I have always loved the intricacies and secrets our world has to offer. In pursuing knowledge, I delved deep into the ‘magic’ of science to learn about its mysteries. The more I learned, the more I wanted to experiment with the laws of our world. After much schooling and reading many fantasy books, I eventually wrote about a fantastical world where science has been tweaked just enough to make things interesting. I hope you enjoy my list of books and that they excite you as much as they have excited me.
I love this book because of its characters. As we learn about the world and its magic, they struggle against their own demons.
I also enjoyed the believable and fantastic magic system. It makes you want to try to predict its secrets. Throughout the story, you delve deeper into the lore while rooting for the characters as they combat their specific demons.
I found the payoffs to be well worth the wait, and I still tear up thinking about my favorite parts.
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings, Book One of the Stormlight Archive begins an incredible new saga of epic proportion.
Roshar is a world of stone and storms. Uncanny tempests of incredible power sweep across the rocky terrain so frequently that they have shaped ecology and civilization alike. Animals hide in shells, trees pull in branches, and grass retracts into the soilless ground. Cities are built only where the topography offers shelter.
It has been centuries since the fall of the ten consecrated orders known as the Knights Radiant, but their Shardblades and…
I enjoyed the clever world-building and its realistic yet fantastical elements. The magic system intertwines beautifully with the world.
I found myself feeling for the characters and wondering about their connection with the world and its magic. As I learned about the plot, I kept trying to predict the big pay-off and was still surprised when I learned the truth!
The book is full of clever twists and turns, and I loved how it kept me guessing. I still get shivers thinking about some of the fight scenes.
Brandon Sanderson - the international phenomenon who finished the Wheel of Time sequence - introduces a fantasy trilogy which overturns the expectations of readers and goes on to tell the epic story of evil overturned in a richly imagined world.
A thousand years ago evil came to the land and has ruled with an iron hand ever since. The sun shines fitfully under clouds of ash that float down endlessly from the constant eruption of volcanoes. A dark lord rules through the aristocratic families and ordinary folk are condemned to lives in servitude, sold as goods, labouring in the ash…
This book is an elegiac meditation on the will to survive. Tor, a beluga whaler, and his wife, Astrid, a botanist specializing in Arctic flora, are stranded during the dark season of 1937-38 at his remote whaling station in the Svalbard archipelago when they misjudge ice conditions and fail to…
I really enjoyed the magic system in this book. It made me want to be part of the world and gain the powers/bonds of the characters. As Fitz is unwittingly pulled from relationships and put into difficult situations, I felt so much empathy and wanted to reach out and help him.
As I wanted these things, Robin Hobb granted me some of my wishes, but not always in the way I expected. The character development is superb, and each character is believable and has good motivation.
Voyager Classics - timeless masterworks of science fiction and fantasy.
A beautiful clothbound edition of Assassin's Apprentice, the first book in the critically acclaimed Farseer Trilogy.
In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.
Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if…
This book is probably the best I have ever read. The way characters think and feel is expressed magnificently, and the subtle ‘awe’ moments drive the plot forward.
I have never felt more attached to characters and their magic. Paul’s journey is believable and incredibly crafted. World-building is effortless, and I was never bored at any point while listening to the book.
I fear reading more in the series because this book is so good. I don’t want anything to spoil its perfection.
Before The Matrix, before Star Wars, before Ender's Game and Neuromancer, there was Dune: winner of the prestigious Hugo and Nebula awards, and widely considered one of the greatest science fiction novels ever written.
Melange, or 'spice', is the most valuable - and rarest - element in the universe; a drug that does everything from increasing a person's lifespan to making interstellar travel possible. And it can only be found on a single planet: the inhospitable desert world of Arrakis.
Whoever controls Arrakis controls the spice. And whoever controls the spice controls the universe.
Secrets, misunderstandings, and a plethora of family conflicts abound in this historical novel set along the Brazos River in antebellum Washington County, East Texas.
It is a compelling story of two neighboring plantation families and a few of the enslaved people who serve them. These two plantations are a microcosm…
This is the most classic and most epic fantasy book. I believe everything started from this book. I loved the small, quiet beginning and shared in Frodo's peaceful life. His leaving is not forced, and Sam’s accompaniment adds so much depth and warmth.
The book’s unsung hero, Tom Bombadil, is one of the most fantastic characters ever written, and you can’t help but sing his happy song. Tolkien weaves a marvelous universe; you can reread the book repeatedly and never get bored. The depth of his world and history makes you believe it truly exists.
This brand-new unabridged audio book of The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's epic adventure, The Lord of the Rings, is read by the BAFTA award-winning actor, director and author, Andy Serkis.
In a sleepy village in the Shire, a young hobbit is entrusted with an immense task. He must make a perilous journey across Middle-earth to the Cracks of Doom, there to destroy the Ruling Ring of Power - the only thing that prevents the Dark Lord Sauron's evil dominion.
Thus begins J. R. R. Tolkien's classic tale of adventure, which continues in…
In a decaying world where fantastical creatures struggle to survive, Dromdil is torn away from his community as he awakens strange magics. He is thrust headfirst into a terrifying adventure, joined only by a mysterious creature who dwells within his shadow. Meanwhile, across the continent, a hotheaded blood mage named Jormander chafes against his vampire master's tight reins, desperate to become powerful enough to escape his past.
As he struggles through impossible tasks, a young courier helps him rekindle the flames of his humanity. As the two fight for control of their lives, their separate paths begin to merge through an ominous twist of fate. Their preordained meeting has already been set. The decisions they make will determine the fate of the world.
Maximilian Tundra is about to have an existential crisis of cosmic proportions.
When a physical duplicate of him appears in his living room, wearing a tight-fitting silver lamé unitard and speaking with an English accent, Max knows something bad is about to happen. Bad doesn’t cover it. Max discovers he’s…
The 19th century women's rights movement and the rise of public education intertwine with one woman's story of struggle, perseverance, and love.
Alice Harris is pressed to marry a Civil War veteran twice her age when her family’s inn fails in 1882 in western North Carolina. She remakes herself by…
