2.15 My Top 5 Fantasy Reads

Today’s review is on my top five favourite fantasy novels of all time. I’m limiting myself to specifically Fantasy instead of delving into sub-categories too much. Urban Fantasy for me is very much its own category and I will definitely do another post about that at some stage in the future.

I couldn’t arrange these in much of a specific order, I don’t really enjoy grading artistic works on a scale as it devalues the art itself. Instead these are my favourite five. I have plenty of other books I like, but these are the ones that made the list.

As I go, you’ll find a trend in the style of stories I like. None of these are bildungsromans, and these are all single-point-of-view main characters. I like a highly personalised focus in the novels I read; the political intrigue or world-exploding threats are a secondary interest in the face of personal struggle or growth.

1.       The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

Image from Amazon catalog

This book has one of the best examples of everything good in Fantasy writing. After reading it, I immediately ordered everything else that Bujold had written. I loved it so much I reread it immediately after finishing. There is no surprise in me that this book won a Nebula. The characters are extremely deep and nuanced. The story is 100% the focus of the characters, the huge sweeping world building falls into place around the actions that the protagonists take. In a lot of ways the book deals with a huge range of questions, from slow healing the heart through time and trust to the nature of belief and standing up against villains who are painted for all the world as heroes.

2.       Dragon by Steven Brust

Image from Goodreads catalog

It is hard to pick a favourite for the Vlad Taltos series. Dragon was the first I read and ever an inspiration I come back to from time to time over the years. The series is fantastic and maybe the first time I saw really good first person POV in an adult novel. It changed a lot of my own perceptions about style and delivery. This series is full of dry wit, hilarious characters, deep intrigue and fantastic world threatening antagonists. It does everything very, very well. Having a competent character who is at no point in danger of becoming a Gary Stu. If you want to read a fantastic, really well-anchored fantasy, this series is fabulous.

3. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Image from Goodreads catalog

I read this book in a single marathon, finished, and immediate re-read it. I love the world building a /lot/ it is one of my absolute favourites and I highly recommend the trilogy. At the time I picked the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms up, there hadn't been much fresh in fantasy for me in a long while- endless plain of bildungsroman start blurring over time and this book was such a pail of fresh water. The main character borders on being young-ish and I'm sure there's an argument for this being YA, but I'll always firmly shove this in an adult section because it just feels more at home to me. Again, this book has a few awards under it's belt. No surprises, it's incredible. The main character and POV is female, smart and extremely relatable.

4. The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss 

Image from Amazon catalog

I'm not going to talk much about this book. It's size daunted me at first, but it was cheaper to buy a copy than to make people stop going on about it. The hype is real. If you have held off reading it because of the page-count, I'd like to say... read it anyway. I blew through this at a million miles a minute. For a few days it was all I could do. Eating, sleeping, nothing mattered but Kvoth's tale.
I will hype about it as well. The writing is very strong, very well done and I have a mad rage in my soul waiting for Rothfuss to 'finish editing' the third book. I know a creative owes the world nothing, but I can wave about my little flag of 'please don't doubt yourself, we're eager because we like it.'
For me, this is very much my 'modern day Tolkien' book. A timeless classic and well-researched, well-delivered artwork. I think once the series is complete, it will become a staple of the fantasy reader diet.

5. The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs

Image from Amazon catalog

 I have a weird confession... I stopped liking the Mercy Thompson series after a few books. I like Briggs overall; her worldbuilding and characters are interesting, but there was something about the climax of every book that annoyed me. However, for whatever reason, when I found this gem hidden in the wrong section of my favourite bookstore, the premise immediately caught my interest.

The Hob's Bargain is really different to her other work. In my opinion, it's a great difference. Unlike the other 4 books above, this is a stand-alone book. It lives in a small snippet of a deep engrossing universe into which, I've only caught a glimpse.  I really like this book. It's very clean romance, but the character was just extremely solid. None of this young beautiful waifish maidens running away from lives as rich princesses. Just a hard working farm woman who was married and had a life. It's a short, quick, really solid read. It might not appeal to everyone as the story is a little more romance than it is action adventure, and the stakes are small and personal, but I liked it and this is my top five!

So those are my top favourite fantasy novels. I really wanted to put Tamora Pierce on this list, because I loooove her work (possibly an unhealthy amount) but I wanted to focus on adult works first. In a few weeks I'll go over my favourite YA and Urban Fantasy stories!