Who says epic fantasy needs to be epic in length? While many fantasy books stretch past 500 pages, sometimes you just want a fast-paced, immersive read that doesn’t take weeks to finish. That’s where short fantasy books come in, offering unforgettable characters, and thrilling magic systems in under 300 pages.
Whether you love cozy fantasy, dark fairy tales, or action-packed adventures, these books prove you don’t need 800 pages to get completely lost in another world.
So, if you’re looking for a quick but spellbinding escape, these fantasy books under 300 pages are perfect for your next reading binge.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
She was magical, beautiful beyond belief—and completely alone…
The unicorn had lived since before memory in a forest where death could touch nothing. Maidens who caught a glimpse of her glory were blessed by enchantment they would never forget. But outside her wondrous realm, dark whispers and rumours carried a message she could not ignore: “Unicorns are gone from the world.”
Aided by a bumbling magician and an indomitable spinster, she set out to learn the truth. but she feared even her immortal wisdom meant nothing in a world where a mad king’s curse and terror incarnate lived only to stalk the last unicorn to her doom…
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 9 hours and 48 minutes to finish The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle.
Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
After years of seeing her sisters suffer at the hands of an abusive prince, Marra—the shy, convent-raised, third-born daughter—has finally realized that no one is coming to their rescue. No one, except for Marra herself.
Seeking help from a powerful gravewitch, Marra is offered the tools to kill a prince—if she can complete three impossible tasks. But, as is the way in tales of princes, witches, and daughters, the impossible is only the beginning.
On her quest, Marra is joined by the gravewitch, a reluctant fairy godmother, a strapping former knight, and a chicken possessed by a demon. Together, the five of them intend to be the hand that closes around the throat of the prince and frees Marra’s family and their kingdom from its tyrannous ruler at last.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 8 hours and 6 minutes to finish Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher.
The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson
Every time she bleeds a murderer is born. Experience the horror of Tade Thompson’s The Murders of Molly Southbourne.
The rule is simple: don’t bleed.
For as long as Molly Southbourne can remember, she’s been watching herself die. Whenever she bleeds, another molly is born, identical to her in every way and intent on her destruction.
Molly knows every way to kill herself, but she also knows that as long as she survives she’ll be hunted. No matter how well she follows the rules, eventually the mollys will find her. Can Molly find a way to stop the tide of blood, or will she meet her end at the hand of a girl who looks just like her?
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 4 hours and 4 minutes to finish The Murders of Molly Southbourne by Tade Thompson.
The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander
In the early years of the 20th century, a group of female factory workers in Newark, New Jersey slowly died of radiation poisoning. Around the same time, an Indian elephant was deliberately put to death by electricity in Coney Island.
These are the facts.
Now these two tragedies are intertwined in a dark alternate history of rage, radioactivity, and injustice crying out to be righted. Prepare yourself for a wrenching journey that crosses eras, chronicling histories of cruelty both grand and petty in search of meaning and justice.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 3 hours and 6 minutes to finish The Only Harmless Great Thing by Brooke Bolander.
The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo
A young royal from the far north is sent south for a political marriage in an empire reminiscent of imperial China. Her brothers are dead, her armies and their war mammoths long defeated and caged behind their borders. Alone and sometimes reviled, she must choose her allies carefully.
Rabbit, a handmaiden, sold by her parents to the palace for the lack of five baskets of dye, befriends the emperor’s lonely new wife and gets more than she bargained for.
At once feminist high fantasy and an indictment of monarchy, this evocative debut follows the rise of the empress In-yo, who has few resources and fewer friends. She’s a northern daughter in a mage-made summer exile, but she will bend history to her will and bring down her enemies, piece by piece.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 3 hours and 58 minutes to finish The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo.
The Deep by Rivers Solomon
Yetu holds the memories for her people.
Her people, the wajinru – water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slavers – live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one. Save the historian.
Yetu remembers for all the wajinru, and the memories – painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so she flees to the surface, escaping the memories and the expectations and the responsibilities – and discovers a world the wajinru left behind long ago.
Yetu will learn more than she ever expected to about her own past – and about the future of her people. If they are all to survive, they’ll need to reclaim the memories, reclaim their identities – and own who they really are.
Inspired by the hit song by clipping. (comprised of Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and Jonathan Snipes), The Deep will resonate long after the last page is turned.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 5 hours and 32 minutes to finish The Deep by Rivers Solomon.
Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater
It’s difficult to find a husband in Regency England when you’re a young lady with only half a soul.
Ever since she was cursed by a faerie, Theodora Ettings has had no sense of fear or embarrassment – a condition which makes her prone to accidental scandal. Dora hopes to be a quiet, sensible wallflower during the London Season – but when the strange, handsome and utterly uncouth Lord Sorcier discovers her condition, she is instead drawn into dangerous and peculiar faerie affairs.
If Dora’s reputation can survive both her curse and her sudden connection with the least-liked man in all of high society, then she may yet reclaim her normal place in the world. . . but the longer Dora spends with Elias Wilder, the more she begins to suspect that one may indeed fall in love, even with only half a soul.
Bridgerton meets Howl’s Moving Castle in this enchanting historical fantasy, where the only thing more meddlesome than faeries is a marriage-minded mother.
Pick up HALF A SOUL, and be stolen away into Olivia Atwater’s charming, magical version of Regency England!
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 10 hours and 8 minutes to finish Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater.
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 returns to the alternate Cairo of Clark’s short fiction, where humans live and work alongside otherworldly beings; the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities handles the issues that can arise between the magical and the mundane. Senior Agent Hamed al-Nasr shows his new partner Agent Onsi the ropes of investigation when they are called to subdue a dangerous, possessed tram car. What starts off as a simple matter of exorcism, however, becomes more complicated as the origins of the demon inside are revealed.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 4 hours and 20 minutes to finish The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark.
The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
Deep below the University, there is a dark place. Few people know of it: a broken web of ancient passageways and abandoned rooms. A young woman lives there, tucked among the sprawling tunnels of the Underthing, snug in the heart of this forgotten place.
Her name is Auri, and she is full of mysteries.
The Slow Regard of Silent Things is a brief, bittersweet glimpse of Auri’s life, a small adventure all her own. At once joyous and haunting, this story offers a chance to see the world through Auri’s eyes. And it gives the reader a chance to learn things that only Auri knows…
In this book, Patrick Rothfuss brings us into the world of one of The Kingkiller Chronicle’s most enigmatic characters. Full of secrets and mysteries, The Slow Regard of Silent Things is the story of a broken girl trying to live in a broken world.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 5 hours and 18 minutes to finish The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss.
The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson
A heretic thief is the empire’s only hope in this fascinating tale that inhabits the same world as the popular novel, Elantris.
Shai is a Forger, a foreigner who can flawlessly copy and re-create any item by rewriting its history with skillful magic. Condemned to death after trying to steal the emperor’s scepter, she is given one opportunity to save herself. Though her skill as a Forger is considered an abomination by her captors, Shai will attempt to create a new soul for the emperor, who is almost dead.
Probing deeply into his life, she discovers Emperor Ashravan’s truest nature—and the opportunity to exploit it. Her only possible ally is one who is truly loyal to the emperor, but councilor Gaotona must overcome his prejudices to understand that Shai’s forgery is as much artistry as it is deception.
Brimming with magic and political intrigue, this deftly woven fantasy delves into the essence of a living spirit.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 6 hours and 24 minutes to finish The Emperor’s Soul by Brandon Sanderson.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi
Once upon a time, a man who believed in fairy tales married a beautiful, mysterious woman named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada. He was a scholar of myths. She was heiress to a fortune. They exchanged gifts and stories and believed they would live happily ever after—and in exchange for her love, Indigo extracted a promise: that her bridegroom would never pry into her past.
But when Indigo learns that her estranged aunt is dying and the couple is forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, the bridegroom will soon find himself unable to resist. For within the crumbling manor’s extravagant rooms and musty halls, there lurks the shadow of another girl: Azure, Indigo’s dearest childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. As the house slowly reveals his wife’s secrets, the bridegroom will be forced to choose between reality and fantasy, even if doing so threatens to destroy their marriage . . . or their lives.
Combining the lush, haunting atmosphere of Mexican Gothic with the dreamy enchantment of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride is a spellbinding and darkly romantic page-turner about love and lies, secrets and betrayal, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 9 hours and 38 minutes to finish The Last Tale of the Flower Bride by Roshani Chokshi.
I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle
Dragons are common in the backwater kingdom of Bellemontagne, coming in sizes from mouselike vermin all the way up to the fabled Kings, which haven’t been seen in an age. Gaius Aurelius Constantine Heliogabalus Thrax (who would much rather people call him Robert) has recently inherited his deceased father’s job as a dragon exterminator, a career he detests with all his heart. Things turn from bad to worse when Robert is hired by the royal family to disinfest the entire castle, as Princess Cerise is determined to receive Crown Prince Reginald with the shabby château looking its best.
What happens next is not the fairy tale you may be expecting.
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 9 hours and 16 minutes to finish I’m Afraid You’ve Got Dragons by Peter S. Beagle.
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
This beloved story -first published more than fifty years ago- introduces readers to Milo and his adventures in the Lands Beyond.
For Milo, everything’s a bore. When a tollbooth mysteriously appears in his room, he drives through only because he’s got nothing better to do. But on the other side, things seem different. Milo visits the Island of Conclusions (you get there by jumping), learns about time from a ticking watchdog named Tock, and even embarks on a quest to rescue Rhyme and Reason! Somewhere along the way, Milo realizes something astonishing. Life is far from dull. In fact, it’s exciting beyond his wildest dreams. . . .
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 8 hours and 16 minutes to finish The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster.
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett
On a world supported on the back of a giant turtle (sex unknown), a gleeful, explosive, wickedly eccentric expedition sets out. There’s an avaricious but inept wizard, a naive tourist whose luggage moves on hundreds of dear little legs, dragons who only exist if you believe in them, and of course THE EDGE on the planet…
If you read at a standard rate, say 30 pages per hour, it will take you 9 hours and 34 minutes to finish The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett.
Conclusion
Who knew so much magic could fit into so few pages? Whether it’s a whirlwind adventure, a cozy escape, or a dark and twisted fairy tale, these books prove that fantasy doesn’t have to be long to be completely unforgettable. Got a favorite short fantasy read that deserves a shoutout? Drop it in the comments, because there’s always room for one more magical adventure on the TBR list.