Fantastical Fantasy Novels (and Where to Find Them)

With everything going on in the world right now it’s not so challenging to comprehend why I’ve fallen down the rabbit hole into the world of the fantasy genre.

It’s been a good long while since I’ve sunken my teeth into a new fantasy series. I find myself turning back to my old books, dusty from sitting untouched on my bookshelf, and trying to pick up where I last left off multiple summers ago while staying in a family friend’s cottage without internet.

My escapism has brought me back to the complicated tales of George R. R. Martin, and the newly discovered (to me) world of The Witcher (thank you, Netflix). I might even try reading The Lord of The Rings again. Maybe I’ll get further this time.

Before now, I’d found myself tending towards stand-alone novels, easy to digest and quick to move past; my life was busy enough after all. Who has time for all-consuming series? But, it’s nice to read a book series. Ones made up of big volumes and lengthy additions. Whenever I read them – something I have done properly in what feels like years – adrenaline roars in my chest with the urge to consume each and every word of the entire story as methodically (and most importantly, quickly) as I can. So that I can get to the end. So that I can know everything.

It’s a sensation I haven’t properly experienced since I was a teenager, spending each summer laying out under the sun in my backyard; a pile of books to my right as I almost religiously read my way through each and every one (or at least until my skin turned a crisp brown and I had to retreat indoors).

And while the world outside remains bitter to the taste, this reunion has been nothing but sweet.

My Reading Recommendations:

• A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (The Tales of Dunk and Egg #1-3) by George R. R. Martin
• The Last Wish (The Witcher #1) by Andrzej Sapkowski
• The Left Hand of Darkness (Hainish Cycle #4) by Ursula K. Le Guin

What fantasy novels do you love?

Let me know!