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Some Fantasy Series for Tolkien Reading Day

Today is Tolkien Reading Day and I have been a big fan ever since I first read the Lord of the Rings way back when I was about 17.  But what do you read when you’ve read (and re-read) Tolkien?  And can I just shout out to Pete here, because he needs to be celebrated on this day, as he once sat on the knee of the great man, while his mother (Pete’s mother, not Tolkien’s) was in confession as they went to the same church in Oxford. He was very young and I don’t think he really remembers it but I love the story.

So what great fantasy series should you be reading after Tolkien. Here are a few of my favourites –

A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin – Even if you’ve watched the TV series you will still get a whole lot from reading the books, which are far more complex and in-depth. The characters are fantastic and the plot is like medieval history (but with dragons, obviously). And if you haven’t watched the TV series then the books are going to be such a treat for you. All the political intrigue of a great historical masterpiece.… plus dragons.  It’s dark and you don’t dare get too attached to any character, because he’s not afraid to kill his darlings.

The Farseer series by Robin Hobb – All of her books are amazing, and they’re all set in the same world but the different series have  separate storylines.  Might as well start with the first one – Assassin’s Apprentice which sets the scene and is a right good romp of a tale.  Special mention to the Rain Wild Chronicles as well – more dragons!

The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan – these will keep you occupied for a while as there are fourteen books in the series, plus a few short stories and novellas in-between.  Like ASOIAF this has been recently adapted for TV and was very good, I thought it captured the feel of the books quite well.  And the costumes were amazing.  Obviously there is more to the books, and I haven’t read all of them but they are incredibly popular and the world building is superb. 

The Shattered Sea by Joe Abercrombie – I could have picked any of his series but this one is my favourite, for the characters, who just leap off the page.  He’s very good at fully rounded believable characters and again the world-building is great.  His other series are a bit darker than this one but just as good. 

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch – You didn’t think you’d get such a list without this on there, did you?  Very different fantasy this, set in modern London. About a young police officer who runs into some otherworldly happenings and discovers there’s a whole world of magic out there he didn’t know about. It’s clever stuff, packed with subtle references to Dr Who, Terry Pratchett and much more, and with a love for London and its architecture that just shines off the page. Absolutely my favourite fantasy series of all time. If you have a fantasy subscription (or any kind of subscription) with us and you haven’t read this, let me know and I’ll send you the first one in your next box. 

Bryant and May by Christopher Fowler –  The eponymous men of the title are detectives on the Peculiar Crimes Unit, who deal with crimes that are strange and unnatural.  This is another series based in modern day London but with a very different tone. There’s still that sense of London as a main character in the books though and a gently curmudgeonly humour that I love. 

The Chronicles of St Mary’s by Jodi Taylor – So there’s this institution that uses these time-machine type pods to go back and witness historical events in contemporary time for the purposes of historical accuracy. And at no point do any of these events ever go wrong to the extreme peril of those people who are doing the time-travelling. Oh, and they never, ever call it time-travel. OK? 

Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin – Beautifully written and such a pleasure to read – just go and read them.

The Tide Child Trilogy by R J Barker – It’s like Patrick O’Brien’s Master & Commander series but with ships created out of the bones of sea monsters. And political and naval intrigue. Oh, and the sea monsters!  Really good sea-faring tales with interesting characters and dark humour. Just fantastic.

There you go, a few good series to keep you going.  I’ve hardly scratched the surface and I’ve only really talked about series I’ve read and enjoyed. Of course I haven’t mentioned Terry Pratchett (because try as I might I just can’t get on with him), or Brandon Sanderson (because his world building is so complex and involved and I just think my life is too short for that). I haven’t even mentioned some of the great fantasy writers working today (because I’ve not read everybody yet) so there’s Mark Lawrence and John Gwynne and Pierce Brown and Dave Wragg and Adrian Tchaikovsky. And I just remembered that I’ve forgotten to put The Witcher books by Andrej Sapkowski on the list. I could probably go on forever – Peter V Brett’s Demon Cycle books should be on the list.  SA Chakraborty’s Daevabad series, and Naomi Novik.  

I can see that I’m going to have to re-visit this and maybe drill down into different kinds of fantasy and have a closer look.  In the meantime, please chip in and tell me who I’ve missed and who your favourites are.

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