Epic Fantasy was something I devoured as a teen and adult. I had read a lot of mythology books, and for me fantasy was an extension of that, creating your own mythology, as it were. It’s still my favourite sub-genre, and I’ve been lucky enough to write myself in that genre.
Having said that, I don’t read nearly as much as I used to now. When writing is your job, reading can become a chore. Obviously I like to keep an eye on what the successful people are doing – that’s market research – but it’s very hard to switch off my inner editor and really relax into a book.
But obviously I have my favourites – starting with the famous series that engendered my love for fantasy – The Lord of the Rings, The Belgariad, and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant being the main ones; and there were others that influenced how I think about stories, whilst not pressing all my buttons (like Game of Thrones, in which I admired the brutal ethos and the way good people’s weaknesses were ruthlessly exploited, but I became disengaged as the characters I related to died).
In putting together this list, I decided that anyone with an interest in epic fantasy will have already read the classics of the genre. So here are a few titles that I have enjoyed, that are perhaps less obvious. Apologies that it’s not up-to-the-minute, but books are for eternity, and classics never grow old; and sorry for not selecting your favourite, but taste is a very individual thing.
In no particular order…
Patricia A McKillip: The Riddle Master Trilogy
I really liked the feisty, opinionated characters and the way the mysteries of the past reveal themselves as the plot unfolds, and the prose that has a sense of riddling about it, that captures the themes beautifully. A gem.
Poul and Karen Anderson: The King of Ys
A Roman soldier becomes king of a mysterious city in Gaul, that faces destruction from supernatural forces. An exciting delve into the zone where history, mythology and fantasy collide, and I’m a sucker for that sort of thing.
Mary Gentle: Ash, A Secret History
A standalone, that also explores the collision of history, myth and fantasy, as a mediaeval mercenary commander battles a mysterious Carthaginian empire who use golems in battle, while exploring themes of alternate worlds and splitting universes. The lead character is a strong woman, too, from a period in writing when this was still rare.
Charles de Lint: Moonheart
Can you have ‘epic urban fantasy’? I guess – this is in that zone, a standalone novel (that did eventually spawn sequels) set in Canada, in which Celtic and North American myth reaches into the lives of some modern characters and draws them into danger. Full of beauty and wonder, and grippingly scary at times, too.
Sara Douglass: The Crucible trilogy
Another alternate history, this time drawing heavily on Christian mythology; a knight in the 1300s is set upon a quest to save the world from falling into darkness, only to find that the foundations of his reality: God, Angels, Heaven and Hell; aren’t at all what he believed. I was raised as a Catholic and really enjoyed this subverting of dogma, by a brilliant Australian writer.
And there you go; thanks for reading and I hope I’ve tempted you to explore some of those books. Happy reading.
David Hair
World’s Edge: The Tethered Citadel Book 2 is published on 11 November by Jo Fletcher Books, £16.99.
