Best Urban fantasy books

The 45 highest-rated Urban fantasy books, scored from 14.9K reader ratings.

Sort byDecadeMinimum ratings45 results

By year of first publication, 1999–2024. The busiest stretch is 2010–2019, with 22. Select a bar to narrow the list.

1
8.58.5 / 10
Jade WarFonda Lee503 ratingsFonda Lee carries a family saga of rival clans into a war between nations in “Jade War”, and loses none of its tension or feeling.Our view
2
8.58.5 / 10
Small FavorJim Butcher746 ratingsThe tenth Dresden Files novel is heavy on action even for this series, and some readers who have come this far count it among their favourites.Our view
3
8.38.3 / 10
Foxglove SummerBen Aaronovitch327 ratings“Foxglove Summer” takes the Peter Grant series away from its usual setting, and the change of air does it good.Our view

Why Jade War is #1

Jade War (Fonda Lee) scores 8.5/10 from 503 ratings — level with Small Favor at one decimal, and ahead on the exact score.

The score is a weighted average across 3 independent rating sources. A title with few ratings is pulled toward the category average, so a handful of enthusiastic reviews cannot outrank a book that thousands of readers have judged. To keep the list varied, the top 20 holds at most two books from one series and three by one author; the rest follow further down. Method →