Fantasy Books To Escape Into This Winter
- jdsantacrose
- Jan 13, 2019
- 3 min read
I’ve always found winters to be hard. It’s a combination of the low light and the isolation due to bad weather and the fear of spreading or catching illnesses. One thing that I find helps is to escape into a great fantasy world. I tend to alternate between books and television but as I said in my last post I am trying to make reading my default activity in 2019 so I thought I’d make a list of some of my favorite books to escape into. If you need to get out of this world for awhile, consider trying one of these:
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors. He excels at building intricate worlds with complicated magic systems and best of all he doesn’t break his own rules when using those magic systems. There’s never a moment where he uses magic to fix a plot hole. Elantris is a stand alone novel. He has also written a number of great series which I’ll link to below but I think Elantris is a great jumping off point for Sanderson. You experience him at his best but without the commitment of a series. Elantris follows the story of three main characters; Prince Raoden, Princess Serene, and a priest named Hrathen.
If you try Elantris and like it consider trying the Mistborn Trilogy next (https://amzn.to/2VWFfrn). Or if you want to get into something really intense try The Way Of Kings (https://amzn.to/2VXbLcK) which is the first book in what will eventually be a ten book epic. So far Sanderson has written three of ten books so there’s a lot more of this story to come.
Sword and Verse by Kathy MacMillan
Kathy MacMillan is local to Pittsburgh. Sword and Verse is a story of a country in transition. It is told from the point of view of a high ranking slave named Raisa who is to be a tutor to the next Prince. In the process of her training she falls in love with the current Prince Mati, who’s future son she is being trained to teach one day. It’s a story of resistance, courage, and the struggle to do the right thing when every option seems like a bad one.
The sequel is called Dagger and Coin (https://amzn.to/2T5O40d).
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is another favorite of mine. He has written a number of fantasy novels for both an adult audience and a young adult audience. Neverwhere is for an adult audience. It follows Richard Mayhew who helps a hurt girl named Door and then, apparently as a consequence, becomes invisible. No one he used to know recognizes him. His world as he knew it ceases to exist. He then goes into London Below and the story proceeds from there.
Other favorites by Gaiman include The Ocean at the End of the Lane (https://amzn.to/2SVh4HS) and The Graveyard Book (https://amzn.to/2TQBFwS).
The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman
The Magicians Trilogy is kind of like Harry Potter for adults. The story follows several college aged magicians as they navigate school, partying, relationships, fighting a monster, and traveling to other worlds. These books are also the source material for a television series by the same name. This series help my attention like few other things have. I couldn’t put them down.
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
A Wizard of Earthsea is the first book in a five book series. It follows a young mage named Ged. To be honest the first book in this series was my least favorite of the five. Someone encouraged me to try the next one and I absolutely loved it. I’m so glad I kept going. These are also relatively short reads which makes it accessible despite being five books long. The other books are The Tombs of Atuan (https://amzn.to/2MhJ1a5), The Farthest Shore (https://amzn.to/2MiJmtd), Tehanu (https://amzn.to/2T206HC), and The Other Wind (https://amzn.to/2MiIBAe).
Comments