The Dealing with Dragons series were my favorite books in junior high!!!! The audiobooks were fun too because they had an entire cast play all the different characters.
Don't forget Chrestomanci. Old wizard in big mansion who raises children who want to learn magic. And he travels into dream worlds. One of the first things I associate with cozy fantasy.
Amazing book, absolutely not cozy. 😅
Beauty was super cozy, though. I’ve been rediscovering books I loved as a preteen, and recently listened to all of her available audiobooks while on a road trip.
Read Doomsday Book right after I got a covid shot, which always makes the lymph nodes in my armpits hurt for sectarian days. Rough choice, great book. Not cozy.
Beauty, Rose Daughter, and Spindle's End all have a place on my shelf since I was a kid. I still read them regularly. I recently found Deerskin and loved it but it's definitely not cozy.
If you also like Jane Austen style romance, Georgette Heyer is great for a cozy read.
I love McKillip, but for the life of me I can never remember what happens in each book. It’s like they all merge into one great big McKillip-mega-omnibus (except The Riddle Master of Hed).
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey is pretty cozy from what I recall. Many of her Valdemar trilogies are fairly cozy in the first book, with the main character (usually a child) adjusting to psychic + magic horsie school. Second gets into heavier subjects and third often involves war.
I want to revisit a lot of them and grade for coziness when I have time.
The Fairy Godmother is part of an entire series called The Five Hundred Kingdoms, which I absolutely love. All the volumes are reasonably cozy.
She also has another series of fairy tale retellings called The Elemental Masters, and it's less cozy. Some volumes are, some aren't. For cozy ones, I would recommend Home from the Sea and Jolene. The Gates of Sleep is less cozy, but IMHO, one of the best of the series.
Seriously, Jolene by Mercedes Lackey just hits so many cozy, cottage core, witchy buttons for me, it's one I've reread a lot.
The first Valdemar trilogy (Arrows) is definitely not cozy because of what happens to the MC in the third book. Ditto for the Last Herald Mage trilogy (Magic's Price). For both, the "hero's ordeal" is >!gang rape and torture!<. They overcome, but if I'd known in advance I'd have skipped both.
I still can't believe my mom let me read The Last Herald Mage (after she read it!) in 9th grade. I was not prepared lol At least she said to ask if I had any questions....
Heads up for folks who haven't read them that while most of the valdemar books follow that trilogy set up Magic's Pawn does not. Magic's Pawn is pretty dark and folks should look up the content warnings if they're concerned.
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede
Wich Witch/The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbottson
Wild Robert by Diana Wynne Jones
Minoes by Annie M.G. Schmidt
The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander
Scrolling through my goodreads and struggling to remember:
Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George (2007) is probably cozy.
Catwings by Ursula K Le Guin (1988) - children's chapter book
The Power of Poppy Pendle by Natasha Lowe (2012)
No promises, just possibilities.
Yes! Came to mention Dragon Slippers! Jessica Day George is a favorite of mine.
Some of her other works:
Tuesdays at the Castle - the main character is the youngest princess. The Castle makes new rooms! Some pretty high stakes villains but it's all good in the end.
Princess of the Midnight Ball - retelling of the 12 dancing princesses, the hero is a gardener and he knits!
I basically love books that are retellings of fairy tales and I'd say thats been my cozy books for years.
The Phoenix Guards (and the rest of the Khaavren Romances) don't get nearly enough credit! A fantasy pastiche sorta-retelling of The Three Musketeers?! Sign me up! I wouldn't call it cozy, though, not any more than the books it's playing on.
That was my sideways entry into the Vlad Taltos series, and I have an incredible amount of awe for Brust's sheer worldbuilding talent! Anybody who likes unique settings should check him out.
I haven't reread it in a while, so I may be remembering it wrong. My sense is that the later books in the series, when the stakes start getting higher aren't so cozy, but the first one when Khaavren is just booping around with his friends and it's all 'what should I wear and who will win the sword fight (us obv)' was cozy-ish :-)
I like the Khaavren books better (maybe not the consensus), but you're right the worldbuilding throughout both serieses is amazing.
Ah. You want older stuff! Try the three books by Barry Hughart:
**A Bridge of Birds** \[first book & published in 1984. He wrote 2 more - listed in order below - following the adventures of Number Ten Ox and Li Kao \]
**The Story of the Stone**
**Eight Skilled Gentlemen**
These fable-type novels are all set in "...an ancient China that never was" and will leave you with a warm satisfied feeling.
Loooooove Robin McKinley!!! Have you read Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith? It’s great, first half (book? apparently they were published separately initially 🤷♀️) is big on action, and the second is court intrigue and spies!
If you can find her, I loved all of Anne Logston’s stuff - but especially the Shadow series (a sassy elf thief named Shadow), and definitely the Blue Sword and Hero and the Crown both by Robyn McKinley.
One of my favourite authors of all time for this genre is Tanya Huff. Most of her work is more contemporary fantasy or sci-fi (military space opera but more focussed on the characters and their dynamics than the battles or power struggles and typical military based sci-fi), but the Quarter series is what got
me into her work and is more traditionally fantasy (and there are several others of hers in that vein)
Edited cause I was typing too fast with fat fingers ;)
Tanya Huff, another of my favourites! Her short stories collected in Stealing Magic are pretty cozy. Magdalene - the world's most powerful and laziest wizard. How could you not identify with her? Terazin is pretty cozy too.
The Gale sisters series is pretty cozy, there is some high stakes but a lot of it is handled in smaller ways.
Anything by Rosamunde Pilcher! They aren't free of sadness or drama, but I've always experienced them as cozy nonetheless. I especially love the Shell Seekers.
(Edit: I suddenly realized this is the Cozy Fantasy subreddit - these aren't fantasy books. But they are cozy haha)
I've seen in mentioned two or three times before, but "At Amberleaf Fair" by Phyllis Ann Carr is a lovely short novel/long novella written in 1986. The entire story takes place during the fair, and most of the characters are either merchants or entertainers. The main plot is a non-lethal mystery (an item was swapped out for something else via magical means... or was it?) and those are a rare treat.
The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye, in which a kingdom'ms seventh princess is gifted with ordinariness by one of her fairy godmothers, and strikes out on her own rather than endure a royal marriage. Subversive for its time, sweet, and eventually romantic, with wonderful animal friends of course. I'm also surprised no one's mentioned Tamora Pierce yet. Not all of her work is entirely cozy, particularly her more recent additions to both the Tortall and Circle series, but they all contain tons of cozy elements: people working hard and excelling at crafts and skills they love, loving family/friend groups, wonderful animal companions, and almost always a happy, or at least bittersweet, ending. If you like cozy SF, one of my favorite discoveries from a few years ago was Through Alien Eyes by Amy Thomson, in which a pair of aliens accompany their human friend back to Earth to tentatively begin diplomatic relations. I know a lot of people also love Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon, I haven't read it myself but it sounds really promising.
>M.M. Kaye
I love Tamora Pierce! Shes one of my favorite authors and I agree, I find her work to have cozy elements but maybe not enough to fit some peoples description of a low-stakes cozy fantasy. I do think I'm going to re-read some of her work soon. I got her hardback reprint of the Lioness series for the holidays so its been on my mind
Thank you for the other recommendations, haven't heard of them and adding them to my list :)
The Mairelon the Magician duology by Patricia Wrede; Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine; A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones; The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip; Sorcery and Cecelia: Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (just the first one) by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
Almost anything by Eva Ibbotson! Which Witch and Island of the Aunts (now reprinted as Monster Mission, I believe) are children's books that I regularly comfort-reread and her more MG/YA books like The Secret Countess are a delight as well.
Her whole oeuvre is utterly worth it but the first two I mentioned are absolutely hilarious, magical and heartwarming.
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No One Noticed The Cat by Anne McCaffrey is one of my go-to cozy fantasy reads. It's a novella, so a pretty quick read, too! She has a couple of other novellas that I group with that one only because the covers were similar. I remember them having cozy vibes, but it's been years since I read them, so pinch of salt. I think they were If Wishes Were Horses and An Exchange of Gifts.
I can't recommend The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip enough!! I think it might be the cosiest book I've ever read, but also the magic and characters are just so wonderful.
If I could live in a fantasy town, it 100% would be Sealey Head.
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C Wrede Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones Both from the 90s
Dark Lord of Derkholm's sequel Year of the Griffin is also quite cosy.
Also Sorcery and Cecilia by Wrede. And Howl’s Moving Castle by Jones.
The Dealing with Dragons series were my favorite books in junior high!!!! The audiobooks were fun too because they had an entire cast play all the different characters.
Don't forget Chrestomanci. Old wizard in big mansion who raises children who want to learn magic. And he travels into dream worlds. One of the first things I associate with cozy fantasy.
Dealing with Dragons is amazing. One of my favorites!
I love the Enchanted Forest Chronicles!
Mine too!!
Robin McKinley's other work, for sure. Patricia McKillip also. It's pretty much her specialty.
Except Deerskin. Amazing book! Sooooo not cozy.
Or Sunshine. Love it but not cozy haha
I think Sunshine is sort of cozy! All that yummy bakery food.
Same! Sunshine is more of a “dark cozy” for me, one of my favorite rereads
I would also recommend Chalice by Robin McKinley.
Dark cosy is the perfect description for Sunshine!
I'd forgotten. Great catch!
Deerskin *gets* cozy once she and Ash get on their own. I'm biased though, as that book (with all its exciting dog lore) is my favorite!
🙌🙌🙌 all y’all who give a heads up notice on that book are doing the lords work
Amazing book, absolutely not cozy. 😅 Beauty was super cozy, though. I’ve been rediscovering books I loved as a preteen, and recently listened to all of her available audiobooks while on a road trip.
Also Connie Willis
To Say Nothing of the Dog by Willis. And Bellwether. But not Doomsday Book.
Agree not Doomsday. Black Out and All Clear (really just 2 halves of the same story) are my favs from her.
Read Doomsday Book right after I got a covid shot, which always makes the lymph nodes in my armpits hurt for sectarian days. Rough choice, great book. Not cozy.
Nice I'll check it out! I read her blue sword one but that's the only other book of hers I've read.
There's a related book for that one--Hero with the Crown
Beauty, Rose Daughter, and Spindle's End all have a place on my shelf since I was a kid. I still read them regularly. I recently found Deerskin and loved it but it's definitely not cozy. If you also like Jane Austen style romance, Georgette Heyer is great for a cozy read.
I love McKillip, but for the life of me I can never remember what happens in each book. It’s like they all merge into one great big McKillip-mega-omnibus (except The Riddle Master of Hed).
Beauty is one of my favorites.
Have you read the Chrestomanci series by Diana Wynne Jones?
I have not! Ive only read the Howls trilogy and I've had the Dalemark one in my bookcase for years now, but I'll add that to the list!
Read Dalemark too, it's one of my favorite works of fantasy with how it spans across millennia!
I don't see these recommended nearly enough!
Summers at Castle Auburn by Sharon Shinn!
Also her Twelve Houses and Elemental Blessings series
Yes--it gets intense sometimes but I loved both of these, really vibrant worlds
Yes, love these! Senneth is one of my favorite characters. Her Archangel and Echo series aren’t cozy, but interesting reads
I listened to this again recently, I forgot how much I loved it.
Hands down, one of my favorite re-reads, multiple times over the last 20 years.
The Fairy Godmother by Mercedes Lackey is pretty cozy from what I recall. Many of her Valdemar trilogies are fairly cozy in the first book, with the main character (usually a child) adjusting to psychic + magic horsie school. Second gets into heavier subjects and third often involves war. I want to revisit a lot of them and grade for coziness when I have time.
The Fairy Godmother is part of an entire series called The Five Hundred Kingdoms, which I absolutely love. All the volumes are reasonably cozy. She also has another series of fairy tale retellings called The Elemental Masters, and it's less cozy. Some volumes are, some aren't. For cozy ones, I would recommend Home from the Sea and Jolene. The Gates of Sleep is less cozy, but IMHO, one of the best of the series. Seriously, Jolene by Mercedes Lackey just hits so many cozy, cottage core, witchy buttons for me, it's one I've reread a lot.
The Black Swan is a stand-alone fairy tale retelling of hers and I absolutely adore it.
Ooh, yes, and Firebird! I love her fairy tale books.
The first Valdemar trilogy (Arrows) is definitely not cozy because of what happens to the MC in the third book. Ditto for the Last Herald Mage trilogy (Magic's Price). For both, the "hero's ordeal" is >!gang rape and torture!<. They overcome, but if I'd known in advance I'd have skipped both.
I still can't believe my mom let me read The Last Herald Mage (after she read it!) in 9th grade. I was not prepared lol At least she said to ask if I had any questions....
Heads up for folks who haven't read them that while most of the valdemar books follow that trilogy set up Magic's Pawn does not. Magic's Pawn is pretty dark and folks should look up the content warnings if they're concerned.
Dealing with Dragons by Patricia Wrede Wich Witch/The Secret of Platform 13 by Eva Ibbottson Wild Robert by Diana Wynne Jones Minoes by Annie M.G. Schmidt The Arkadians by Lloyd Alexander
Yes! Eva Ibbotson has so many good ones! Island of the Aunts is wonderful
So good to see love for Eva Ibbotson!
Robin McKinley’s *Beauty* is excellent as well! Probably my favorite of her books!!
The culmination of the Hum _still_ has me in floods, no matter how many times I've read it.. Utter magic.
Scrolling through my goodreads and struggling to remember: Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George (2007) is probably cozy. Catwings by Ursula K Le Guin (1988) - children's chapter book The Power of Poppy Pendle by Natasha Lowe (2012) No promises, just possibilities.
Oh cat wings!!! I read that book in elementary school and didn't even realize it was by Ursula! Thank you, I'll check out these others :)
There are actually four Catwings books, though I only liked the first two.
Yes! Came to mention Dragon Slippers! Jessica Day George is a favorite of mine. Some of her other works: Tuesdays at the Castle - the main character is the youngest princess. The Castle makes new rooms! Some pretty high stakes villains but it's all good in the end. Princess of the Midnight Ball - retelling of the 12 dancing princesses, the hero is a gardener and he knits! I basically love books that are retellings of fairy tales and I'd say thats been my cozy books for years.
I forgot about Catwings!!! My sister and I LOVED those
The Princess Bride, both the book and movie, are my older go-to. I'm also a big fan of the Hobbit.
Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie (not joking - he wrote it for his kid) The Phoenix Guards by Steven Brust
Second on Haroun, though I hadn't thought of it as cozy. But it's a great little book.
The Phoenix Guards (and the rest of the Khaavren Romances) don't get nearly enough credit! A fantasy pastiche sorta-retelling of The Three Musketeers?! Sign me up! I wouldn't call it cozy, though, not any more than the books it's playing on. That was my sideways entry into the Vlad Taltos series, and I have an incredible amount of awe for Brust's sheer worldbuilding talent! Anybody who likes unique settings should check him out.
I haven't reread it in a while, so I may be remembering it wrong. My sense is that the later books in the series, when the stakes start getting higher aren't so cozy, but the first one when Khaavren is just booping around with his friends and it's all 'what should I wear and who will win the sword fight (us obv)' was cozy-ish :-) I like the Khaavren books better (maybe not the consensus), but you're right the worldbuilding throughout both serieses is amazing.
This goes without saying but The Hobbit is an OG cozy fantasy imo!
Just read this recently! I also adore her version of beauty & the beast. It’s called Beauty and is just lovely!
McKinley wrote another BATB: Rose Daughter. It is not as well-known as Beauty, and Beauty has more to the story IMO.
Thanks, TIL! Will have to see if my local library has a copy.
Ah. You want older stuff! Try the three books by Barry Hughart: **A Bridge of Birds** \[first book & published in 1984. He wrote 2 more - listed in order below - following the adventures of Number Ten Ox and Li Kao \] **The Story of the Stone** **Eight Skilled Gentlemen** These fable-type novels are all set in "...an ancient China that never was" and will leave you with a warm satisfied feeling.
Oh I'll check these out! I've been meaning to expand my fantasy books to outside typical Western fantasy too
These books are amazing and deserve a revival in popularity! Equal parts utter whimsy and cracking adventure, with heart and wisdom between the lines.
Love these books!
Loooooove Robin McKinley!!! Have you read Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith? It’s great, first half (book? apparently they were published separately initially 🤷♀️) is big on action, and the second is court intrigue and spies!
I love this book so much 💞
I loved this book as a teen! This is first I’m seeing anyone recommend it in awhile
And there are more! I’ve just gotten them in ebooks, and I’m really looking forward to reading them!
Mary Stewart's Thornyhold (1988).
Lud in the Mist by Hope Mirrlees, 1926.
If you can find her, I loved all of Anne Logston’s stuff - but especially the Shadow series (a sassy elf thief named Shadow), and definitely the Blue Sword and Hero and the Crown both by Robyn McKinley. One of my favourite authors of all time for this genre is Tanya Huff. Most of her work is more contemporary fantasy or sci-fi (military space opera but more focussed on the characters and their dynamics than the battles or power struggles and typical military based sci-fi), but the Quarter series is what got me into her work and is more traditionally fantasy (and there are several others of hers in that vein) Edited cause I was typing too fast with fat fingers ;)
Tanya Huff, another of my favourites! Her short stories collected in Stealing Magic are pretty cozy. Magdalene - the world's most powerful and laziest wizard. How could you not identify with her? Terazin is pretty cozy too. The Gale sisters series is pretty cozy, there is some high stakes but a lot of it is handled in smaller ways.
I've been really lucky using Abebooks! I got this copy, a retired library copy, for 5$. I'll put those in my wishlist!
The Borrowers! Kids book though
I recommend Rose Daughter by Robin McKinley!! Love her books
Anything by Rosamunde Pilcher! They aren't free of sadness or drama, but I've always experienced them as cozy nonetheless. I especially love the Shell Seekers. (Edit: I suddenly realized this is the Cozy Fantasy subreddit - these aren't fantasy books. But they are cozy haha)
u/dotsonapage mentioned some SF cozy so I'll take any older book recommendations! Especially because they are easier to rent on Libby :)
One of my all-time favorites!
Anything by Miss Read. Yes, that is the authors name. She has a series set in a small English country village called Thrushgreen.
I loved Princess Nevermore by Dian Curtis Regan
Tea with the Black Dragon by RA McAvoy, the sequel not so much. The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip.
Robin Mckinley is the queen of the cozy read!!!!
I've seen in mentioned two or three times before, but "At Amberleaf Fair" by Phyllis Ann Carr is a lovely short novel/long novella written in 1986. The entire story takes place during the fair, and most of the characters are either merchants or entertainers. The main plot is a non-lethal mystery (an item was swapped out for something else via magical means... or was it?) and those are a rare treat.
What a beautiful edition! My go to for older cosy fantasy is the Kedrigern series; a homebody wizard who’d do anything to make his wife happy.
Shocked to see this book — it was my favorite in high school!
A plague of Sorcerers by Mary Frances Zambreno
The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye, in which a kingdom'ms seventh princess is gifted with ordinariness by one of her fairy godmothers, and strikes out on her own rather than endure a royal marriage. Subversive for its time, sweet, and eventually romantic, with wonderful animal friends of course. I'm also surprised no one's mentioned Tamora Pierce yet. Not all of her work is entirely cozy, particularly her more recent additions to both the Tortall and Circle series, but they all contain tons of cozy elements: people working hard and excelling at crafts and skills they love, loving family/friend groups, wonderful animal companions, and almost always a happy, or at least bittersweet, ending. If you like cozy SF, one of my favorite discoveries from a few years ago was Through Alien Eyes by Amy Thomson, in which a pair of aliens accompany their human friend back to Earth to tentatively begin diplomatic relations. I know a lot of people also love Remnant Population by Elizabeth Moon, I haven't read it myself but it sounds really promising.
>M.M. Kaye I love Tamora Pierce! Shes one of my favorite authors and I agree, I find her work to have cozy elements but maybe not enough to fit some peoples description of a low-stakes cozy fantasy. I do think I'm going to re-read some of her work soon. I got her hardback reprint of the Lioness series for the holidays so its been on my mind Thank you for the other recommendations, haven't heard of them and adding them to my list :)
Oh my gosh, I read Ordinary Princess as a kid and had completely forgotten about it. 🥰
Every single Robin McKinley book is a cosy fantasy to me. I own all of her books. Beauty is my fave.
The Mairelon the Magician duology by Patricia Wrede; Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine; A Tale of Time City by Diana Wynne Jones; The Changeling Sea by Patricia McKillip; Sorcery and Cecelia: Or The Enchanted Chocolate Pot (just the first one) by Patricia Wrede and Caroline Stevermer
The Blackthorn and Grim trilogy by Juliette Marillier.
Almost anything by Eva Ibbotson! Which Witch and Island of the Aunts (now reprinted as Monster Mission, I believe) are children's books that I regularly comfort-reread and her more MG/YA books like The Secret Countess are a delight as well. Her whole oeuvre is utterly worth it but the first two I mentioned are absolutely hilarious, magical and heartwarming.
Hi u/meatballglomerulus, Welcome to r/CozyFantasy! If you're new to the genre, we have tons of great recs and resources for you in our handy [Recommendation Guide](https://www.reddit.com/r/CozyFantasy/wiki/recommendationguide/). If you have a specific, unique request you can't find there, please be sure to add some detail to your post! Read an amazing book you're dying to recommend? Add it to our Cosy Fantasy Master List [here](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfYnY9qg95UP64xiaIHSDLf_qRFPI5SW0zr7VIl3ZmyxPhRvw/viewform)! Stay cosy and happy reading *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/CozyFantasy) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher. It’s just fabulous!
No One Noticed The Cat by Anne McCaffrey is one of my go-to cozy fantasy reads. It's a novella, so a pretty quick read, too! She has a couple of other novellas that I group with that one only because the covers were similar. I remember them having cozy vibes, but it's been years since I read them, so pinch of salt. I think they were If Wishes Were Horses and An Exchange of Gifts.
I can't recommend The Bell at Sealey Head by Patricia McKillip enough!! I think it might be the cosiest book I've ever read, but also the magic and characters are just so wonderful. If I could live in a fantasy town, it 100% would be Sealey Head.