end up adopting this baby boy and and it made my heart  grow two sizes too big Grinch style I also just found out that this is a chapter by chapter  retelling of the Jungle Book which

went right over my head but does explain why such a dark  story feels really cozy I also have to include sir Terry Pratchett and the Discworld series I've  currently only read one of the book guard's guards there are 40 plus books in a series and everyone  kind of has a different theory on where you should start but I went with guards guards and I had a  great time it's got similar wit to Neil Gaiman and lots of Tom Foolery and shenanigans afoot  guards guards has dragons as well I laughed out l

oud in an airplane reading this okay some more  miscellaneous Nazgul darker cozy fantasy Watch Over Me I debated including on this list because  it really only has one speculative element but I just love this book so much that I have to shed it  from the rooftops the speculative element in here are ghosties that are manifestations of childhood  trauma we're following a young woman who has aged out of the foster care system she goes to work  on this Farm as a teacher to young children the ghost i

n this story or not scary ghosties but  the things that have happened to these kids are so again please check content warnings before  reading this is the first book I had read where I was following characters who were actively working  through their trauma and it was a really healing experience for me I just felt so real and yet so  magical at the same time okay let's talk about nettle and Bone because I didn't think that this  was cozy fantasy when I read it and then I kept seeing it pop up on

cozy fantasy lists if you love  this book I highly recommend you check out more of T KingFisher's work like sword heart in the saint  of steel series I mentioned earlier I find that those books are much Cozier than this one so this  isn't the one that I was expecting to see on all of these cozy fantasy lists in this book We are  following a young woman as she completes three impossible tasks and enlists the help of a grave  witch to help her sister get out of an abusive marriage it's funny it's

dark we have a bone dog  we've got a possessed chicken it's a good time next up is the wayward children series I read the  first five books in this series so far but I can't hold five books at the same time so I'm just gonna  hold this one up we're following children who have found portals to other worlds that are perfect  for them they are heroes in these worlds and they finally feel like they belong and then suddenly  they find themselves back in our world and it's a really traumatic experien

ce for them so they go  to Eleanor West's home for wayward children where they try to work through some of this trauma and  also find the doors back to their perfect world each book takes place mostly in either one of  the worlds that the children has visited or in Eleanor West's home my favorite so far is book  two which has some really profound things to say about gender Norms again that series is darker  but for me it really fits in cozy fantasy because we're watching people actively work thr

ough their  trauma with other people there's found family it feels really cozy to me but there's also dark  things going on the first book has multiple murders so just heads up sheets is a really  sweet graphic novel about a girl who is running a laundromat after her mother passes away we're  also following a ghosty who wears a sheet both of these characters are trying to come to terms with  death and their new normal they end up running into each other like chaos ensues and a beautiful  friends

hip develops okay a Sub sub genre here is like mystery cozy fantasy I've only just dipped  my toe into this so I would love recommendations for more in the comments my favorite so far  is Elatsoe our main character can talk to the ghosts of dead animals and we're trying to solve  the murder question mark of her cousin we're dealing with vampires we're having conversations  about stolen Native American land it's incredible again this one gets dark but it does feel cozy  the group that we're follo

wing is this amazing friend slash family group and we also have our  ghosty Animal Companions primarily a dog named Kirby the second book I've read in this Sub sub  genre is newt's Emerald it's not my favorite thing I've read but if you typically read why a I think  this one might be a win for you especially if you love the half a soul series because it's kind  of following a similar Vibe we are hunting for newt's Emerald which is this magical stone it was  stolen we're in Regency England our ma

in character is kind of living a double life because she is  dressing up up as a man so she can hunt for this stolen emerald and she's also going through her  first season coming out in London there's romance but he is very very chaste so that's why it's in  this category and not the romance section like I said it sort of feels like a ya half a soul and  the rest of these I had no idea where to put so I apologize the girl who drank the Moon is about  this town where every year a baby is sacrific

ed to appease a witch and every year a witch finds a  baby in the forest and does her best to take care of the baby and find a loving home there's some  overarching scheming going on here that neither of these groups know about but we find out about  it pretty early on mostly we're following Luna the girl who drank the moon and became a magic there's  a baby dragon the witch Becomes Her adoptive grandmother it's such a beautiful story and it  really took me by surprise with how much I enjoyed it

lonely castle in the mirror is more magical  realism than it is cozy fantasy but it gives me the same feeling that I get when I read cozy  fantasy so I wanted to include it on this list we're following a group of students whose mirrors  all all start glowing once they go through the mirrors they find the lonely castle in the mirror  and the Wolf Queen they need to find a room and a key in order to be granted a wish but mostly we're  kind of just following this group of students and trying to fi

gure out why they specifically have  been chosen to come to this lonely castle in the mirror and why they'd rather be there than at  school similar Vibes to wayward children but less outward fantasy and also less dark ultimately this  is a found family friendship story okay these last two are recommendations for things that I would  class as regular fantasy but they do have lower Stakes or some cozy elements for example age of  myth it feels cozy because it pokes fun at itself and primarily we'r

e set in this pastoral Village  there are things going on that have stakes and ramifications for the entire world but mostly  we in the story are following this one Village bonus for Wolf animal companion or Emily Wilde's  Encyclopedia of fairies I keep seeing this on cozy fan Disney lists and again I just I don't think  it's that cozy the Fae In This Book are dark like kidnapping children because they're bored dark all  of the fairy Faye characters in here are really apathetic towards violence

and to me that is  deeply terrifying in a way that does not feel cozy but we also do get some found family in here and  we are set in a remote island that's up north it's very cold we're very secluded we're talking about  Academia our main character Emily Wilde is trying to create an encyclopedia of fairies there's a  love interest and their banter is pretty funny but I've seen this on so many cozy fantasy lists and  it just doesn't feel that cozy to me so that's why I'm including it in this sec

tion I really enjoyed  it as a fantasy set in a smaller setting but I was on edge pretty much the entire time because of  the way that the fairy deals and trickery worked I will say the ending had some lovely found family  I would pitch this actually as pretty similar to Howl's Moving Castle we have a character in here  our love interest who's pretty similar to Howl but you're more anxious while reading okay that was a  lot of cozy fantasy books so hopefully you found something that you haven't

already read please let  me know in the comments what cozy fantasy you're excited to read my personal cozy fantasy TBR is  over 30 books long so I'm not going to tell you about all of them here but I will put a list up on  the screen of some of the things that I'm excited to read next let me know which ones I should pick  up first or if there are any that are missing off my list that you love I don't think this genre is  going anywhere and I'm really excited to see what authors and Publishers pi

ck up next if you want to  stick around and see what I thought of this next pile of coziness please feel free to subscribe  and if you like this video and you want to let the algorithm know I would really appreciate a  like and if you want to keep hanging out I think you'll enjoy these videos I upload every Sunday  at 11AM Eastern so I will see you next time bye