Summary

• Fictional duologies offer a concise yet complex narrative structure perfect for fans of fantasy literature.
• Some stories are better suited for two books, allowing authors to craft a detailed tale without long-running series pressure.
• Recent duologies, such as those by Samantha Shannon, Tricia Levenseller, and Leigh Bardugo, provide captivating adventures within a smaller story scope.

Fantasy duologies comprising only two books are perfect for fans of fantasy literature who don't want to commit to a long-running series but are still looking for a full, complex story. There are plenty of amazing standalone fantasy books to read for those who prefer shorter stories. However, the rising structure of a two-book series offers the opportunity to experience a succinct narrative that is slightly more developed, without being confined to a single book. More and more two-book series have been cropping up in recent years due to the concept's potential.

While authors might have once felt pressured to write at least three books, some stories are better suited to only two. This doesn't mean that spinoffs and sequel series cannot be created within the same universe. Fantasy duologies often demonstrate a perfect length for the story the authors want to tell and are just as compelling as epic fantasy series, while occasionally leading into a bigger universe that the reader may or may not continue to explore.

10 The Roots Of Chaos By Samantha Shannon

The Priory Of The Orange Tree & A Day Of Fallen Night

Samantha Shannon is the bestselling author of The Bone Season and its sequels, all very dense books with complex dystopian world-building. It has taken Shannon more than 10 years to write and publish four out of the seven planned novels in this series. Unsurprisingly, Shannon's other novels which can both be viewed as standalones are just as detailed. Her first book separate from The Bone Season, The Priory of the Orange Tree, was just as successful.

Priory of the Orange Tree follows two women — one a courtier with a secret mission and another an aspiring dragon rider — at opposite ends of a world characterized by political rivalries and threatened by an ancient force. While it can be read as a standalone, Shannon later wrote the prequel A Day of Fallen Night, revealing more about the history of the kingdoms and the titular Priory introduced in the first book. Shannon is working on a third book for The Roots of Chaos, but it will likely always be possible to select a duology out of this series.

9 Daughter Of The Pirate King By Tricia Levenseller

Daughter Of The Pirate King & Daughter Of The Siren Queen

The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has long fallen from grace, leaving a gap in pop culture for fans who love this aesthetic. While Black Sails is doubtlessly better than Pirates of the Caribbean, books like Tricia Levenseller's Daughter of the Pirate King duology also offer an escape back into a world of swashbuckling anti-heroes. Daughter of the Pirate King and its sequel Daughter of the Siren Queen follow the exploits of the 17-year-old pirate captain Alosa as she searches for a legendary treasure.

The Pirate King's daughter will delight fans of Aelin Galathynius, the most powerful character from the Throne of Glass series. Like Aelin, Alosa's sheer capability outmatches most of the adversaries she meets, and her narration is hilariously superior. While this duology focuses on Alosa's adventures, the Daughter of the Pirate King series also includes the spinoff Vengeance of the Pirate Queen, which follows Sorinda, an assassin working for Alosa.

8 The World Of The Narrows By Adrienne Young

Fable & Namesake

There are a surprising number of seafaring adventure novels out there for fans of the genre; House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig and All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace are both worth a read. However, the next stop after Daughter of the Pirate King is doubtlessly the Fable and Namesake duology by Adrienne Young. Fable follows the (also) 17-year-old title character, who is abandoned by her father, a powerful trader, after her mother's death. Fable resolves to fight her way across the dangerous sea back to her father to demand her rightful inheritance from him.

Fable and Namesake depict Fable's riveting rise to power in the Narrows, navigating the complex politics of rivalries and alliances and discovering the secrets her family has buried. According to a favorable Goodreads review:

"Fable is not a fast paced, fun tale of adventure in line with Pirates of the Caribbean; this fable is grim, and dangerous, and slowly immersive—you might say it’s more in line with the show Black Sails if you’re really looking for a comparison, albeit ill-fitting."

Anyone looking for a duology about the dangerous setting of seafaring and pseudo-piracy, with a story focusing on a young woman making her way in a man's world, will enjoy The World of the Narrows.

7 Sands Of Arawiya By Hafsah Faizal

We Hunt The Flame & We Free The Stars

Faizal weaves together a cast of excellent ing characters, unique supernatural abilities, and beings from Middle Eastern mythology together in this stunning two-book adventure.

Bestselling author Hafsah Faizal pitched We Hunt the Flame as The Hunger Games in a fantasy setting. It is an apt description, following a handful of characters who venture to a dangerous island to find a lost artifact that can bring magic back to their kingdom. Among them is Zafira, a huntress who disguises herself as a man to escape prosecution, and Nasir, the kingdom's crown prince forced to kill people by his brutal father. Faizal weaves together a cast of excellent ing characters, unique supernatural abilities, and a setting inspired by ancient Arabia together in this stunning two-book adventure.

Although Sands of Arawiya's story is mostly self-contained, Faizal is building a much bigger world. The first book in her new duology, A Tempest of Tea, is described as a King Arthur story with vampires and is set in the same world as Arawiya. However, readers should first delve into the fascinating world of Arawiya for a tale of adventure, betrayal, and romance.

6 A Song Of Wraiths And Ruin By Roseanne A. Brown

A Song Of Wraiths And Ruin & A Psalm Of Storms And Silence

Roseanne A. Brown's A Song of Wraiths and Ruin is the first in a duology whose world is built upon West African folklore, with the story following two desperate young people driven to murderous intentions. The first, Malik, plans to kill the crown princess to save his younger sister from a malevolent spirit. Meanwhile, Princess Karina offers her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition, only because she needs the heart of a king to resurrect her mother.

Karina finds herself in the company of unlikely but fantastic allies in A Psalm of Storms and Silence, while Malik tries to find her once again in order to save their world. The first book sets up interesting dynamics of mistrust for the second, while the ending is surprising but satisfying. A Song of Wraiths and Ruin has a well-constructed world and fully formed characters, both vital components of any worthwhile read.

5 Monsters Of Verity By V. E. Schwab

This Savage Song & Our Dark Duet

V. E. Schwab stands among the great fantasy authors of the modern era, crafting fantasy stories like the Shades of Magic trilogy and the standalones of Gallant and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. Readers who generally like the duology structure and want to enjoy more of Schwab's writing can check out the Monsters of Verity books. This Savage Song and Our Dark Duet's story is a dark urban fantasy adventure with notes of horror and a not-quite Shakespearean plot.

Kate Harker and August Flynn are two of the biggest authority figures in a divided city, both of whom aspire to be like their fathers. However, despite the seemingly obvious segue into a Romeo and Juliet construct, This Savage Song is a breath of fresh air with no romantic subplot. Still, Kate and August find themselves thrust into an impromptu alliance to survive the monsters and politics of their city. This intriguing duology offers all the best parts of urban fantasy, monster-hunting, and complicated legacies.

4 Alice In Wonderland By Lewis Carroll

Alice's Adventures In Wonderland & Through The Looking Glass And What Alice Found There

Disney has adapted Lewis Carroll's fantasy novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland twice now, but readers still may not have had the chance to delve into the source material. Carroll's nonsensical children's adventure story is meant to mock the formality of upper-class Victorian society with increasingly ludicrous characters: the Mad Hatter, the Queen of Hearts, the March Hare, and the rest. Along the way, Alice finds herself at the center of one strange puzzle or thought experiment after another.

Alice is pulled back into her magical otherworld in Alice Through the Looking Glass, the book which contains Carroll's famous "Jabberwocky" poem. This pair of books makes for a classic duology from long before the current popularity of two-book series. Revisiting the original iterations of these stories may prove to be a strange but fulfilling experience that offers a new perspective on the modern adaptations.

3 The Wrath And The Dawn By Renée Ahdieh

The Wrath And The Dawn & The Rose And The Dagger

In The Wrath and the Dawn, Renée Ahdieh’s retelling of One Thousand and One Nights, 16-year-old Shahrzad “Shazi” volunteers to be the murderous caliph’s next bride — when he is known for taking a new bride every night only for the young woman to be found dead the next morning. However, Shazi has a plan to exact vengeance for her best friend, one of the past brides. Her plan is derailed when the caliph is not at all what she expects, leading to an enemies-to-lovers storyline.

The Wrath and the Dawn has minimal fantasy elements but boasts detailed world-building and multiple sharp female characters. However, magic begins to play a larger role in The Rose and the Dagger, as well as a complex storyline of conflicting loyalties. The bestselling author Ahdieh has also written three short stories set in the same world, as well as two other fantasy series.

2 These Violent Delights By Chloe Gong

These Violent Delights & Our Violent Ends

Gong is an expert at emphasizing and deconstructing the themes and tropes of Shakespeare's plays in These Violent Delights and its sequel, Our Violent Ends.

Chloe Gong made her debut with These Violent Delights, a Romeo and Juliet retelling set in 1920s Shanghai. There, Juliette Cai and Roma Montagov, the heirs to the respective rival gangs of the city, are forced to work together (multiple times) while dealing with past betrayals between the two of them and their enduring feelings for one another. Gong is an expert at emphasizing and deconstructing the themes and tropes of Shakespeare's plays in These Violent Delights and its sequel, Our Violent Ends.

Additionally, Gong's books constitute detailed historical fiction, as the story meshes with the circumstances leading up to the Chinese Civil War. Furthermore, These Violent Delights leads into the spinoff Foul Lady Fortune duology focusing on Juliette's cousin Rosalind, who also becomes the protagonist of Shakespeare's As You Like It. Gong's books are all amazing urban fantasies with subtle supernatural elements and powerful love stories to tell.

1 Six Of Crows By Leigh Bardugo

Six Of Crows & Crooked Kingdom

Audience who are still clamoring for the Shadow and Bone storylines that will never be resolved after the show's cancellation can always turn to the source material for a more complete story. Leigh Bardugo's Grishaverse series comprises the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the Six of Crows duology, and the King of Scars duology (chronologically taking place in that order). Out of these three, the Peaky Blinders and Ocean's Eleven fantasy mash-up of Six of Crows is doubtlessly the best.

Kaz Brekker is a protagonist unlike any other, a teenage master con artist who keeps the audience and his enemies on the edge of their seats. When Kaz sets out to claim an unimaginable sum of money, he brings with him a vibrant crew of fan-favorite criminals. This includes the acrobatic knife-wielder Inej Ghafa and charming sharpshooter Jesper Fahey. The Six of Crows duology recounts a tale of "kings and queens" reclaiming what is theirs but still has an emotional foundation. Readers looking for a good fantasy duology to read must complete this one at some point.

Source: Goodreads