Fantasy Reading List - N
Fantasy books I recommend, sorted by author's last name in alphabetical order.
- The Abhorsen Trilogy by Garth Nix A good young adult series that is also accessible to older readers-it's a trilogy set in a world where the boundary between life and death is often crossed in the quest for forbidden power. The only one who can "police" these necromancers is the Abhorsen. Very imaginative with grounding in realism. I do like the ending of the trilogy where it's not a complete happy ending (but still satisfying) as everything comes with a price. World is strange too because it has a more magical world that overlaps slightly with a more mundane world so some of the dynamics found in Harry Potter with the Muggles' inability to acknowledge magic can be seen here. But this trilogy is distinctly doing its own thing.
- Tiger Burning Bright by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Mercedes Lackey & Andre Norton Great stand-alone novel set in a fantasy world about three generations of a royal family who must deal with sudden political and magical threats to their life and country. I really loved the story of the daughter the most just because it tied up nicely but at the same time, it wasn't a fairy tale ending. I think I liked her story the most because it involved the most supporting characters and the supporting characters made the book for me. It didn't hurt that the daughter knew what she wanted and she wanted to be a freaking spymaster-warrior, dammit and no one would stop her. Although the superhero alter ego type of life that the grandmother had and the pirate that the mother had at her beck and call was kinda awesome too.
- The Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik A really cool take on dragons that is way better than Christopher Paolini's D&D rip-off Inheritance Trilogy. Interesting thing to note is that Naomi Novik actually started writing as a fanfiction author but she's definitely made it. Set in a Napoleonic times with a twist: instead of just a naval and ground combat theater, there is now also aerial combat. How do they fight aerially without fighter planes or modern technology as we know it? With dragons! The world itself is cool because it's like an alternate history Earth but with idiosyncratic adjustments. Technically, this could even be considered a sci-fi book because the dragons themselves could be explained away with science. But I think this series is categorized as fantasy because Novik doesn't really bore us with the particulars of genealogy and just sets out to narrate an adventure. Incidentally, Peter Jackson has an option on this series so it could be one of his next fantasy projects!