Forums » Smalltalk » Fantasy literature/comics recommendations?

Holy crap, skiffy "intimidating avatar" old man is showing a nanometric interest in fantasy media?! That's a bad omen! It's the end of the world!

It is what the title says, are there any novels or comics, web comics maybe, that are your personal favorites and you would like to recommend for others? Specially to yours truly, mind you. I can't really give any suggestions myself because I've read very few, if not only one, book and that was Chronicles of Narnia, even though I stopped halfway of the last story because of the racist/misogynistic implications and all.

Yeah, bonus points if the stories are not an allegory to blatant xenophobia, regardless of the excuses about "writers from another time". I'm looking at you, Lovecraft.

Extra bonus points if it's not "heavily inspired by Tolkien" and the only thing that it has for fantasy is literally dwarves and elves sharing the same land.

Super extra bonus points if it's written by an aspiring writer, like those on Wattpad or Fanfiction.net originals.

Now go, surprise me.

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If this threads takes off, I might as well make it into a community list of recommended reads, as well put your personal reasons of why you liked it.

I adore Narnia and Middle Earth, so my tastes might not line up with yours. LOL

BUT...

I shall still suggest Mouse Guard

There's even a wonderful Role Playing Game for it, by the same folks who did Burning Wheel.

I might not have big repertoire but look at this site, literary category.

Here

HA

Ironically, I BAWLED at the scene of Voyage of the Dawn Treader where (big spoilers) Reepicheep sailed away to the Aslan's Country, I didn't knew I needed Reepi until that scene, where he was gone after all of those farewells. Literally cried like a baby reading that. :'U So something tells me I'm 'gonna love these. Definitely checking it out.

Hmm, personally I really enjoyed His Majesties Dark Materials .. (most people know it as the Golden Compass but thats just book 1) but I guess that is more mainstream. There is a lot context in it about "souls" that often rubs major religions the wrong way. but the story itself is very interesting.. all three books cover an adventure to save not just one world, but all worlds. its a very multi-dimension series you dont get a taste of until the last few pages of the first book.

hmm other then that im not terribly familiar with less popular novels.

There are a few fun ones by the game critic Yahtzee Croshaw that are down right hilarious - but also very well written.
Mogworld was perhaps my favorite, its about a pessimistic undead character who is trying to permanently die and then figures out he is actualy an NPC in a MMO
Jam was a great apocalypse story. - very creative, very funny.
Differently Morphous was about people who developed magical powers and the police force that managed them.
and
Will Save the Galaxy for Food was a very tongue and cheek sci-fi story that took a very fun and different look at the novelty of futuristic settings.

If you want to read an inscrutably complicated fantasy series with enough lore to drown in, I would suggest the Malazan Book of the Fallen!

The two big draws for me were the presence of monstrous humanoids that weren't just elves or orcs, and also the unique magic system. Magic is channeled sparingly through Warrens (which are part of a nexus of interdimensional wormholes, so to speak, presided over by the eldritch and the arcane).

Never had the time to finish the series, but the premise was interesting!

I've mostly had my head stuck down into Transmetropolitan since May but i have a few recommendations that you might enjoy!

This first two have a REALLY soft magic system (actually, in one of them magic is indirectly implied but never really mentioned or acknowledged at all), but ever since I read them I've been preaching them like a gospel and since none of my friends will read them I've come to indoctrinate you:
Booth "Beautiful Darkness" and "Beauty" by Kerascoët. Although "Beautiful Darkness" is VERY dark and makes little focus on it's "fantasy aspect (asides from the fact that the cast are all lil' fairies living happily in the forest), the writing and artwork are both beautiful, and I find myself turning back to re-read it months after I first did.
As for "Beauty", of the two from Kerascoët I've mentioned, it is the one delving more in the fantasy genre, the setting being itself much alike a classical fairy tale.The artwork is just as stunning as in Beautiful Darkness, and a bit clearer due the medium used, playing a lot with color palettes and with this sort of european medieval undertone to the artwork itself. Although it doesn't delve as much in the nature of men (faerie?)as the first one, this one does depict instances of sexual assault, so if you are deeply disturbed by such I do not recommend it.

On the less nature-of-men-ish, ax-wielding, undead-rising side of the spectrum there is Brides of Helheim. This one is actually a follow up from a comic called Helheim by the same authors, but I haven't yet had the time to read it completely. With a fantasy setting based around the Nordic mythos, it depicts the story of a draugr warrior against an evil warlock. I don't know if the writing is great or not, but I'm gay for Joelle Jones art so I strongly recommend this one (and Helheim I guess).

If you are looking for inspo in Fantasy tho, there's always the good ol' and innumerable comics/writings/media about World of Warcraft and DnD. Or, if you feel in the mood for some dank sweet dark fantasy, Darkest dungeon has little wording but a LOT of visuals that are great inspo. I'm sorry that the recommendations are so little, but I've been mostly wired to the cyberpunk sphere lately. However, I'll return with some more stuff when I remember/find some if u dont mind!

Well, on the comics side, some webcomics that seem relevant here would be:

-Zebra Girl (which has now concluded), a modern supernatural tale about a woman who gets turned into a demon and sometimes ends up in other dimensions

-Goblins, a D&D-inspired fantasy where the characters actually talk about game mechanics as just part of reality

-Strays, a short-lived fantasy-land comic focused on some animal shifter folks where the main guy and girl don't hook up (she's only 12 for most of the comic, soooo...). The setting is actually developed far beyond what is ever shown.

-Gunnerkrieg Court, a (modern?) fantasy with scifi aspects that's arguably at a school without too much being about school-related stuff. Lots of legendary beings show up.

-Girl Genius/Agatha H., webcomic/novelization respectively that's mostly about the adventures of one young woman in an alternate history full of mad science. It's gaslight fantasy, more fantastic and less gear-centric than more familiar steampunk.

The blog itself sound like it was written by someone who's angry at what Tolkien did to the genre like I am, so I might as well delve deep into it as well.


You see, the reason that Narnia series, despite I liking it at first, left a sour taste in my mouth (or my eyes aching, for that matter) Lewis didn't even so give the littlest attempt to hide the christian allegory from it. It's not even about the authors poking at religions, in fact, it's cool when they give their own interpretations about the belief systems, but its patronizing something that's already mainstream while stomping on another religion or anything pagan, regarding it as an evil force into the context of their story. But the way Lewis described Charn was haunting, how Narnia is born was beautiful. And I definitely miss how well he writes food porn.

I've only vaguely hear about Yahtzee since I don't really follow up with mainstream game critics and, or journalism, but something tells me his stuff just seeps with Douglas Adams. I think I'll easily like those.


Unusual magic systems like those sell it for me, although I can already foresee certain tropes after your mention 'eldritch'. I can only hope it has some twists in it, so I'll deposit my hopes on you. :V



Speaking of dark themes and the subject of sexual assault, I think I should mention that my avatar comes from Aliens: Labyrinth, which, like most of the Aliens series is very graphic, the Xenomorph itself being based around the idea of sexual assault so, nope, it's definitely not an issue for me.

Anyway, I did a quick Google of Beautiful Darkness and holy piss, the dreamy art is wonderful. It alone sold for me. Though, I don't think the 'fantasy' aspect being ever present is a must, if only it's a header for the story, the genre itself being a side note being just enough. Doesn't really matter that much for someone who likes to experiment with their writing, after all. We're talking about wanting to write a profile solely based on poems. And no wonder both stories got the mention of beauty in them because Beauty's style is also very, very pretty.

I'll just have to become more humble with anything related to nordic mythology, as decades consuming media that is over and over again is nothing more but regurgitated nordic mythology, only with personal twists to them, have left my mouth sour for the genre. Since you took me by the leash with Kerascoët, though, I'll trust that you have very good taste. :V

You see, I've been wanting to play Darkest Dungeon for a while now but never find myself the time or money to bother and buy it, or even 'get it' for that matter. Something about being a frustratingly hard dungeon crawler obviously inspired by Soulsborne gives me foreboding feeling that I'm 'gonna scream at this game more than to play it, hue. The art and lore is what's drawing me in. Any of these days I might go into it.

And, funny, I like DnD but I can't seem to get into it because I'm shy about the sort of character I want to play and what other players (and the DM) expect from players. Plus, all my character are hit or miss. I either make a weakling that would barely fit on a party or a olympian-esque half-god that would fit well above the 20th level mark. I might look into any "fan" stories, though. If you have any you can recommend, regardless of underlying themes, fire away!

I didn't get too behind Narnia to be honest. His Majesties Dark Materials didn't ever seem to ooze religions propaganda to me to be honest. But I can see how religious organization interpreted it that way.

And yes, Yahtzee has a lot of similarities with Douglas Adams. Adding on that, Yahtzee was very against cliches, and it shows in his work; he either makes fun of them or avoids them entirely. For instances, there is always a female character in every book but he avoids romances entirely - but pokes fun about "almost" romances by making you believe one will start and then ripping it away from you in a very real life sort of way. He dosnt like following the formula, and thats why i found him to be so refreshing.

This series is absolutely amazing. Mercedes Lackey takes a normal human setting and adds a flare of wonder and magic to it that is both powerful and inspiring. I myself have to commend it because I am not someone who likes to read books that often, but Magic's Pawn was absolutely incredible. This series has some good ole sweet mxm romance. It's beautiful.

Another series I can recommend is Mistborn, but I cannot give it a personal recommendation because I haven't read it myself. I do know lots of people who have enjoyed it though.

The third I want to recommend is definitely going to be World of Warcraft lore. I rea the three main lore books that are out, not the actual series books, and it got me really hyped for some fantasy style stories. While there are elves, dwarves, and orcs involved in the setting they are not in any way shape or form Tolkein inspired. (Tolkein didn't invent any of these races anyway, sooooo---He was a literature professor and was able to create his own setting and races from things that he was obviously inspired by. He did great stuff, and he obviously paved a huge path for many other creators and all that jazz, but he's not the inventor of this shit.)

I also recommend, if you're interested in getting into some gaming, the Elder Scrolls series. There are going to be varying opinions on which game to play first, which one matters or has the better story, and which one has the best "..." over "..." yadda yadda, but I'm telling you that none of that honestly matters. The entire series for Elder Scrolls itself is one of my biggest inspirations for getting a good strong grip back on my roleplay love. Skyrim was my introduction to the series, I've dabbled with Morrowind and Oblivion, but I can assure you that all three are fun to play in their own rights, but they do have varying game mechanics. The point of them is their stories and the lore they build. The series has been in the works since 1994, and it is personally one of my absolute favourites.

I highly recommend The Banned And The Banished series by James Clemens. I detract some points from it because it relies heavily on 'a girl's first menstruation is a mystical powerful fearsome something' trope, but if you can get past that, the story and characters are all intriguing and the books are written really well. It's one of those stories that sticks with you!

Also The Dark Tower, amazing Stephen King series. It takes post-apocalyptic sci-fi fantasy to a whole new level.

The Golden Compass series does it for me. I easily read it once a year. They're very easy reads and despite being labeled as young adult novels, there are a lot of undertones that I didn't understand until I was an adult. I can usually finish the entire trilogy in four days or so.

Glen Cook's The Black Company is another good series about a free company.

It's all written as journal entries from the official company histories, but done really fantastically. The [character] 'author' changes a couple times throughout the series, each flavoring the text in their own way.

I wholeheartedly recommend Holly Black's modern faerie books -- starting with Tithe. There's a whole trilogy, plus she has some one-offs like The Darkest Part of the Forest. She blends the urban with traditional gaelic mythology, and it's awesome. They're primarily YA books, so they're quick reads.

Oh hey, I read those. And I enjoyed them.

I can second the recommendations for The Elder Scrolls and Gunnerkrigg Court. If you're not looking for video games to play, that's understandable, though TES does have a pair of real-world novels out that I found entertaining. Not sure if they'd be a good starting point for the series, but if you do get into TES I recommend reading them. As for GC, I haven't kept up with it in a while because it started to touch on some themes that hit a bit too close to home for me, but it's a fantastic webcomic with great, ever-evolving art and an intriguing story and setting.

Now for my own recommendations! This is all gonna be webcomics, so bear with me.

Evan Dahm has a collection of fantasy webcomics on his website all set in the same world called Overside. Rice Boy and Order of Tales are complete, and Vattu is ongoing. They can be read in any order, though I read them in the order they were made (Rice Boy, Order of Tales, then Vattu). Rice Boy is a surreal fantasy adventure about an unlikely hero that made me cry a little by the end of it. Order of Tales is another adventure, less surreal than Rice Boy though just as good, about a storyteller who gets caught up in a twisted plot. Vattu is an epic about a culture clash to end all culture clashes, dealing with heavy themes like imperialism. It's the longest of the three by far, and it's absolutely amazing.

Unsounded is another fantasy webcomic, currently in progress. It's listed as being rated PG-13, but if you were to ask me I would rate it a solid R for the extreme gore it portrays. It also has nudity, sexual themes, children dying in cruel and unusual ways, and ought to come with a long list of other content warnings, so be aware. With that said... It's one of the best webcomics I've ever read. To put it lightly and avoid spoilers, it's a worldbuilding-heavy epic fantasy story about a girl and her zombie, and they get tangled up in a plot that threatens to topple the great powers of the world.

Digger has long since concluded, but it remains one of my other favorite webcomics. It's the story of a wombat who gets lost underground and finds herself in an unfamiliar land, and quickly becomes a tale of epic proportions involving hyenas, a talking shadow, an oracular slug, a dead god, and a few living ones. I can't say much more without spoilers, but I highly recommend you give it a read.

Blonde Sunrise is an in-progress fantasy webcomic that's currently on hiatus, but the hiatus is ending soon, so it's the perfect time to go archive binge the whole thing. The main character is a monster hunter who gets bitten and turned by a werewolf, but there's a lot more going on than just the double life he now has to lead. The art style of this webcomic jumps around a little in the beginning since the author went back and redrew some of it, but it gets a lot better, and the story is consistently great even if the art quality fluctuates some. This one I have a bit of a soft spot for because the author is a really cool person, and she's been working on Blonde Sunrise for a long time. Go read it if you like stories where the monsters aren't always the bad guys!

I knew I should've double-checked for posts in the thread before sending mine, and I was starting to wonder when you showed to mind. Y'see, there's a puzzle game based off finding a group of trickster deities with Coyote included on it and I just couldn't stop thinking about the time when you show Gunnerkrieg Court for the first time, way back in JC. It's something that's been on my "unwritten list" for stuff for read for a while now but I ever only remember of it whenever I'm reading about Coyote.

And the Zebra Girl character design is sick ass enough that it alone sold it for me. I feel that Goblins would sort of have the same feeling of Slack Wyrm, which is about the antics of a lazy dragon and that I really enjoy. Anyhow, 'gonna check them all out.



It's not even about the religious propaganda. I could imagine me enjoying a story with a christian - or any other, for that matter - aesop embedded in it as long as it was presented in a humble way, added the authors personal beliefs and how it differed from the 'mass', so to speak. I think it's good, makes me think, food for thought, y'know? But when it's propaganda, about anything, really, since I can see through this shit when I see it, it just bums me off. :v

And I'm already dreading picking Yathzee stuff only to see him making fun of tropes that I probably use in my sci-fi stories and what-not, holy mother. But it's fun that you (and some many on the thread, later on that) mention that because my head canon specifically include a male/female "pair" for protagonists with no romance whatsoever. I'm too trying to sUbVeRt eXpEcTatIoNs with that too. To be honest, I never related to the feeling of a traditional relationship forming between couples in media, actually, it's something you know its coming, its a situation that's present in real life, like, you don't see polyamourous or LGBT+ couples that commonly and what-not, so, yeah, we share the same 'icky' for guy-girl couples at the end of the story too. :v



I'll confess that the first paragraph of the Setting section of Wikipedia about the Mistborn series got more of my attention than how good you say the Last Herald Mage series are, please forgive me. :v Buuut since there's somebody else who's recommending them (Nova) I might give 'em a try. I've never read anything with MxM ships, 'gonna be honest, I'm that uncultured when it comes to literature, but it's a selling point for me.

But, hell, was that Wikipedia first paragraph a hook. I've mentioned earlier that I loved how dreadful Charn, in Narnia, looked and the whole idea of an apocalyptic setting in fantasy is very alluring to me since, given the setting, the causes are anything that the author could think of and the solutions, if there's any, might be unthinkably more orthodox than a modern/sci-fi post-apocalypse scenario, unless the author really tries it.

I'll have to stretch a little to try to be interested in the WoW/TeS expanded lore, though. A while ago, I got into EVE Online, which has extensive lore that I think many players are not even aware of but I was only interested on the lore for the very short period I was into the mess that it called itself an MMO. They were very good reads, but I can't help but feel a certain emptiness for missing the big picture, what the extra lore complemented. So that's kind of how I would feel with WoW. And I've dropped more than 90 hours in Skyrim bu the whole shenanigans about being a chosen one, having an entire village wanting your head for killing a chicken, old poor ladies sending bands of mercenaries because you stole a leek from her home - unbeknownst to her - and secret societies and deities of chaos and destruction literally licking your feet and 'mechanically' begging or sometimes forcing you to join them for the story to progress made the game get stale for me. The remains of the Dwemer civilization is what got my greatest interest, but its dungeons were filled with lines upon lines upon lines of overpowered mooks and exploring them started to become a hassle. Finding the actual Elder Scroll, which finally felt like a big deal for me in the game, was gated by more mooks and, well, my interest dropped shortly after.

But I've heard good things about Morrowind and Oblivion, and one particular aspect that intrigues me is the whole thing about Hist and the connection they got with Argonians. Stuff I definitely didn't see in Skyrim, although I know I'm probably the worst example to represent TES as a series so I should give it some slack. I'll try to look some stuff on it just because you said so, though.

Anyway, I know that Tolkien didn't design the races in his stories, but it's how much attention and widespread in media they got, to the point where creators preferred to export elves, dwarves and what-not, with the archetypes they were know for (Dwarves = industrious, underground folk; Elves = Arcane beings either very good or terribly evil/oppressive; Orcs = Always violent things with a penchant for disorder, even when they're morally good.) Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Tolkien works or something. For instance, I like how people do their own twists with elves and orcs in D&D and, as somebody who wasted MONTHS playing Dwarf Fortress obsessively so I naturally got in love with dwarves and even thought impossible to come up with a race that would express why I like them so much without making a xerox out of them.

No need to hide anything in spoilers, though, I'm not that sensitive, lololol. For a moment I thought you were talking about Mistborn or Last Herald spoilers I completely skipped over this paragraph. :v



Ah, I'm not unfamiliar with authors unhealthily obsessed with the bodily fluids exclusive to the opposite genders. We're talking about me being an spectator of a community with interest in the supernatural/conspiracies where succubi/incubi are a common subject and how the, uh, 'fluids' have very powerful qualities to them.

Bull, if you ask me.

But, boi, ain't it something for freaky horror stories. It immediately reminded me of the Bloodborne series and the state of Yharnam in the game. I can't remember if the theories I've read on the internet mingled with what the game implied, but the whole city being in that apocalyptic state, many mentions to the moon and the obssession with blood in the game is somehow alluding if not directly mentioning a period. In fact, I don't know who said it, but someone mentioned that the entire city is 'moody' because it's on its period. Freaky. Stuff I would expect from Lovecraftian-inspired writing.

Plus, Stephen King is kind of cheating. :v
I consider everything that man have written as a must read in my list and I kind of wanted to see what King could come up with writing fantasy. I've already cried the first chapter of Four Seasons (Shawshank Redemption), and I haven't even got to the end and I was already very curious about Dark Tower. Was expecting all sorts of mind numbing stuff that could compare to the King in Yellow series (which I think inspired Lovecraft). Hell, I haven't even read it and halfway sure the Crimson King was directly inspired by the titular King in Yellow, even though such isn't exactly a character.

Definitely 'gonna read both.



I'm so glad I only barely saw mention to the movies that I may enjoy the written works without having my mental images of the story "imposed" by, well, the movies. :v I don't filter the target audience when looking for something to read, actually. I can enjoy a light-hearted adventure if I can relate to the characters or feel compassionate for them as much I can enjoy stories with more dramatic or downright darker subjects. In fact, young adult series might even be better because it might be easier to read, since I'm obviously not naturally english-speaking and sometimes have to read e-books with a dictionary website one the next tab. :v



From how you described, it seems that the complete "chronicle" would take some figuring by the reader to join up the pieces of a scattered story and, hell, I just love that and the whole format of experiencing a story through the diaries and journals of characters of said story. Kind of like how you read files in the Resident Evil/Silent Hill games, y'know? I'm definitely 'gonna give it a try.



I'm 'gonna trust you on this one because urban/modern settings weren't exactly what I'm looking for, but, then again, the only book I've read kind of started in a modern-ish setting and I ended enjoying anyway. Bonus points for being young adult targeted as well. 'Gonna give it a try, for sure, thanks.



"What is this average teenager werewolf romantic comedy that's 'gonna unravel in a dark drama?? How could Malachite, of all people could recommen--"

Goddamn, is Blonde Sunrise good. I was checking these out but once I started with it I couldn't stop. I've loved all of the ones you recommended, along with Gunnenkrieg Court when Nova also told me about it. In fact, Digger and Unsounded felt like the most intriguing to me but I usually let those for times I really want to pass time, because I was almost instantly hooked by both. I don't think I'll take too long before binge reading Blonde Sunrise until where it was left at, goddamn, it's so good. :'U

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