Fantasy For Beginners- 10 Books to get you started

– by Ramya Pandyan

Peter Jackson may have set out to make a great movie but he also ended up kicking  off a new movement. After the massive success of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the annual Harry Potter movies (racing to keep up with the book releases), fantasy has become a genre to be contended with. Book sales for the above stories went through the
roof and carried with them a number of other stories from the Fantasy realm.

Fantasy is the world between children’s storybooks and geeky-cool sci-fi. Fairies,
dragons, elves, talking objects, witches, vampires and warlocks are some popular
Fantasy characters. The genre draws liberally from folklore and fairytales but goes
beyond with more intricate plots, complex characters and often, life lessons. By its very
definition, Fantasy involves stories, characters and situations that don’t really exist. It
overlaps seamlessly with science fiction on one end and fairy tales on the other. Thus
you are never too old for a fantasy story.

Let’s look at some of the books on my Fantasy bookshelf.

1. The Hobbit – J R R Tolkien

A prequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, J R R Tolkien’s story of a hapless
hobbit caught in a band of adventurous dwarves is an ideal introduction. Through
The Hobbit, you encounter most of the LOTR life-forms like dwarves, trolls,
orcs, wargs and wizards. The story is lighter and easier to read than LOTR as it
skips from cosy hobbit-holes to troll dinners to forest saviors and mountain orcs.
There isn’t a forbidding evil force as in LOTR but there is a formidable dragon
called Smaug waiting atop a mountain of treasures. Bilbo Baggins’ shenanigans
keep the reader chuckling as he negotiates good food and security in these
troublesome situations.

2. Eragon – Christopher Paolini

Eragon hit the top of reader lists, catapulting its fifteen-year-old writer to instant
fame. Sequels followed soon after – Eldest, Brisingr and Inheritence – locking in
fan attention. However the movie version didn’t captivate audiences as well as
Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings franchises did. The story begins with a
teenager named Eragon who finds a blue stone from which hatches a dragon
called Saphira. Shortly after, strangers appear in the village making inquiries of
the dragon and then they kill Eragon’s family. Eragon’s flight with Saphira and his
ensuing adventures make up this popular book.

Often authors don’t write with specific genres in mind so classifying a story becomes
tricky. On occasion, fantasy may overlap with children’s books. I enjoyed some of
these as a kid but I think they also fit on my Fantasy shelf.

3. The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe – C S Lewis

The basis for the popular Chronicles of Narnia movies, this book begins when a

young girl opens a wardrobe to find a gateway to the magical realm of Narnia.
Lucy and her siblings in and out before getting caught up in Narnia’s adventures.
At the end of it all, they are crowned Kings and Queens of the land. Many years
later, as adults, they come to the portal again and find themselves back on the
other side of the wardrobe as children.

4. The Wizard of Oz – L Frank Baum

“I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore, Toto!” says Dorothy Gale when she’s
swept away by a tornado and right into the magical land of Oz. Along the way,
Dorothy frees a Scarecrow, mobilizes a Tin Man and finds a Cowardly Lion.
Together they set out to find the Wizard of Oz who, they hope, will help them
find what they need. Their journey is beset by adventures with strange animals,
deadly plants and wicked witches. They must bring together their brains (but
the Scarecrow has none) and courage (sadly lacking in the Cowardly Lion) and
passion (the Tin Man has no heart). Will they reach the Wizard and will he give
them what they need? Will Dorothy ever get home?

5. Peter Pan – J M Barrie

This story of a boy who never grew up and who led a band of lost boys in
Neverland has captivated readers and viewers alike for ages. Peter Pan is set
in the grim reality of early twentieth century London where children were often
kidnapped and sent on to gristly fates. The story weaves a lovely fantasy about
what happens to those kids later. The main characters, Peter Pan and Wendy
Darling are torn between the joys of freedom and the warmth of love. So this is
also a story about different choices and how lives turn out in consequence. And
finally it is also a thrilling tale of pirates, fairies, flying boys and magic.

In talking about worlds that don’t exist, fantasy could take the form of predictive stories
and merge with science fiction. Some modern fiction that doesn’t carry Science Fiction’s
serious, high-brow tones, could fit into Fantasy.

6. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – Douglas Adams

This book finds a home in every geek’s heart, right next to the Star Wars mania.
What started as a BBC radio series, caught popular sentiment so hard that it
didn’t take the story long to make it into print. Due to its orgins, there is a reckless
pace and rambling flow to the story, that curiously only makes it even better.
The book starts with the Earth getting blown up to make way for a hyperspace
bypass, an event that, typical of governmental procedures, no one on the planet
knows anything about. Steeped in British humour, the Guide lists such useful tips
such as the importance of towels, how to make a Pan-Galactic Gargle-Blaster
(which feels like having your head smashed with a golden brick that has a slice of
lemon wrapped around it) and the danger of listening to Vogon poetry (‘Ode to a
lump of green putty I found in my armpit this morning’).

7. Discworld – Terry Pratchett

Terry Pratchett paints a picture of Discworld as a flat world, carried on the backs
of four elephants, which themselves stand together atop a giant turtle. The
stories feature fantasy favorites like vampires and witches and glide from modern
pop references to current political events to sheer funny fiction. My favorite
Discworld books are not by title since every single one I’ve read is a real gem,
but the ones with brightly illustrated covers since they capture the madness of
Discworld beautifully.

Then there are the stories that really don’t sit comfortably in the genres they should
seem to belong to, at a glance (Science-fiction, Horror etc). I think they’ll all find a home
in Fantasy too.

8. Harry Potter – J K Rowling

No modern list of fantasy can be complete without a reference to the world’s
most famous schoolboy. The story of a 11-year-old orphan who discovers that
he is actually a wizard, has enthralled readers across the world. Harry Potter
is undoubtedly the cult classic of our times and brought an entire generation of
children back to the world of books. The series successfully combines two very
popular genres – boarding school stories and fantasy. It draws liberally from
earlier fantasy references like trolls, dragons and wizards but also adds more
contemporary facets like time travel, sports matches and subtle political satire.
Turn your nose up at the pulpiness of the story or ravage it like it’s the last food
on earth, you haven’t lived in our times if you haven’t read Harry Potter.

9. Twilight – Stephenie Meyer

Possibly the second most popular teen cultural reference after Harry Potter is
the love story of a human being and a vampire. These books have also been
categorized as horror and teen fiction. But the story’s origins are pure fantasy,
right from the blood-thirsty ‘bad’ vampires to the boy next door who turns into a
ferocious werewolf.

10. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking Glass – Lewis
Carrol (Charles Dodgson)

Rumour has it that Alice was based on a nine-year-old girl that Charles Dodgson
(who wrote under the name of Lewis Carroll) befriended. One afternoon, while
out boating with Alice Liddell and her equally young sisters, Dodgson set about
telling them a story to amuse them. The story began with Alice noticing a rabbit in
a waistcoat who kept glancing at a pocket watch and muttering, “I’m late!”. Alice
followed the rabbit down a rabbit hole and began a series of adventures ranging
from changing in size, attending a mad tea-party, listening to a mind-twisting
story and meeting all kinds of creatures, fictitious and otherwise. Dodgson was a
professor of mathematics and perhaps that’s why there are hidden references to
logical and mathematical conundrums. Also, the first book ‘Alice’s Adventures in
Wonderland’ is based on pack of playing cards while the second traces a chess
game through the movement of the key characters in the book. Read the books
for these hidden gems or just for the story – Alice is a delightful read for children
and adults, either way.

Also posted at http://ideasmithy.wordpress.com/fantasy-for-beginners