Fantasy for non-fantasy fans

[innocentize]

As a kid, I really liked Harry Potter, Worst Witch, Magic Faraway Tree etc - all the obvious ones. I really want to find that enjoyment of fantasy as an adult.

I know there’s a lot of adult fantasy but it often seems to be quite romance/historical based, lots of complex worlds and systems. Is there anything which is more like ‘normal person sudd let immersed in fantasy world’ in the same way Harry Potter or magic faraway tree are, but for adults?

There are a lot of kids (often called middle grade) fantasy books which are creative but not too complex, I enjoyed the Skandar series by A F Steadman.

I'm the same. Rarely read fantasy as I don't think it's my thing, despite loving HP and LotR.

Recently read This Kingdom will not Kill Me and loved it. By Ilona Andrews. About a woman who wakes up in the world of her favourite novels. She knows what is meant to happen and tries to change the future. I'm looking forward to the second in the series.

Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay. Adore this book. I love nearly all of his books.

Katherine Kerr Deverry series -

Daughter of Smoke and Bone Series - Laini Taylor - demons and angels - some romance but it's so much more
Strange the Dreamer and Muse of Nightmares - Laini Taylor

Stephen Donaldson as well as the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant he wrote two books on Mordants Need, The Mirror of her Dreams and a Man Rides Through - Teresa a woman of our land gets transported through a mirror to a mediaeval time where mirrors have power and transport unspeakable horrors into Mordant

It's late, let me have a think and come back

Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore By Robin Sloan

Another one for The Night Circus

There's a book series i started reading as a teen and a re read it a few years ago, the 1st book is called Saphira, then its arising, eldest and heritage i think. Loved it, its like LOTR's meets game of thrones. Plan to read it again once I get through the witcher

A A Albright, Andris Bear, Misty Simon and even lighter- Jodie Homer. Enjoy!!

Oh The Night Circus is a great shout actually.

Maybe The End of Mr Y as well.

Angela Carter is great for magical realism - try Nights at the Circus.

The Witches Of Woodville series by Mark Stay is a lot of fun. Set in a country village during WW2 and the main character is the daughter of the village pub’s landlord who discovers she’s a witch. They’re quite funny but also have great plots and very memorable characters. The first one is called The Crow Folk.

Also witchy and a lot of fun is Syd Moore’s Essex Witch Museum series.

You might also like Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones. It’s technically YA but it’s a brilliant, magical story set in a fairytale world.

I loved (and bought in paperback!) The Malykant Mysteries by Charlotte English - fantasy but with a very strong 'Russian Fairytale' feeling. It's about a man who is Death's detective, tasked with finding the killers of people who were murdered. Fantasy, horror, 'fairytale' combined in one.

Also loved the DCI Judas Iscariot and the Black Museum novels by Martin Davey. Excellent writing and very dark in places.

I've just finished Stephen King's 'fairytale' and would recommend it.

Pratchett’s Discworld books. You don’t need to start at the beginning, they are satire rather than romantic fantasy and have humour and pathos rather than schmaltz.

They also have differing themes - if you like witchy books there is a Witches strand, if you like detective fiction there is the Guards strand as well as good standalones such as Small Gods. I have a particular fondness for the Death series.

There are fan reading guides which split them into the strands - this is a popular one:
https://www.lspace.org/books/reading-order-guides/index.html

I also echo the Rivers of London recommendation. Again its fantasy but not schmaltzy and a good range of characters.

I know the kind of thing you mean - The Dragons of Viscalia fits the bill - obviously dragons involved with a solid plot line and fantasy world but one I can imagine (so not too ‘out there’ or complex if you know what I mean).

Thanks, all. I have tried Rivers of London but I found the writing a bit cringe - constantly perving on all the women. I don’t mean anything like Games of Thrones or Lord of the Rings where it’s very much a completely separate world.

I mean more like a character just living their life in a contemporary, ordinary setting and there a sort of magic element within it. Common in children’s books, but really hard to find in adults. Small Phrophets is an example from TV.

Chronicles of St Mary - time travel/fantasy book

Realms of False gods - Steve Higgs

Chronicles of St Mary - time travel/fantasy book

Realms of False gods - Steve Higgs

Totally agree with the above. Brilliant world building, very funny, very informative and well written.

Yes, urban fantasy is what you're looking for.

I like Seanan McGuire's Incryptid series, the first book Discount Armageddon starts with the heroine parkouring through New York to research the weird creatures that live there. It's worth it for the religious talking mice alone.

Tanya Huff's Enchantment Emporium is worth a look too, dragons and other mythical creatures in Toronto.

Diana Wynne Jones is excellent - some YA but lots of complexity and humour. Not all of her work fits your brief but e.g. Deep Secret is a lot of fun and mostly set in a fantasy convention. Fire and Hemlock is haunting.

Seconding, thirding, fourth fourthing - Discworld (Death, witches, Vimes, rather than the wizards) and Rivers Of London (great on history), His Dark Materials. Also loved Thomas Covenant but not read it in many years. Mordant's Need is a lighter read but not the same quality IMO.

Patrick Ness - Some Of Us Just Live Here (from the POV from the kids who aren't vampire hunters in Sunnyvale). Plus others of his books, eg A Monster Calls.

There was a good thread recently on time travel books for older teenager. Prompted me to re-read Charlotte Sometimes which is truly excellent.

You could try Ink Blood Sister Scribe. Set in the real world with some fantastically elements.

@LilyCanna glad to see another fan of the Daevabad trilogy.

Robin Hobb series starting with Assassin's Apprentice. Classic.

"Normal person fell into a magic world" is a good starting plot. I can't stand the man now we know what he does to women, but Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere is a really good example. A young man helps a collapsed young woman and gets drawn into an unseen London that exists alongside the one we know.

It's technically young adult (without the romance nonsense) but I'd highly recommend the Stoneheart trilogy by Charlie Fletcher, which is also set in London with a hidden world .

Robin Hobb is superb, but her novels are great big doorstops which can be a bit overwhelming when first dipping your toe into fantasy. I agree with @shinypen that The Assassin's Apprentice is the best starting point.

The Night Circus is good, but more magical realism, I'd say, and that can be divisive.

Patrick Ness's series starting with The Knife Of Never Letting Go is very accessible and got my friend into finally reading sci-fi and fantasy.

Try the Harley Merlin series by Bella Forrest. I was reccomended these books as an adult Harry Potter fan. I only read one but i did enjoy it, I went back to crime fiction after and I often preorder but I wouldn't mind revisiting Harley Merlin if i find myself without a new book to read.

You might like Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi - magical realism sort of style, with time travel

They're technically children's books, but I'm reading the Nevermoor series to my daughter and really enjoying it.

Not sure how you feel about Gaiman's work, but Neverwhere fits the bill and is pretty good.

It is hard to find the sort of book you want that’s firmly in the genre of adult fiction, you might need to rely on good children’s / YA books.
However, two books which are contemporary and read a bit like thrillers but depend on the sort-of-supernatural:
Wrong Place Wrong Time, Gillian McAllister - time travel to work out why her son committed a murder and uncover secrets. She is going backwards a day or more at a time within her own life, not historical time travel
The Sudden Appearance of Hope, Claire North - a woman who people are unable to remember when she’s not in front of them goes up against a potentially dystopian tech company.
Also someone mentioned The End of Mr Y, which is a ‘set in the normal world, go down the rabbit hole’ book.