15 great fantasy and science fiction books from 2020 you may have missed

10. The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso

Diving deeper into fantasy territory, we have The Obsidian Tower by Melissa Caruso. This book is a spinoff of Caruso’s Swords & Fire trilogy, which began with The Tethered Mage — but you don’t have to have read the first series in order to enjoy it. True, it does lend extra depth to your understanding of the world to have those books as a reference, but The Obsidian Tower is the start of a brand new trilogy, and is designed to be accessible to readers new and old alike.

The story follows Ryxander, the warden of the titular obsidian tower. Safeguarding the tower and making sure it is never opened has been the duty of Ryx’s family for generations — for so long that no one is even sure what’s inside it or what its purpose is anymore.

"The mage-marked granddaughter of a ruler of Vaskandar, Ryx was destined for power and prestige at the top of Vaskandran society. But her magic is broken; all she can do is uncontrollably drain the life from everything she touches, and Vaskandar has no place for a mage with unusable powers. Then, one night, two terrible accidents befall her: Ryx accidentally kills a visiting dignitary in self-defense, activating a mysterious magical artifact sealed in an ancient tower in the heart of her family’s castle. Ryx flees, seeking a solution to her deadly magic. She falls in with a group of unlikely magical experts investigating the disturbance in Vaskandar—and Ryx realizes that her family is in danger and her domain is at stake. She and her new colleagues must return to the family stronghold to take control of the artifact that everyone wants to claim—before it destroys the world."

As you might guess, the mystery of the tower unravels throughout the book. We also get a heaping dose of political fantasy driven by groups with conflicting aims. Caruso does some really interesting things with her magic system in this series, which sees Ryx’s abilities tied directly to her family’s land. However, due to a childhood accident, her abilities also have the unfortunate downside of draining life from things near her. This forces her to maintain a difficult balance in order not to destroy everything around her, and makes her an incredibly intriguing hero.

The next book in the trilogy, The Quicksilver Court, is due out on October 12.