5 YA Latinx Fantasies to Read Right Now

We Set The Dark On Fire, by Tehlor Kay Mejia
One of the most anticipated fantasies of the year, Tehlor Kay Mejia’s We Set The Dark On Fire is finally on shelves. Daniela Vargas is one of the top students at the Medio School for Girls, where young women are trained to be the perfect wives, either to manage a household or raise a child. It’s a school meant only for distinguished young women, offering a path of comfort and luxury, but Daniela is not from the wealthy side—and she’s not interested in becoming a wife. Instead, she’s working as part of a resistance group fighting for a free Medio. And if she happens to fall in love with rival (and former friend) Carmen along the way, then so be it.

The Brooklyn Brujas series, by Zoraida Córdova
Want to start a series? Then try Labyrinth Lost, by Zoraida Córdova. When Alex comes into her magical powers on her sixteenth birthday, she tries to give them back. She doesn’t want these gifts—but when the spell to rid herself of her powers backfires, banishing her whole family into another realm, it’s up to Alex to save them. With the aid of Nova, a brujo boy she only just met, and her best friend Rishi, Alex dives into a fantastical realm that could kill her—and her family—at any moment. The perfect weekend read, the first in the Brooklyn Brujas trilogy is a fast-paced fantasy adventure that will have you insta-buying the follow-up, Bruja Born, and coveting the final book, set to hit shelves in 2020.

Blanca & Roja, by Anna-Marie McLemore
If you’re looking for Latinx fantasy, your search should begin with Anna-Marie McLemore’s entire backlist. Her incredible stories—including Wild Beauty, The Weight of Feathers, and When The Moon Was Ours—beautifully hybrid the magic and the realistic. Her most recent, Blanca & Roja, is a sister story, about the two del Cisne girls: Blanca and Roja. They are rivals, because their destiny is already decided: one day, the swan spell bound to their family will start a game that leaves one of them in bird form forever. But when the swan spell merges with a new magic lacing the woods, drawing two boys into the game, Blanca and Roja must work together, for all their fates depend on unraveling the truth of the magic.

Nocturna, by Maya Motayne
I know we shouldn’t judge books by their covers, but I would really like to, because I’ve been obsessed with the cover of Maya Montayne’s Nocturna since they first revealed it. Releasing in May, Nocturna is the first of what looks to be an amazing new fantasy trilogy, and I cannot wait to read it. Finn Moy is a faceshifter, a magician who disguises herself to steal from others—until the day she’s caught. The mobster who catches her wants her to steal a treasure from Castallan’s royal palace, or they’ll take her magic forever. But standing in her way is Alfie, the prince in line for the Castallan throne, so grief-stricken that he’s willing to dabble in forbidden magic—and when their lives and magics collide, it unlocks an ancient power that could devour the world.

All Of Us With Wings, by Michelle Ruiz Keil
A little story: A few years ago, Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s We Never Asked For Wings released. The beautiful contemporary novel’s title had me itching for a fantasy story with a similar vibe. Hello, Michelle Ruiz Keil, and thank you for delivering. Keil’s All Of Us With Wings, releasing this June, is a fantastical ode to pop-punk San Fransisco, where Xochi—running from the mother who abandoned her and the man who betrayed her—finds a job as governess to Pallas, a young girl who lives with her rockstar family in the city. But as a party rages in the basement on the Vernal Equinox, Xochi and Pallas accidentally summon ancient creatures (as you do) who are out to avenge the wrongs of Xochi’s childhood. To stop them, she’ll have to risk the new life she loves to save both of her families: the new and the old.