Ive just gotten into fantasy, and finding it hard to commit to long series. I’ve read the first book each of ACOTAR, Mistborn, Assassin’s Appentice, and also read Piranesi which I loved.
I’ve moved on from ACOTAR (actually read 3 books), did not like the soft magic system and cringey language. Mistborn: Final Empire I loved but have been told it goes downhill. Assassins Apprentice was beautifully written and I loved the characters, but a slog due to the very long chapters and slow burn. I just read Piranesi and loved it.
I’m looking for a well-written fantasy book I can’t put down and that keeps me up vs. makes me fall asleep.
Maybe stand-alone fantasy books are more my jam? What’s your favorite?
by Varka44
12 Comments
From what you’ve written it sounds like you much prefer fast paced books to slow burns. You should try continuing mistborn if you already loved the first book, the last book in the trilogy is amazing and has a fantastic ending and it’s pretty fast paced as well.
For other recs, you might enjoy the first law series, it has pretty great standalone books too!
The Raven Tower- Ann Leckie
I haven’t read these books yet, but I lot of people recommend tress of the emerald sea and the spear cuts through water for good standalone fantasies.
Mogworld by Yahtzee Croshaw. Main character is undead. Hijinks insue.
Middlegame by Seanan McGuire. It’s technically apart of a series but all of the books are standalones as they center different characters.
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
I’d recommend *The Priory of the Orange Tree* – it has a prequel now, but you don’t have to read it. The original book was written as a standalone can still be read as one. It has a world-spanning, adventurous plot with pretty much everything a fantasy novel can have: queens and kings, dragons, witches, palace intrigue, battles, pirates, alchemists, spies, … Just be warned, it is a *long* book. It didn’t *feel* long to me, though.
***In Other Lands*****, by Sarah Rees Brennan** – main character is a teen boy, he’s a nerdy pacifist from the mundane world who ends up going to a magic camp in an ajoining magic realm. It was funny, fast-paced, had a cute m/m romance subplot, and some interesting challenges to typical tropes – e.g. the MC is not the conquering hero, he avoids violence; there are harpies and they aren’t evil, just misunderstood kind of…
***The Monsters We Defy*** **by Leslye Penelope**. Unusual magic system, set in Harlem NYC in the 1920s.
***Signal to Noise*****, by Silvia Moreno-Garcia**. Low magic in Mexico in the 1980s. Moreno-Garcia has several other books as well, they are all pretty different actually, but this is my fave.
***The Ten Thousand Doors of January*****, by Alix Harrow**. Really neat take on a magic system, and the writing is clever – the MC’s magic powers can’t exactly solve everything, and others are also seeking to control and constrain her.
***The Scandalous Confession of Lydia Bennet, Witch*****, by Melinda Taub**. Austen retelling but actually quite clever. This one is a bit longer, but I found it to be fairly fast-paced despite that. Lydia, as in the original book, is a refreshingly flawed main character and it’s hard to predict where the story will go (despite what seems like foreshadowing).
You might also like short story collections – here are two where I actually enjoyed ALL the stories (rare for me)
***How Long ‘Til Black Future Month?*** **By NK Jemisin** (short stories, all amazing, from historical SFF to utopia to speculative fiction)
and, ***Story of Your Life And Others*****, by Ted Chiang.** This is the story collection that the story *Arrival* is from (it was made into a movie). More sci-fi than fantasy, but so good.
Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie! The pacing is perfect, always popping off or about to pop off. It’s a stand alone in the middle of two trilogies, but it absolutely works by itself. My partner loved it and they haven’t ready anything else by Abercrombie. My most sincere rec!!!
Patricia McKillip has a lot of excellent very well written standalone fantasy books. You could start with {The forgotten beasts of Eld} or {Ombria in Shadow}. {The Sorceress and the Cygnet} has a sequel, but it feels like a standalone. There are no open questions and unfinished plots.
Dr Strange and Mr Norrell
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik