🏰 Fantasy¶
Worlds of myth, magic, and the extraordinary.
❤️The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins (2025)¶
An absolutely phenomenal fantasy. A bunch of children are taught by a powerful being and co-exist with humans. When the 'father' goes missing, the group needs to understand what happened and keep other powers at bay.
Rivers of London, by Ben Aaronovitch (2025)¶
Those who like Jasper Fforde might like this modern fantasy of a policeman recruited to the magical division, who investigates a series of gruesome murders and is thrown in the middle of a conflict between the personifications of London's Rivers.
Ninth House, by Leigh Bardugo (2025)¶
The protagonist, who can 'see dead people', is enlisted into a secretive magical society and is immediately thrown in the middle of a murder and conspiracy. The Houses at Yale are run by secret societies, each specializing in a form of magic; she joins the Ninth one that oversees them all.
❤️The Lord of the Rings, by J R R Tolkien (2025, 2020)¶
This time I paid special attention to the geography and timelines of the whole journey: one of the few things that does not translate over well in the movies.
Lost in a Good Book & The Eyre Affair, by Jasper Fforde (2024)¶
A humorous world where fiction and reality collide in matter-of-fact ways. If you like Douglas Adams & Terry Pratchett you will like this.
The City & the City, by China Mieville (2024)¶
A novel that crosses genres seamlessly, from Crime to Fantasy. The book is more interesting if it is /not/ treated as a fantasy but rather as a political dystopia.
The Shadow of the Torturer, by Gene Wolfe (2024)¶
A good fantasy novel about a Torturer who is exiled from his guild.
The Just City, by Jo Walton (2024)¶
An excellent thought experiment. Athena and Apollo decide to implement Plato's 'Just City' in Atlantis, and recruit a bunch of children to form the first generation.
The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, by G.K. Chesterton (2024)¶
Absolutely enjoyable. Every time this book seemed to be going in a predictable direction, it veered off course into a completely different one. Highly recommended.
Circe & The Song of Achilles, by Madeline Miller (2020)¶
Lovely books from the author who brings Greek mythology to life with a lyrical touch.
Mythos, by Stephen Fry (2020)¶
Has his trademark light-hearted air which is really nice sometimes and a bit annoying some other times.
The Witcher series, by Andrzej Sapkowski (2021)¶
Things are getting interesting with the Witcher assembling a rag-tag party to search for Ciri.
Vita Nostra, by Marina and Sergey Dyachenko (2026)¶
A strange Russian fantasy. The story follows a promising student's rise in a school of surreal magic. I loved the sense of unknowable complexity.