Kirkus Best Books of the Year - YA Fantasy and SF (Awarded by Kirkus)

Awards List

2025

The Last Bookstore on Earth
(*)
Lily Braun-Arnold

Rebel Witch
(*)
Kristen Ciccarelli

The Rose Bargain
(*)
Sasha Peyton Smith

The Otherwhere Post
(*)
Emily J. Taylor

Silver Throat
(*)
Siri Pettersen

Sunrise on the Reaping
(*)
Suzanne Collins

A Touch of Blood
(*)
Sajni Patel

Unhallowed Halls
(*)
Lili Wilkinson

Holy Terrors
(*)
Margaret Owen

Salvacion
(*)
Sandra Proudman

The Singular Life of Aria Patel
(*)
Samira Ahmed

Snowglobe 2
(*)
Soyoung Park

Then There Was One
(*)
Wendy Cross

Heir of Storms
(*)
Lauryn Hamilton Murray

Skipshock
(*)
Caroline O'Donoghue

Of Flame and Fury
(*)
Mikayla Bridge

Daughter of the Underworld
(*)
Katharine Corr

Thorn Season
(*)
Kiera Azar

Torchfire
(*)
Moira Buffini

2024

Memories of Ash
(*)
Intisar Khanani
  • / Fantasy

Sky's End
(*)
Marc J. Gregson

A Tempest of Tea
(*)
Hafsah Faizal

The Hedgewitch of Foxhall
(*)
Anna Bright

Kindling
(*)
Traci Chee

The Last Bloodcarver
(*)
Vanessa Le

Where the Dark Stands Still
(*)
A.B. Poranek

Dragonfruit
(*)
Makiia Lucier

The Maid and the Crocodile
(*)
Jordan Ifueko

Immortal Dark
(*)
Tigest Girma

Divine Mortals
(*)
Amanda Helander

The Door in Lake Mallion
(*)
S.M. Beiko

Fledgling
(*)
S.K. Ali

2023

Unraveller
(*)
Frances Hardinge

The Buried and the Bound
(*)
Rochelle Hassan

Iron Wolf
(*)
Siri Pettersen

A Door in the Dark
(*)
Scott Reintgen

Sing Me to Sleep
(*)
Gabi Burton

Champion of Fate
(*)
Kendare Blake

Before the Devil Knows You're Here
(*)
Autumn Krause

Sinner's Isle
(*)
Angela Montoya

This Cursed Light
(*)
Emily Thiede

2022

The Obsidian Butterfly
(*)
Lani Forbes

Gallant
(*)
V.E. Schwab

A Thousand Steps into Night
(*)
Traci Chee

Hotel Magnifique
(*)
Emily J. Taylor

Scout's Honor
(*)
Lily Anderson

A Darkness at the Door
(*)
Intisar Khanani

Wind Daughter
(*)
Joanna Ruth Meyer

Beasts of Ruin
(*)
Ayana Gray

The Drowned Woods
(*)
Emily Lloyd-Jones

When the Angels Left the Old Country
(*)
Sacha Lamb

2021

The Broken Raven
(*)
Joseph Elliott

The Wide Starlight
(*)
Nicole Lesperance

A Queen of Gilded Horns
(*)
Amanda Joy

Aetherbound
(*)
E.K. Johnston

Mister Impossible
(*)
Maggie Stiefvater

Blood Like Magic
(*)
Liselle Sambury

Rainbow in the Dark
(*)
Sean McGinty

Redemptor
(*)
Jordan Ifueko

The Sisters of Reckoning
(*)
Charlotte Nicole Davis

Beasts of Prey
(*)
Ayana Gray

Before We Disappear
(*)
Shaun David Hutchinson

Little Thieves
(*)
Margaret Owen

Vial of Tears
(*)
Cristin Bishara

When Night Breaks
(*)
Janella Angeles

All of Us Villains
(*)
Amanda Foody; Christine Lynn Herman

The Grimrose Girls
(*)
Laura Pohl

2020

The Iron Will of Genie Lo
(*)
F.C. Yee

Deeplight
(*)
Frances Hardinge

Dark Skies
(*)
Danielle L. Jensen

A Song of Wraiths and Ruin
(*)
Roseanne A. Brown

A Peculiar Peril
(*)
Jeff VanderMeer

The Faithless Hawk
(*)
Margaret Owen

Raybearer
(*)
Jordan Ifueko

Where Dreams Descend
(*)
Janella Angeles

Award Categories

Affirming Picture Books

Bedtime Books

Beginning Readers

Board Books

Book Club Fiction

Books for Beginning Readers

Debut Fiction

Dystopian Fiction

Empowering Picture Books

Environmental Fiction

Fiction

Fiction in Translation

Fictional Families

Fictional Voices

Funniest Picture Books

Historical Fiction

Informational Picture Books

Joyous Picture Books

Middle Grade Exploring Social Themes

Middle-Grade About Speaking Up

Middle-Grade Activist

Middle-Grade Adventures

Middle-Grade Family Stories

Middle-Grade Fantasy and SF

Middle-Grade Fiction

Award Years

2025

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2019