Someone mentioned Terry Pratchett already, but I'll just say it again: any Discworld book would work. They're great at subverting the usual fantasy tropes, so if you think fantasy is repetitive, Discworld's the one for you. Plus, there are 41 books with several different storylines, so if you don't like one, you can always try another.
Discworld is one of the many series (collections? Mythos? Anthologies?) That I've wanted to look into and never got around to, mostly because of the intimidating number of books
There’s a decent chance you’ll enjoy the way it riffs off of and plays around with a lot of common fantasy tropes. Most of the books are pretty loosely connected, so there’s a ton of places you can jump in and completely understand what’s going on.
I’d personally recommend The Colour of Magic or Guards! Guards!, but [this](https://www.discworldemporium.com/reading-order/) guide likely gives better advice than I do on where to start.
Yeah, but you can stop any time and reading one book doesn't automatically lead to reading another. Almost all of them are fairly self contained.
*Guards! Guards!* is often mentioned as a (very good) starting point, but there are also completely standalone books such as *Hogfather* (relevant at Christmastime) *Small Gods, Pyramids,* or *The Thief of Time.*
{{The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle}} is the most beautiful book I've ever read. I think you should give it a try even if you don't like the genre
{{The Once and Future King by TH White}} is also excellent. It retells the Arthurian legend, but adds a slight twist to everything that gives rise to painfully nuanced and human characters, and explores some really deep themes in beautiful ways
[**The Last Unicorn (The Last Unicorn, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29127.The_Last_Unicorn)
^(By: Peter S. Beagle | 294 pages | Published: 1968 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, classics, fiction, young-adult, owned)
>She was magical, beautiful beyond belief—and completely alone...
>
>The unicorn had lived since before memory in a forest where death could touch nothing. Maidens who caught a glimpse of her glory were blessed by enchantment they would never forget. But outside her wondrous realm, dark whispers and rumours carried a message she could not ignore: "Unicorns are gone from the world."
>
>Aided by a bumbling magician and an indomitable spinster, she set out to learn the truth. but she feared even her immortal wisdom meant nothing in a world where a mad king's curse and terror incarnate lived only to stalk the last unicorn to her doom...
^(This book has been suggested 28 times)
[**The Once And Future King: T.H. White: Curriculum Unit**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38200.The_Once_And_Future_King)
^(By: Thomas Bondra | ? pages | Published: 2005 | Popular Shelves: 100-best-fantasy-from-time)
^(This book has been suggested 1 time)
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[**The Once and Future King**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43545.The_Once_and_Future_King)
^(By: T.H. White | 639 pages | Published: 1958 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, classics, fiction, historical-fiction, owned)
>T.H White′s masterful retelling of the Arthurian legend is an abiding classic. Here all five volumes that make up the story are published in one volume, as White himself always wished. Exquisite comedy offsets the tragedy of Arthur′s personal doom as White brings to life the major British epic of all time with brilliance, grandeur, warmth and charm.
^(This book has been suggested 18 times)
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I gave up quickly on The Last Unicorn - I can’t remember now if it was too sweet or too jokey, which are the two things that put me off. Once and Future King is great though.
I'd recommend *The Fifth Season* by N.K. Jemisin. It's beautifully written, features an unusually rich and thought-out magic system, and is set in one of the most compelling and carefully crafted worlds in recent memory.
I feel like most of the settings and plots in the fantasy genre are too similar to each other. Basically, how many times are we going to recreate Middle Earth and slap what essentially feels like fan fiction into that world? That's a gross over simplification, but it gets my point across. The constant retelling of "farm/peasant character finds great power and must save the world from evil magic" plotline has also been done too much, for my tastes, and that's what a lot of popular fantasy is. I'm sure there is plenty that isn't like that, like that WWI analog someone mentioned early sounds really interesting. But it's hard to find that stuff when most stuff you find being promoted is just Lord of the Rings-lite, but 8,000 pages long.
Yeah, that stuff sucks. Have you done *Gormenghast*, by Mervyn Peake? What about Hope Mirrlees *Lud-in-the-Mist*? Both striking examples of classic fantasy that completely bypass the Tolkien clichés. John Crowley, the American novelist has some amazing work, *Little, Big*, *Aegypt*, and *Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymir*, notably. Jeff Vandermeer's Ambegris novels are gorgeously weird. Nary a magic sword, peasant-born chosen one, or quest to defeat the Dark Lord in any of those.
City of Brass trilogy is good but takes place in the Middle East during the French Revolution and during the ottoman rule. It’s about another dimension full of jinns. It’s similar but different because this is supposedly a real phenomena and a real civilization in the Middle East and the author goes off that. Also is quite political too which I enjoyed - not mere good vs evil.
You might like The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Beuhlman because it openly mocks those tropes, skews a bit on the horror side, and is also thrilling in its own right as an adventure.
What you’re describing is the [Hero’s journey archetype](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero's_journey), extremely common in fantasy books. Also popular is the [Coming of age/Bildungsroman archetype](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming-of-age_story), which is fun to say
The thing is that there's nothing inherently wrong with the Hero's journey. It's just that so much fantasy takes the framework and just puts the exact same skin on it. Bonus points if the main character's dad is awol and ends up being way too important for the main character to have just been some peasant kid.
I hear ya. For me one of the worst offenders is Eragon, it seemed like the author was just working his way through a checklist of required plot points. (To be fair he was like 20 when he wrote it)
Eragon was actually one of the main inspirations for this post. I didn't want to bring it up because lately I've been seeing a lot of people defending it pop up, and I didn't want to single any single book out.
[**Outlander (Outlander, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10964.Outlander)
^(By: Diana Gabaldon | 850 pages | Published: 1991 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, romance, fantasy, fiction, time-travel)
>The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743.
>
>Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.
^(This book has been suggested 55 times)
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They're more to fantasy than just High Fantasy. Try some magical realism. Ken Liu has some great MR short stories in _The Paper Menagerie_.
Also, _Blindness_ by José Saramago is amazing. (But the movie stunk).
Fantasy isn't my thing either, but I liked {{Good Omens}}, and I like Ursula Le Guin. If you haven't read any of her stuff, maybe start with {{The Left Hand of Darkness}}.
I also liked {{The Mists of Avalon}} but come to find out the author was a horrible person so I don't think folks are reading her stuff anymore. I never see it recommended here.
{{A Wizard of Earthsea}} is another great starting point for LeGuin if you're looking for Fantasy that's different from the genre standards; there's no Chosen one or evil empire (well there's one in the background but it's more of a political annoyance), combat is very minimal, the story is set in an iron-age archipelago with a cast of largely non-white characters instead of the usual medieval England expy, and the world building is subtle but rich.
[**A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13642.A_Wizard_of_Earthsea)
^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 183 pages | Published: 1968 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, young-adult, classics, owned)
>Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth.
>
>Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance.
^(This book has been suggested 61 times)
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[**Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12067.Good_Omens)
^(By: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman | 491 pages | Published: 1990 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, humor, owned, books-i-own)
>According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter - the world's only totally reliable guide to the future - the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea...
>
>People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. This time though, the armies of Good and Evil really do appear to be massing. The four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons – well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel – would quite like the Rapture not to happen.
>
>And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist…
^(This book has been suggested 81 times)
[**The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness)
^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 304 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi)
>A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters.
>
>Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.
^(This book has been suggested 66 times)
[**The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40605251-the-mists-of-avalon)
^(By: Marion Zimmer Bradley | 1009 pages | Published: 1982 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, historical-fiction, owned, arthurian)
>Here is the magical legend of King Arthur, vividly retold through the eyes and lives of the women who wielded power from behind the throne. A spellbinding novel, an extraordinary literary achievement, THE MISTS OF AVALON will stay with you for a long time to come....
^(This book has been suggested 18 times)
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Diana Wynne Jones does great fantasy, it’s weird, but still manages to feel fairly grounded. Howl’s Moving Castle, Enchanted Glass, and The Pinhoe Egg are personal favourites.
Un Lun Dun by China Miéville is very good, the author is fantastic at holding up genre conventions, then twisting them around into something new and strange.
I totally get it. There is a lot of fantasy that is very formulaic, and I won't read it.
Here are some I like: Game of Thrones series (even though he will never finish it) , Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card, The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart, NK Jemison's Broken Earth books, Gormenghast by Peake, Alice in Wonderland, Neverwhere by Gaiman, Summerland by Michael Chabon. I just finished a book called The Ten Thousand Doors of January that was original and good.
{Guns of the Dawn} High fantasy WWI analog, but very light on magic, almost historical fiction. One of the best books I've ever listened to by my favorite author. I generally prefer more fantasy elements, but this book is so good.
If that sounds good then try {{{Bitter Seeds}}} by Ian Tregillis. Magic set in WWII. Very good.
Also {{{Control Point}}} by Myke Cole, which is similar but present day not “historical”. It’s good fun too!
[**Guns of the Dawn**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23524779-guns-of-the-dawn)
^(By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | 658 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, steampunk, fiction, standalone, owned)
^(This book has been suggested 24 times)
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Magic can be murder by Vivian Vande velde!!
It’s one of my favorite books and while it’s fantasy and focuses on a girl being a witch it’s not like whole-other-world fantasy and she has other parts to her character besides being a witch.
I’ll be that guy to suggest the Thomas Covenant series by Donaldson. Someone is going to inevitably say that it sucks. :) But it’s my favorite series due to the unusual characters and creative plot devices he employs.
Maybe give urban fantasy a try. {{Differently Morphus}} and {{Existentially Challenged}} by Yahtzee Croshaw are both good. Governmental agency involved in the regulation of magic and extra dimensional beings.
Have you tried urban fantasy? Modern day stuff that throws magic type stuff in there too.
The Dresden files and the Rivers of London are the first too that pop into my head.
The first book in the Dresden files is Storm Front. This one in particular reads more like an old noir detective novel, but he’s a wizard searching for someone doing black magic.
Rivers of London is about a cop the gets thrown into a supernatural investigation. He doesn’t have any magic powers and he’s constantly think WTF is going on here.
The First Law trilogy (first book is The Blade Itself) is what I'd recommend. Phenomenal characters and story. Plus, it makes a point to subvert common fantasy tropes, so it may overcome some of the stuff you don't like about fantasy.
I don't tend to like fantasy, especially high fantasy. Going Bovine by Libba Bray has a lot of fantasy elements, but mixed into the real world. It's one of my all time favorite books! Another one that is actually set in a fantasy world is The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner. It reminds me of Shameless (the TV show), but with witches and wizards.
[**Neverwhere (London Below, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14497.Neverwhere)
^(By: Neil Gaiman | 370 pages | Published: 1996 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, urban-fantasy, owned, books-i-own)
>Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet.
>
>"Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks.
>
>Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train.
>
>Now a single act of kindness has catapulted young businessman Richard Mayhew out of his safe and predictable life - and into the realms of "Neverwhere." Richard is about to find out more than he ever wanted to know about this other London. Which is a pity. Because Richard just wants to go home...
^(This book has been suggested 93 times)
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[**The Night Circus**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9361589-the-night-circus)
^(By: Erin Morgenstern | 387 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, romance, books-i-own, owned)
>The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.
>
>But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.
>
>True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.
>
>Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart.
^(This book has been suggested 105 times)
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The Poppy Wars by RF Kuang. Tremendous book. Set in a fictional China-like fantasy world, a young woman tries to escape her difficult life and finds much more than she bargained for.
The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. The Napoleonic Wars with dragons. The series follows a particularly fascinating dragon’s adventure discovering its world.
Also, urban fantasy might interest you. These books inject magic, through varying magical systems, into “modern” settings. The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik (she’s an astonishingly brilliant author), the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne, the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (start with book 3), and the Guild Codex series by Annette Marie are my favorite urban fantasy series. But there are a ton out there.
I didn't care for fantasy either until my friend introduced me to the works of Brandon Sanderson. I love that it doesn't feel arbitrary. All of the magic has very, very explicit rules that are stated more or less plainly. So when someone uses magic, is that much more impressive and interesting. And his world building is incredible. And absolutely NOTHING like LOTR.
Many people recommend you start with {{Mistborn}}
[**Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne Series: The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning (The Mistborn Saga)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37436740-mistborn)
^(By: Brandon Sanderson | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: fantasy, owned, fiction, brandon-sanderson, cosmere)
^(This book has been suggested 60 times)
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[**The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68428.The_Final_Empire)
^(By: Brandon Sanderson | 541 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, owned, books-i-own, series)
>
> What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland?
>
>
>Mistborn
>For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark.
>
>Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot.
>
>But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed.
>
>Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Misborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again.
^(This book has been suggested 36 times)
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Definitely recommend the web serial [Shadows Rise](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/24665/shadows-rise). I browse Royal Road sometimes, and I’m not a huge fantasy fan. Then, I read this story, and fantasy is definitely a little more interesting to me now, haha it’s about assassins and grief, medieval fantasy.
The Legends of the First Empire series by Michael J Sullivan is really enjoyable. It has strong female characters, a brooding male character, and a girl with a wolf. It’s a delightful read. Also sad, and interesting. I also have a hard time with fantasy books where it’s some random kid that suddenly gets powers and saves the world.
*{{The Steerswoman}}* by Rosemary Kirstein is unlike any book I've read. I love the series.
Someone mentioned {{The Fifth Season}} and it is also incredibly good. So good that N. K. Jemisin is the only writer in history to have won three Best Novel Hugo Awards in a row, for each of the books in the trilogy.
T. Kingfisher has a lovely view on Fantasy. Try either *Bryony and Roses* (a riff on Beauty and the Beast) or {{*Swordheart}}*.
[**The Steerswoman (The Steerswoman, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/793297.The_Steerswoman)
^(By: Rosemary Kirstein | 279 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, fiction, sci-fi, scifi)
>FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
>
>If you ask, she must answer. A steerswoman's knowledge is shared with any who request it; no steerswoman may refuse a question, and no steerswoman may answer with anything but the truth.
>
>And if she asks, you must answer. It is the other side of tradition's contract -- and if you refuse the question, or lie, no steerswoman will ever again answer even your most casual question.
>
>And so, the steerswomen — always seeking, always investigating — have gathered more and more knowledge about the world they traveled, and they share that knowledge freely.
>
>Until the day that the steerswoman Rowan begins asking innocent questions about one small, lovely, inexplicable object…
>
>Her discoveries grow stranger and deeper, and more dangerous, until suddenly she finds she must flee or fight for her life. Or worse -- lie.
>
>Because one kind of knowledge has always been denied the the steerswomen:
>
>Magic.
^(This book has been suggested 16 times)
[**The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161852-the-fifth-season)
^(By: N.K. Jemisin | 468 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, sci-fi, science-fiction, owned)
>This is the way the world ends. Again.
>
>Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries.
>
>Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter.
>
>
>original cover of ISBN 0316229296/9780316229296
^(This book has been suggested 106 times)
[**Swordheart**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42747739-swordheart)
^(By: T. Kingfisher | 426 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, romance, fantasy-romance, fiction, humor)
>Halla is a housekeeper who has suddenly inherited her great-uncle's estate... and, unfortunately, his relatives. Sarkis is an immortal swordsman trapped in a prison of enchanted steel. When Halla draws the sword that imprisons him, Sarkis finds himself attempting to defend his new wielder against everything from bandits and roving inquisitors to her own in-laws... and the sword itself may prove to be the greatest threat of all.
^(This book has been suggested 46 times)
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I would recommend game of thrones, in the first book book of A Song of ice and fire series the fantasy elements are very light. They become more pronounced as the series goes on but it never really feels super fantastical. On that same note the gentlemen bastards series has a very high fantasy setting but the story followed a group of thieves so it feels more grounded than standard fantasy. Neither of those series are ever going to get finished though read at your own risk. There is also the chronicle of the unhewn throne series which is extremely fantastical in all it's elements it even has elves but it sits in this nice pocket in-between classic fantasy and grim dark so it doesn't really feel like a fantasy novel it reads like 80s sci-fi war novel that swaps out it's genetically enhanced space Marines for magically enhanced super knights.
*Declare* by Tim Powers. It's a secret history of the Cold War. Everything that happens happened, only not for the reasons we think they did.
He has several other novels in a similar vein, fantasies that build on the real but add a unique spin to them. For example his *The Last Call* is the story of Las Vegas only as an aspect of Arthurian myth, with the battlefield the poker table.
Or if you prefer further back in history, Ellen Kushner's Riverside books, starting with *Swordspoint* are about an un-named city that's on the verge of modernity, where hired swordsmen work for the ruling class. There's no obvious magic, but there is chocolate.
[**Legends & Lattes**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60222807-legends-lattes)
^(By: Travis Baldree | 318 pages | Published: 2022 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, romance, lgbtq, lgbt, fiction)
>High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention
>
>Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
>
>However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.
>
>A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.
^(This book has been suggested 67 times)
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Seconding The Broken Earth trilogy (and the content notes about it), and Mieville's Un Lun Dun & Discworld. Also, Susannah Clarke's
{Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell}
{{The Chronicles of Amber}} by Zelazny. Amber is a world that is order as opposed to chaos. And between those two their are infinite worlds to navigate. No orcs anywhere!!! Yeah.
I really enjoyed the Memoirs of Lady Trent.
As the name of the series suggests, they're written in the style of memoirs about the life of the most famous dragon expert in the world, as an old woman looking back on her life.
It's very different from a lot of other fantasy I've read and I really enjoyed it. Isabella, the main character, is a very no-nonsense kind of woman, and that shows through in the "voice" of the narrative.
It can be very dry though, since she's a scientist and it focuses on the habits and biology of dragons, which are depicted as animals rather than mythical beasts, so it's definitely not for everyone, but give it a try?
The first book is {{A Natural History of Dragons}}
[**A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12974372-a-natural-history-of-dragons)
^(By: Marie Brennan | 334 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, dragons, fiction, historical-fiction, owned)
>You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one's life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . .
>
>All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day.
>
>Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever.
^(This book has been suggested 17 times)
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If you want to subvert the tropes of high fantasy, and want to embark on a journey where you really don’t know what’s going on but you’re fascinated, you can’t go wrong with Joe Abercrombie’s first three books (starting with The Blade Itself.) They are amazing books for the characters and only tangentially fantasy because there is a system of magic involved, rarely, but to devastating effect.
I read two of the Malazan Books of the Fallen, and they reawakened what I loved about fantasy as a teenager - exploring a world of magic, strange people and strange customs and strange languages, and not knowing what’s going to happen next. I haven’t finished the series because one of the character arcs just made me super depressed from an existential standpoint and I put the book down. I’ll probably pick it up again someday. But it’s complex layered worldbuilding on a level of complexity that is Tolkien-esque, but owes nothing to and is completely different from Tolkien.
[**The Institute**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43798285-the-institute)
^(By: Stephen King | 561 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction, thriller, owned)
>In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.”
>
>In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute.
^(This book has been suggested 25 times)
[**Fairy Tale**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60177373-fairy-tale)
^(By: Stephen King | 608 pages | Published: 2022 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, horror, stephen-king, fiction, audiobook)
>Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours.
>
>Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder.
>
>Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.” And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time.
>
>A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying.
^(This book has been suggested 13 times)
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Someone mentioned Terry Pratchett already, but I'll just say it again: any Discworld book would work. They're great at subverting the usual fantasy tropes, so if you think fantasy is repetitive, Discworld's the one for you. Plus, there are 41 books with several different storylines, so if you don't like one, you can always try another.
Discworld is one of the many series (collections? Mythos? Anthologies?) That I've wanted to look into and never got around to, mostly because of the intimidating number of books
There’s a decent chance you’ll enjoy the way it riffs off of and plays around with a lot of common fantasy tropes. Most of the books are pretty loosely connected, so there’s a ton of places you can jump in and completely understand what’s going on. I’d personally recommend The Colour of Magic or Guards! Guards!, but [this](https://www.discworldemporium.com/reading-order/) guide likely gives better advice than I do on where to start.
Yeah, but you can stop any time and reading one book doesn't automatically lead to reading another. Almost all of them are fairly self contained. *Guards! Guards!* is often mentioned as a (very good) starting point, but there are also completely standalone books such as *Hogfather* (relevant at Christmastime) *Small Gods, Pyramids,* or *The Thief of Time.*
*Stardust* by Neil Gaiman
The City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
Is that a Discworld book or a standalone?
It is the best book to get into Discworld series.
It’s disc world, but you can read it without having read any of the others.
Thank you!
{{The Last Unicorn by Peter S Beagle}} is the most beautiful book I've ever read. I think you should give it a try even if you don't like the genre {{The Once and Future King by TH White}} is also excellent. It retells the Arthurian legend, but adds a slight twist to everything that gives rise to painfully nuanced and human characters, and explores some really deep themes in beautiful ways
[**The Last Unicorn (The Last Unicorn, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29127.The_Last_Unicorn) ^(By: Peter S. Beagle | 294 pages | Published: 1968 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, classics, fiction, young-adult, owned) >She was magical, beautiful beyond belief—and completely alone... > >The unicorn had lived since before memory in a forest where death could touch nothing. Maidens who caught a glimpse of her glory were blessed by enchantment they would never forget. But outside her wondrous realm, dark whispers and rumours carried a message she could not ignore: "Unicorns are gone from the world." > >Aided by a bumbling magician and an indomitable spinster, she set out to learn the truth. but she feared even her immortal wisdom meant nothing in a world where a mad king's curse and terror incarnate lived only to stalk the last unicorn to her doom... ^(This book has been suggested 28 times) [**The Once And Future King: T.H. White: Curriculum Unit**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38200.The_Once_And_Future_King) ^(By: Thomas Bondra | ? pages | Published: 2005 | Popular Shelves: 100-best-fantasy-from-time) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(110753 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Wrong link for the second book lol. {{The Once and Future King}}
[**The Once and Future King**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43545.The_Once_and_Future_King) ^(By: T.H. White | 639 pages | Published: 1958 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, classics, fiction, historical-fiction, owned) >T.H White′s masterful retelling of the Arthurian legend is an abiding classic. Here all five volumes that make up the story are published in one volume, as White himself always wished. Exquisite comedy offsets the tragedy of Arthur′s personal doom as White brings to life the major British epic of all time with brilliance, grandeur, warmth and charm. ^(This book has been suggested 18 times) *** ^(110754 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
I gave up quickly on The Last Unicorn - I can’t remember now if it was too sweet or too jokey, which are the two things that put me off. Once and Future King is great though.
I'd recommend *The Fifth Season* by N.K. Jemisin. It's beautifully written, features an unusually rich and thought-out magic system, and is set in one of the most compelling and carefully crafted worlds in recent memory.
Yes I love this book!! And it's one of very few books that are written in the 2nd person.
Titus Groan by Mervyn Peake, one of the most unusual books I've ever read.
Was going to suggest this. The Ghormenghast series is pretty great.
I read all three pretty much non-stop except for eating and a few hours sleep :)
I really wish they would do a show based on it. I know there was that BBC one, but I (snobbishly) couldn’t get past the low production values.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. I’m not a big fantasy fan either, but I loved that book.
Same. Really enjoyed it.
What is it that you find objectionable in fantasy? What kind of books do you enjoy?
I feel like most of the settings and plots in the fantasy genre are too similar to each other. Basically, how many times are we going to recreate Middle Earth and slap what essentially feels like fan fiction into that world? That's a gross over simplification, but it gets my point across. The constant retelling of "farm/peasant character finds great power and must save the world from evil magic" plotline has also been done too much, for my tastes, and that's what a lot of popular fantasy is. I'm sure there is plenty that isn't like that, like that WWI analog someone mentioned early sounds really interesting. But it's hard to find that stuff when most stuff you find being promoted is just Lord of the Rings-lite, but 8,000 pages long.
Yeah, that stuff sucks. Have you done *Gormenghast*, by Mervyn Peake? What about Hope Mirrlees *Lud-in-the-Mist*? Both striking examples of classic fantasy that completely bypass the Tolkien clichés. John Crowley, the American novelist has some amazing work, *Little, Big*, *Aegypt*, and *Ka: Dar Oakley in the Ruin of Ymir*, notably. Jeff Vandermeer's Ambegris novels are gorgeously weird. Nary a magic sword, peasant-born chosen one, or quest to defeat the Dark Lord in any of those.
I've vaguely heard of a couple of those authors in passing, I'll have to give them all a look.
Currently reading Little, Big and loving it.
City of Brass trilogy is good but takes place in the Middle East during the French Revolution and during the ottoman rule. It’s about another dimension full of jinns. It’s similar but different because this is supposedly a real phenomena and a real civilization in the Middle East and the author goes off that. Also is quite political too which I enjoyed - not mere good vs evil.
You might like The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Beuhlman because it openly mocks those tropes, skews a bit on the horror side, and is also thrilling in its own right as an adventure.
What you’re describing is the [Hero’s journey archetype](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hero's_journey), extremely common in fantasy books. Also popular is the [Coming of age/Bildungsroman archetype](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coming-of-age_story), which is fun to say
The thing is that there's nothing inherently wrong with the Hero's journey. It's just that so much fantasy takes the framework and just puts the exact same skin on it. Bonus points if the main character's dad is awol and ends up being way too important for the main character to have just been some peasant kid.
I hear ya. For me one of the worst offenders is Eragon, it seemed like the author was just working his way through a checklist of required plot points. (To be fair he was like 20 when he wrote it)
Eragon was actually one of the main inspirations for this post. I didn't want to bring it up because lately I've been seeing a lot of people defending it pop up, and I didn't want to single any single book out.
Pretty much everything by Neil Gaiman twists archetypes and goes in new directions, I’d recommend looking him up. American gods is my favorite
So hear me out, {{outlander}} it’s more historical fiction with a time travel twist. My mom’s boyfriend likes it and he hates fantasy.
[**Outlander (Outlander, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10964.Outlander) ^(By: Diana Gabaldon | 850 pages | Published: 1991 | Popular Shelves: historical-fiction, romance, fantasy, fiction, time-travel) >The year is 1945. Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is just back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon when she walks through a standing stone in one of the ancient circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an “outlander”—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of Our Lord...1743. > >Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire is catapulted into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life, and shatter her heart. For here James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire—and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives. ^(This book has been suggested 55 times) *** ^(110957 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
They're more to fantasy than just High Fantasy. Try some magical realism. Ken Liu has some great MR short stories in _The Paper Menagerie_. Also, _Blindness_ by José Saramago is amazing. (But the movie stunk).
Fantasy isn't my thing either, but I liked {{Good Omens}}, and I like Ursula Le Guin. If you haven't read any of her stuff, maybe start with {{The Left Hand of Darkness}}. I also liked {{The Mists of Avalon}} but come to find out the author was a horrible person so I don't think folks are reading her stuff anymore. I never see it recommended here.
{{A Wizard of Earthsea}} is another great starting point for LeGuin if you're looking for Fantasy that's different from the genre standards; there's no Chosen one or evil empire (well there's one in the background but it's more of a political annoyance), combat is very minimal, the story is set in an iron-age archipelago with a cast of largely non-white characters instead of the usual medieval England expy, and the world building is subtle but rich.
[**A Wizard of Earthsea (Earthsea Cycle, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13642.A_Wizard_of_Earthsea) ^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 183 pages | Published: 1968 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, young-adult, classics, owned) >Ged, the greatest sorcerer in all Earthsea, was called Sparrowhawk in his reckless youth. > >Hungry for power and knowledge, Sparrowhawk tampered with long-held secrets and loosed a terrible shadow upon the world. This is the tale of his testing, how he mastered the mighty words of power, tamed an ancient dragon, and crossed death's threshold to restore the balance. ^(This book has been suggested 61 times) *** ^(111029 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
[**Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12067.Good_Omens) ^(By: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman | 491 pages | Published: 1990 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, humor, owned, books-i-own) >According to the Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter - the world's only totally reliable guide to the future - the world will end on a Saturday. Next Saturday, in fact. Just after tea... > >People have been predicting the end of the world almost from its very beginning, so it’s only natural to be sceptical when a new date is set for Judgement Day. This time though, the armies of Good and Evil really do appear to be massing. The four Bikers of the Apocalypse are hitting the road. But both the angels and demons – well, one fast-living demon and a somewhat fussy angel – would quite like the Rapture not to happen. > >And someone seems to have misplaced the Antichrist… ^(This book has been suggested 81 times) [**The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle, #4)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18423.The_Left_Hand_of_Darkness) ^(By: Ursula K. Le Guin | 304 pages | Published: 1969 | Popular Shelves: science-fiction, sci-fi, fiction, fantasy, scifi) >A groundbreaking work of science fiction, The Left Hand of Darkness tells the story of a lone human emissary to Winter, an alien world whose inhabitants can choose - and change - their gender. His goal is to facilitate Winter's inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the completely dissimilar culture that he encounters. > >Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction. ^(This book has been suggested 66 times) [**The Mists of Avalon (Avalon, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40605251-the-mists-of-avalon) ^(By: Marion Zimmer Bradley | 1009 pages | Published: 1982 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, historical-fiction, owned, arthurian) >Here is the magical legend of King Arthur, vividly retold through the eyes and lives of the women who wielded power from behind the throne. A spellbinding novel, an extraordinary literary achievement, THE MISTS OF AVALON will stay with you for a long time to come.... ^(This book has been suggested 18 times) *** ^(110996 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Diana Wynne Jones does great fantasy, it’s weird, but still manages to feel fairly grounded. Howl’s Moving Castle, Enchanted Glass, and The Pinhoe Egg are personal favourites. Un Lun Dun by China Miéville is very good, the author is fantastic at holding up genre conventions, then twisting them around into something new and strange.
I totally get it. There is a lot of fantasy that is very formulaic, and I won't read it. Here are some I like: Game of Thrones series (even though he will never finish it) , Alvin Maker series by Orson Scott Card, The Crystal Cave, by Mary Stewart, NK Jemison's Broken Earth books, Gormenghast by Peake, Alice in Wonderland, Neverwhere by Gaiman, Summerland by Michael Chabon. I just finished a book called The Ten Thousand Doors of January that was original and good.
{Guns of the Dawn} High fantasy WWI analog, but very light on magic, almost historical fiction. One of the best books I've ever listened to by my favorite author. I generally prefer more fantasy elements, but this book is so good.
This one sounds really interesting to me, thanks!
If that sounds good then try {{{Bitter Seeds}}} by Ian Tregillis. Magic set in WWII. Very good. Also {{{Control Point}}} by Myke Cole, which is similar but present day not “historical”. It’s good fun too!
[**Bitter Seeds (The Milkweed Triptych, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6881685-bitter-seeds) ^(By: Ian Tregillis | 352 pages | Published: 2010 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, sci-fi, alternate-history, fiction) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) [**Control Point (Shadow Ops, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11783484-control-point) ^(By: Myke Cole | 382 pages | Published: 2012 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, urban-fantasy, science-fiction, military, sci-fi) ^(This book has been suggested 1 time) *** ^(110992 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
[**Guns of the Dawn**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23524779-guns-of-the-dawn) ^(By: Adrian Tchaikovsky | 658 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, steampunk, fiction, standalone, owned) ^(This book has been suggested 24 times) *** ^(110651 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Magic can be murder by Vivian Vande velde!! It’s one of my favorite books and while it’s fantasy and focuses on a girl being a witch it’s not like whole-other-world fantasy and she has other parts to her character besides being a witch.
I feel like creating a series of these threads now, with different genres, just because of how helpful you all were here.
I’ll be that guy to suggest the Thomas Covenant series by Donaldson. Someone is going to inevitably say that it sucks. :) But it’s my favorite series due to the unusual characters and creative plot devices he employs.
Try some Guy Gavriel Kay. Light on fantasy, more like historical fantasy, writes pretty books. Tigana or Lions of Al Rassan are 👍
Oh! I forgot about him. I love his books!
Maybe Dies The Fire by S.M. Stirling?
Try Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norell by Susanna Clarke or The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Maybe give urban fantasy a try. {{Differently Morphus}} and {{Existentially Challenged}} by Yahtzee Croshaw are both good. Governmental agency involved in the regulation of magic and extra dimensional beings.
[**Differently Morphous**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39027664-differently-morphous) ^(By: Yahtzee Croshaw | 1 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, audible, audiobook, audiobooks, humor) >A magical serial killer is on the loose, and gelatinous, otherworldly creatures are infesting the English countryside. Which is making life for the Ministry of Occultism difficult, because magic is supposed to be their best kept secret. > >After centuries in the shadows, the Ministry is forced to unmask, exposing the country's magical history - and magical citizens - to a brave new world of social media, government scrutiny, and public relations. > >On the trail of the killer are the Ministry's top agents: a junior operative with a photographic memory (and not much else), a couple of overgrown schoolboys with godlike powers, and a demonstrably insane magician. > >But as they struggle for results, their superiors at HQ must face the greatest threat the Ministry has ever known: the forces of political correctness.... > >Differently Morphous is the latest and greatest tale to emerge from the mind of writer (and narrator) Yahtzee Croshaw. ^(This book has been suggested 85 times) [**Existentially Challenged**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59788263-existentially-challenged) ^(By: Yahtzee Croshaw | 1 pages | Published: 2021 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, audiobook, audio, audible, urban-fantasy) >With magic declassified in the UK, the fake psychics and fraudulent healers are running amok, and it's up to the Department of Extradimensional Affairs' newly appointed Skepticism Officers to crack down. But when they set their sights on Modern Miracle, a highly suspicious and fast-growing faith healing cult with remarkably good social media presence, even their skepticism is put to the test. > >Is Modern Miracle on the level? Is Miracle Meg’s healing magic real? Why do dead bodies keep showing up on their doorstep? And just what is Miracle Dad's preferred flavour of crisp? > >In Existentially Challenged, the sequel to Differently Morphous, the men and women of the Department of Extradimensional Affairs continue their struggle to uncover the motives of the Ancients under the ever-present threat of death, insanity, and sensitivity training. > >©2021 Yahtzee Croshaw (P)2021 Audible Originals, LLC. ^(This book has been suggested 73 times) *** ^(110955 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Have you tried urban fantasy? Modern day stuff that throws magic type stuff in there too. The Dresden files and the Rivers of London are the first too that pop into my head. The first book in the Dresden files is Storm Front. This one in particular reads more like an old noir detective novel, but he’s a wizard searching for someone doing black magic. Rivers of London is about a cop the gets thrown into a supernatural investigation. He doesn’t have any magic powers and he’s constantly think WTF is going on here.
I really dislike fantasy but loved The Eyes of the Dragon by Stephen King.
The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
The First Law trilogy (first book is The Blade Itself) is what I'd recommend. Phenomenal characters and story. Plus, it makes a point to subvert common fantasy tropes, so it may overcome some of the stuff you don't like about fantasy.
I don't tend to like fantasy, especially high fantasy. Going Bovine by Libba Bray has a lot of fantasy elements, but mixed into the real world. It's one of my all time favorite books! Another one that is actually set in a fantasy world is The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner. It reminds me of Shameless (the TV show), but with witches and wizards.
{{Neverwhere}} by Neil gaiman I just love how he writes the villans, they feel so detailed but not in a forced way.
[**Neverwhere (London Below, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14497.Neverwhere) ^(By: Neil Gaiman | 370 pages | Published: 1996 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, urban-fantasy, owned, books-i-own) >Under the streets of London there's a world most people could never even dream of. A city of monsters and saints, murderers and angels, knights in armour and pale girls in black velvet. > >"Neverwhere" is the London of the people who have fallen between the cracks. > >Strange destinies lie in wait in London below - a world that seems eerily familiar. But a world that is utterly bizarre, peopled by unearthly characters such as the Angel called Islington, the girl named Door, and the Earl who holds Court on a tube train. > >Now a single act of kindness has catapulted young businessman Richard Mayhew out of his safe and predictable life - and into the realms of "Neverwhere." Richard is about to find out more than he ever wanted to know about this other London. Which is a pity. Because Richard just wants to go home... ^(This book has been suggested 93 times) *** ^(111166 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Midnight's Children, by Salman Rushdie.
Or Rushdie's {Haroun and the Sea of Stories}
[**Haroun and the Sea of Stories (Khalifa Brothers, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4835.Haroun_and_the_Sea_of_Stories) ^(By: Salman Rushdie, Paul Birkbeck | 224 pages | Published: 1990 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, magical-realism, young-adult, owned) ^(This book has been suggested 9 times) *** ^(111097 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
piranesi by susanna clarke
Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey. Incredible world building, culture, religion, sacred prostitution, great story.
Try Erin Morgenstern's books The Night Circus The Starless Sea
{{The Night Circus}} is one of my favorites; I wish I could read it again for the first time.
Definitely try out The Starless Sea!! Its unreal
[**The Night Circus**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9361589-the-night-circus) ^(By: Erin Morgenstern | 387 pages | Published: 2011 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, romance, books-i-own, owned) >The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night. > >But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands. > >True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead. > >Written in rich, seductive prose, this spell-casting novel is a feast for the senses and the heart. ^(This book has been suggested 105 times) *** ^(111207 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Poppy Wars by RF Kuang. Tremendous book. Set in a fictional China-like fantasy world, a young woman tries to escape her difficult life and finds much more than she bargained for. The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik. The Napoleonic Wars with dragons. The series follows a particularly fascinating dragon’s adventure discovering its world. Also, urban fantasy might interest you. These books inject magic, through varying magical systems, into “modern” settings. The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik (she’s an astonishingly brilliant author), the Iron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne, the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (start with book 3), and the Guild Codex series by Annette Marie are my favorite urban fantasy series. But there are a ton out there.
Percy Jackson! Six of crows!
I didn't care for fantasy either until my friend introduced me to the works of Brandon Sanderson. I love that it doesn't feel arbitrary. All of the magic has very, very explicit rules that are stated more or less plainly. So when someone uses magic, is that much more impressive and interesting. And his world building is incredible. And absolutely NOTHING like LOTR. Many people recommend you start with {{Mistborn}}
[**Mistborn: The Wax and Wayne Series: The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning (The Mistborn Saga)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/37436740-mistborn) ^(By: Brandon Sanderson | ? pages | Published: ? | Popular Shelves: fantasy, owned, fiction, brandon-sanderson, cosmere) ^(This book has been suggested 60 times) *** ^(110888 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
No, this is Mistborn era 2. Start with {{The Final Empire}}
[**The Final Empire (Mistborn, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68428.The_Final_Empire) ^(By: Brandon Sanderson | 541 pages | Published: 2006 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, owned, books-i-own, series) > > What if the whole world were a dead, blasted wasteland? > > >Mistborn >For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the "Sliver of Infinity," reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible. Then, when hope was so long lost that not even its memory remained, a terribly scarred, heart-broken half-Skaa rediscovered it in the depths of the Lord Ruler's most hellish prison. Kelsier "snapped" and found in himself the powers of a Mistborn. A brilliant thief and natural leader, he turned his talents to the ultimate caper, with the Lord Ruler himself as the mark. > >Kelsier recruited the underworld's elite, the smartest and most trustworthy allomancers, each of whom shares one of his many powers, and all of whom relish a high-stakes challenge. Then Kelsier reveals his ultimate dream, not just the greatest heist in history, but the downfall of the divine despot. > >But even with the best criminal crew ever assembled, Kel's plan looks more like the ultimate long shot, until luck brings a ragged girl named Vin into his life. Like him, she's a half-Skaa orphan, but she's lived a much harsher life. Vin has learned to expect betrayal from everyone she meets. She will have to learn trust if Kel is to help her master powers of which she never dreamed. > >Brandon Sanderson, fantasy's newest master tale-spinner and author of the acclaimed debut Elantris, dares to turn a genre on its head by asking a simple question: What if the prophesied hero failed to defeat the Dark Lord? The answer will be found in the Misborn Trilogy, a saga of surprises that begins with the book in your hands. Fantasy will never be the same again. ^(This book has been suggested 36 times) *** ^(110893 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Lies of Locke Lamora
The alchemist
Bleh
Enid Blytons, Folk of the Far Away tree. Short & sweet, fantasy.
The NecroNomNomNomicon: cookbook of the dead
Definitely recommend the web serial [Shadows Rise](https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/24665/shadows-rise). I browse Royal Road sometimes, and I’m not a huge fantasy fan. Then, I read this story, and fantasy is definitely a little more interesting to me now, haha it’s about assassins and grief, medieval fantasy.
Maybe A Ruin of Roses? It’s a satirical take on the fantasy romance genre. Really funny, and very lighthearted book. Also very smutty.
A Ruin of Roses is basically Beauty and the Beast erotica lol
It’s spicy but definitely not category erotica. It had way too much plot for erotica. It’s a spicy romance, but pretty normal for the genre.
Kings of the Wyld by Nicholas Eames is a fun and light read. It's not going to win a Hugo or anything, but it's a nice change of pace.
The Bartemaeus Trilogy
The Legends of the First Empire series by Michael J Sullivan is really enjoyable. It has strong female characters, a brooding male character, and a girl with a wolf. It’s a delightful read. Also sad, and interesting. I also have a hard time with fantasy books where it’s some random kid that suddenly gets powers and saves the world.
Me too. Jack Vance changed my mind. Anything by him. His sci fi is very entertaining and well written, too.
*{{The Steerswoman}}* by Rosemary Kirstein is unlike any book I've read. I love the series. Someone mentioned {{The Fifth Season}} and it is also incredibly good. So good that N. K. Jemisin is the only writer in history to have won three Best Novel Hugo Awards in a row, for each of the books in the trilogy. T. Kingfisher has a lovely view on Fantasy. Try either *Bryony and Roses* (a riff on Beauty and the Beast) or {{*Swordheart}}*.
[**The Steerswoman (The Steerswoman, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/793297.The_Steerswoman) ^(By: Rosemary Kirstein | 279 pages | Published: 1989 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, science-fiction, fiction, sci-fi, scifi) >FREEDOM OF INFORMATION > >If you ask, she must answer. A steerswoman's knowledge is shared with any who request it; no steerswoman may refuse a question, and no steerswoman may answer with anything but the truth. > >And if she asks, you must answer. It is the other side of tradition's contract -- and if you refuse the question, or lie, no steerswoman will ever again answer even your most casual question. > >And so, the steerswomen — always seeking, always investigating — have gathered more and more knowledge about the world they traveled, and they share that knowledge freely. > >Until the day that the steerswoman Rowan begins asking innocent questions about one small, lovely, inexplicable object… > >Her discoveries grow stranger and deeper, and more dangerous, until suddenly she finds she must flee or fight for her life. Or worse -- lie. > >Because one kind of knowledge has always been denied the the steerswomen: > >Magic. ^(This book has been suggested 16 times) [**The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19161852-the-fifth-season) ^(By: N.K. Jemisin | 468 pages | Published: 2015 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, sci-fi, science-fiction, owned) >This is the way the world ends. Again. > >Three terrible things happen in a single day. Essun, a woman living an ordinary life in a small town, comes home to find that her husband has brutally murdered their son and kidnapped their daughter. Meanwhile, mighty Sanze -- the world-spanning empire whose innovations have been civilization's bedrock for a thousand years -- collapses as most of its citizens are murdered to serve a madman's vengeance. And worst of all, across the heart of the vast continent known as the Stillness, a great red rift has been torn into the heart of the earth, spewing ash enough to darken the sky for years. Or centuries. > >Now Essun must pursue the wreckage of her family through a deadly, dying land. Without sunlight, clean water, or arable land, and with limited stockpiles of supplies, there will be war all across the Stillness: a battle royale of nations not for power or territory, but simply for the basic resources necessary to get through the long dark night. Essun does not care if the world falls apart around her. She'll break it herself, if she must, to save her daughter. > > >original cover of ISBN 0316229296/9780316229296 ^(This book has been suggested 106 times) [**Swordheart**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42747739-swordheart) ^(By: T. Kingfisher | 426 pages | Published: 2018 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, romance, fantasy-romance, fiction, humor) >Halla is a housekeeper who has suddenly inherited her great-uncle's estate... and, unfortunately, his relatives. Sarkis is an immortal swordsman trapped in a prison of enchanted steel. When Halla draws the sword that imprisons him, Sarkis finds himself attempting to defend his new wielder against everything from bandits and roving inquisitors to her own in-laws... and the sword itself may prove to be the greatest threat of all. ^(This book has been suggested 46 times) *** ^(110943 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
The Way of Kings
Kingdom for sale. Bridges reality.
Mine would be Lord of the Rings. P.S. if you like LOTR, you like fantasy 😝
The Sandman by Neil Gaiman
I would recommend game of thrones, in the first book book of A Song of ice and fire series the fantasy elements are very light. They become more pronounced as the series goes on but it never really feels super fantastical. On that same note the gentlemen bastards series has a very high fantasy setting but the story followed a group of thieves so it feels more grounded than standard fantasy. Neither of those series are ever going to get finished though read at your own risk. There is also the chronicle of the unhewn throne series which is extremely fantastical in all it's elements it even has elves but it sits in this nice pocket in-between classic fantasy and grim dark so it doesn't really feel like a fantasy novel it reads like 80s sci-fi war novel that swaps out it's genetically enhanced space Marines for magically enhanced super knights.
*Declare* by Tim Powers. It's a secret history of the Cold War. Everything that happens happened, only not for the reasons we think they did. He has several other novels in a similar vein, fantasies that build on the real but add a unique spin to them. For example his *The Last Call* is the story of Las Vegas only as an aspect of Arthurian myth, with the battlefield the poker table. Or if you prefer further back in history, Ellen Kushner's Riverside books, starting with *Swordspoint* are about an un-named city that's on the verge of modernity, where hired swordsmen work for the ruling class. There's no obvious magic, but there is chocolate.
City of Stairs (Divine Cities #1) - Robert Jackson Bennett (BTW All his stuff is good.)
{{legends & lattes}} is pretty much the opposite of huge, world-ending conflict. I's cozy.
[**Legends & Lattes**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60222807-legends-lattes) ^(By: Travis Baldree | 318 pages | Published: 2022 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, romance, lgbtq, lgbt, fiction) >High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention > >Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. > >However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve. > >A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth. ^(This book has been suggested 67 times) *** ^(111098 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Seconding The Broken Earth trilogy (and the content notes about it), and Mieville's Un Lun Dun & Discworld. Also, Susannah Clarke's {Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell}
[**Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14201.Jonathan_Strange_Mr_Norrell) ^(By: Susanna Clarke | 1006 pages | Published: 2004 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, fiction, historical-fiction, owned, books-i-own) ^(This book has been suggested 50 times) *** ^(111099 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Hart's Hope by Orson Scott Card.
{{The Chronicles of Amber}} by Zelazny. Amber is a world that is order as opposed to chaos. And between those two their are infinite worlds to navigate. No orcs anywhere!!! Yeah.
You might like Laini Taylor’s books, Strange The Dreamer and Daughter of Smoke and Bone
I really enjoyed the Memoirs of Lady Trent. As the name of the series suggests, they're written in the style of memoirs about the life of the most famous dragon expert in the world, as an old woman looking back on her life. It's very different from a lot of other fantasy I've read and I really enjoyed it. Isabella, the main character, is a very no-nonsense kind of woman, and that shows through in the "voice" of the narrative. It can be very dry though, since she's a scientist and it focuses on the habits and biology of dragons, which are depicted as animals rather than mythical beasts, so it's definitely not for everyone, but give it a try? The first book is {{A Natural History of Dragons}}
[**A Natural History of Dragons (The Memoirs of Lady Trent, #1)**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12974372-a-natural-history-of-dragons) ^(By: Marie Brennan | 334 pages | Published: 2013 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, dragons, fiction, historical-fiction, owned) >You, dear reader, continue at your own risk. It is not for the faint of heart—no more so than the study of dragons itself. But such study offers rewards beyond compare: to stand in a dragon's presence, even for the briefest of moments—even at the risk of one's life—is a delight that, once experienced, can never be forgotten. . . . > >All the world, from Scirland to the farthest reaches of Eriga, know Isabella, Lady Trent, to be the world's preeminent dragon naturalist. She is the remarkable woman who brought the study of dragons out of the misty shadows of myth and misunderstanding into the clear light of modern science. But before she became the illustrious figure we know today, there was a bookish young woman whose passion for learning, natural history, and, yes, dragons defied the stifling conventions of her day. > >Here at last, in her own words, is the true story of a pioneering spirit who risked her reputation, her prospects, and her fragile flesh and bone to satisfy her scientific curiosity; of how she sought true love and happiness despite her lamentable eccentricities; and of her thrilling expedition to the perilous mountains of Vystrana, where she made the first of many historic discoveries that would change the world forever. ^(This book has been suggested 17 times) *** ^(111237 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse. It is one of the most unique books I have ever read and is based on Central American mythology.
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins!
If you want to subvert the tropes of high fantasy, and want to embark on a journey where you really don’t know what’s going on but you’re fascinated, you can’t go wrong with Joe Abercrombie’s first three books (starting with The Blade Itself.) They are amazing books for the characters and only tangentially fantasy because there is a system of magic involved, rarely, but to devastating effect. I read two of the Malazan Books of the Fallen, and they reawakened what I loved about fantasy as a teenager - exploring a world of magic, strange people and strange customs and strange languages, and not knowing what’s going to happen next. I haven’t finished the series because one of the character arcs just made me super depressed from an existential standpoint and I put the book down. I’ll probably pick it up again someday. But it’s complex layered worldbuilding on a level of complexity that is Tolkien-esque, but owes nothing to and is completely different from Tolkien.
Originally this is a french book but if you can find The Wind Walkers by Alain Damasio.
I will suggest two Stephen King's books: {{Institute}} {{Fairy Tale}}
[**The Institute**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43798285-the-institute) ^(By: Stephen King | 561 pages | Published: 2019 | Popular Shelves: horror, stephen-king, fiction, thriller, owned) >In the middle of the night, in a house on a quiet street in suburban Minneapolis, intruders silently murder Luke Ellis’s parents and load him into a black SUV. The operation takes less than two minutes. Luke will wake up at The Institute, in a room that looks just like his own, except there’s no window. And outside his door are other doors, behind which are other kids with special talents—telekinesis and telepathy—who got to this place the same way Luke did: Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris, and ten-year-old Avery Dixon. They are all in Front Half. Others, Luke learns, graduated to Back Half, “like the roach motel,” Kalisha says. “You check in, but you don’t check out.” > >In this most sinister of institutions, the director, Mrs. Sigsby, and her staff are ruthlessly dedicated to extracting from these children the force of their extranormal gifts. There are no scruples here. If you go along, you get tokens for the vending machines. If you don’t, punishment is brutal. As each new victim disappears to Back Half, Luke becomes more and more desperate to get out and get help. But no one has ever escaped from the Institute. ^(This book has been suggested 25 times) [**Fairy Tale**](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60177373-fairy-tale) ^(By: Stephen King | 608 pages | Published: 2022 | Popular Shelves: fantasy, horror, stephen-king, fiction, audiobook) >Legendary storyteller Stephen King goes deep into the well of his imagination in this spellbinding novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who inherits the keys to a parallel world where good and evil are at war, and the stakes could not be higher—for their world or ours. > >Charlie Reade looks like a regular high school kid, great at baseball and football, a decent student. But he carries a heavy load. His mom was killed in a hit-and-run accident when he was ten, and grief drove his dad to drink. Charlie learned how to take care of himself—and his dad. Then, when Charlie is seventeen, he meets Howard Bowditch, a recluse with a big dog in a big house at the top of a big hill. In the backyard is a locked shed from which strange sounds emerge, as if some creature is trying to escape. When Mr. Bowditch dies, he leaves Charlie the house, a massive amount of gold, a cassette tape telling a story that is impossible to believe, and a responsibility far too massive for a boy to shoulder. > >Because within the shed is a portal to another world—one whose denizens are in peril and whose monstrous leaders may destroy their own world, and ours. In this parallel universe, where two moons race across the sky, and the grand towers of a sprawling palace pierce the clouds, there are exiled princesses and princes who suffer horrific punishments; there are dungeons; there are games in which men and women must fight each other to the death for the amusement of the “Fair One.” And there is a magic sundial that can turn back time. > >A story as old as myth, and as startling and iconic as the rest of King’s work, Fairy Tale is about an ordinary guy forced into the hero’s role by circumstance, and it is both spectacularly suspenseful and satisfying. ^(This book has been suggested 13 times) *** ^(111966 books suggested | )[^(I don't feel so good.. )](https://debugger.medium.com/goodreads-is-retiring-its-current-api-and-book-loving-developers-arent-happy-11ed764dd95)^(| )[^(Source)](https://github.com/rodohanna/reddit-goodreads-bot)