Here are my top picks for Fantasy Fiction aka one of my favorite genres.
If you love the adventure of Harry
Potter, with the added bonus of the overlap between our Muggle world and
his wizarding world, these books are for you.
- The Artemis Fowl series. This brilliant series by Eoin Colfer currently includes eight novels, the first simply titled Artemis Fowl. They cover the adventures of a brilliant criminal mastermind who discovers the world of fairies and has several dangerous interactions both against them and with them. Who is this dastardly villain? A twelve-year old boy by the name of Artemis Fowl.
- The Charlie Bone series. Written by Jenny Nimmo, this series has eight novels to date, the first being Midnight for Charlie Bone. Charlie Bone is a twelve-year old boy who can converse and "visit" with people in pictures or photographs. Sent to a special school for both magically and artistically gifted students, Charlie discovers the dark side to having magical classmates and teachers.
If you secretly love the Twilight saga, but (hopefully) recognize that better vampire fiction exists, look no further.
- The Blue Bloods series. Filled with friendship and romance, gossip and scandal, action and suspense, this series by Melissa de la Cruz is a must-read for anyone attracted to the glamorous aspect of immortality.
- Sunshine. One of my favorite vampire novels, by one of my favorite authors (Robin McKinley), tells the story of Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, a baker with almost-forgotten powers, who forms an unlikely alliance--and friendship--with Constantine, a vampire.
- The Eternal Kiss: 13 Vampire Tales of Blood and Desire. In this anthology of vampire-centric stories, each author takes a different look at what it means to receive the "eternal" kiss of a vampire.
If you openly loathe the Twilight saga
for its thinly veiled misogyny, then we should be best friends. And you
should read these books.
- The Gemma trilogy. Libba Bray has written my second-favorite trilogy, set in Victorian England. The novels are A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet, Far Thing. Gemma is a teenage girl who has been living in India, but who is sent to boarding school in England. With her new friends, she discovers a secret magical world called the realms. These books have magic, adventure, romance, sadness, death, mystery, plot twists... anything and everything one could want in a fantasy fiction trilogy.
- Graceling. One of my all-time favorite books, written by Kristin Cashore. Katsa lives in a world where some people are Graced with certain skills. She has the unfortunate Grace of killing. In a quest to save a princess, she learns more about herself and about her Grace. Katsa is a wonderfully complex character. The reader and Katsa go through her self-discovery together, with subtle foreshadowing that is brilliantly woven in.
- Fire. This is the companion novel to Graceling, with only one character overlapping, and proves to be as brilliant as her first novel. Vivid scenery, complicated characters, plot twists, everything. Fire is a human monster, a more beautiful and stronger version of humans with the power to read and to influence minds.
- The Black Jewels Trilogy. Out of all the fantasy fiction books I have read, I rank Anne Bishop's trilogy as second only to the Harry Potter series. She has created an entirely different world, not only with magic but with perceptions of gender roles and power. The novels are Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows, and Queen of the Darkness. They chronicle the childhood, youth, and maturity of Jaenelle, the girl destined to become Queen of Darkness. Be forewarned that these books include violence, child abuse, and sex, often in graphic descriptions.
- The Princess Series. Jim C. Hines has rewritten several classic fairy tales, transforming the women from traditionally wimpy princesses to ass-kicking special agents (who just happen to be royal). This quartet includes: The Stepsister Scheme, The Mermaid's Madness, Red Hood's Revenge, and The Snow Queen's Shadow.
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