Hi all!
One of my reading goals this year is to try out genres that I don't normally gravitate toward. Fantasy is one of those genres for me. I'm hoping for suggestions with these (likely annoying) parameters:
– Standalone book
– Not YA (I'm 45 and I'm just not interested)
– Available in paperback
– Not "romantasy" (I suppose a romance subplot is fine, but I won't read smut)
Got any ideas? Thanks!
by rastab1023
9 Comments
All my recommendations would be for series whose first book you could read as standalone, or stuff out of print, but I am following your post so I can read any recommendations — this is a request I didn’t realise I also wanted until I read it!
🏕️ Camping emoji of engagement.
Dark woods deep water by jelena dunato! Not Romantasy, great fantasy with creepy castles!
City of Bones or Wheel of the Infinite by Martha C. Wells
If you are willing to also try sci-fi, read Project Hail Mary.
Hemlock & Silver and/or Nettle & Bone, both by T. Kingfisher. The author often (always?) features an older protagonist and she has such a charming writing style.
*The Library at Mount Char* by Scott Hawkins
*Kindred* by Octavia Butler
Those two can get pretty brutal, just fyi
*Piranes*i and/or *Dr Strange and Mr Norrell* by Susanna Clarke
And this one’s cheating a little bit because it’s a short story collection and it also has some science fiction in there BUT: *Stories of Your Life and Others* by Ted Chiang
You may find this thread interesting:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/1itgc65/what_are_your_favourite_standalone_fantasy_books/
Kraken by China Mieville although it’s urban fantasy
Stealing the Elf-King’s Roses by Diane Duane – definitely unique and wonderfully written.
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull, or her Bone Dance
The Hallowed Hunt by Lois McMaster Bujold – there are other books set in the same universe, but this one is a standalone.
Moonwise by Greer Gilman
Chalice by Robin McKinley
Jonathan strange and mr Norrell