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Fantasy Books

Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Update on my foray into Garth Nix's Old Kingdom/Abhorsen Trilogy: Finished Lirael. I thought the dual plotlines were handled very well, and it kept me turning the page even when things were just build-up. Sameth is unbearable as co-protagonist though. :hopelessness:
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
These might be younger than you want (one is targeted at 11-13, the other YA) but two great fantasy series are the Exitorn Adventures by Peggy Downing and Magnus/Wings of Dawn (the author renamed it) by Sigmund Brouwer. Both are set around fictional kingdoms and are some of my all time favorites. In fact Exitorn was the reason I found out about Narnia - a friend recommended them when I finished the series and was looking for something else. They are out of print, but Amazon can help with that:)

Many of the books mentioned here have been MG/YA - and I can say for myself personaly that I don't care if books are "younger" so long as they are good, and many are. Never heard of these before - thanks for the recommendation :) - pity about them being out of print.
 

dorispulaski

Wicked Yankee Girl
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Country
United-States
Many times, fantasy books have been issued as MG/YA, just because they were fantasies, no matter the age group that the author was aiming at targetting.

In fact, I have seen the same fantasy book shelved at book stores in both Science Fiction/Fantasy (adult) and in Teen ;)
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Update on my foray into Garth Nix's Old Kingdom/Abhorsen Trilogy: Finished Lirael. I thought the dual plotlines were handled very well, and it kept me turning the page even when things were just build-up. Sameth is unbearable as co-protagonist though. :hopelessness:

Poor Sameth! He redeems himself considerably in Abhorsen, I promise.

Actually, I always empathised a lot with Sameth. Pushed along a path he didn't want, with no-one to listen or understand, no-one to correctly interpret his pleas for help, and seemingly no appreciation of his obvious talents, while also having to deal with both parents being absent much of the time...he was a really well-developed character.
 

katia

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 20, 2006
I have a passion for the A Song of Ice and Fire series, even though the 4th book was boring as hell (Arya is my favourite, they better not kill her off!).
The first two books were great, I thought it would be trilogy or tetralogy but no. Now there are five of them. It would be fine but I am waiting and waiting and waiting for the next one and it seems there are still two more of them to come. If they come at all.
BTW I also very much like Arya.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
"The Adventures of King Midas" by Lynne Reid Banks - a fun children's book, a fairytale feel retelling of the story. King Midas would be quite comfortable in his cosy little kingdom with his young daughter, except he has this character flaw - well, he has several actually, but, one of the more prominent is his craving for.... of course... gold. He'd like everything to be gold - or so he thinks. Until a magician gives him the "gift" of turning everything he touches with his hands into gold. At first he is as happy as can be, and then he turns a rose into gold... and a bird... and his food... and then his dog - by this time he has certainly started to realise that the "gift" is more of a "curse", but the dog comes on him unawares from under the table and puts his head under Midas' hand... and then his daughter.... who comes to tend to him while he is asleep, and he wakes up to discover her all made into gold. And he must set out to undo what he has caused, and encounters many adventures. And there is a dragon. And a cat. Not a talking cat, but the dragon can talk cat. Dragons and cats make everything better.:) Anyway, I enjoyed this far more than her more famous "The Indian in the Cupboard".
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
J K Rowling: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - 6 down, one to go. :) Usually I prefer to read the books before I see the adaptation, but in this case the reverse has actually worked really well for me. Beginning from "the Prisoner of Azkaban", it has been fun discovering "new" (to me) stuff that didn't make it into the books - I could imagine it could have been annoying the other way around, waiting for scenes that never happen in the movies. Especially in "Azkaban", I think - Crookshanks! my favourite character in that book. I'd be sitting there going "Where is Crookshanks? Why isn't there more Crookshanks?" As it was it was a great fun discovery/surprise in the book. (Come to think, he could have been utilised more post the 3rd book as well - he has been pretty much missing in in/action since, hasn't he?) Anyway, really enjoyed the book - though Dumbledore:cry: - I found it more affecting in the book than I did in the movie. I hope to get to the 7th book some time next year and am both looking forward to and dreading those scenes with my favourite movie character - Snape...
 

Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
^I experienced Harry Potter in the exact opposite way. I read the books (the last few as they came out)... and nearly ignored the movies. I eventually got around to seeing all but #5, mainly between movie nights with friends and odd places where they got shown... but I don't think seeing them affected my experience one way or the other. I don't really watch adaptations in general... though I guess that's a different topic. :)

In terms of what I'm reading right now: Rereading Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings, because I've forgotten too much stuff to properly enjoy the sequel. In defence of my memory: that thing's the size of a dictionary!
 

karne

in Emergency Backup Mode
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 1, 2013
Country
Australia
Hey Sandpiper, did you ever finish Abhorsen? :)
 

Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Hey Sandpiper, did you ever finish Abhorsen? :)
It's in the library waiting for me. I really should go pick it up. It'll probably take me a few weeks to get to it though, because I have two 1000-page books to finish first.
 

rosacotton

Final Flight
Joined
Mar 2, 2012
Anyone else like Diana Wynne Jones?

I particularly liked Howl's Movng Castle, Enchanted Glass, and the books in the Dalemark series.

Yes! I discovered her in college. Howl's Moving Castle I liked best.

Tolkien and C.S. Lewis were my first favorite fantasy authors.

Mine, too! I first read Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series when I was about ten. Eighteen years later they remain among my favorite books, and I've lost count of the number of times I've read them. And Tolkien I discovered when the Lord of the Rings movies first came out, and I am still a big fan of his work.

Does anyone like George MacDonald? The Princess and the Goblin is his most well-known work. But I also like Curdie and the Princess, as well as his short fairy stories.
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
I grew up reading the Narnia books, and then Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books, Ursula K Le Guin's Earthsea trilogy (as it was then), also Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising, and, then, of course, Tolkien. :) Oh, yes, and I discovered Edith Nesbit as well as a child and have continued to enjoy her all the while since - that part goes for the aforementioned authors as wel, of course.

And George MacDonald, yes - I've read "The Princess and the Goblin", "At the Back of the North Wind" and "The Lost Princess". Also his adult book "Phantastes" - that's like reading somebody's dream.
 

Violetti

On the Ice
Joined
Jan 11, 2014
J K Rowling: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" - 6 down, one to go. :) Usually I prefer to read the books before I see the adaptation, but in this case the reverse has actually worked really well for me. Beginning from "the Prisoner of Azkaban", it has been fun discovering "new" (to me) stuff that didn't make it into the books - I could imagine it could have been annoying the other way around, waiting for scenes that never happen in the movies. Especially in "Azkaban", I think - Crookshanks! my favourite character in that book. I'd be sitting there going "Where is Crookshanks? Why isn't there more Crookshanks?" As it was it was a great fun discovery/surprise in the book. (Come to think, he could have been utilised more post the 3rd book as well - he has been pretty much missing in in/action since, hasn't he?) Anyway, really enjoyed the book - though Dumbledore:cry: - I found it more affecting in the book than I did in the movie. I hope to get to the 7th book some time next year and am both looking forward to and dreading those scenes with my favourite movie character - Snape...

I found Harry Potter series just last year 2014 (of course I had heard of them but not read) as my daughter began reading them. Then she wanted to see the movies and we began watching them together. Then I became interested in the books and began reading them. My first one was the fourth book The Goblet of Fire. Sometimes I watched the movie first, sometimes I read the book first. I liked both even though books are much better describing so many details. I read the books two times each and my daughter read them 4 or 5 times. Very good that there are so many pages in those books.

There are many things I like in these books. The study of magic in the Hogwarts is not one of them except the defence against the dark arts. I love humour in these books (is it rare in fantasy books? I have not read many fantasy books) and the beginnings. Harry is always with the Dursleys in the beginning but it is always different and he gets to Hogwarts always in different ways. I like how the story is partly in the real world. That makes it feel more real and is fascinating. When I read them second time some things did not bother so much. I did not like the sixth book first as much as others but when I read it second time all these relationships things did not bother me any more and liked the book more. I read the books in Finnish. The Finnish translator translated some names, not all. I like it a lot. She translated Severus Snape as Severus Kalkaros. Rattlesnake is in Finnish kalkkarokäärme. So if a snake comes to mind from Snape, Kalkaros does the some for Finnish readers. Snape has not the same effect for me at least.

You have interesting days ahead as you will read the 7th book. :) It is different. I liked the last battlescene in the book much more than in the movie.

I just finished John Stephens The Emerald Atlas and try to get the next one The Fire Cronicle soon. I liked the Emerald Atlas but compared to Harry Potter it is so serious.
 
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LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
@Sini - Glad to hear - I'm looking forward to the 7th book! I found it very interesting comparing and contrasting the scenes between the movie and book - especially I noticed this in the 6th book. I'd sort of "see" the movie scene as I was reading the book - this was how they did it in the movie, oh, this is how it is in the book. Funnily, instead of detracting, it quite added to the experience.:)

There are many fantasy books with humour - especially written for middle grade/young adult. Some books that you and your daughter might enjoy (how fun that you can share books together - my mother and I have similar taste in books also:)) are those by Diana Wynne Jones, Lloyd Alexander and Terry Pratchett. Some of Terry Pratchett's are "adult", but they are generally quite safe content-wise for younger readers as well - the greatest difference seems to be that his books for younger readers have chapters. But examples of books written especially for a younger audience are "The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents", and the Tiffany Aching books starting with "Wee Free Men". From my days working in libraries, I remember that a lot of fantasy books seemed to get translated into Finnish, so hopefully you'll be able to find something. :)

ETA - Oh, just to add to the authors who write humourous books: Patricia C Wrede.
 
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louisa05

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 3, 2011
I do not like elaborate magical land/other world fantasy books. I did enjoy Harry Potter very much, though. And I just finished the latest in Ben Aaronivitch's Rivers of London series--a kind of grown up Harry Potter--which I have learned is classified as "urban fantasy". Any recommendations for similar--stuff that takes place with the fantasy world/magic/odd creatures intersecting with our real world?
 

LRK

Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 13, 2012
Well, I myself prefer secondary world fantasy, so that is what I tend to read.:)

But, if you want urban fantasy, have you tried Jim Butcher's Dresden Files? Starting with "Storm Front". I haven't read these myself, so obviously this is more of a suggestion than a rec - but I get the impresssion it is somewhat in the same vein, and it may be something you may want to give a look. :)
 

Sandpiper

Record Breaker
Joined
Apr 16, 2014
Like LRK, I mainly read secondary world fantasy. I like Harry Potter, but that's a case of something being high fantasy despite not being secondary world fantasy.

From stuff I read recently, Mari Mancusi's Scorched was quite entertaining. It is about a girl with a dragon egg, and two brothers who chase her down: one to destroy the dragon, and one to save it. It doesn't have the classic urban fantasy feel (the feel is closer to post-apocalyptic fiction for me), but it does fulfill the "real world setting" requirement. (LRK, you may or may not be interested as well, since it has dragons. :biggrin:) Other than that, I do like Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles (despite the one million issues I have with the prose).

Urban fantasy seems to be pretty dominant in Young Adult fiction. I've been meaning to delve into more of those, but then I got stuck neck-deep in my usual high fantasy haunts (Brandon Sanderon's Words of Radiance right now, which is the high fantasy of high fantasy).
 

Alba

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 26, 2014
I'm not a fantasy fan, but I adore Tolkien and I love Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. :love:
 
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