My Top Fantasy Recommendations

Fantasy is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, genres in literature. While some credit George MacDonald (mentor of Lewis Carroll) as the first fantasy author (John Ruskin's The King of the Golden River published in 1841 not withstanding), others point to the Grimms' Fairy Tales published earlier in the century, while the puritans would, not without merit, trace the history of Fantasy all the way back to the Epic Mythologies (Beowulf anyone?). The earliest Fantasy book that still remains popular would perhaps be The Wizard of Oz, even though it would now qualify more as a Children's book with limited appeal to the adults.

As with the history of fantasy, the sub-genres of Fantasy remains an equally contentious discussion point and varies from a few to over 50, depending on whom you ask and how granular the sub-division. In this post, I would try to provide my reading recommendations under the main two sub-genres, High and Low Fantasies. The categories are fairly broad and I think I do more justice in keeping the categorisation limited than splitting them into a large number of unmanageable, and perhaps less useful, sub-genres for the casual fan of the genre. I have also tried to split my reading recommendations into casual and advanced categories, since some of the recommendations would be quite heavy for a casual reader of the genre.

1.    High / Epic Fantasy

This is probably one of the most famous sub-genre of Fantasy. The term High Fantasy itself was coined by Lloyd Alexander, an excellent fantasy author who wrote mostly YA literature, The Book of Three being his most famous work. This sub-genre includes complex world building, feature fantastical races and usually (but not always) features a Hero’s journey.

Reading recommendations for casual readers

1.    Chronicles of Narnia series by Lewis Carroll

2.    Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson

3.    Lord of the Rings series by JRR Tolkien

4.  Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb

3.   Chalion Series by Lois McMaster Bujold 

Reading recommendations for advanced readers

1. A Song of Ice and Fire series by George RR Martin

2. The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan (concluded by Brandon Sanderson)

3. Malazan Book of the Fallen Series by Steven Erikson

4. A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

5. The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud

2.    Low / Contemporary / Urban Fantasy

The key feature that differentiates low fantasy from high fantasy is that low fantasy doesn’t undertake massive world building, but builds on / tweaks the existing world. There is a lot of overlap between this sub-genre, Contemporary Fantasy, and Urban Fantasy, and it is largely a matter of personal preference on which book to be classified under which sub-genre. I have therefore decided to categorised these books under one common, all inclusive sub-genre.

Reading recommendations for casual readers

1. Harry Potter series by JK Rowling

2. Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

3. Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan

4. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman (anything by Neil Gaiman really, but this is as good a place to start as any)

Reading recommendations for advanced readers

1. His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman

2. Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

3. Watch Series by Sergei Lukyanenko

4. The Once and Future King by T. H. White

Disclaimer: I have included only one set of work from each author, some authors deserve multiple nominations on the list, but for the sake of variety, I have refrained from doing so.

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway

Book #52 - 2013

Read for a RL Book Club. My first feeling after reading this tome of a book, was that I was SCAMMED! Upon further examination, careful consideration and deeper deliberation, I came to the conclusion that my prima facie, snap judgement was indeed spot on! Scammed I definitely was, no two ways about it! Lured by reputation, snared by that horrible book-lust, I was made to read a 400+ page book, a book with little semblance of a plot, a static storyline and god-awful characters who first irritated, then agitated and later annoyed me to no end. And the character development, what to say about the character development, or the lack thereof, that even after wading through this book and making it to the end, we still have only and elementary and superficial understanding about the characters. Was the purpose to show the volatility of Spaniards? Perhaps...but it still doesn't excuse the blatant disregard to even making an attempt at understanding the thought process of any of the characters. I am at a loss to comprehend, how could this doorstopper of a thing be dubbed as a piece of Literature, a Type II error perhaps?

The Old Man and the Sea, was probably in the not-good-not-bad category, and even that had a story, which moved, even if painstakingly! Such frivolities and excesses can, however, be overlooked in short stories. My feedback – Stay away from Hemingway! Read Alistair Maclean if you want to read War stories.

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Book #50 - 2013

Another book for my RL book club, and one I was hugely excited about, the book being a Wilde after all. While I won't go as far as to say Plays aren't my thing, they are definitely not my staple reading either. There have been a number of plays I have read and enjoyed, but I always have suspected in it being my luck more than anything else, in picking those plays - not to mention, the not-so-decent plays are thankfully, easily forgotten. The witticism, the cynicism, the antipathy, were all there as they could be expected to be and the play more or less delivered to my ridiculously high expectations.

And the quotes, oh the quotes!

"The good ended happily, and the bad unhappily. That is what Fiction means."

“My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!”

“Never speak disrespectfully of Society, Algernon. Only people who can’t get into it do that.”

...and there were many more...

Stardust by Neil Gaiman

Book #49 - 2013

This marks my debut with Gaiman books, an author I have been meaning to read for a long time, but it took a RL Book Club for me to get around to him. Having said that, I am happy that get around to him I eventually did. I am not sure how representative Stardust is, of his general writing style, it just seemed so different a book, so I will restrict my thoughts to the book in question. How Gaiman transformed this story from a bunch of fairy tales woven together into a coherent and may I add, amazing story continued to amaze me throughout the novel.

The book has more than its fair share of bloodshed, and yet there is no slaying of the great evil by the hero and saving the world stuff - which makes it without doubt a most refreshing fantasy to read, after all the other stereotypical ones, no matter how well written. And the ending, well, it is like no other ending either, with its simplicity and realness, an irony in a fantasy if you ask me, and yet after the way the entire book read, it came as no great surprise.