Editing Approved Literature (section)

==Fantasy==

*'''''Richard Adams - Watership Down''''': The epic story of a tiny band of desperate people's odyssey to flee a great calamity and find a new homeland. Along the way, they fight dangerous battles, encounter dangerously seductive dystopia after dystopia, and ultimately destroy a fascist dictator before founding a new nation. Also, [[Bunnies and Burrows|everyone's a rabbit]]. Badass storytelling, sweet worldbuilding, and an incredible level of quality for a children's book.

*'''''L. Frank Baum - The Wizard of Oz''''': Dorothy and her little dog too get [[isekai]]'ed, meet companions, defeat the witch. Baum (or rather, his publishers) milked this franchise to death releasing sequel after sequel, so stick only to the first book, unless you're doing weird idea mining.

*'''''Terry Brooks - Magic Kingdom of Landover''''': A book series about a Chicago lawyer who discovers an unusual offer in a mailing catalogue: the sale of a magical kingdom. He quickly finds out that not only is the offer real, but just because he bought a kingdom doesn't mean its inhabitants are too eager to accept him as their new king. Lots of crazy, humorous adventures follow. What the series does best is being a pretense-free fantasy comedy, that doesn't try to reinvent the wheel, deconstruct anything or flex with extensive worldbuilding. One of the main inspirations for ''Majesty'', while itself looking at ''Wizard of Oz'' and taking notes.

*'''''Jim Butcher - [[The Dresden Files RPG|The Dresden Files]]''''': Basically the [[World of Darkness]] with <s>all</s> most of the depression, brooding, doom and gloom replaced with badass, humour and a pinch of noir detective. Follow the young wizard/private investigator Harry Dresden through his misadventures in a supernatural world of Chicago, as he grows in power and fame, deals with ever increasing levels of supernatural horrors, get his life ruined to oblivion and beyond and yet manage to make it look cool rather then utterly depressing and sanity-check inducing by sheer will alone (OK, will ''and'' snarkiness).

*'''''Brandon Carbaugh - Deep Sounding''''': A two-part story written by a fa/tg/uy, dealing with themes of isolation in a Dwarven society. Consistently humorous and socially relevant.

*'''''Glen Cook - [[The Black Company]]''''': I can't remember the exact quote, but someone put it best when he said "it's a story about level 5-8 badasses trying to make it in a world dominated by epic level Wizards". Follow the mercenary entourage known as the Black Company as they sell their swords to the highest contractors, who usually end up being The Big Bad Evils. The first three books (now conveniently available as one book, "Chronicles of the Black Company") are good then things start to get weird.
 
*'''''Larry Correia - [[Monster Hunter International]]''''': In the modern world monsters of all kinds are out there. Stopping them from eating humanity are private groups of monster hunters who get paid very handsomely for removing the supernatural with superior firepower. As one would expect from an author with a background in running a gun store and competitive shooting, it's very [[/k/]]. A character's choice of firearm describes them as much as their clothes or hair and guns work as they're supposed to. The first book (which can be obtained as a free e-book) is enjoyable, but very rough, and the series improved dramatically each book. Features a writing style that improves dramatically when listened to as an audiobook.
**'''''Grimnoir Chronicles''''': A separate series by the same author. Set in an alternate 1930s where a small (but constantly increasing) percentage of humanity has been born with super powers since at least the 1830s. While there's X-men style discrimination, it's largely in the background. The series is actually about how Japan is trying to use its research of Power to take over the world. The super power system is unique in that there are only about 30 documented Power types, with many just being lesser versions of other powers, and outside of a core handful everything else is rare but the creative and powerful can stretch the rules. The world has also had cultural and technological shifts as a result of Power instead of keeping it the same aside from their existence. 

*'''''Steven R. Donaldson - Thomas Covenant''''': The first two series are the ones /tg/ has read - there's a (much) more recent series that ostensibly wraps it all up, plus some outtakes (like "Gilden-Fire") that SRD refactored as shortstories. The titular character nuzzled the wrong armadillo apparently so is a leper. In the story he gets [[isekai]]'ed; driven with self-hatred and a refusal to compromise, he does [[rape|horrible things]] but anyway has to defeat the [[BBEG]] named, we shit you not, "Lord Foul". Massive influence on [[Monte Cook]]'s [[Arcana Unearthed]] oeuvre (particularly) so we gotta note it. The ''Ansible'' #46 article "Well-Tempered Plot Device" hilariously described these two series as "so flatulent you have to be careful not to squeeze it in a public place"; publisher Lester Del Rey is rumoured (''Ansible'' #50) to have disliked the series too, but (correctly) judged the (mid 1970s) moment as good to release some fantasy ''any'' fantasy. SRD wrote some other fantasy and SF; only fans of the Covenant books went on to buy those, but they number enough to maintain Donaldson's alimony payments. Characters get forcibly boned in those stories too.

*'''''Steven Erikson - Malazan Book of the Fallen''''': An enormous read that stretches across over three million words and ten books, Erikson's worldbuilding rivals anybody else in the genre, with a large focus on the many different cultures, how they rose, and then how they fell. Can be overwhelming at times due to the sheer number of simultaneous plotlines and a large, perhaps even bloated, cast. Very much the definition of epic fantasy, the level of power at play swings fairly wildly depending on which set of characters is being focused on at the time, from assassins fighting upon rooftops, to flying castles being crashed into cities, and then back to the oft-humorous exploits of a group of mostly mundane soldiers that is reminiscent of Glen Cook's Black Company. In all, a story full of engaging personalities exploring a supremely fantastical world, with all the hallmarks of classic fantasy, elves, dragons, gods, and wizards, given a unique spin.

*'''''Raymond E. Feist - The Riftwar Cycle''''': A 30 book epic written over the course of three decades, The Riftwar Cycle starts off as the story of a boy learning how to be a wizard, only to save the world by the end of the debut novel, ''Magician''. After this the series evolves into an epic spanning multiple generations of characters (but roughly half focusses on the initial cast) fighting to protect their world from internal political strife and malevolent external forces. Grew to be a lot more cosmic in scale in the last eight or so books, and the ending was kind of a lacklustre business. The classical fantasy races are not the focus here: the [[dwarves]] and [[elves]] get along just fine, and while there's [[dragon]]s, serpent folk and [[dark elves]] (the latter of whom are Native American inspired), it's mostly about humans and their struggles. The series is divided into ten sagas, with the best one being the Empire trilogy which tells the tale of the chronologically six first book from the perspective of the antagonists in a beautiful tale of loyalty, honour, politics and love. Was also Neal Hallford's inspiration for ''Betrayal at Krondor'', a [[/v/|Dynamix / Sierra vidja]] that is held in high esteem in some circles. Not enough circles, apparently; since Hallford's remaster proposal didn't get funded.

*'''''Neil Gaiman - American Gods, The Graveyard Book, Neverwhere, Sandman, etc.''''': An entertaining and occasionally preachy writer, he's known for his unique and well fleshed out ideas. There's something here for everyone, from the [[Noblebright]] Stardust to the [[Grimdark|fairly grim and pretty dark]] [[DC Comics|Sandman]] comics. American Gods, however, is the one he's best remembered by, which is a story about physical manifestations of IRL gods fighting a losing war against globalization, mass media and technology. [[/d/|There's also a part where a man is swallowed whole by a woman's vagina.]]

*'''''Jane Gaskell - The Atlan Saga''''': A series of gloriously cheesy fantasy novels from the 60s that combine all the best elements of pulp with post-modernism. The misadventures of a heiress to Atlantis empire in the prehistoric world where various myths - and genre cliches - are all true. It's the last big thing in the genre that didn't try to copy-cat ''Lord of the Rings'', so worth reading for originality alone, along with being what shaped various cliches regarding Atlantis ever since.

*'''''William Goldman - [[The Princess Bride]]''''': The book the famous movie was based on. Has a couple of twists and details left out of the movie, usually for good reasons. Still worth reading, though.

*'''''Michael John Harrison - Viriconium''''': A truly peculiar set of novels and short stories dedicated to put traditional world building on its head, by never making sure if the stories are happening between the same characters, in the same place or same time. A very open-ended to interpretation "setting", which is also a great exercise to how tell a story without overburdening anyone with details and in the same time providing all the important elements to keep audience (readers or players) invested and interested.

*'''''Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders''''': First is a story of a royal bastard's horrible upbringing as an assassin. Second is a story of magical sailing ships that talk, dragons, pirates, rape, 14 year old girl overcoming terrible misfortune. It has it all. (Please note the following two sets of books in the series are a little average compared to these two). The endings of the books in the second series are a little pat, but are still entertaining.

*'''''[[Robert E. Howard]] - [[Conan the Barbarian]]''''': Conan the Barbarian was born from this quill. A seminal pulp classic which could be considered the father of sword and sorcery.
*'''''N. K. Jemisin - The Broken Earth Trilogy''''': A post apocalyptic trilogy with a heavy spiritual and existential emphasis in a post-humanist story.

*'''''Ursula K LeGuin - [[Earthsea Cycle]]+''''': Threads about /tg/-approved literature will consistently end up having a poster say something to the effect of "no Sea Jedi Wizard Chronicles WTF" about halfway down, immediately being followed by a chorus of agreement. Needless to say, this series is an excellent one, little-known but surprisingly influential. It's the series that established the concepts of the concept of nominal magic as understood in modern fantasy literature: names of power in the language of magic are spoken to exert power over the person, place, thing or idea that name refers to. Later, less-respectable novels such as those by Christopher Paolini would abuse this concept for fun and profit. Sadly, such novels seldom strive to equal the actual accomplishments of the Earthsea novels, such as the successful building and display of a rich, believable, and internally consistent setting without letting any of the world building bog down the narrative like in LotR.

*'''''Fritz Leiber - Swords and Deviltry, et al.''''': A runaway momma's boy and a failed magician's apprentice lose everything and become thieves in Lankhmar, centre of civilization and debauchery. They are Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser:, swordsmen supreme, insatiable adventurers, womanizers unequalled, and bros of the highest calibre. Together, they plunder the world of riches, bitches, and wine, while facing magic and horror of a decidedly cosmic sort.

*'''''[[C.S. Lewis]] - The Chronicles of Narnia''''': Oxford don retells the Johannine Passion, but in Oz-expy Narnia with literal Jesus-lion Aslan. Our man is inferior (even) to Baum as a worldbuilder, but very good as characterbuilder - particularly for Edmund, Lucy, and (later) Eustace.  Ends with [[Rocks fall, everyone dies|an apocalypse]] and visitors going to Heaven too.  Except older sister Susan, who no longer wanted to go as she'd wrote off her time in Narnia as fairytales.  

*'''''Charles De Lint - Someplace to be Flying and Trader, Pretty much all of his books, you can't really miss''''': Most of the books seem to be set in Canada and revolve around Gypsy folklore and Native American spiritual stuff with urban settings. Don't get attached to characters.

*'''''[[George R. R. Martin]] - [[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''''': Some of the better character development in genre, with a bit of mystery, political chess and high death rate. Tends to drag at times, and since the release of the HBO series will be consistently overrated by those who've seen little else.  Final books' publication is so delayed, they may or may not be finished before GRRM's death.  Noted for Tolkien-envy.

*'''''Matter of Britain''''' - aka [[Arthurian Mythos|Arthurian Literature]]. This covers a very wide set of stories, but the most commonly accepted and cited books include Le Morte D'Arthur by Thomas Malory, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Anonymous, the Lancelot-Grail cycle, and many more. Even if you're already familiar with the general outline of Arthurian lore, going back to the sources - particularly at different time periods - provides a new perspective on medieval literature and how differently the stories can play out across different authors, creating a mosaic of Celtic mythology, French chivalry tales and even self-reflection on knighthood.

*'''''[[Michael Moorcock]] - [[Elric]] series (and so many others)''''' An iconic author, albeit considering the number of books he has written, very hit and miss. [[Elric]] is his most popular character. Stick to the collected sets Stealer of Souls or Stormbringer as a starting point though. Remember that Elric is first and foremost an icon for heavy metal, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

*'''''Terry Pratchett - [[Discworld]] series''''': Starts from parodying Fantasy as a genre, soon turns to far beyond [[AWESOME]], starting when Death himself seeks an apprentice. One of the most successful fantasy novel series in recent history. Rare combination of good humor and wise messages.  Does get a little preachy towards the end, but hey, it's still a great read.

*'''''Phillip Pullman - His Dark Materials''''': In another world in which people's souls manifest outside their body as animals and Polar Bears are sapient, a girl gets caught up in intrigue involving the Powers That Be in an adventure across dimensions. 

*'''''Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind''''': A mary sue bard goes on mary sue adventures (arguably an unreliable narrator) - world building may be weak but it's a fun read, so enough people on /tg/ have read it to count, even though nobody will praise it.

*'''''Emily Rodda - Deltora Quest''''': A gargantuan project written to pay bills, under the guise of a children-oriented book series that tell the overarching tale of a band of heroes in the magical world of Deltora. It is divided into three quintologies: "Deltora Quest" (the by-the-numbers generic heroic fantasy), "Shadowlands" (the by-the-numbers turning of the tide against forces of evil) and "Dragons of Deltora" (the by-the-numbers "dragons aren't really extinct" saga). Aside those, there are also: three lorebooks that expand on the Deltora world, and ''two'' sequel series set in the same universe (''The Three Doors'' and ''Star of Deltora''). The main sell isn't the generic writing and plots, but the extensive worldbuilding that goes along with it and stays roughly consistent. If anything, a good mine for monsters. Also had a decent anime adaption.

*'''''J.K. Rowling - [[Harry Potter]]''''': Love it or hate it (and there are things to [[RAGE|hate]], <s>[[skub|especially where the author herself is concerned]]...which is, at best, an irrelevant point to mention here as differing opinions between writer and reader have NO effect the quality of their work in the slightest...a fact people sadly tend to often forget </s>) this series is a big part of the collective fantasy consciousness, especially where normies are concerned. As such, if you want a tone that is easily familiar to those unfamiliar with fantasy in general, or children, this is not a bad place to start. At best, they're pretty readable books; at worst, they're thoroughly mediocre and derivative as all hell. At the very least, you'll look less of a [[neckbeard]] knowing what a Muggle is. '''MAIN BOOKS ONLY.'''

*'''''Andrzej Sapkowski - [[The Witcher]] (especially the short stories)''''': While the Witcher saga is just getting more bland and increasingly more generic with each following part, the two initial books collecting all the short stories (especially "Sword of Destiny") are the reason why everyone treated Witcher as unique and original. Tonnes of wacky ideas how to spin cliches and old tropes into something fresh. Reading the saga proper is not required and generally not advised, especially with wooden English translation.
** Alternatively, the later saga can be read for precisely what it is routinely bashed for. Starting from "Baptism of Fire", it turns into an unapologetic "you all met in the forest reserve and your party is tasked with retrieving a lost princess" campaign. If read with such mindset, it's pretty good after-campaign report, including random hijinks, new players joining half-way through and bunch of party in-jokes about the situation at hand.

*'''''[[J.R.R. Tolkien]] - [[The Hobbit]], [[The Lord of the Rings]], and anything else he wrote (eg; [[the Silmarillion]])''''': The great grand-daddy of modern fantasy. Not having even the slightest familiarity with his work is inexcusable in eyes of [[/tg/]].

*'''''Karl Edward Wagner - Kane series''''': Essentially a more grimdark version of Howard's style of sword and sorcery, [[Kane]] is more akin to a villain that Conan would fight than the "noble savage" barbarian archetype. Immortal and cursed with the inability to ever truly settle down, [[Kane]] is an expert fighter, leader of men and potent sorcerer. After thousands of years his only real goal is to stave off boredom, which he does by offering his services and considerable intellect to various rulers, although more often than not with an ulterior motive. In one story he sets out to revive a race of ancient cosmic horrors simply because they offered him a chance to explore the cosmos.

*'''''Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun''''': The setting is inspired by [[Jack Vance]]'s Dying Earth series (itself lifting from [[Clark Ashton Smith]]), so this could be either in SF or Fantasy. A torturer is exiled from his guild and old life after he helps kill the woman he loves to spare her from the agony of torture, now forced to journey through Urth; our Earth in the far, far, far future, in a time when our sun is beginning to die. These books do not make for easy reading, however. The author uses lots of very obscure words to create the worlds own unique lingo. Also, the main character is an unreliable narrator of the more extreme sort. The reader will be spending some time figuring out what are the truths and what are the lies.

*'''''Roger Zelazny - The Chronicles of Amber''''': A lesser known series (although it's in Appendix N too) written between 1970 and 1991 about a family of (essentially) demigods who inhabit the "true" reality of the city of Amber. Everything else is merely a shadow of Amber and its inhabitants. The princes and princesses can move freely between Amber and an infinite number shadow worlds but the constant plotting and backstabbing at home and the less-than-real nature of everything outside makes them callous and often amoral. The first book effortlessly turns from "hard boiled detective story" to "psychedelic road trip" to "drama about Greek gods" in style.