What's your favorite book in fantasy?

Answer 1

Hi there. I'm the author of a new medieval fantasy book that you might like. It's a coming of age story about a young Scot and his Irish love interest, but it's also a terrific fantasy adventure. It has received excellent reviews in the national media and is being considered for a movie deal.

The title is THE BLACKGLOOM BOUNTY. It's 445 pages of action, adventure, magic, mystery and mayhem. If you like Conan style books and you're not afraid of a little blood being spilled, you'll like this book. If you're looking for a Harry Potter clone, this may not be it. It's rated PG-13 by most libraries.

If you want to try it out, request my FREE, illustrated four chapter pdf eBook demo from [e-mail]. That way, you can see if you like the story without spending a dime. Fair enough?

Good luck, whatever you decide to read!

Jon Baxley
Author, THE BLACKGLOOM BOUNTY
(A new medieval fantasy epic from Thomson Gale and Five Star Publishing--available now in hard cover and eBook)

Answer 2

The Alvin Maker Series by Orson Scott Card:

Seventh Son
Red Prophet
Prentice Alvin
Alvin Journeyman
Heartfire
The Crystal City

Answer 3

I have several favorites, but nothing surpasses "The Chronicles of Narnia." Those books really opened the doors for me when I was a kid. I didn't even like books until I happened upon "A Horse and His Boy" in the fifth grade. I fell in love with Narnia, and I've read all the books so many times now that I have literally lost count. Each read is exciting for me, because I can fall right into the world. It's like watching a movie in my mind.

Answer 4

Most of the fantasy that has been written -- really isn't that good.

But there are a few absolutely marvelous books out there that are really worth reading. They are the kind of books that would rival the best books written in any genre.

I personally like The Chronicles of Narnia the best. Of these 7 books my favourites are The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; The Magician's Nephew; The Last Battle; The Horse and His Boy; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; Prince Caspian; and The Silver Chair. But I would read them in the order they were originally published: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Prince Caspian; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader; The Silver Chair; The Horse and His Boy; The Magician's Nephew; and The Last Battle. They are all wonderful stories and if you read them in this order you get to enjoy one of the very best if not the best book first and then savor the rest of them until you get to the last two which are so good as to be almost indescribable. Congratulations to Andrew Adamson and company for a wonderful film version of the first book. Here's to the success of the six remaining! God bless you.

I am also very fond of C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy: Out of the Silent Planet, Perelandra, and That Hideous Strength. Perelandra is the best of these three though the other two are pretty good. Also from C.S. Lewis but not firmly planted in the "Fantasy" genre are The Screwtape Letters (may be more fact than fiction) and The Great Divorce. Both are a good read at any rate.

Also worth reading is J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings -- which is considered by many to be the very best fantasy series ever written. I personally am very fond of his creation.

Others of note, from relatively contempory times, are: T.H. White's Once and Future King (a retelling of the Arthurian Romances), Madeleine L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time and Ursula Le Guin's A Wizard of Earthsea. Le Guin's underlying beliefs, I may not be that fond of personally -- however, I recognize her for being a brilliant and sparkling gem in her contributions to the genre. From a generation or two earlier, there is George MacDonald's The Princess and the Goblin -- which is one of my very favourite faery tales for children and children at heart.

Though there are many wonderful faery tales and folkstories and certainly hundreds of beautiful myths and legends -- I think I would start with these. Bullfinch's Mythology retells many of these and does so quite well.

For those interested in pursuing this subject further along more Academic lines of thought, look into the Mabinogion (the Welsh Myths) by Jeffrey Gantz(?) -- it is a Penguin edition, I am not quite sure of the author/editor/translator's name. It is kind of fun to see that the Story of Gawain in this collection is one of the sources for Chaucer's Wife of Bath's Tale in the Canterbury Tales. Also, look at The Kalevala -- the Finnish National Epic. I read a children's version of this which was quite accessible and really rather fascinating. And read Tolkien's Tree and Leaf to get his take on the Theory of Faerie Stories. Tree and Leaf delves into the idea of Mythology in general and is really very interesting -- Lewis and Tolkien had a debate concerning mythology which is lots of fun and part of the impetus behind Tolkien writing this book. Something also rather wonderful to read is Tolkien's Lays of Beleriand -- these are poetry versions of The Tale of Turin Turambar and Of Beren and Luthien. They really are beautifully written and very much in keeping with both what we think of as fantasy and myths in general.

From the Classics: read Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene. I have not yet read Boiardo's or Ariosto's versions of Orlando Innamorato and Orlando Furioso (epic tellings of the Charlemagne Myths -- C.S. Lewis loved Boiardo, so it must be pretty good.) As a child, I read James Baldwin's The Story of Roland and that became one of the entries for me into Medieval Romance in general. To my knowledge, Shakespeare only wrote one play that fits the genre and that one is The Tempest -- it is a fun read -- although I am not so sure it is one of his personal best. And if you think you might like it, I would recommend Mary Shelley's Frankenstein -- it is really almost nothing like the movies -- except maybe Boris Karloff's version.

Best wishes,

Mr Merchant

Answer 5

I really enjoyed the Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede. It's actually a set of four books. They're an easy read and very funny - kind of a satire of the stereotypical fairy tale. Give 'em a try.

Answer 6

Dragon Jousters series by Mercedes Lackey.The first book 'Joust', is about Vetch a young serf who is rescued by a Dragon Jouster from his cruel master.He becomes a Dragon boy(one who takes care of dragons).Later he secretly hatches his own dragon.The later two books are about how he escapes to his native Alta and how the war between Alta and Tia ends.The setting reminds you of Ancient Egypt.

Take a Thief by Mercedes Lackey is about a young boy Skif who is ill-treated by his relatives.He later falls in with a gang of thieves and becomes a master thief.Later he gets bonded with a talking horse and is admitted to a Herald's College.

Valdemar series by Mercedes Lackey is fantasy.You can read the reviews and choose what you like.

Another good series is the Dark Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon.The books provide an alternate take on vampires.People who are unjustly murdered call upon Artemis(Greek goddess) and she grants them a day to avenge themselves.After that they are recruited to her army to fight against evil.These books are romance based.

The mars book series beginning with 'a princess of mars' by edgar rice burroughs is quite good.

Answer 7

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan

Answer 8

Lord of rings n harry potter n chronicles of Narnia

Answer 9

Actually, it's a series but it would be the Series of Unfortunate Events.

Answer 10

J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.