Which Fantasy Books are Non-Medieval Fantasy? (New 2024)

s popular as fantasy books have become internationally, they have still remained squarely in the knight era European period in content. This leads to a great question. Are there any fantasy books that do not take place in medieval Europe?

Fantasy does not have to be set in medieval Europe. Yes, a lot of the most popular fantasy books are set in medieval Europe, which is mostly due to the influence of Tolkien.

However, there are a great number of fantasy books that take place outside of the medieval era. Some fantasy go as far as taking place outside of Europe all together.

In this article we will discuss:

Table of Contents

Does fantasy have to be Medieval?

Fantasy books are not always set in a medieval setting

Recently, fantasy books have been finding themselves set less in knight era settings.

They have branched out to either contemporary era settings, or to different classical time periods. The reason for this is simple enough; the reasons for why most fantasy books took place in fantasy spaces is becoming null and void.

These reasons are covered in my other article, and you can check that one out if you want to see those reasons.

What Time Period Is Medieval Fantasy Set In?

A majority of fantasy books exist in the time period between 500 AD- 1400 AD, so basically following the Fall of Rome, and prior to the Renaissance.

The books may not literally take place during this time period, but they do draw inspiration from this time period. This was the medieval period.