Three terrific fantasies for you to explore

Worlds like no other. Characters with secrets, powers, struggles to face and enemies to fight. Breathtaking kingdoms of splendor and might. Rulers and underdogs and thieves and heroes. 

The genre of fantasy is magical — not just because some of the characters may have seemingly “magical” powers but also because fantasy takes us from this world to ones beyond our imagination. Fantasy takes us to far-off lands, to fight battles alongside mythical heroes, to fly, to soar, to dream. 

That being said, fantasy can be a rather daunting genre to delve into. Instead of just leaping into the fantasy genre, here are some of my favorite fantasy books or series, to get you started:

Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Of course, it would take too long for me to tell you what each of these books are about. Plus, the synopsis won’t tell you why I love these books. If you’d like to read them, click on these links for the synopses for Shadow and Bone, Siege and Storm and Ruin and Rising.

Now for the personal scoop. Leigh Bardugo crafts a world unlike pretty much any other I have read. Through reading this trilogy, I fell in love with the country of Ravka and its struggle to survive while surrounded by hostile countries and torn in half by The Fold. Every time I opened any of the books in the trilogy, it was an immediate transportation to Keramzin, to Os Alta, to the beautiful and mysterious Little Palace, to wherever the characters happened to be.

And of course beyond just the world, there are the characters. Through Bardugo’s masterful writing, I found myself fighting alongside Alina Starkov; swinging between wanting to hug or strangle Malyen Oretsev; falling in love with Genya Safin and David Kostyk; and laughing harder than I ever have at the antics and banter of Nikolai Lantsov. Of course, that’s not even all of the characters. There’s The Darkling, and Zoya Nazyalensky and Misha. Fedyor Kaminsky, Baghra and so many more. And each one of them is so well-created and well-written that they are so incredibly real.

These books made me laugh, they made me cry. They also did make me want to throw them across the room a couple times, but as any reader knows… that’s when it’s good. I highly recommend diving into these books – I promise you won’t regret it.

The Lunar Chronicles series by Marissa Meyer

They are the fairy tales you know… and they very much are not. The Lunar Chronicles (for the synopses of the books click here) is one of my favorite fantasy series, and it is definitely my favorite fairy tale retelling. Set in the future and taking place around what we know as the continents of Europe and Asia, the books take us from Earth to the moon and back.

The Lunar Chronicles takes the childhood stories we know and rebuilds them. The princesses or princes or heroes that we wanted to be as we grew up fill the pages of this epic fantasy adventure series. They are both as we know them and not.

Cinderella is a cyborg. Prince Charming is the soon-to-be emperor of the entire Eastern Commonwealth. Little Red Riding Hood is a French girl fighting for her survival. The Big Bad Wolf is… maybe not so bad. Rapunzel is a gifted Lunar girl imprisoned in a satellite. Flynn Rider is, well, a thief… but a lovable one. Snow White is a Lunar princess struggling to stay sane. The Huntsman is her guard and childhood best friend.

I could go on and on about how amazing these books are and how much I think you should read them. I really could. But if the paragraph above doesn’t interest you enough to try the books, nothing else I add will. So I will leave you with that.

Red Queen series by Victoria Aveyard

Well… if you like hidden powers, conflicted “chosen ones,” rebellions, morally grey love interests, sympathetic villains, love triangles and fighting against the powers-that-be, look no further than Victoria Aveyard’s stunning Red Queen series. (For the synopsis of the first book, click here. You can find the rest of the books and their synopses by scrolling down and clicking on their cover images under “related titles.”)

Aveyard weaves together rich and poor, love and hate, family and enemies, mystery and intrigue, so well that the books completely transport you to somewhere else entirely. Set in the future in what used to be America but is now the kingdom of Norta, the story is a wild ride. It keeps you captivated the entire read and right on the edge of your seat. It is so hard to put any of these books down.

The cover designs are amazing; the characters lovable, detestable, and somewhere in between; and the story itself is gripping. It’s all incredibly inventive and ridiculously creative. Aveyard possesses a true skill when it comes to character and world building… and also when it comes to plot twists. Obviously, no spoilers here, but the plot twists in her books are legendary.

Technically the Red Queen series is a mix of both fantasy and dystopian, but I had to include it here because it is just so good. I highly recommend the series!

Obviously, the fantasy genre is not for everyone out there, but I hope that should you choose to delve into it, you end up loving it as much as I do. I hope these reviews and recommendations were helpful (and that you found a new world and set of characters to fall in love with)! Stay tuned for a dive into the rom/com genre!