Every year, I read dozens of books hoping to find the handful that remind me exactly why I love reading. In 2026, I have already discovered more than a few.

My reading has taken me everywhere this year. I have explored medieval monasteries, sailed across magical seas with pirates, survived deadly dungeons, encountered vampires, and discovered a few LitRPG novels that I couldn’t put down.

And while I have enjoyed plenty of books this year, some have separated themselves from the rest.

These are the best books I have read in 2026 so far, including one series that completely took over my reading life.

The Best Books I Read in 2026

• The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco 
• Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
• Dungeon Crawler Carl series by Matt Dinniman
• The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones
• Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S. A. Chakraborty
• Ultimate Level 1: Shattered Dreams by Shawn Wilson

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco

One of my favorite reads of the year also happens to be the oldest book on this list.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco is a historical mystery set in a fourteenth-century monastery where a series of strange deaths forces Brother William of Baskerville to become a detective. But calling this simply a murder mystery doesn’t really do the novel justice. Eco mixes the investigation with medieval history, religion, philosophy, logic, politics, and debates about knowledge itself.

There are moments when the novel demands more patience from the reader than your average mystery, but that is also part of what made it so memorable.

The monastery feels like a world of its own. The library, in particular, becomes almost as important as any character in the novel.

What impressed me most was how Eco was able to create an intelligent literary novel without forgetting that there is still a murder mystery at the center of everything.

If you enjoy historical fiction and mysteries and aren’t afraid of something a little more challenging, The Name of the Rosedeserves its reputation as a classic.

Best for: Historical mystery fans who want something complex and atmospheric.

Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson is best known for massive fantasy novels filled with complicated magic systems, enormous worlds, and epic battles.

Tress of the Emerald Sea feels different.

And that is exactly why I enjoyed it so much.

The novel follows Tress, a young woman who leaves her quiet island home and sets off across dangerous seas to find Charlie. Those seas aren’t filled with water but deadly spores, turning what could have been a traditional pirate adventure into something unmistakably Sanderson. The novel is a standalone story set inside his larger Cosmere universe.

There is a whimsical quality to the novel that reminded me of classic fairy tales and adventure stories. It is funny, imaginative, romantic without being dominated by romance, and filled with the type of creative worldbuilding that Sanderson does better than almost anyone.

It also works surprisingly well for readers who have never read another Cosmere novel.

Sanderson himself has even highlighted Tress of the Emerald Sea as one of the books readers can use as an entry point into his work.

For longtime Sanderson fans, there are plenty of connections to notice. For everyone else, it is simply a wonderful fantasy adventure.

Best for: Readers who want whimsical fantasy, pirates, adventure, and creative worldbuilding.

Dungeon Crawler Carl Series by Matt Dinniman

I didn’t just read one Dungeon Crawler Carl book this year.

I read all eight of them.

That probably tells you everything you need to know.

Matt Dinniman’s wildly entertaining LitRPG series follows Carl and Princess Donut after Earth is transformed into a massive dungeon that survivors must navigate while their suffering is broadcast as entertainment to an intergalactic audience.

It sounds ridiculous.

It is ridiculous.

And somehow, it works incredibly well.

The series currently includes eight books, culminating with A Parade of Horribles, which was released on May 12, 2026.

What starts as a funny and violent dungeon-crawling adventure slowly turns into something much bigger. Dinniman keeps expanding the world, the politics, the relationships, and the stakes while never losing the bizarre humor that makes the series so addictive.

Carl and Donut are also one of the best duos I have encountered in fantasy in a long time.

The fact that I immediately kept moving from one book to the next says more than any review probably could. There are very few series that can hold my attention for eight consecutive books without making me want to take a break.

Dungeon Crawler Carl did.

If you’ve been curious about LitRPG but haven’t known where to begin, this is one of the easiest series to recommend.

Best for: Readers who love LitRPG, dark humor, action, progression fantasy, and absurd adventures.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter by Stephen Graham Jones

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter is probably one of the most unusual books I have read this year.

Stephen Graham Jones takes vampire fiction and combines it with historical horror, violence, identity, revenge, and Indigenous history.

The novel centers on the story of Good Stab, a Blackfeet man whose life is recounted through interviews recorded in a pastor’s diary. From there, Jones builds a vampire story deeply connected to the history and suffering of the Blackfeet people.

It is brutal at times, but there is a lot happening underneath the horror.

This isn’t just another vampire novel.

Jones uses the genre to explore history, memory, revenge, and what happens when violence continues echoing across generations.

The novel has received major recognition since its 2025 publication, including wins for horror and speculative fiction, which feels fitting considering how difficult it is to place this book neatly into one genre.

Some books entertain you and disappear.

Others keep returning to your thoughts weeks later.

The Buffalo Hunter Hunter was definitely the second kind for me.

Best for: Horror readers looking for ambitious historical fiction and a completely different take on vampires.

Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher

Nettle & Bone is the kind of fantasy novel that reminds you that a book doesn’t need 800 pages to create a memorable world.

T. Kingfisher takes familiar fairy-tale ideas and turns them into something darker, stranger, and much funnier than expected.

Marra is the third daughter of a royal family, and after watching her sister suffer in an abusive marriage to a powerful prince, she decides that someone has to do something about it.

That someone turns out to be her.

Unfortunately, rescuing her sister requires completing several seemingly impossible tasks, including creating a dog out of bones and making a cloak from nettles.

From there, Kingfisher assembles one of the strangest adventuring parties you are likely to encounter.

The novel has witches, magic, a former knight, dark forests, impossible quests, and even a demon-possessed chicken.

But underneath all of the strange fantasy elements is a surprisingly heartfelt story about family, courage, and ordinary people choosing to do difficult things.

It is dark without becoming miserable and funny without undermining its serious moments.

That balance isn’t easy to pull off, but Kingfisher makes it look effortless.

Best for: Readers who love dark fairy tales, unusual fantasy, and quirky characters.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by S. A. Chakraborty

Give me pirates, ancient mysteries, magical creatures, treasure, and historical fantasy and I am probably going to read the book.

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi gives readers all of those things.

Amina was once one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates but has left that life behind. When she is offered a massive reward to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a former crew member, she reunites her old crew for what is supposed to be one final adventure.

Naturally, things become much more complicated.

What begins as a rescue mission quickly expands into a story involving sorcery, dangerous artifacts, supernatural threats, and secrets from Amina’s past. Chakraborty has described the novel as the beginning of a trilogy mixing pirates, magic, historical elements, and ancient mysteries.

But the biggest reason the novel works is Amina herself.

She isn’t the young hero we often see in fantasy novels. She is an experienced pirate, a mother, a former wife several times over, and someone who already has decades of mistakes behind her.

That makes her feel refreshingly different from the usual fantasy protagonist.

The worldbuilding is also fantastic. Chakraborty blends history and mythology in a way that makes the world feel massive even when we are following a relatively small group of characters.

This was exactly the type of fantasy adventure I wanted.

Best for: Readers who love historical fantasy, pirates, mythology, and found-family adventures.

Ultimate Level 1: Shattered Dreams by Shawn Wilson

One of my biggest surprises of the year came from the LitRPG genre.

Ultimate Level 1: Shattered Dreams by Shawn Wilson follows Max, who doesn’t dream about becoming a legendary warrior.

He wants to be a baker.

Unfortunately, after receiving a rare and dangerous skill, Max finds himself running for his life while trying to become powerful enough to survive the people and the god, hunting him.

The premise immediately caught my attention, but what kept me reading was the progression.

That is one of the most important things for me when reading LitRPG. I want upgrades, skills, battles, and leveling to actually feel meaningful instead of just watching numbers increase every few chapters.

Shattered Dreams does that extremely well.

There is something incredibly satisfying about watching Max slowly discover what he can do while being forced into a life he never wanted.

It has all the elements that make progression fantasy addictive: new abilities, increasingly difficult enemies, secrets, dungeon-style adventures, and the constant feeling that the main character is becoming more powerful.

I have read a lot more LitRPG this year than I expected to, and this was one of the books that helped convince me to keep exploring the genre.

Best for: LitRPG and progression-fantasy readers who love satisfying character growth.

What My Favorite Books of 2026 Have in Common

Looking at this list, one thing becomes obvious: I clearly wanted adventure this year.

Even though these books come from very different genres, most of them feature characters thrown into unfamiliar situations and forced to figure things out along the way.

Tress leaves home and becomes an adventurer.

Amina returns to the sea.

Carl fights his way through an increasingly insane dungeon.

Max is forced into a life he never wanted.

Marra decides to become the hero her sister needs.

And even The Name of the Rose revolves around William trying to solve an increasingly dangerous mystery inside a place filled with secrets.

Apparently, I like books where everything goes horribly wrong and the characters have to improvise.

The Biggest Surprise of the Year

If I had to choose one of the biggest surprises, it would be Ultimate Level 1: Shattered Dreams.

I didn’t expect LitRPG to become such a big part of my reading this year, but novels like this one—and especially the Dungeon Crawler Carl series—have made the genre one of my most exciting discoveries.

Sometimes branching outside of the books you normally read pays off.

The Series I Couldn’t Stop Reading

That award easily goes to Dungeon Crawler Carl.

Reading eight books from one series in the same year is something I rarely do.

Normally, even when I love a series, I like taking breaks between installments. But Dinniman’s combination of cliffhangers, humor, action, and constantly escalating stakes made that almost impossible.

Every time I finished one book, I wanted to see what happened next.

Final Thoughts on the Best Books I’ve Read in 2026

There are still plenty of books left for me to read before 2026 comes to an end, so this list could definitely change.

But these are the books that have stayed with me the most so far.

Some made me laugh. Others forced me to think. A few completely took over my reading schedule.

That is ultimately what I want from a great book.

I don’t care if it is a decades-old classic, a new horror novel, a massive LitRPG series, or a whimsical fantasy adventure. If I finish a book and immediately want to recommend it to someone else, then it has done its job.

And right now, these are the best books I have read in 2026.

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