Ok, since there's no board expressly for fantasy books I'll ask this here. A couple of my friends decided they want to co-write a fantasy book (and drag me into the middle of it!), but one of them hasn't read much fantasy and is completely at a loss when we talk about certain types of creatures and things, and if we mention something like "That sounds too Narnia-ish" she gives us a blank look.

So my question here is, what books would you recommend she read to get a bit of a feel for the various fantasy worlds out there? So far we've recommended anything Tolkein, C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, Eragon, Dragonlance, and a few choice Forgotten Realms books. My more literate friend also mentioned the D&D Monster's Guide. Please feel free to recommend books that are way different than those already mentioned, we're trying to round out her landscape a little! Thanks for any suggestions.

Ummm, there's too much fantasy out there already. Tell her to pick some other genre...

that being said, Piers Anthony's Xanth series comes to mind (very Greek Mythology-y); and the much better Ursula LeGuin's Earthsea Trilogy.

In addition to the Tolkeins, et al., perhaps Lloyd Alexander's Prydain books (Welsh), Tad Williams's War of the Flowers (Faerie), Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy (necromancing), Harry Potter, Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (modern day wizards), and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (vampires, cult).

That'd give a good overview of the types of fantasy out there, except I don't have any real "dark" fantasy listed, since I don't much care for it, myself and wouldn't know what is supposed to be good.

Thanks for the replies! "Dark" fantasy isn't really a concern anyway for the type of book it is. Sorry, no chance for a different genre, the project started as just a story for our kids to read and has accelerated from there. At this point, there's just no way to make it anything but fantasy.

:) I'd suggest not reading D&D Monster guides personally. They tend to depersonalize monsters a bit too much I think. Also it tends to focus people in a certain train of thought.

Well... For Tolkien and people entering into fantasy I'd suggest The Hobbit over the others. Especially for younger readership.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle was excellent.
The Princess Bride was quite good. I forget the author. William Goldstein?
The Neverending Story was good too. At least when I was a kid.
The Oz books (Frank Baum) were fun.
Alice in Wonderland... :)

:) Bulfinch's guide to mythology. Kinda creaky but...
Hmmmm... I'd also suggest other myths and legends sorts of books (Grimm's Fairy Tales, Hans Christian Anderson's stuff, Arthurian stuff...)

Ander

It isn't specifically for kids, and the reading list is for an adult. The main characters are kids, but the story has evolved from a simple bedtime story into the realms of epic fantasy...and judging by some of our "bad guys" it definitely won't be something the little ones will want to read for a while.

I'd almost forgotten about The Neverending Story! I read it in middle school and remember I absolutely loved it, but will have to re-read to remember why.

Good mythology books are certainly welcome, I have been introducing elements of Norse mythology into the story and have to explain every bit of the way, grrr (not to mention I welcome the chance to expand my own knowledge :D). Books on druids might be helpful too, hmm....

Sadly, I'm afraid if this book ever gets published I'll have to review it with two or three stars by the way it's going now, but at least it's a learning experience. Is it against ethics for one of the authors of a book to review it so long as it's not a wholly positive review? :P

Great suggestions, keep 'em coming!

Young Adult lit might be a description then? :) There is a section in the library of Young Adult (tge King County library has one at least) so it definitely is at least something to consider.

:) A problem for suggestion is in distinguishing good stories from archetypal source material. :) I mean I could give you a list of stories I enjoyed (and to some degree I have) but that wouldn't clue your friend in on the state of Fantasy in general. :)

Ummmmmmm... Your story sound like it might be a bit like Joel Rosenberg's "Guardians of the Flame". Geeze I'm not really all that sure I'd recommend that one but I got bogged down seriously in the later books and am not sure I read all of earlier ones:)

Hmmm. A lot of books I'd recommend to people starting to read fantasy wouldn't be necessarily books I'd recommend to people trying to find source material for fantasy books. :) Lots of standalone sorts of things with not a lot of mythic underpinnings...

:) The Conan novels are kinda interesting (the ones by Robert E Howard). I like them a lot myself. They are the basis for the barbarian archetype. :) On the other hand, they are pretty full of testosterone so maybe not.

:) Norse though... I really can't remember a whole lot of books/series based primarily on Norse mythos. I remember one series but I think the series kinda quit partway through so it probably isn't a good recommendation:)

David Gemmell is a pretty good author and I'd recommend a lot of his books. Barbara Hambly might be another. :)

Ander

Luckily it's only the third of our number who doesn't know much of anything about it...she is primarily our note-taker and for now seems happy with the job, the reading list is mainly so she can catch up with us (the two who have read fairly extensively) and possibly offer something useful.

True, the project is not going particularly well as of yet...but I'm not ready to ditch yet, it's been about three weeks and we are progressing faster than I ever have on a story before, so I guess it'll be a while before we'll get to see if it polishes up into something publishable. At least two of the three are writing what they (we) know, we're just hoping not to leave the third in the dust too badly. Were it a story being written expressely for publishing we would almost undoubtedly cut her out of it, but it came about from being tired of hearing our husbands' same old stories around the bonfire every Saturday and banishing one from the writing isn't really an option in order to coninue with the project.

Since no one has been able to think of much of anything relying on Norse mythology I think I may need to lean heavier on it :P. And druids. Norse mythology and druids. Yep, it's going to be a chore smoothing the story out, but what's life without a challenge? :D

13th :D
I can take her over the mountain to meet the director of that one. Good point though, I think I'm going to have to make her watch it too

For a Norwegian folktale retelling, there's Edith Pattou's East that I recommend.

Julie

Wow. That one is from 1922? That explains some things anyhow. I've got a copy of that one but haven't ever been able to get into it at all. *DANG* dull.

Ander

*Note to self: must right Norse mythology-based book that is not dull* :P

Lol, I can check but I doubt it...my library caters mostly to modern interest and that is pretty much it...I understand it's small, but how hard is it to have just one itty-bitty copy of Tacitus' Annals? Before I remembered I could access the library catalog from home I would go in with a list of over 50 books to look up, I'd be lucky if they had even one of them.