Lets Share Our Favourite Novels: Fantasy Edition

People seemed to really love the idea the other day so here goes again. Comment below with your favourite fantasy novels or series so we can all expand our reading list. I can't wait to delve into some of the books you guys have already recommended and I'm excited to see what comes up in this one.

Part 1 - Sci Fi Edition: https://imgur.com/gallery/mKmwS

As before, what follows is a FEW of my favourite fantasy novels that I think more people should read. This is NOT "The Definitive List of All The Best Fantasy Novels Ever", so don't get mad at me that one of your favourite authors isn't on here. Just leave a comment telling people about them.

In the rich city of Camorr there exists an unspoken agreement between the city's criminal underbelly and nobility. Organized crime is allowed to survive and even thrive, so long as the city's peerage is off limits. One small gang, disciples of the Crooked Warden, god of thieves, seeks to break that peace and in the process show Camorr's powerful nobles that they are not untouchable as they think they are. At the head of these efforts is Locke Lamora, a street urchin who grew up stealing to survive to become known as The Thorn of Camorr.

This is my favourite series I found last year. Basically it's a heist/con/organized crime story set in a fantasy analogue of Renaissance Italy. The setting is well fleshed out and realized, the character are snappy and likeable and Lynch is fantastic at making you feel real apprehension when they get into scrapes and you don't know how they're going to get out.

At present there are three books out with a fourth one hopefully coming this year. One thing I really love about it is it isn't a "lets save the world" series. It's about making you invested in its character so you really care about their personal struggles.

The His Dark Materials trilogy is a beautiful story set in an world that closely resembles our own around the late 1800s, except every person is born with a "daemon", a physical manifestation of their own soul that appears as an intelligent animal companion. It follows 12 year old Lyra Belacqua and her daemon Pantalaimon as she endeavors to solve a series of disappearances of children in her hometown of Oxford. Her search takes her on a fantastic adventure across the globe and beyond as she discovers that hers is not the only world and there are ways to travel between them.

The story is epic, the settings are beautiful and the characters are interesting and well developed. This is a great series I'd recommend to anyone. Also, if you're into audiobooks the ones for this series are read by a full cast with Philip Pullman narrating and are really well done.

It's a real shame they've never been adapted into movies. A real shame...

If you want something different from anything you've read pick up the Bas Lag series by China Mieville. I've never read a more weird, wonderful and disturbing setting than this one. It's somewhat genre defying, part fantasy, part steampunk, part horror, even a touch scifi, with a host of bizarre races and creatures including giant vulture people, living cactuses, giant intelligent mosquitos, people with beatles for heads, aquatic people with a crab where there legs should be, massive extradimensional spiders who can twist and shape reality, and that's just scratching the surface of the world China Mieville has created.

Perdido Street Station follows the exploits of scientist Isaac Dan der Grimnebulin, who in his quest to give flight to a vulture man who has had his wings removed, accidentally releases something horrible into the city of New Crobuzon and must scramble to contain his mistake while avoiding the cities oppressive government and a very angry mob boss.
China Mieville is the new 21st century king of weird fiction and I can't get enough of the worlds his twisted mind envisions. If you ever get tired of the Tolkienesque worlds of Elves, Dwarves and Orcs, give this a try. I promise it will be a refreshingly strange experience.

Fitzchivalry Farseer is the orphaned bastard son of the deceased heir to the thone of the Six Duchies. Growing up under the care of the castle stablemaster Fitz never really knows where he belongs. He's not truly a member of the royal family and yet he has expectations on him beyond that of any peasant. At the age of 12 he begins apprenticing in secret under the king's royal poisoner. As his skills grow he finds himself called to help defend his nation from a seemingly unstoppable invasion of seafaring raiders while at the same time dealing with the machinations of his overly ambitious uncle.

Robin Hobb has a wonderful writing style and her character work is impeccable. Few other series have ever left me feeling so nauseous with worry for the main character or seething with rage at the antagonist. Seriously, I thought I hated Joffrey from Game of Thrones until I read this series and realized what hate was.

I'm sure most fantasy fans have heard of this one by now, but I absolutely love this book so I didn't want to leave it off. Name of the Wind is the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicles, a series following the adventures of Kvothe from orphan struggling to survive after his family of travelling performers is slaughtered, to famous hero whose storied past is sung about in taverns across the land.

Set partially in a college of magic the Kingkiller Chronicles are somewhat akin to a version of Harry Potter for more mature audiences mixed with a more traditional fantasy setting. Rothfuss' writing is gorgeous and he's really good at making you care for the protagonist. Despite their long length these books are fairly well paced and exciting throughout (with the exception of one really unnecessary bit in book two with a certain sexed up fairy).

Just be warned if you pick this up. Book three is not out yet and we have seemingly no indication of when it may be done. The wait is excruciating and as much as I love them I sometimes advise people to wait until book three arrives to get into the series.

I'm not sure what I can say about Terry Pratchett that hasn't already been said. His Discworld series is widely beloved, his sense of humour is impeccable and his world is expansive and fascinating if sometimes a bit silly.

Every Fantasy reader should dive deep into the pool of Pratchett's collected work, but here I've just picked my favourite of the ones I've read so far (I still have a long way to go before I'm done with Pratchett).

In Mort, the titular character is a teenager who goes to a job fair and finds himself apprentice to Death. With the powers given to him in his new role he soon finds himself over his head and must scramble to fix the rift he forms in reality when he saves a princess due for assassination.

It's this kind of non-traditional story that Pratchett was famous for. The world is so much poorer for his passing.