Kids, they’re hard work. As they get older the work gets harder, if you happen to be responsible for a child you may have noticed that they keep asking lots of increasingly awkward questions, like “why is it okay for you to have another biscuit, but I’m not allowed”, or “Why do I need to work hard at school? You worked hard (not true, but don’t tell anyone) and you hate your job”, after a certain age “because I said so” just doesn’t cut it anymore. I find the best tactic in these circumstances is distraction, firstly it avoids giving an answer and secondly it might, just might, mean you get to enjoy a bit of peace and quiet. Below are some of the best distractions written word has to offer (bonus points have been awarded to long series’ for obvious reasons!). These aren’t ranked, just listed by author surname, please don’t bombard me with comments regarding the low placement of your particular favourite, it’s not my fault their surname begins with an R or a T.
Hunger Games – Suzanne Collins
Not strictly fantasy, there’s a strong argument to say this should be classed as science fiction. There is however no doubt that this is an excellent read. Set in a not too distant future, the world is a dystopian mess (isn’t it always?), in which the gap between haves and have nots has grown into a gaping chasm. The further you live from the central sector the less you have. Once a year the ruling government organises a televised competition between tributes (two teenagers, one per gender, from each sector). The tributes are sent in the games arena, a vast artificial ecosystem that can be controlled by the producers, the aim is simply to be the last competitor left alive, either through brute strength or cunning, understandably this brings out the worst in some of the competitors and the best in some of the others. You can probably guess that in the central sector this is essential viewing, on par with Love Island or I’m a Celebrity…
Catniss Everdean lives about as far from the centre as it’s possible to get, but she becomes the first volunteer from her sector in living memory when she puts herself forward in place of her younger sister. There’s all sorts of romantic sub-plots and political intrigue, but the real action is in the arena. So, let the games begin.
The Letter for the King/Secrets of the Wild Wood – Tonke Dragt
Published in Dragt’s native dutch wa-ay back in 1962, The Letter for the King was finally translated to English in 2014, quite why it took them so long I’m unsure, several sources indicate that it has sold over a million copies worldwide. A young Squire named Tiuri is interrupted from an all-night vigil, the final test before his investiture as a full knight, and presented with a stark choice. Behave as a truly honourable knight and answer an old man’s call for help, or complete his vigil and become a knight. In choosing the former he sets out on an adventure to deliver, er, the letter for the King, a simple enough task, were it not for the band of enemy knights intent on preventing the delivery. Tiuri’s quest takes him through forests, over mountains, along rivers, into captivity. He meets new friends, learns new skills and deals with lots of unfamiliar situations and obstacles in his attempts to achieve the ultimate goal of delivering the letter.
Secrets of the Wild Wood is a sequel set shortly after the conclusion of the first book and follows on in a very similar vein and quality.
The Belgariad/Mallorean – David Eddings
A classic coming of age, fantasy yarn, following the exploits of an unwitting young farm boy, Garion, as he and his put upon guardian, Aunt Pol, are dragged along on an adventure by a crotchety old tramp, Belgarath. Of course, all is not as it seems and before long it becomes clear that there is more afoot than just a day trip with a travelling story teller. More and more characters join the quest as time goes by until there is a full retinue of fantasy tropes, a noble knight, a savage warrior, a sneaky thief, etc. there’s a prophecy, a dark power growing in the east, war is brewing, it’s all very standard.
Given my synopsis, it may not surprise you that there seems to be a fair amount of snobbery regarding Eddings’ Belgariad Series. Personally despite the fairly obvious parallels with a lot of other fantasy books from the same period, I can’t see what the issue is. This is a series aimed at younger readers and although some of the characters are fairly one dimensional, the overarching story is reasonably strong, if a little formulaic, and well told in a folksy sort of way. It may just be me reminiscing in glasses of a rose tinted nature but there’s something reassuring about, knowing how characters will behave, and good, honest, storytelling that resists last minute twists. This is perfectly suited to young readers of a more innocent nature, take it for what it is and you’ll soon find yourself swept along, enjoying the adventure.
Skullduggery Pleasant – Derek Landy
Stephanie Edgley’s Uncle Gordon has died, after his funeral assorted family members attend the reading of the will, to the surprise of everyone, and disgust of several, Gordon leaves most of his publishing fortune to Stephanie. Uncle Gordon made his fortune as the author of some wildly imaginative fantasy books, just imagine how bizarre it would be if it turned out that Gordon didn’t actually have much of an imagination and everything he wrote about was actually true. Cue the arrival of the titular character, Skullduggery Pleasant, a talking, walking, wisecracking, magic-wielding, badass, skeleton detective with a dubious past. Stephanie is bored with her life and sees an opportunity to start afresh, bestowing herself onto Skullduggery as his equally sardonic sidekick. Together they take on a succession of grisly criminals, all of whom seem intent on the return of some awfully bad God-like beings called the Faceless Ones, who were banished from this World years ago. Another series with a strong female lead character, this series starts with a bang and develops nicely, serious bonus points here for the length of the series.
Tiffany Aching is a sheep farmer’s daughter growing up in a sheep farming community, we find her at the beginning of the series babysitting her little brother while he plays by a river, so far so dull. A few pages later and Tiffany has used her brother as bait to tempt a river monster out of the water, and smooshed it in the face with a heavy duty frying pan. An act which brings her to the attention of the larger Witching community and particularly the formidable Granny Weatherwax.
Readers of earlier Pratchett works will be used to Granny Weatherwax as the focal point of the Witches series of Discworld books, Tiffany is a worthy successor. Taking on the Mantle of Witch for her local community and assisted by the titular Wee Free Men of the first book, known as the Nac Mac Feegle (six inches tall, heavily tattooed and frequently inebriated), she goes about defending her patch from a variety of supernatural threats.
Like most Terry Pratchett books, the Tiffany Aching novels are really rather good, I’d go so far as to say, they’re very, very good. For a slightly younger reader these books make an excellent introduction to the Discworld, as with most of the Discworld books, they work well as standalone novels but better when read as part of the bigger picture. Notwithstanding their later arrival in the overall series, nothing is revealed which would spoil the future enjoyment of older Discworld novels, indeed it’s likely that these books will pique the interest of younger readers to further explore the exploits of Granny Weatherwax. Having listened to Tomeopathy Jr. giggling their way through these books, I’d be astonished if they don’t graduate on to the rest of the Discworld books sooner rather than later.
Harry Potter – J.K. Rowling
You may have heard of this one, it is of course the school day adventures of everyone’s (?) favourite wizard. I doubt you need me to explain it to you, but here’s a very brief summary, Harry is whiny and annoying, turns out he’s pretty famous though because as a baby he defeated an extremely powerful and perfectly beastly dark wizard called Lord Voldemort. Harry doesn’t know about this, he lives in blissful ignorance at his aunt’s house in a cupboard under the stairs (probably because he’s whiny and annoying). When he turns 11, he is invited to attend Hogwarts School of Magic, where he discovers his fame and the reasons behind it, over the course of the next seven books (one for each school year) Lord Voldemort attempts to return to power, usually at the expense of Harry or one of his friends. Don’t be fooled by my terrible synopsis, this is a very, very good read. If you haven’t already, just get on and read it, find out what all the fuss is about and make your own mind up. If you’ve got Amazon Prime, you can read all of these books for free on a Kindle by borrowing one a month, what more incentive do you need to read them!
Lord of the Rings – J.R.R. Tolkien
The original epic fantasy tale and the benchmark by which fantasy was judged for many years following its publication, LOTR is a far more mature work than its predecessor. Frodo Baggins has inherited his Uncle Bilbo’s magic ring, and with it a load of hassle. Turns out that the ring actually belongs to a rather unpleasant fellow called Sauron, he’s one of those possessive types and wants his ring back at any cost, he’s got hordes of disposable minions at his control to achieve this goal, oh, and once he’s got it back he’s going to use it to destroy all peace and happiness in Middle Earth. Good news though, Sauron has poured so much of his power into the ring that all Frodo has to do is destroy the ring and that will basically end the threat of Sauron forever. Bad news, the only way to destroy the ring is to chuck it into Mount Doom, a volcano, which just happens to be in Mordor, Sauron’s stronghold, defended by the aforementioned hordes of minions. It all makes for a rather good story though.