A place to talk about anything Fantasy related. Really it can be anything from books, video games, artwork to film!
One and Done's
As much as I love epic multi-book series, sometimes I just don't have the time or energy to devote to 3+ books.
Who has some recomendations for stories contained to one book? Also what one fantasy novel would you recommend to a genre virgin?




The Dark Wife by Sarah Diemer - a retelling of the Greek myth of Persephone going to the underworld.
The Years of Rice and Salt, by Kim Stanley Robinson - alt history with a large chunk of magical realism, so close enough for fantasy.
Stardust, by Neil Gaiman (w/illustrations by Charles Vess).
Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell, by Susanna Clarke (as big as three normal books, but never mind...).
Ive been interested in Kim Stanley Robinson for quite some time..In my opinion Neil Gaiman can do no wrong. Have you seen the BBC adaptation of Jonathan Strange? The book has been sitting unread on my shelf for a long time now...
I've started watching the Strange & Norrell adaptation: it's rather good, which isn't surprising, since they Beeb just needs to treat it like an Austen series with magic. Of course, not having footnotes loses an element of the novel.
Tigana!!! Guy Gavriel Kay. 😊
Apparently Tigana has been on my Good Reads "to read" shelf for a while..completely forgot about it!
Uprooted, by Naomi Novak
I prefer good stand-alones myself. After plowing through five lengthy Robert Jordan books in high school (the author wound up dying before he ever finished the sprawling saga), I have little patience remaining for books where 300 pages go by and all we've done is check in with all the plot lines while the plot itself remains stagnant.
However, if you like epic fantasy, there's a two-book series called The Sundering, by Jacqueline Carey, that I remember loving. It was told from the perspective of the evil side, which made it even more interesting. It had all of the good parts of epic/high fantasy and none of the drawn out monotony.
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie. It's part of a "world" but the story is standalone.
Any Discworld book by Terry Pratchett. Particularly Small Gods and Mort. Similarly, Good Omens by Pratchett and Gaiman.
Any of the T. Kingfisher novels would be good for someone just starting out in the genre. They're easy to get into and most are fast reads, and they don't sprawl. Try Toad Words and Other Stories which is a compilation of short stories, to get a feel for her writing.