Three favorites that define my taste in Fantasy novels
I try not to write off any genre in my reading life because I’ve always found exceptions to my preferences. I stay away from horror novels, but Lone Women by Victor Lavalle and Victorian Psycho by Virginia Feito were memorable reads that I still recommend. I’m on record saying I am not a big fantasy or Romantasy reader, but I devoured Thistlemarsh by Moorea Corrigan (the #1 clicked book link in my latest reading reflection notes!). I don’t love giant tomes, but Lonesome Dove and Les Misérables top my list of long classics. I value variety in my reading life because I would hate to miss out on surprising reading experiences like these—and because genre isn’t the only way to categorize stories. Books contain entire ecosystems of voice, diction, tone, tropes, theme, archetypes, structures, and interconnected texts. Finding a great book in your least favorite genre often requires looking past genre conventions and, instead, focusing on literary elements you adore across your reading life as a whole.
When it comes to fantasy, my highly specific reading taste was defined in my pre-teens, and it hasn’t changed much since.
Ah, back to where it all began. I remember, in middle school, trying to read Redwall and The Lord of the Rings. Though my reading level suited those books just fine, they didn’t capture my attention. I needed something to keep me grounded in my fantasy novels. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, for example, opened with WWII history and sibling squabbles—I could access the real world, then get lost in the fantasy as it unfolded.
Alanna by Tamora Pierce was set in a mystical realm, but the court politics and rules felt similar to stories from the Royal Diaries series—or the Joan of Arc Wishbone episode (yes, it is titled Bone of Arc) that still lives in my head rent free. Ella Enchanted is, of course, a fairytale retelling. The familiar story welcomed me in, while the twists and turns kept me turning the pages. In Inkheart, the magic spills out of a book and into our realm, with storytelling as a comforting backbone and theme. Two thirds of these favorites include romantic subplots, another element I enjoy in fantasy novels. But when I connect these core childhood texts to my fantasy favorites of today, it’s the history, fairytale, and meta storytelling elements that stick around.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
I’m working on a historical fiction edition of this genre-focused newsletter series, where I very well could have fit Outlander, but Gabaldon herself refuses to categorize the novel, saying it’s a mix of genres. According to the lore, she began writing a history of the the Jacobite uprising when Claire, a heroine from the 1940s, kept interrupting the narrative. Finally, Gabaldon wrote her into the story, and I am ever grateful. As a girl who grew up mixing potions with weeds in the backyard, devouring historical accounts via the Dear America series, and soaked up every bit of swooning available in YA literature, the entire Outlander series perfectly suits my fantasy reading taste. (Even though I only made it through book four or five, oops).
The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin
The first in a duology, this is a brilliant allegorical fantasy novel about an ancient, monstrous evil spreading across New York City. Each of the five boroughs is represented by a human, and they must come together to fight for survival. Ripe for literary analysis but fast-paced and heart-racing, Jemisin’s weird, witty, and anti-Lovecraftian novel fits squarely in my “real world fantasy” matrix. My adult craving for deeper themes and cultural commentary meets my childhood fantasy in this spectacular novel.
The Isle in the Silver Sea by Tasha Suri
In my blurb for The Fall Romance Collection, I literally recommended this book to lovers of Tamora Pierce, Inkheart, and fairytales. Storytelling shapes national identity in this sapphic twist on Arthurian folklore. Simran, a witch, and Vina, a knight, are both “incarnates,” destined to live out their assigned love story from lifetime to lifetime, facing devastating heartbreak with every iteration. As they approach their inevitable fate, the women stare down death, assassins, and suspicious archivists. One of my favorite parts of this novel is the archival snippets at the start of each chapter, providing layers of world and theme-building.
Bonus Recs: Fantasy Graphic Novels
Check these out if you want a read-in-one-sitting escape this summer.
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