I was a young adult once, and when I was, I wanted to read books with characters like me. I wanted fast paced, exciting books. I wanted the storyline to feature young chargers whose modern methods and ideas had been dismissed out of hand by the, obviously anachronistic, establishment figures, when disaster inevitably strikes later in the book, the powers that be would have to come calling, with their tails between their legs and ask the youngsters to save their bacon. The older me likes it when the new methods show immediate results but then falter, before a combination of old experience and new enthusiasm combine to save the day. Check out the recommendations below, some of them might tick both these boxes!
The Shattered Sea Trilogy – Joe Abercrombie
The Shattered Sea Trilogy is quite tame by comparison to its big brother (The First Law Trilogy), understandably so as it is directed at a slightly younger, mid to late teen audience. That said it retains a lot of the darker elements of the First Law, characters cannot be taken at face value and the world is still a relatively barbarous setting, Hogwarts it isn’t. Events take place around the titular Shattered Sea and while the earlier novels followed multiple characters, this trilogy focuses on Yarvi, the physically impaired heir to the throne of Gettland. There are other perspectives from book two onwards but these characters are largely in the thrall of Yarvi’s own story. Once again the author has built a perfectly feasible world in which the story can unfold, additional characters are fleshed out to the level required. Religion plays a large role in the governing of the countries of the Shattered Sea, and therefore provides large portions of the plot and numerous antagonists. The Shattered Sea Trilogy would be a suitable introduction to Abercrombie for those used to more sedate fantasy offerings, for those finding that Harry Potter is a little genteel or for those who’ve come late to the genre and aren’t yet ready to commit to some of the longer series out there.
Legacy of Orisha – Tomi Adeyemi
Children of Blood and Bone forces us to consider some of the more depressing facts our own reality, the picture of genocide and related atrocities forced upon the people of Orisha, or rather a group of people deemed to be of lower worth than the rest of the population, is all too familiar. In the case of Orisha the victims of ethnic cleansing were Maji (magic users), victims of The Raid, in which magic was destroyed and all Maji were rounded up by the authorities and killed at the behest of the King. At the time of The Raid, Zelie was a young girl and a Diviner, a Maji not yet come into her/his powers, a bystander as her mother was led away and her father beaten for attempting to intervene. The story commences after several years have passed, a now teenage Zelie is living with her father and brother. Together they scrape a living as fisher folk in a small coastal village, an increasingly difficult task as the persecution of Diviners continues.
Amari is the daughter of the King, she has been enduring a more personal level of mistreatment at the hands of her overbearing father and weak willed brother. Her closest friend is a Diviner slave with whom she spends most of her time, until the day her father casually kills the slave whilst Amari is spying on him. This death sets off a chain of events which bring Amari and Zelie together and sends them off on a quest to restore magic to Orisha.
Aimed at a YA audience, the book carries a powerful message about some of the terrible atrocities that have been committed throughout human history. The character narratives may follow the familiar coming of age arc, but there are a lot of original ideas to be found in this work, it’s a bold, evocative and imaginative start to the series.
The Curse Workers – Holly Black
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Alex Verus – Benedict Jacka
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Seeds of Destiny – Andy Livingstone
The Seeds of Destiny follows Brann, the son of a miller from a small village in the back of beyond. Anyone with a passing interest in fantasy will know that only from such humble beginnings, can a properly epic coming of age tale begin, and that is precisely what The Seeds of Destiny is. The clue is very much in the title of the series and the individual books, Hero Born, Hero Grown and Hero Risen.
Within the first couple of chapters circumstances conspire to detach Brann from his simple way of life and place him in the company of some seafaring slavers, not you’ll understand as a passenger, but rather as part of the engine room. Thankfully the captain of this particular ship is a reluctant slaver at best, the kind who treats his slaves well, valuing them and their wellbeing as the source of his wealth, status, and in some cases continued existence. The slaves for their part are reasonably content with the set-up, after all, there’s worse situations to occupy than pulling an oar in return for food and safety (something graphically illustrated later in the series).
At the time of Brann’s capture, masked savages subject his village to an unconnected attack; in the confusion, he assumes that his captors had perpetrated the attack. Until the intended recipients of his new ship’s cargo are massacred in atrocious fashion. At this point, it becomes obvious that the Captain of the ship is neither a barbarian nor a simple slaver and Brann is dragged into a mission to understand the reasons behind the attacks and identify the culprits.
The books are written in an easily digestible style (while considering this review, I was flitting through the book, checking a few details and found myself completely sucked back in to the story). There are some violent scenes, the nature of the atrocities investigated and Brann’s journey itself requires some graphic descriptive passages, but there is no obvious relish or revelry in the telling, just a narrative requirement to be fulfilled. The lack of enthusiastically described brutality and the presence of an arresting story makes this series well worth a look for fans of a more reserved fantasy vintage.
Uprooted/Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik
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The Ballad of Sir Benfro – J.D. Oswald
On the edge of memory a pair of warring dragon brothers, each a powerful mage, wrought a terrible harm on the world of Gwlad. In the aftermath of their final battle a terrible curse was placed on all the dragons, their size, numbers, and powers have dwindled greatly, the once majestic creatures have been reduced to a flightless shadow of their forbears. In the centuries since the curse began humans have assumed dominance, and the dragons of Gwlad have been all but eradicated by the monastic warriors of the High Order of Ffrydd.
A prophecy by a rambling madman suggests that the damage caused by the ancient dragon wars could one day be undone. The signals that this long awaited reckoning may be on its way, arrive in the forms of Benfro, the first male dragon to be hatched in over a thousand years, and Errol, a human child surgically delivered by a dragon healer unable to prevent the death of his mother. These events are just the start of a very long path.
The Ballad of Sir Benfro has all the ingredients for an excellent series, intriguing lead characters, a richly imagined world and backstory, an unusual but reasonably consistent magic system, a particularly well realised villain in the form of Melyn, oh and did I mention dragons? The overall narrative probably falls into the category of epic-light, there are coming of age elements for both Benfro and Errol and several other character threads, but the events described are contained within a narrower scope than some of the truly epic series out there. There is also less moral ambiguity than found elsewhere, characters are presented in mostly black or mostly white, any shades of grey do not stray far from their base monochromatic position.
There’s a slight tendency to meander a little, particularly in the middle parts, but this remains a strong series and perfectly suited to teenage audience given the age of the main protagonists.
The Discworld – Terry Pratchett
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Memory, Sorrow and Thorn – Tad Williams
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is a classic epic fantasy yarn with a pinch of swords and sorcery thrown in for good measure. When I say epic I really mean it, the final volume alone, To Green Angel Tower, is listed by Wikipedia as one of the longest books of all time with a word count of around 520,000 (that’s more than all three volumes of LOTR combined).
Williams avoids using the standard Tolkien-esque fantasy species, although there are parallels, there’s no Elves, Dwarves, or Orcs, instead there’s three strands of one ancient immortal race (the Zida’ya, Hikeda’ya, and Tinukeda’ya), a bunch of educated Trolls and (eventually) some very aggressive insects. One thing which doesn’t stray too far from other fantasy staples, is the treatment of these species by the Johnny-come-lately humans, who turn up late in the day and ruin everyone’s picnic. It’s fair to say that the immortal races take this badly, particularly the Hikeda’ya. Unable to agree on a course of action they go their separate ways and humans assume control of the continent. Revenge is a dish traditionally served cold, so several (human) generations after they retreated to the far, frozen North, the Hikeda’ya have resurfaced with ominous intent, an act which provides the backdrop of this whole story.
Memory, Sorrow and Thorn is without doubt a fantasy classic and deserves your attention. Readers are treated to multiple perspectives, mostly protagonists, such as that of the kitchen boy, Simon who finds himself swept along in a quest to save his kind and kingdom, but there are a few antagonist points of view thrown in for balance.
It is the perspective of Simon, a young adult character which warrants Memory, Sorrow and Thorn’s inclusion in this list, without this viewpoint the series would probably stray into full on adult category, something to bear in mind depending on the age of the prospective reader.
Shadowmarch – Tad Williams
Shadowmarch is named eponymously for the Castle around which it centres, its current ruling family feature widely in the storyline. Religion is the key driver behind the events depicted, while there are various schisms they broadly recognise the same deities. Unusually it is not the disagreements between these various factions which creates the tension, instead it is an indirect result of a war or theomachy between the actual gods which, for the human characters at least, is lost in the mists of time. In present events the resulting effect of this war are an ingrained hatred of humans by the Qar (a collection of long lived races), this is reflected right back at them by most of Mankind. The usual human propensity for violence and an ability to breed in far greater numbers has driven the Qar into the far North, and compelled them to create a magical barrier known as the Shadowline or Mantle depending on your point of view. The human races having taken over the majority of the Northern continent have developed schisms of their own, for the most part they rub along relatively peacefully, on the southern continent though there is a self-styled God-King (the Autarch) who doesn’t play so nice, he has risen to power and dominion over all his neighbours, a situation he would like to recreate in the northern continent.
If you’re a fan of epic fantasy in the slightly less gritty mould, Shadowmarch should definitely be in your to read pile. Similarly to Memory, Sorrow and Thorn the inclusion of young adult perspectives in the narrative makes this series accessible for young adults, it’s probably suitable for a slightly younger audience than Memory, Sorrow and Thorn but either would make a good starting point into the books of Tad Williams.