Fantasy: Five of the Best

Moribund. If I was given one word to describe the fantasy genre, that is the one I would choose. There’ very little of interest there. The giants, Tolkien and Howard, authors of Lord of the Rings and Conan respectively, sit atop the genre. Exactly two modern authors are doing interesting things with the genre and producing good writing. Those are George RR Martin (when’s that sequel coming, George?) and Terry Pratchett.

Everyone else is focused on trying to re-created Tolkien’s epic with their own name on the cover. Stop. Tolkien already wrote Lord of the Rings, stop trying to copy it, and do something original with the genre, please. For the most part, fantasy books are what you walk past on the way to science fiction or historical fiction, where good original and interesting stories are being written. There’s not a lot going on in fantasy, and what’s there is going round in circles.

I wanted to get that off my chest, and it explains why this top 5 list has but four entires. Nothing else is worth your eyeball time.

1. The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. It was written as one book, something lost on modern authors who insist on cranking out trilogy after overblown trilogy. Make sure you buy and edition that contains the appendices, as the story continues on in there, for another 250 years or so. Really.

2. The Complete Chronicles of Conan by Robert E Howard. For some reason Howard’s work is less copies these days than Tolkien. Reading both of these works together gives you an interesting look at ‘British fantasy’ versus ‘American fantasy’. Both works have elements heavily reliant on the culture they were written in. Along with Tolkien, consider these original Conan tales as your best introduction to the genre.

3. A Song of Ice and Fire by George RR Martin. Finally, I move on to something written within the last fifty years. Ice and Fire is four book long so far, and will likely end up at seven. Don’t let this put you off, it’s not another one of those never ending stories that infest the genre. In these books, things actually happen. Gripping overarching story, with excellent characterisation, this series is notable for the other books in the genre it is not like – pretty much all of them. I recommend this series to every reader I meet.

4. Discworld by Terry Pratchett. Pratchett’s Discworld setting contain elements familiar to readers of Howard, and English folklore, and Victorian England in the later books about Commander Vimes. Pratchett’s books make interesting points without being preachy, and with his own brand of humour running strong throughout. People who like to talk about ‘the fantasy genre’ often ignore Discworld books. I suspect this is because they are good.

There is no five.

There are other fantasy books that aren’t awful, but those don’t make my ‘highly recommended’ list either. They are worth the time it takes to read. You may wish to try:
Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn (light on the ‘classic fantasy elements)
The Silver Door by Grace Dugan (here’s an author doing something interesting with the genre)

If you’re a younger reader, and here I mean someone between ten and sixteen years old, there are tales here for you. Eddings’ Belgariad, Feist’s Magician, and others are fine introductions to the genre, and there are worse books you could be reading at that age. Older readers wanting to explore the genre would be advised to start, frankly, with Martin. You’ll probably end there too, but that’s ok.