A guide to the best Asian-inspired high fantasy series

Asian-inspired high fantasy draws on histories, mythologies and philosophies from Asia to build secondary worlds where magic reflects social power. A Chinese imperial court, a xianxia cultivation ladder, the Malay Archipelago or a modern diaspora can shape warfare, family, faith and belonging. The strongest examples treat these sources as living cultures, not a decorative supply of pagodas, dragons and silk robes.

The series below span upper YA, new adult and adult fiction, from compact duologies to ambitious sagas. They were chosen for world-building, emotional complexity and accessibility, while content notes and author perspectives deserve checking when a book engages a particular culture or violent historical analogue.

Chinese history, gods and revolution

The Poppy War trilogy is an essential starting point for readers who want Chinese history fused with revolutionary theology. R. F. Kuang follows Ryn, a scholarship student caught in an opium war between Qinting and Britain, where human sacrifice gives divine power to the rebellion. Its Taiping Rebellion echoes and questions about education, loyalty and the cost of change make it compelling but grim.

The Radiant Emperor is a compact duology for readers who prefer institutional intrigue. Its Chinese religious bureaucracy becomes a celestial hierarchy in which the sun god Y supposedly cannot die, rebellious priests manipulate belief, and schemes unfold under imperial scrutiny. Start with The Radiant Emperor, then The Isis Ascendant; it is a sharp companion to The Poppy War because both examine revolution without treating political power as cleanly won.

Clans, cultivation and political violence

Fonda Lee’s Green Bone Saga transforms cultivation fantasy into a brutal study of clan rule and corporate power. Jade City reveals a capital where one family monopolises government, rival clans trade on hidden agreements, and temperancers turn alcohol, medicine and martial discipline into sources of power. Its assassinations, addiction, family strategy and succession crises make it ideal for readers who want more than a level-up ladder.

Begin with Jade City and continue in order. The series is adult, violent and sometimes sexually explicit, but its succession focus shifts attention away from a lone chosen-one plot and towards institutional manipulation. It is also an excellent bridge for fantasy readers who enjoy court intrigue and morally complicated alliances.

Makers, ghosts and chosen family

C. L. Polk’s Craft Sequence uses an East Asian-inflected secondary world to explore making, power and prejudice. In The Tethered Mage, The Blighted Stars and The Tainted Cup, makers create lasting works, tessers cross magical boundaries, and inherited authority collides with new forms of violence. The last novel’s closed-circle mystery makes this a good bridge between epic fantasy and procedural fantasy.

Andrea Stewart’s The Bone Shard Daughter trilogy adds queer found family, fugitive quests and dangerously reusable bone magic. C. L. Polk’s Tensorate trilogy goes further afield: this Chinese diasporic space opera uses food, migration, labour and queer relationships to interrogate empire and survival. It is science fiction rather than strict high fantasy, but it rewards readers who want the cultural texture of an epic series.

South and Southeast Asian histories

Tasha Suri’s five-book Burning Kingdoms draws from the Deccan Sultanates without trying to represent all of India. Empire of Sand follows Qasim, whose diplomatic posting collapses into political killings as gods move through human affairs. Across the series, religious influence, colonial pressure and reform become questions of daily governance.

S. A. Chakraborty’s Traitor Baru Cormorant trilogy moves into the Malay Archipelago, where piracy, privateering and colonial trade shape every alliance. Baru’s inherited power places women’s bodies, family ties and political survival on a collision course, while the multiple perspectives resist a clean hero or colonial power. Follow The Traitor Baru Cormorant with The River of No Return and The Delta of the Reclaimed.

Tobias S. Buckell’s Books of Ambha duology takes an Indian-inspired city-state as its setting. The High King’s Wife and The Weight of the Stars combine queer protagonists, archaeology, gods and stolen heritage in a shorter but dense pair of adventures. It is a useful bridge for readers building a shelf around South and Southeast Asian histories.

Shorter commitments in xianxia fantasy

Andrea Stewart’s The Farseer trilogy is a fast-moving Chinese-inspired xianxia series with a nonbinary protagonist, summoned figures and a mythology drawn from cultivation traditions. Shuang begins in self-imposed exile before a divine threat draws them towards swordplay, monsters and an unlikely family. Its shorter pace makes it approachable after the denser political sagas.

Xia Jia’s Blood of Stars trilogy is darker, stranger and more literary. Its wandering swordswoman encounters cultivation systems, dangerous gods and communities whose virtues fail under pressure, giving adult xianxia a bleak moral focus rather than a simple rise-to-power fantasy. When either series prompts a book-club meal, recipe inspiration can help, provided contributors name a specific cuisine rather than serving vague pan-Asian fusion.

Big epics and genre boundaries

Some readers approach The Stormlight Archive through Asian-inspired fantasy because Roshiri’s architecture, spirituality and visual design draw on several global sources, including East Asian motifs. Its hybrid world does not reconstruct one Asian society, making it worth trying for epic-fantasy readers who want immense casts, oaths, war and discovery. It should also be approached as its own invented world rather than a historical fantasy.

The planned ten-book main sequence is a larger commitment than most entries here. Readers wanting a quicker taste of expansive magic can begin with The Farseer, while those who prioritise relationship pressure may prefer the forced-proximity reading list. Following publication order matters for The Stormlight Archive, since flashbacks and recurring institutions accumulate across volumes.

A reading path for Australian readers

Choose The Poppy War for history and divine power, Green Bone for succession drama or The Farseer for a quick xianxia entry. Readers drawn to institutional intrigue can continue with The Radiant Emperor and The Traitor Baru Cormorant, while fans of mysteries and found family can move from The Craft Sequence to The Bone Shard Daughter. Those wanting military space opera can try Tensorate, whereas The Burning Kingdoms and Blood of Stars offer slower political and moral intensity.

Australian buyers should compare ANZ paperbacks by ISBN, since local editions may arrive later, use a different cover or appear under a separate publisher imprint. Independent bookshops around Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane offer local support, while Australian public libraries and Libby provide free borrowing for eligible cardholders. Bookshop.org and Waterstones may ship to Australia, although taxes, delivery costs and stock vary; IndieBound remains primarily US-focused. For adjacent reviews and author coverage, Bookish Valhalla’s shelves extend the search, while the Aurealis Awards provide a strong signpost for Australian speculative fiction.