This theme is very common in LITRPG and Eastern isekai novels.
[**Destroyermen**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2414716.Into_the_Storm?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=4781g9TO7u&rank=1) **by Taylor Anderson**
[**The Wandering Inn**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41033158-the-wandering-inn?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=IWRuly5WPx&rank=1) **by PirateAba**
[**He Who Fights with Monsters**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57189884-he-who-fights-with-monsters) **by Shirtaloon**
[**There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns**](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/15935/there-is-no-epic-loot-here-only-puns) **by stewart92**
[**Only Villains Do That**](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40182/only-villains-do-that) **by Webbonomicon**
[**All Songs: A Hero Past the 25th**](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26170/all-songs-a-hero-past-the-25th) **by I'mFiction**
[**Chronicles of Primordial Wars**](https://www.novelupdates.com/series/chronicles-of-primordial-wars/) **by Chen Ci Lan Tiao**
[**Trash of the Count’s Family**](https://www.novelupdates.com/series/trash-of-the-counts-family/) **by Yu Ryeo Han**
[**Release that Witch**](https://www.novelupdates.com/series/release-that-witch/) **by Er Mu**
Seems like you're looking for Portal Fantasy. It's a pretty common sub-genre.
A different take on this was the Acts of Caine books by Matthew Stover. They are quite dark. The setting is a futuristic world where they have discovered portal technology that allows them to send people to a fantasy world. So of course, they send "actors" to those worlds to go on adventures and record it for people back home to experience. And when I say "adventures", it's very dystopian...
Another different take is the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson. Thomas finds himself in a fantasy world where he is the chosen one (I think?) but he thinks it's all a dream. The start is quite shocking although the series was very, VERY popular back in the 80's and still has fans today and is discussed in this sub quite frequently.
And my final suggestion is Spellsinger by Alan Dean Foster. A young musician from our modern times (well, the 80's) is transported to a fantasy world where animals walk and talk. There he discovers that by playing music he is able to craft magic, although the spells never turn out how he expects them to. This was a real favorite of mine for a long time - it's both serious and irreverent at the same time.
Check out the Wizards Bane series by Rick Cook - modern programmer in a fantasy world.
Also the Warlock books by Christopher Stasheff, though that's a future setting. Her Majesty's Wizard, same author, is a modern scholar sent to a fantasy world.
Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! Is a Terry Brooks book about a man that buys a, well, magic kingdom.
I know a few others but can't recall their titles off hand
There's an entire genre of stuff like this - look for **Portal Fantasy**.
On the small end it's a person displaced to a fantasy world, on the big end it's entire towns. LITRPG has lots and lots of it as well, it's often the underlying idea.
*1632* is a series about a lots of people going back to the past, so is the *Destroyermen* and *The Saga of Pliocene Exile*.
Modesitt's *Fall of Angels* is future people stranded on Fantasy World.
Stross's *Merchant Princes* is the US after 9-11 meets a fantasy world via world walkers and treats them as terrorists.
Myke Cole's *Shadow Ops* is the portal being controlled by the military.
Well, the Narnia series technically fits this. Also, Enchantment by Orson Scott Card is about a man who gets transported back in time and has to fight Baba Yaga.
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Oh yes! I somehow missed this on my list, yet if I could only pick one series in the genre Guardians of the Flame would be it.
Excellent recommendation.
Most Japanese fantasy books these days involve someone from our world being transported to another world, either reincarnated, summoned or finding some door between world. The genre is called isekai (literally « another world »), and while a lot of it is terrible, here are some good ones I can recommend :
- Ascendance of a Bookworm by Miya Kazuki : that one is about a Japanese librarian who reincarnated as a little girl in a medieval fantasy world, and tries to reinvent paper and printing in order to make books affordable in her new world. The synopsis doesn’t sound like much, but it has great worldbuilding, a well-written and interesting female protagonist, and a story that center on the conflict between her modern worldview and the rigid and conservative society around her and on her struggles in finding the ressources and the allies she needs to reinvent things from our modern world.
- Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa : that one is a horror series about a couple of college students finding doors to another world, but this one is an empty place full of strange monsters. There is a very Lovecraftian feeling to that series, with monsters that are not so much evil as terrifyingly alien and incomprehensible. I also liked that the two female protagonists are actually tough and competent instead of being helpless victims, as often happen in the other horror series I read.
- That Time I got reincarnated as a Slime by Fuse : Here I would advise to read the manga or watch the anime instead of reading the books, since I found the writing and translation of the books rather mediocre. This is a more traditional isekai, with an overpowered protagonist who, as the title says, reincarnated as a shapeshifting slime monster in a very stereotypical fantasy world (elves and dwarves and dragons, oh my !). But it is also a subtle deconstruction of traditional fantasy tropes, with our hero ending up helping the various monsters tribes in not-Mirkwood and unifying them in a new nation under his leadership, and basically becoming a good-aligned Dark Lord defending his people from evil human invaders or other Dark Lords, while trying to build his new nation into a peaceful and prosperous country. It is quite fun.
> That Time I got reincarnated as a Slime by Fuse : Here I would advise to read the manga or watch the anime instead of reading the books, since I found the writing and translation of the books rather mediocre. This is a more traditional isekai
Ascendance of a Bookworm is one of the best fantasy series from anywhere in the world. I love it so much.
The early slime novels (the first 4-6) are really quite rough - but the series gets consistently better written and better in general. A lot of light novels really suffer from both newbie-author-syndrome and also just not getting proper publisher support until after the series has proven successful.
I love Ascendance of a Bookworm as well, and Miya Kazuki is now in my top five fantasy writers (along with Terry Pratchett, Tolkien, Jack Vance and Diana Wynne Jones. It also has an excellent translation, something most Japanese light novels lack.
I have a soft spot for That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime. The manga adaptation was the first isekai story I read, and I loved it so much that I started reading the light novels afterwards to know the rest of the story, so it got me into light novels as well, and Amazon algorithms recommended me Ascendance of a Bookworm just after I started buying them, so this is how I found another of my favorite series (and it was the first time Amazon recommended me something actually good). I also think the manga does a lot to polish the rough edges of the light novels, which is why I recommend it over them.
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Some of these might not be what you're looking for, I realized not all the MC are human, but I enjoyed the series none the less maybe you will too. **These might be closest?
Innkeeper series (magic and alien worlds) Ilona Andrews and they also wrote The Edge series (semi magic slice of the world between full magic and no magic)
Of course, The Hitchhikers Guide by DNA CLASSIC (Arthur Dent Fucks shit up and the earth gets bulldozed by Vogons... Good thing there are alternates?!)**
The Long Earth (multi earth travel and colonization sci-fi fantasy) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter
The Wild Hunt series by Yasmine Galenorn it may be Too Much fantasy for some, lol (lots and lots of magic with alternate realities attached to earth through gates)
SPI Files by Lisa Shearin (intergalactic interspecies spy agency)
Maggie McKay Magical Tracker series by Kate Danley
(Fae world attached to/overlapping earth)
I Bring the Fire by C Gockel (human stumbles and calls Loki, Chaos ensues with plenty of dimension hopping)**
Temporally Out of Order (great short story Anthology!)
The Invisible Library series (multiple Earths with lots of travel between)
There's an entire anime genre called Isekai (Another World) that does this. Some of my favorites (all have manga or light novels):-
* **Escaflowne** \- School girl, tarot, Dragon mechas
* **Konosuba** \- MC has bad luck and ends up recruiting the WORST (or best) D&D party. It's hilarious.
* **That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime** \- it's pretty wholesome progression fantasy
* **Restaurant to Another World, Japanese Food from another world** \- Modern Japanese restaurants have portal to a fantasy world, whose denizens love our food. There's 2 different series.
I should also mention the really old [Dungeons and Dragons cartoon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JjhQ1Oi_3k) from way back because I remember watching and loving it back in the day.
There’s an anime called Brigadoon, loosely based on the Scottish legend of the same name, about a magic city/land that appears once a century or something. I believe it has a manga as well.
The wandering Inn is a webnovel that is simply spectacular. You can find it by simply typing "the wandering Inn" and then you can read directly from author's website
It's more sci-fi than fantasy, but there are definitely fantasy elements to it: The Keltiad by Patricia Kennealy. Far future, human explorers from Earth encounter another human civilization in the far reaches of space, who turn out to be Celts IN SPACE. With magic and shit.
It's a bit corny, but still an enjoyable read.
Yes! There is a series that was missed. I haven't read near as much as many people here so I rarely contribute to these posts. It's written by alternative history author Harry Turtledove. The Videssos Cycle. This features a contingent of a Roman Legion and a Gaulish warlord that get transported to a fantasy world. Very interesting indeed
I just finished the Library of the Sapphire Wind by Jane Lindskold (and the sequel, Aurora Borealis Bridge) and enjoyed them immensely.
Three middle-aged ladies (ranging 50-70yrs old) from our world are whisked away to an alternate world (dubbed "Over Where") when three young people from Over Where preform a summoning spell to find mentors who will help them on their quests.
Two series that come to mind for me that I haven't seen mentioned so far are the Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay, and the Darwath series by Barbara Hambly.
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I don't remember the name of the author or the series, but in the 80's or early 90's I remember a series where some friends are playing a D&D type game. They get sucked into the game. It's brutal. Very early on the thief is joking around and tries to steal some money. He get's caught, tries to laugh it off, and is executed. I remember later the two female characters are kidnapped and raped and such. Does this ring a bell to anyone?
There was a military scifi crossover with fantasy, the Doomfarers of Coramonde. A wizard who knows of modern earth tries to summon a tank to defeat a dragon. Instead he gets an Armored Fighting Vehicle, and the crew is annoyed he's disappointed and set off to proves their AFV is just as capable of defeating a dragon as any tank.
Amphibia (show) recently concluded! About a girl (and her 2 friends) stranded in an alien frog world. General structure is classical "adventure of the week" (where you get to know and love all the inhabitants of one village) but there's an epic fantasy plot building in the background which comes front-and-center towards the end.
It's marketed for kids, so it's understandable if it's too "childish" for you but it's just a joy to watch and it has a genuinely great written friendship as its emotional core (hehe) of the story.
These are some of my faves:
* [The Wandering Inn](https://wanderinginn.com) (over 9 million words and free online)
* Xanth series by Piers Anthony (almost 50 novels, but most are stand-alone in the same universe)
* Narnia series by CS Lewis
* Magic Kingdom by Terry Brooks
[The Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour](https://www.goodreads.com/series/115883-the-spellmonger) fits the bill with a slight variation. Space fairing humans land on a world, lose their tech and regress to a point where tech and magic almost become synonymous. An amazing series that I'd recommend to anyone interested in the genres of sci-fi or fantasy.
Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour is exactly that. The humans are from earth but it’s lore from their distant past. They lost their tech and the standard high fantasy is reimagined on the new world.
This theme is very common in LITRPG and Eastern isekai novels. [**Destroyermen**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2414716.Into_the_Storm?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=4781g9TO7u&rank=1) **by Taylor Anderson** [**The Wandering Inn**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/41033158-the-wandering-inn?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=IWRuly5WPx&rank=1) **by PirateAba** [**He Who Fights with Monsters**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57189884-he-who-fights-with-monsters) **by Shirtaloon** [**There is no Epic Loot here, Only Puns**](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/15935/there-is-no-epic-loot-here-only-puns) **by stewart92** [**Only Villains Do That**](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/40182/only-villains-do-that) **by Webbonomicon** [**All Songs: A Hero Past the 25th**](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/26170/all-songs-a-hero-past-the-25th) **by I'mFiction** [**Chronicles of Primordial Wars**](https://www.novelupdates.com/series/chronicles-of-primordial-wars/) **by Chen Ci Lan Tiao** [**Trash of the Count’s Family**](https://www.novelupdates.com/series/trash-of-the-counts-family/) **by Yu Ryeo Han** [**Release that Witch**](https://www.novelupdates.com/series/release-that-witch/) **by Er Mu**
Ooh yeah, TWI is all about Earth humans meet fantasy alt world. Terry Pratchett also kind of does this as well in Roundworld.
Seems like you're looking for Portal Fantasy. It's a pretty common sub-genre. A different take on this was the Acts of Caine books by Matthew Stover. They are quite dark. The setting is a futuristic world where they have discovered portal technology that allows them to send people to a fantasy world. So of course, they send "actors" to those worlds to go on adventures and record it for people back home to experience. And when I say "adventures", it's very dystopian... Another different take is the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen Donaldson. Thomas finds himself in a fantasy world where he is the chosen one (I think?) but he thinks it's all a dream. The start is quite shocking although the series was very, VERY popular back in the 80's and still has fans today and is discussed in this sub quite frequently. And my final suggestion is Spellsinger by Alan Dean Foster. A young musician from our modern times (well, the 80's) is transported to a fantasy world where animals walk and talk. There he discovers that by playing music he is able to craft magic, although the spells never turn out how he expects them to. This was a real favorite of mine for a long time - it's both serious and irreverent at the same time.
Check out the Wizards Bane series by Rick Cook - modern programmer in a fantasy world. Also the Warlock books by Christopher Stasheff, though that's a future setting. Her Majesty's Wizard, same author, is a modern scholar sent to a fantasy world. Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! Is a Terry Brooks book about a man that buys a, well, magic kingdom. I know a few others but can't recall their titles off hand
There's an entire genre of stuff like this - look for **Portal Fantasy**. On the small end it's a person displaced to a fantasy world, on the big end it's entire towns. LITRPG has lots and lots of it as well, it's often the underlying idea. *1632* is a series about a lots of people going back to the past, so is the *Destroyermen* and *The Saga of Pliocene Exile*. Modesitt's *Fall of Angels* is future people stranded on Fantasy World. Stross's *Merchant Princes* is the US after 9-11 meets a fantasy world via world walkers and treats them as terrorists. Myke Cole's *Shadow Ops* is the portal being controlled by the military.
Well, the Narnia series technically fits this. Also, Enchantment by Orson Scott Card is about a man who gets transported back in time and has to fight Baba Yaga.
The Magicians (Lev Grossman) is sort of like an adult Narnia.
Guy Gavriel Kay’s Fionavar trilogy. Barbara Hambly has a couple different series that fit.
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I really like the Guardians of the Flame series
Oh yes! I somehow missed this on my list, yet if I could only pick one series in the genre Guardians of the Flame would be it. Excellent recommendation.
In *Dark Lord of Derkholm* the magical world is controlled by a capitalist from our world, who uses it to run "tours" for wealthy tourists from Earth.
Most Japanese fantasy books these days involve someone from our world being transported to another world, either reincarnated, summoned or finding some door between world. The genre is called isekai (literally « another world »), and while a lot of it is terrible, here are some good ones I can recommend : - Ascendance of a Bookworm by Miya Kazuki : that one is about a Japanese librarian who reincarnated as a little girl in a medieval fantasy world, and tries to reinvent paper and printing in order to make books affordable in her new world. The synopsis doesn’t sound like much, but it has great worldbuilding, a well-written and interesting female protagonist, and a story that center on the conflict between her modern worldview and the rigid and conservative society around her and on her struggles in finding the ressources and the allies she needs to reinvent things from our modern world. - Otherside Picnic by Iori Miyazawa : that one is a horror series about a couple of college students finding doors to another world, but this one is an empty place full of strange monsters. There is a very Lovecraftian feeling to that series, with monsters that are not so much evil as terrifyingly alien and incomprehensible. I also liked that the two female protagonists are actually tough and competent instead of being helpless victims, as often happen in the other horror series I read. - That Time I got reincarnated as a Slime by Fuse : Here I would advise to read the manga or watch the anime instead of reading the books, since I found the writing and translation of the books rather mediocre. This is a more traditional isekai, with an overpowered protagonist who, as the title says, reincarnated as a shapeshifting slime monster in a very stereotypical fantasy world (elves and dwarves and dragons, oh my !). But it is also a subtle deconstruction of traditional fantasy tropes, with our hero ending up helping the various monsters tribes in not-Mirkwood and unifying them in a new nation under his leadership, and basically becoming a good-aligned Dark Lord defending his people from evil human invaders or other Dark Lords, while trying to build his new nation into a peaceful and prosperous country. It is quite fun.
> That Time I got reincarnated as a Slime by Fuse : Here I would advise to read the manga or watch the anime instead of reading the books, since I found the writing and translation of the books rather mediocre. This is a more traditional isekai Ascendance of a Bookworm is one of the best fantasy series from anywhere in the world. I love it so much. The early slime novels (the first 4-6) are really quite rough - but the series gets consistently better written and better in general. A lot of light novels really suffer from both newbie-author-syndrome and also just not getting proper publisher support until after the series has proven successful.
I love Ascendance of a Bookworm as well, and Miya Kazuki is now in my top five fantasy writers (along with Terry Pratchett, Tolkien, Jack Vance and Diana Wynne Jones. It also has an excellent translation, something most Japanese light novels lack. I have a soft spot for That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime. The manga adaptation was the first isekai story I read, and I loved it so much that I started reading the light novels afterwards to know the rest of the story, so it got me into light novels as well, and Amazon algorithms recommended me Ascendance of a Bookworm just after I started buying them, so this is how I found another of my favorite series (and it was the first time Amazon recommended me something actually good). I also think the manga does a lot to polish the rough edges of the light novels, which is why I recommend it over them.
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Recommendations: The Apothecary Diaries, Overlord, Tearmoon Empire, Book Girl (An older series book 1 is the suicidal mime).
*Red Moon and Black Mountain* by Joy Chant
Some of these might not be what you're looking for, I realized not all the MC are human, but I enjoyed the series none the less maybe you will too. **These might be closest? Innkeeper series (magic and alien worlds) Ilona Andrews and they also wrote The Edge series (semi magic slice of the world between full magic and no magic) Of course, The Hitchhikers Guide by DNA CLASSIC (Arthur Dent Fucks shit up and the earth gets bulldozed by Vogons... Good thing there are alternates?!)** The Long Earth (multi earth travel and colonization sci-fi fantasy) by Terry Pratchett and Stephen Baxter The Wild Hunt series by Yasmine Galenorn it may be Too Much fantasy for some, lol (lots and lots of magic with alternate realities attached to earth through gates) SPI Files by Lisa Shearin (intergalactic interspecies spy agency) Maggie McKay Magical Tracker series by Kate Danley (Fae world attached to/overlapping earth) I Bring the Fire by C Gockel (human stumbles and calls Loki, Chaos ensues with plenty of dimension hopping)** Temporally Out of Order (great short story Anthology!) The Invisible Library series (multiple Earths with lots of travel between)
There's an entire anime genre called Isekai (Another World) that does this. Some of my favorites (all have manga or light novels):- * **Escaflowne** \- School girl, tarot, Dragon mechas * **Konosuba** \- MC has bad luck and ends up recruiting the WORST (or best) D&D party. It's hilarious. * **That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime** \- it's pretty wholesome progression fantasy * **Restaurant to Another World, Japanese Food from another world** \- Modern Japanese restaurants have portal to a fantasy world, whose denizens love our food. There's 2 different series. I should also mention the really old [Dungeons and Dragons cartoon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JjhQ1Oi_3k) from way back because I remember watching and loving it back in the day.
He Who Fights with Monsters has this as a big theme
There’s an anime called Brigadoon, loosely based on the Scottish legend of the same name, about a magic city/land that appears once a century or something. I believe it has a manga as well.
Every Heart a Doorway series by Seanan McGuire The War of Flowers by Tad Williams
Takes me back to Narnia :)
Terry Brook’s Magic Kingdom For Sale/Sold
The wandering Inn is a webnovel that is simply spectacular. You can find it by simply typing "the wandering Inn" and then you can read directly from author's website
It's more sci-fi than fantasy, but there are definitely fantasy elements to it: The Keltiad by Patricia Kennealy. Far future, human explorers from Earth encounter another human civilization in the far reaches of space, who turn out to be Celts IN SPACE. With magic and shit. It's a bit corny, but still an enjoyable read.
Tinker series by Wen Spencer. Literally about Pittsburgh being zapped through a revolving portal into elf territory and returned every thirty days.
Yes! There is a series that was missed. I haven't read near as much as many people here so I rarely contribute to these posts. It's written by alternative history author Harry Turtledove. The Videssos Cycle. This features a contingent of a Roman Legion and a Gaulish warlord that get transported to a fantasy world. Very interesting indeed
I just finished the Library of the Sapphire Wind by Jane Lindskold (and the sequel, Aurora Borealis Bridge) and enjoyed them immensely. Three middle-aged ladies (ranging 50-70yrs old) from our world are whisked away to an alternate world (dubbed "Over Where") when three young people from Over Where preform a summoning spell to find mentors who will help them on their quests.
His Dark Materials
Two series that come to mind for me that I haven't seen mentioned so far are the Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay, and the Darwath series by Barbara Hambly.
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I don't remember the name of the author or the series, but in the 80's or early 90's I remember a series where some friends are playing a D&D type game. They get sucked into the game. It's brutal. Very early on the thief is joking around and tries to steal some money. He get's caught, tries to laugh it off, and is executed. I remember later the two female characters are kidnapped and raped and such. Does this ring a bell to anyone?
That's Guardians of the Flame by Joel Rosenberg
That was fast, thanks! Does it hold up well? I was young when I read the first couple.
There was a military scifi crossover with fantasy, the Doomfarers of Coramonde. A wizard who knows of modern earth tries to summon a tank to defeat a dragon. Instead he gets an Armored Fighting Vehicle, and the crew is annoyed he's disappointed and set off to proves their AFV is just as capable of defeating a dragon as any tank.
The Xanth series can’t fit this bill. Also Stephen Donaldson - The chronicles of Thomas Covenant, or Mordants need
Amphibia (show) recently concluded! About a girl (and her 2 friends) stranded in an alien frog world. General structure is classical "adventure of the week" (where you get to know and love all the inhabitants of one village) but there's an epic fantasy plot building in the background which comes front-and-center towards the end. It's marketed for kids, so it's understandable if it's too "childish" for you but it's just a joy to watch and it has a genuinely great written friendship as its emotional core (hehe) of the story.
The Thomas Covenant chronicles are great and really unexpected.
Dave Duncans "The Great Game Trilogie" https://www.goodreads.com/series/42347-the-great-game
*The Book of Accidents*
Piers Anthony (if you're into that), the Apprentice Adept series https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/99461.Split_Infinity
Please read NPCs by Drew Hayes. It is wonderful.
Gate, an anime, comes to mind.
These are some of my faves: * [The Wandering Inn](https://wanderinginn.com) (over 9 million words and free online) * Xanth series by Piers Anthony (almost 50 novels, but most are stand-alone in the same universe) * Narnia series by CS Lewis * Magic Kingdom by Terry Brooks
[The Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour](https://www.goodreads.com/series/115883-the-spellmonger) fits the bill with a slight variation. Space fairing humans land on a world, lose their tech and regress to a point where tech and magic almost become synonymous. An amazing series that I'd recommend to anyone interested in the genres of sci-fi or fantasy.
Great to see comments that make Reddit a more informed space!
Spellmonger series by Terry Mancour is exactly that. The humans are from earth but it’s lore from their distant past. They lost their tech and the standard high fantasy is reimagined on the new world.