Where should you start reading fantasy? That's a question the answer to which depends very much on the reader. While a classic introduction to the genre will take you along on a harrowing journey that ends in a changed world, there are other entry points that might appeal more to those with a taste for horror, or humor, or protagonists with some bite. Included on this list are twelve potential gateways into magic.
Tolkien is perhaps the default starting point for reading fantasy. He set out to create a mythos for the British people, and along the way he set the pattern for an entire genre for decades if not centuries to come. _The Hobbit_ is a prequel of…
Many people see similarities between _Sword of Shannara_ and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, to the point where the former work is called derivative; Brooks admits openly that Tolkien's work was a major inspiration for his. An advantage that _Sword_…
The Wheel of Time is another hero's-journey quest fantasy with a young man coming into his power and identity over the course of his travels, but Jordan is a few more steps removed from Tolkien than Brooks, and his series--though still lighter fare…
The Arrows trilogy, the first works in Lackey's wide-spanning world of Velgarth, are wish-fulfillment fantasy at its most cheerful and shameless. The protagonist Talia begins the series at thirteen, so the first book at least would be published as…
The dark academia subgenre can blend wonderfully well with fantasy, as Novik's Scholomance books prove: you don't get much darker than a school that's actively trying to kill you and/or trap your soul in the digestive system of an eldritch horror…
_Ninth House_ also has that dark academia feel, but this time the setting is college--Yale, to be precise. Although Bardugo is better known for her young adult work, _Ninth House_ is decidedly adult in complexity, tone, and language. Its setting…
Le Guin's take on the coming-of-age story has a fairy tale cadence that pulls the reader right in to her tale of how a wise, powerful wizard could emerge from the chrysalis of death and fear he formed as an arrogant young man. This book is a study…
The prose of _Mistborn_ (or _Final Empire_, which is technically the title even though I've never heard anyone but Sanderson call it that) is pedestrian at best, at least at the outset. Early Sanderson is not likely to convince anyone of fantasy's…
I wouldn't suggest anyone begin reading Pratchett's Discworld books with the first, _Colour of Magic_, because it just doesn't have the humor or charm of later entries; even less would I suggest it be anyone's first entry to fantasy. _Reaper Man_…
The subtitle says it all, almost: this is an ideal entry point for those who love the _Witcher_ games, since the world and certain characters will be enjoyably familiar. If you've played the first _Witcher_, then you'll probably go in expecting…
If you prefer _Baldur's Gate_ to _The Witcher_, or if you've ever adventured in the Forgotten Realms with dice and a character sheet at the ready, this first entry in the Icewind Dale Trilogy may be the entryway for you. _Crystal Shard_ is in many…
For some, the best gateway to fantasy is still the short story form. These aren't really *short* stories, as witnessed by the word "novels" in the subtitle, but "short" becomes relative when you consider how much fantasy comes in the form of a…
