I can’t really get into fantasy, the only books I genuinely liked were the Percy Jackson series. I tried reading the first Harry Potter book but I got bored immediately and I would have to force myself to read it. I don’t like forcing myself to read, I’d rather have to force myself to stop reading yk what I mean? Then Lord of the Rings? No. I just know it’s not the one for me even though I never tried reading it. Btw I don’t mind reading books with white main characters but I would like books with black main characters as well. Dark fantasy is also a yes, I love vampires & werewolves but no to the Twilight series. Any suggestions?
by tinalovesthemoon
5 Comments
All with black main characters:
The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemison
All These Sunken Souls ed. Circe Moskowitz
Out There Screaming ed. Jordan Peele
The anthologies have authors who have written fantasy or horror books, so if you like their stories, you can pick up their novels as well.
Have you looked at American Gods by Neil Gaiman? It’s kind of like Percy Jackson for adults. It’s got gods from a couple of different pantheons/continents road trips, a zombie, and the MC is portrayed by a non-white actor in the tv series based off the book. I can’t remember if he’s white or not in the book. Neil Gaiman is a fantastic fantasy author and I’ve yet to read anything by him that I haven’t liked. He’s the guy responsible for graphic novel/books that were adapted into the movie Stardust, Netflix’s Sandman, Amazon Prime’s Good Omens (a fantastic book he wrote with the amazing Terry Pratchett, btw), and the movie Coraline.
The Mercy Thompson series by Patricia Briggs is an amazing book series, although the cover of the books over sexualize the main character, so please ignore the cover art. It’s got vampires, werewolves, shifters, fae, and a Native American female MC that runs her own auto shop. A lot of people like the books, a lot of people have problems with it. I’ve been reading the series since my Twilight days, so I’m biased in favor of the books.
The Discworld books by Terry Pratchett are my favorite book series by far. It’s a 41 book series that’s been informally divided into about 6 subseries, so I understand if that puts you off reading it. It is a commitment. All of the books can be read as stand alones though. I’d recommend starting with Guards! Guards! just because it’s a fantastic book early enough in the series that you aren’t spoiling any of the events from earlier books by starting here. But it’s also far enough in that the author really had found his stride in writing books. It’s also hilariously funny and has some of the most beloved characters in it. Different books in the Discworld series have different characters so depending on what book you read there could be wizards, witches, trolls, dwarfs, werewolves, vampires, and more.
The wizard of earthsea by Ursula K LeGuin is very good and short. There are more books in the series so if you like it you can go from there.
Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Black MCs)
The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson (Black and Japanese MCs)
The Night and Its Moon Series by Piper CJ (Black and White MCs)
The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh (Korean MC)
Technically urban fantasy, but you might try the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. I really enjoyed the diversity of the characters. If you like audio books, it’s on Audible and Kobna Holdbrook-Smith does an absolutely fantastic narration.