More Than Middle Earth, Not Just Westeros

Literary genres are a funny old thing. There’s a certain snobbishness around anything that isn’t traditional fiction, something set in the “real” world. A certain sense that it’s not worthy if it’s somehow set in a world that is fully created by the author (which feels a little hypocritical given that any fiction is, by its nature, not real). I can understand not enjoying a particular genre - personally, the majority of crime fiction doesn’t hold a lot of appeal (although I did enjoy the Christopher Brookmyre and Mark Billingham books I read) - but it feels as if “serious” literary critics tend to scorn anything that might be associated with the word “genre” (generally used by said critics to mean “of lesser quality”). 

Sci fi predictably suffers from this but some sci fi authors do at least achieve a modicum of literary recognition. The genre that really seems to be left at the bottom of the pile, however, is fantasy. A shame as there are some good fantasy authors out there, not just your Tolkien and George RR Martin who seem to have become the only acceptable fantasy authors. Here are just a few titles / authors that I’ve enjoyed over the years for anyone looking to branch out into some new reading opportunities but unsure where to start.

The Lies Of Locke Lamora - Scott Lynch
The first in the Gentlemen Bastards sequence, which introduces us to the world of master con man Locke Lamora and his gang of accomplices. The first book interweaves the cons he’s attempting to pull off while expounding upon his backstory, drawing you into a world with some magic (albeit used sparingly, much like in George RR Martin’s work) but very much human focused (no orcs, dwarves and goblins here). So far, there are three books in the series - I’ve read the first two so far.

The Name Of The Wind - Patrick Rothfuss
Another series, The Kingkiller Chronicle - a trilogy this time with the first two parts currently available* - in which adventurer, magician and musician Kvothe is telling his life story to a chronicler. It’s in the adventure category and the main character is appealing if somewhat shallow. I enjoyed both books but they do suffer from slightly weak female characterisation - most of the female seem to be there to fall in love with the protagonist.

The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin
First in the Broken Earth series, I’ve just finished reading this and am on to the second book in the (of course) trilogy, The Obelisk Gate. Of them all, this is so far shaping up to be the best of the bunch. The world-building is compelling and the characters are interestingly flawed. The overall mysteries of the storyline, particularly surrounding stone eaters and obelisks, are also keeping me guessing. Jemisin has won several sci fi and fantasy awards for this and rightly so - I’m definitely going to be checking out her other books once I finish.

A couple of recommendations there if you're looking to get into a bit of fantasy writing and either have already read or aren’t ready to launch into Tolkien or Martin.

* This does seem to be a trait with fantasy writers - long waits between books.