Other than LOTR, Harry Potter, and The Inheritance Series what is a good starter fantasy book?

Answer 1

Ender's Game, by Orson Scott Card, is more science fiction than fantasy, but it's less about the science than it is about the characters, so I still would recommend it. It's fantastic for adults as well as children.

The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle, is about a unicorn who believes she is the last of her kind. She goes to find what happened to the others. Along the way she meets up with Schmendrick the Magician (who isn't very good at magic), and Molly, who still believes in fairy tales. She learns about love, loss, and what it means to be human. It isn't a children's book, although I read it as a child.

A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeline L'Engle, is a fantastic introduction to fantasy. It's an award winning children's book, and the writing and story are just phenomenal. I still pull this series out and re-read it, and I'm 38.

Cynthia Voigt has several fantasy novels geared toward teen girls, Jackaroo and On Fortune's Wheels.

The Thief Lord, by Cornelia Funke is an entertaining fantasy mystery. She also wrote Dragon Rider, Inkheart, and the sequel, Inkspell - all great intros to fantasy for younger readers, but still entertaining for adults.

And I can't forget The Princess Bride, by William Goldman. To quote the book, it has "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Chases. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."

Answer 2

By starter fantasy I assume you mean something uncomplicated, suitable for young adult readers or even children, and a reasonably quick read.

I'd highly recommend The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis as well as the rest of the Chronicles of Narnia. A classic that should never go out of print.

Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain are excellent for younger readers (or those who like to think they aren't old). Easily the best intro to Celtic fantasy. And it seems a new paperback edition was just published this year so it's an easy find right now.

I would also recommend Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising Series. Another award winning classic series, still available and still excellent.

Anything by Terry Pratchett will probably keep you in stitches. I only say probably because it can be proved that there are people who don't like Pratchett. Some of them are even nice, otherwise normal people. But it's well worth your time to try a few. I would however, recommend not starting at the beginning. The order you read the books in is mostly unimportant and the first few are well, obviously the first. He didn't have his style quite polished yet and they are a bit more likely to rely on references to other fantasy for their humor. "Guards! Guards!", "Wyrd Sisters", "Mort" and "Reaper Man" would be particularly good starting points.

Answer 3

LOTR for sure, but as a heads up if you are going to read that you should firstly read the Hobbit since that's where it all begins (actually the Silmarillion but it's really confusing and the names change a LOT) But ya LOTR FTW!!! If you ever watched the movies, just to let you know they changed A LOT in them and left A LOT of important things out, reading the books then the movie will make you realize this Twilight -> NO! Horrible please don't. I wanna KILL Bella and Edward SO bad, she's just really stupid and he's abusive and selfish (so is she for that matter) and then poor Jacob is stuck between it all (my sister talks about this series to me all the time, and my friend makes my watch the 1st movie with her every time i'm at her house D'''''' : ) Harry Potter -> I got bored at the beginning of the 2nd book, but i won't say it's a bad series either, just not my kind of thing

Answer 4

Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown and The Blue Sword. Gonturan is a magic sword that can only be wielded by women and boys under the age of ?16?. Great action and romance.

Brian Jacques' Redwall series. Mossflower, Redwall, Mattimeo...it's ongoing. The characters are all animals (mice, hares, badgers, etc...). Don't worry, The Wind in the Willows it is not. There's fighting and action and mystery and all sortsa great stuff.

These were among the first fantasy books I read, (that nobody else has already mentioned), and I have many many fond memories of these authors.

Answer 5

There are 2 series that I loved this year

1 was Eragon series

The other is The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The Dresden Files so far has 8 books out and is about a modern day wizard based out of Chicago, IL....its also being made into a sci fi series that will be starting in January I believe. I really got addicted to that set.

Answer 6

Good fantasy books:
1. Artemis Fowl Series by Eoin Colfer
2. The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe
3. Choose Your Own Adventure Series

Answer 7

Dragon Singer/Dragon Song/Dragon Drums by Anne McCaffrey
The Earthsea Trilogy by Ursula Le Guin
The Sword in the Stone by T.H. White
The Never Ending Story by Michael Ende
Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King

Those are all some good starting Fantasy novels that appeal to a wide range of kids. It's always great to encourage reading. Good luck.

Answer 8

My first fantasy novel (besides The Hobbit, which I read in school) was "A Pawn of Prophecy" which is the first book in the series The Belgariad by David Eddings. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And if you finish that one, I suggest you read The Malloreon series which completes the story very well.

Currently I'm taking a break between reading The Wizard's First Rule, and Stone of Tears in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind. Also a very good (but long) series.

Answer 9

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
The Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey

Answer 10

Look for:

C.S. Lewis
David Eddings
R.A. Salvatore
Terry Brooks
Orson Scott Card
Robin Hobb

All have really great series, and will leave you addicted!

Beware though, once caught in the fantasy realm its very difficult to leave!

Have fun!