Book Dragon’s Delight
Fantastical Books with Dragons
Calling all book dragons, this next list of reads is made with you in mind. From loving the newest iteration of How to Train Your Dragon to rewatching (or reading) Game of Thrones and every dragon-fueled fantasy in between, we’re talking about your favorite legendary beast (beyond the Fourth Wing). Check out these fresh and ferocious reads featuring dragons.
Queens of Beasts by Phoenix Williams
The Life, Love, & Death of Adara Mashall
Welcome to Hell Fire Valley, where if the boredom doesn't kill you, the monsters beneath the surface surely will.
Adara Mashall is in town three months after her grandmother's mysterious passing for one thing and one thing only: answers.
But in a town like Hell Fire Valley, the only thing deeper than the family ties are the secrets. Most people know better than to snoop around and stir up the demons that have been hibernating for decades.
Adara isn't most people.
Daniel Farrell and Alonzo Leones wanted Adara from the moment she blew into Hell Fire Valley. She's beautiful. She's smart. She's strong. She's the key to getting their hands on the Mashall land.
When tensions mount, Adara finds herself caught in the middle of a territory war and a love triangle. Secrets are revealed. Monsters are awoken. Death is imminent.
Will Adara find the answers she's looking for? Or will Hell Fire Valley be this Queen's final resting place?
Iron Widow (Book 1) by Xiran Jay Zhao
Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers.
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall of China. It doesn't matter that the girls 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 when she gets her vengeance, it becomes clear that she is an Iron Widow, a rare kind of female pilot who can sacrifice males to power up Chrysalises instead.
To tame her frightening yet valuable mental strength, she is paired up with Li Shimin, the strongest male pilot in Huaxia, yet feared and ostracized for killing his father and brothers. But now that Zetian has had a taste of power, she will not cower so easily. She will take over instead, then leverage their combined strength to force her society to stop failing its women and girls. Or die trying.
Our Vicious Oaths by N. E. Davenport
Enter a new world of romantic fantasy from award-winning author N.E. Davenport—a journey of powerful magic, enemies-to-lovers, and political intrigue—as a warrior-princess and a vengeful king from rival fae courts form a fierce alliance to take down a merciless despot.
Princess of the Aether Dominion, Kadeesha wants nothing to do with fae politics. She is a warrior, first and foremost, and believes her greatest strength is leading her squadron of elite winged serpent flyers to protect her homeland. But bound since infancy to be betrothed to the Hyperion High King, ruler of all Dominions, she has no choice but to do what men have chosen for her.
Repulsed by the idea, she decides to spend one last night of freedom—in the arms of a dangerous stranger who takes her to sexual heights she’s never experienced before…but who is only using Kadeesha to set a trap for the High King.
For the High King and the kings of his six Dominions were responsible for the decimation of the Apollyon Court, and its new king, Malachi, wants his pounds of flesh.
On Kadeesha’s wedding day, Malachi and his special forces attack. Her father is killed, and Malachi wounds the High King, ultimately taking Kadeesha as hostage back to his land.
But she is no true hostage. The two form a pact: she will help lure the High King so Malachi can kill him once and for all, and he in turn will not harm Kadeesha or the Aether people. And as much as Kadeesha hates politics, she is now the Queen of her folk. Fae bonds are unbreakable…and so, perhaps, is the attraction Kadeesha and Malachi feel for each other. For even as they must publicly display their connection to provoke the High King’s jealousy, they struggle to resist the powerful allure between them in order to achieve their ultimate goals.
**This title releases October 28, 2025.***
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang
When Rin aced the Keju—the Empire-wide test to find the most talented youth to learn at the Academies—it was a shock to everyone: to the test officials, who couldn’t believe a war orphan from Rooster Province could pass without cheating; to Rin’s guardians, who believed they’d finally be able to marry her off and further their criminal enterprise; and to Rin herself, who realized she was finally free of the servitude and despair that had made up her daily existence. That she got into Sinegard—the most elite military school in Nikan—was even more surprising.
But surprises aren’t always good.
Because being a dark-skinned peasant girl from the south is not an easy thing at Sinegard. Targeted from the outset by rival classmates for her color, poverty, and gender, Rin discovers she possesses a lethal, unearthly power—an aptitude for the nearly-mythical art of shamanism. Exploring the depths of her gift with the help of a seemingly insane teacher and psychoactive substances, Rin learns that gods long thought dead are very much alive—and that mastering control over those powers could mean more than just surviving school.
For while the Nikara Empire is at peace, the Federation of Mugen still lurks across a narrow sea. The militarily advanced Federation occupied Nikan for decades after the First Poppy War, and only barely lost the continent in the Second. And while most of the people are complacent to go about their lives, a few are aware that a Third Poppy War is just a spark away . . .
Rin’s shamanic powers may be the only way to save her people. But as she finds out more about the god that has chosen her, the vengeful Phoenix, she fears that winning the war may cost her humanity . . . and that it may already be too late.
Song of Silver, Flame Like Night by Amelie Wen Zhao
Lan spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the Elantian colonizers. Her days are consumed by the search for knowledge about the strange mark—an untranslatable Hin character—burned into her arm by her mother in her last act before she died.
Zen is a practitioner—one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom. He’s never seen anything like Lan’s mark, but he knows that if there are answers, they lie deep in the pine forests and misty mountains of the Last Kingdom, with an order of practitioning masters planning to overthrow the Elantian regime.
Yet, both Lan and Zen are hiding secrets—secrets that are buried deep within them. Secrets that even they have still to unearth. Both hold the power to liberate their land, if they don't destroy it first.
Now the battle for the Last Kingdom begins.
Inspired by ancient Chinese mythology and folklore, Song of Silver, Flame Like Night transports readers to a lush fantasy world filled with high-stakes adventure, glittering magic, and against-all-odds romance from beginning to end.
Savage City by L. Penelope
For Talia, death is only the beginning of survival...
When a tragic accident cuts my lonely life short, instead of heaven or hell, I'm stolen away to a terrifying city of warring shifter clans--the Nimali and the Fai. The Nimali mistake me for their missing princess. Her father, the dragon king, is identical to my own. But in this world, he dotes on me with the love and affection I always craved. And in a land with no tolerance for outsiders, feigning amnesia and impersonating shifter royalty may be the only way to survive.
For Ryin, falling in love is the worst kind of betrayal...
As a Fai warrior in captivity, I'm forced to serve my enemy even as I plot their destruction. The lost princess returned much changed, now the heat between us crackles irresistibly. While helping her heal using my magical talents, I begin to question what I thought I knew about the Nimali. She remains as forbidden as ever, but she also might be the key to freedom for me and my people.
Caught between two enemy factions balancing on the knife-blade of annihilation, our lies are the only thing keeping us alive, but they just might be our undoing.
What Black and other BIPOC books with dragons would you add to this list?
Be on the lookout for Part 2 of our Novel Creature list of fantasy books featuring dragons…
If you’d like to stock up on fantasy featuring dragons, click on the titles you find interesting or use the link below to browse my lists of dragon book recs and more at Bookshop.org. By making purchases from my Book shop, you not only support amazing authors, but a percentage goes to supporting indie bookstores and yours truly. Reading really is a superpower. 😉
