# Fantasy Reading List



## Aqua Buddha

If someone is trying to master the fantasy genre, what novels or stories would you consider to be required reading?

Let's make a list.


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## Ophiucha

*Some of the classics of the genre,*
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum
"The Coming Race" by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll
"The King of Elfland's Daughter" by Lord Dunsany
"The Worm Ouroboros" by Eric RÃ¼cker Eddison
"The Little House in the Fairy Wood" by Ethel Cook Eliot
"The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame
"The Water-Babies" by Charles Kingsley
"The Chronicles of Narnia" by C.S. Lewis
"The Princess and the Goblin" by George MacDonald
"Lud-in-the-Mist" by Hope Mirrlees
"The Wood Beyond the World" and "The Well at World's End" by William Morris
"Titus Groan", "Gormenghast", and "Titus Alone" by Mervyn Peake
"The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien
"Islandia" by Austin Tappan Wright *

*And some of my personal favorites,*
"The Books of Abarat" series by Clive Barker
"American Gods" by Neil Gaiman
"Good Omens" by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
"The Fionavar Tapestry" trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay
"Earthsea" series by Ursula K. LeGuin
"Bas-Lag" series by China MiÃ©ville
"Abhorsen" series by Garth Nix
"Temeraire" series by Naomi Novik
"Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling
"Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn" series by Tad Williams

* Not really fantasy, but by far the best example of worldbuilding you can find.


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## Donny Bruso

Not to rain on the parade here, please continue throwing out books as you please. But I think the fantasy genre is too big and diverse for anyone(except maybe Ravana) to 'master'. It all hinges on the question of what fantasy is, and that's different for everyone. We all want something different out of our fantasy. Some people want steampunk, some people want traditional epic fantasy with elves and dwarves, and some of us are content with just humans running around butchering each other for our own selfish power-mad reasons.

The only titles I feel compelled throw out there are:
_A Song of Ice and Fire_ series, by George R.R. Martin
_The First Law_ trilogy, by Joe Abercrombie
_Talion: Revenant_ by Michael Stackpole
_Villains by Necessity_ by Eve Forward
_Neverwhere_ by Neil Gaiman (much better than _American Gods_ IMO)
Either pair of David Edding's Series, either _Belgariad/Malloreon_ or _Elenium/Tamuli_


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## Ophiucha

Still, whether you are writing about elves romancing teenage girls or a mad man cutting open a dragon, there are books that are somewhat universally acknowledged as classics in the genre, and those books that are particularly well liked by many fantasy readers and writers. Obviously there are thousands of fantasy books out there, but I'd say no sensible list of them could be without Tolkien, LeGuin, Pratchett, etc., and I think most would agree.


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## Ravana

Donny Bruso said:


> I think the fantasy genre is too big and diverse for anyone(except maybe Ravana) to 'master'



Thank you.  But I can hardly claim that, either… any more than I am "master" of any field: I'm just too unfocused. I do breadth far more than depth.

Ophiucha's list is in my opinion a good starting point–but I suspect our tastes are somewhat broader than many other people's. If one were prepping for a doctoral exam in English fantasy literature, everything on the first of her two lists would unquestionably be on your required reading list. Lit departments tend to be rather conservative in outlook, however (not wanting to bestow the cherished "classic" label on anything overhastily), so they'd be less likely to put anything published within their own lifetimes on it. So while the works on the list almost certainly belong there, they may not suit everyone's tastes: apart from a couple I'm not sure of, all of them were written prior to 1960, most decades earlier than that, and except for Lewis and Tolkien, none could be described as being "modern" in style or diction (Peake's language could be, but his style is very much reminiscent of Dickens)–in many cases, the author deliberately employs archaisms, and to a far greater extent than Spenser ever dreamed of. 

In fact, the first items I thought to add to the list are not newer, but rather older–considerably so, in fact:
- _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ and _The Tempest_, William Shakespeare
- _The Faerie Queene_, Edmund Spenser

Spenser's name has come up elsewhere… and I suspect the only reason Ophiucha didn't include it here was because she knew that most people "won't like it"–inasmuch as Spenser was a contemporary of Shakespeare, and in addition was writing in a formal poetic style (the stanza form he uses he invented himself, and is today called the "Spenserian stanza," in fact), and on occasion deliberately used language that was "archaic" even for his time; as a result, anyone not accustomed to reading 16th century English will find it "difficult." Well, screw that: put the effort in. (I do suggest a well-footnoted edition, so you don't have to constantly refer to a dictionary at the outset.) Once you've had a few chapters of practice, you'll barely notice the style–and the story itself is, well… "magical." 

In addition, Aesop's _Fables_, _Grimm's Fairy Tales_, and a great deal of European mythology would make the list. _Beowulf_, probably. The Arthur legends (Mallory's _Le Morte d'Arthur_, or any number of more recent versions… he didn't make the stories up himself any more than the Grimm brothers did theirs. Which reminds me of two things I need to add to the following list.…)

For more recent works, I'll refer you to my response under "Should we bother with prologues" (response #22, page 3, where I bullet-point them for convenience) rather than reprint it here. (The ones I note as _not_ being worth reading should, of course, not be considered for present purposes.…) Certainly the Howard, the Leiber and at least some of the Moorcock should occupy a place on any list of formative works in the field. I'd put Zelazny's Amber books on the list as "personal favorites," though I believe they could easily stand up under the more restrictive "classics/required reading" criteria as well… whatever you take those to be. And I would absolutely recommend the Cook and Brust books to anybody who enjoys fantasy, whether or not these eventually make it into a narrower canon.

-

Added to the above here, as they aren't involved in the discussion of prologues: T. H. White's _The Once and Future King_ and Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (_The Crystal Cave_, _The Hollow Hills_, _The Last Enchantment_), both modern treatments of the Arthur legends but both worth reading in their own rights. Plus, I suppose, if you're obsessed with reading everything Arthurian, Marion Zimmer Bradley's _The Mists of Avalon_, which, however, I cannot recommend, in spite of the fact that it is unquestionably well-written… if anything, _because_ it is well-written.…


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## Ophiucha

Yes, I omitted Shakespeare and Spenser because of how old they are. While I certainly love them, most people I've recommended Spenser to had a right fit trying to read it.  But if you can take the language, I would definitely second your recommendation. I sort of made my first list up there "works that are for children, or are very similar to Tolkien". Except _Islandia_, I just wish more people would read _Islandia_. I will take any excuse to namedrop it.

And I will definitely second any and all books of myths and folklore. I have a fondness for the Norse sagas, Eddas, etc. myself, but this is likely because I'm half-British and a quarter Swedish and basically grew up on Saxons and Vikings.


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## Mdnight Falling

For me it depends on what kind of fantasy you're writing. Not all fantasy has elves and what not in it. For instance let's say you wanted to write about a world within our own world, which in itself if not sci-fi LOL there are many worlds within our own if you actually think about it. While bugs and whatnot are in our world, they see themselves as in a different world since they're so much smaller then everything else o.o I don't know if they know we're living things too we may just be big "things" to them LOL But yeah I'd suggest Richard Adams' Watership Down, which is the world according to a warren of rabbits. Very good read by the read even if you aren't writing something like that LOL.

For what we'd consider "real" fantasy, really, dig into the classics the Lord of the Rings, or even shakespeare... Really Shakespear wrote some fantasy read a Mid Summer Night's Dream LOL, or even more modern things like R.A. Salvatore or his War of the Spider Queen six book series which is written by 6 authors who are becoming known now, good read there too...

Depending on what you want to write about... Read books with those things in it  it's informative and it's fun >^.^<


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## Ophiucha

Yes, we could make a separate list for each subgenre of fantasy. Would take a bit of effort, though, and the influence is still inevitably coming from the same place. I mean, a lot of fairy tales seem to take place on an ambiguously Earthen place. Some are even more directly "this takes place in Germany/France/England", so I mean, it's hard to really say there WERE subgenres until very recently. Although it is worth recommending the Gothic horror era, for its influence on urban fantasy. Guy Endore, Bram Stoker, etc.

And I really can't support a rec for R.A. Salvatore. He's just... not good. I don't really care if someone likes his works, but I would not put them on any "must read" fantasy list, and certainly not any list that's trying to create some sort of understanding of the genre.


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## Philip Overby

I can't really create a fantasy list either, like Donny said.  People's likes and dislikes are too divergent in fantasy for there to be some kind of "completist list."  I think if you write fantasy you should read Tolkien for sure.  If you haven't read Tolkien, that's sort of like being a mechanic and never reading a book about how to fix cars.  Maybe you can fix cars pretty good without doing it, but you'd probably do it better if you just tried reading the manual.  Most of the stuff I like is about as far from Tolkien's style as possible also, so he's not really my jump-off point to read others like him.  Most others like him, quite frankly, suck.

So any books that are recommended to me, I quit listening to other people's opinions unless they are pretty close to my own.  Saves me money and heart-break.  So if someone likes Martin or Abercrombie and tells me to read "The Dirty Pirates of Butt Mountain" then I'll probably give it a try.  If someone likes Tolkien rip-off books or Eragon and tells me to read "The Most Awesome Book Ever Written that Will Haunt Your Dreams Forever" then I'll probably pass.  That's the wonder of Amazon's "Listmania!"  

So my "personal" must-read list (which most people may not even like) is this:

A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin
Malazan Book of the Fallen series by Steve Erikson
Most anything by China Mieville (with the little accent mark I can't find on my keyboard)
First Law series by Joe Abercrombie
Scott R.R. Bakker's stuff (what is the deal with R.R. anyway?)
Robert E. Howard 
Fritz Lieber
Terry Pratchett's Discworld series
Tolkien

Anyway, those are my only "must-reads."  Sure there are lots of other classics, but I can give or take most of them.


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## Donny Bruso

Ophiucha said:


> And I really can't support a rec for R.A. Salvatore. He's just... not good. I don't really care if someone likes his works, but I would not put them on any "must read" fantasy list, and certainly not any list that's trying to create some sort of understanding of the genre.


 
I wouldn't say he's not good, so much as his writing is simply nothing special. Especially the Drizzt series, however many there are of them now. I lost count after like 6 different trilogies... Those are just stupidly repetitive. I totally agree that he doesn't come up on any 'must read' lists, unless you're writing fantasy in the forgotten realms. However in that case you've clearly already brokered a deal with WoTC, so it may be a moot point.


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## At Dusk I Reign

_Lord of the Rings_, by Tolkien, _Mythago Wood_ by Holdstock , _Lord Foul's Bane _by Donaldson and _Death Is A Lonely Business_ by Bradbury. What else is required?


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## Ophiucha

At Dusk I Reign said:


> _Lord Foul's Bane _by Donaldson


 A Thomas Covenant fan? Amazing! <3
Everyone I've mentioned them to either hates the books or hasn't heard of them.


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## At Dusk I Reign

Ophiucha said:


> A Thomas Covenant fan? Amazing! <3


We are few, apparently, but like Bannor we suffice.


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## Digital_Fey

Let's see...avoiding most of the obvious/previously mentioned series, I think this pretty much sums up the books which have influenced me most as a fantasy reader. Doubtless I'll remember another twenty or so as soon as I log off  

Equal Rites - Terry Pratchett
Neverwhere - Neil Gaiman
Tithe - Holly Black
The Last Wish - Andrzej Sapkowski
Ombria in Shadow - Patricia McKillip
The Chronicles of Prydain - Lloyd Alexander
The Princess and the Goblins - George McDonald


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## At Dusk I Reign

Waylander and Legend by David Gemmell and Magician by Raymond E. Feist are three others I'd throw into the mix. None are startlingly original in what they do, but they fall under the category of 'A Good Tale Well Told', and for anyone starting out on the long winding road of reading a much-maligned sphere of literature that's good enough.


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## Dr.Dorkness

Well, it depends on what you want to read/learn from the book. Of course I agree with previous posts. (For the ones I've read, others I need to write down to read myself.) But I would certainly read the work of Markus Heitz. especialy The Dwarves Series, these books give a refreshing look on the dwarven race. but his other works are also refreshing IMO.


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## Behelit

I want to sticky this thread, but I'd like it if the OP could organize each posters suggestions into the original post or create a master list that combines a couple of the highest recommended from each post. That way anyone that refers to this thread has a quick-view list to refer to as opposed to having to read through individual posts in order to create their own.

Thank you for all of your contributions, keep them coming if any more come to mind.


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## At Dusk I Reign

Behelit said:


> ...keep them coming if any more come to mind.


Just thought of another classic: Little, Big by John Crowley. I haven't read it since I was ten (or thereabouts, I forget exactly when it was published but it must've been the beginning of the 80s). It's been stuck in my brain since then, though, so Crowley must have done something right. I'm going to hunt for a copy tomorrow.


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## DianthasProphecy

I have a few I'd love to add

First, I must say I completely agree that The Abhorsen Chronicles by Garth Nix should be read by all...It's my favorite.
I like the Divine or Partholon series by PC Cast as well
Other than that, most of my favorites have already been mentioned, those two are just the top of my list. (And my overflowing book shelf....)

Oh, and I almost forgot, The Unsuspecting Mage series by Brian S. Pratt. I stumbled across it when the first book was a Free Fridays book on my Nook. It is wonderful as well!


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## Ophiucha

DianthasProphecy said:


> I like the Divine or Partholon series by PC Cast as well


 
I must admit great hesitance at that suggestion, after having read _House of Night_ by PC Cast and her daughter. Perhaps it was her daughter who made that book unreadable, though. What are they about?


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## DianthasProphecy

Well, these books are by her alone, and are more geared towards adults. 
This is the summary of the First one, Divine by Mistake.
The only excitement Shannon Parker expects while on summer vacation is a little shopping. But when an antique vase calls to her, she finds herself transported to Partholon, where she's treated like a goddess. A very temperamental goddess…

Somehow Shannon has stepped into another's role as the Goddess Incarnate of Epona. And while there's an upside—what woman doesn't like lots of pampering?—it also comes with a ritual marriage to a centaur and threats against her new people. Oh, and everyone disliking her because they think she's her double.

Somehow Shannon needs to figure out how to get back to Oklahoma without being killed, married to a horse or losing her mind….

Second one, Divine by Choice

hannon Parker has finally come to terms with life in the mythical world of Partholon. She loves her centaur husband, her connection to the goddess Epona and the pampering that comes with both! She's almost forgotten her old life on Earth—especially when she discovers she's pregnant….

Then a sudden burst of power sends her back to Oklahoma. Without magic, Shannon can't return to Partholon—and so she needs to find help. Trouble is, it might take the form of a man as tempting as her husband. And along the way she'll discover that being divine by mistake is a lot easier than being divine by choice….

Third: Divine by Blood
Conceived in a lie and trapped in a tree throughout her gestation, Morrigan's birth was truly magical. After that start, she spent the next eighteen years raised as a normal girl in Oklahoma.

Upon discovering the truth of her heritage, her rage and grief take on a power of their own, carrying her back to the world of Partholon. Yet, instead of being respected as the daughter of the Goddess Incarnate, Morrigan feels like a shunned outsider.

In her desperation to belong to Partholon, she confronts forces she can't fully understand or control. And soon a strange darkness draws closer….


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## At Dusk I Reign

I'll add The Anvil of Ice by Michael Scott Rohan. I first read it during a _very_ long car journey back in the 80s. It says something about the quality of the writing that I lost track of the outside world as soon as I started reading. I haven't read the other books in the Winter of the World series, sadly, but I'll get around to it someday even if I have to lose a limb in the process.


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## Janga

Robin Hobb's Farseer trilogy and The Tawny Man trilogy. Both are EXCELLENT fantasy series'.


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## Artless

Oh COME on! 
Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time is a MUST read for someone who wants to 'master' the fantasy genre. GODDAMNIT!!! Why does everyone hate it so? 
Also, Feist's series(And a Faeire tale!), Janny Wurts Daughter of the empire series (Written with Feist and complementing the Riftwar saga)
What about Katherine Kerr? She writes incredibly well.
Lian Hern.
I would also suggest Goodkind, Sara Douglas' first trilogy, the Shanara series (Even though I don't particularily like them)
Stephen Kings Dark Tower series (even though I don't particularly like them either)
And, Lovecraft.
I would definitely agree with Tolkien, Robin Hobb, Ursula Le Guin, G.R.R.M, RA Salvatore.


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## Black Dragon

Hey Artless,

That's a great list.  And I also agree that the Wheel of Time is a must read.  The first few books were great.  The problem is that midway through the series Jordan lost sight of the larger narrative, causing the main storyline to grind to a near halt.  Otherwise, they are terrific books.


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## Kelise

Scott Lynch's Gentlemen Bastard series. Anything by Jennifer Fallon is pretty good. Glenda Larke's Watergiver's series is pretty epic (one book still to come out). And I agree with the suggestions of Robin Hobb and Sara Douglass. 

Juliet Marillier is more historical fiction, but as it's set in England at the time of druids and such, it seems fantasy enough to me. Sean Williams is usually more Sci-fi but as the same usually go hand in hand, he's quite fantasy also.

...Yes, most of mine are Australian suggestions, they're pretty much unknown but in my travels I've seen them in most bookstores overseas, so there's no excuse


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## Artless

Black Dragon said:


> The problem is that midway through the series Jordan lost sight of the larger narrative, causing the main storyline to grind to a near halt.


 
I'll agree the books definitely slow down around 5 and 6, but I can't see how else they could have gone. With so very many differing threads of the pattern to keep track off... (Whoooo In book reference! )
Actually, the last time I re-read the series, I found I enjoyed these books a lot more than I used too.

I think Jordan's series is a must read for both world building and character dev. 'Nuff said.

And Starconstant, ain't nothing wrong with Aussie suggestions!
Aussie all the way!


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## myrddin173

Personally I think to truly understand what "epic fantasy" is you have to read the Wheel of Time.  I would also suggest reading The Heir Trilogy and the Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima, she is one of my favorite authors.


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## kennyc

Ophiucha said:


> A Thomas Covenant fan? Amazing! <3
> Everyone I've mentioned them to either hates the books or hasn't heard of them.


 

Oh that is sad, but I also know it is true. I love his Covenant books!!


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## kennyc

I loved/love the Chronicles Amber books by Zelazny. 

The Chronicles of Amber - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


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## Helbrecht

Jim Butcher's _The Dresden Files_ series definitely needs a recommendation. I'm not particularly far into them, but the books I've read so far have failed to disappoint. They're not particularly intense or thought-provoking - the lighthearted snark that's ever-present in the narration keeps it from being so - but the world is about as well-built as urban fantasy gets and the writing is fantastic. 

Apart from that, I could parrot the names of Gaiman and MiÃ©ville as much as I like, but their foremost works have already been mentioned here.

I'd also like to recommend a series that scarce few people seem to know about. Have any of you encountered the _Orcs_ series by Stan Nicholls? They were published initially as _Bodyguard of Lightning, Legion of Thunder_ and _Warriors of the Tempest_ not too long ago, but they were compiled under an omnibus edition which gave the series its title a couple of years ago. They're excellent. Some of the best prose and plotting I've seen in a long time, and the central conceit - the protagonists being Orcs, duh - is a refreshing change from typical fantasy fare and it never really gets stale.


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## Kelise

Power & Majesty by Tansy Rayner Roberts is utterly fantastic, and winning all the awards lately. I can't put it down!

And then there's Feed by Mira Grant. I have utterly no idea what genre it's officially classed under, but I dare you all to read it and not enjoy it.


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## kennyc

Anyone reading Game of Thrones? hee-hee....  What do you think of the books as compared to the HBO miniseries? Should I read the books first or watch the show?


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## Artless

Don't even get me started... *rage face*

If you read the books first, you'll be disappointed. See thread here - http://mythicscribes.com/forums/film-television/294-thoughts-first-episode-game-thrones-hbo.html


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## Map the Dragon

I don't think that I saw them in here, but one must read Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman.  The Dragonlance series is simply epic (you can attribute other qualifiers after epic if you so desire....epic fantasy, epic superwonderment, epic crap...whatever.

They can be a bit formulaic, but they're allowed; they invented many of the formulas that we all loved as kids. Keep in mind that the main characters were created while playing the earliest (even pre-version) forms of D&D - way back when TSR was kicking butt before they were swallowed by Wizards of the Coast. 

There are some bad DL novels, but they're written by guest authors. Great, epic, and classic fantasy reads for any fan should include the main branch of the DL series by authors like Weiss, Hickman, Knack, and a few others. So, try reading the Chronicles, Legends, and Heroes trilogies to see what you think. If you need more in terms of order suggestions after that, let me know. 

Remember, the badest-ass of all the bad-asses in fantasy literature is Raistlin - a DL invention.


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## BeigePalladin

Map is right, everyone should read the dragonlance chronicles (and dragonlance legacy trilogy as well) the other books are optional,

and Raistlin is epic


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## Joe the Gnarled

I may have missed it due to being tired but I do not believe anyone has mentioned A Wizard of Earthsea by K. Le Guin.  It is the first book in a series, and as I have only read that one book I cannot speak for the whole series.  I would, however, include it in my fantasy must read list.

I think all the other books I would include have already been mentioned.


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## Edgemaker

Good luck trying to get through the Fairy books......


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## Ali

Has anyone read Sydney Van Scyoc's fantasy novels?  I read them many years ago when I needed something to 'take me away' and just loved them. Beautiful, fantastic concepts.


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