Great Obscure Fantasy Reads

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Great Obscure Fantasy Reads

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1Kiddboyblue
Apr 15, 2018, 3:24 pm

I love finding fantasy series that are a little more obscure. If you search Great Fantasy series, generally you are going to get the same 50 series.
Does anyone have any favorite fantasy authors, series, etc. that are a little less mainstream but still very good?

2Carnophile
Apr 15, 2018, 10:18 pm

The Library at Mount Char, by Scott Hawkins. Standalone, published in the last few years. Note: Brutally dark in parts.

3Cecrow
Modificato: Apr 16, 2018, 8:51 am

>1 Kiddboyblue:, For exactly the same reason I picked up The Breaking of Northwall and I’m really enjoying the series.

42wonderY
Apr 16, 2018, 9:17 am

Have you read any Barbara Hambly? She has gritty, more realistic (but still wonderful) characters than most fantasies. Winterlands or Unschooled Wizard series.

5Guanhumara
Modificato: Apr 16, 2018, 10:17 am

I second the Barbara Hambly recommendation! Although her short Sun-Cross sequence is my all-time favourite from her fantasy works.

A distinctly quirky fantasy writer is R.A. McAvoy; I recommend both her Tea with the Black Dragon and Damiano sequences.

For a longer, and quite dense series, I recommend Chronicles of an Age of Darkness by Hugh Cook. It is not a sequence, but a collection of overlapping stories, often telling the same events from a different point of view. Each book is written in a different style.

Roger Zelazny also seems out of fashion these days, although his Chronicles of Amber sequence was one of the things that started me reading fantasy.

I also recommend The Curse of Chalion (and other books in that world) by Lois McMasters Bujold (better known for her SF)
and the Hurog duology by Patricia Briggs (better known for her shapeshifter romance series).

As something lighter, The Emperor's Edge sequence by Lindsay Buroker has a very deft touch between humour and adventure.

Blackwing by Ed McDonald was my fantasy discovery of 2017. Only one book to the series so far, but it looks very promising.

6Niko
Apr 16, 2018, 10:46 am

I think I tend to gravitate a lot to authors who can be considered "obscure", so I could go on all day. (Largely because I read a lot of female authors, a lot of titles that are published a "long time" ago, and subgenres that aren't the typical "epic" fantasy zone.)

The two most seriously obscure that pop to mind:

- Marta Randall's The Sword of Winter is probably the most seriously obscure I think I've read. I love sort of intimate, lower-scale fantasies, and this one was a great example of that.

- I'm also always surprised that more people haven't read Chaz Brenchley's Outremer series. I thought it was fairly well-known back when I first read them, but apparently not. Really good series with a sort of Crusades-ish setting.

- Two others who I've only dipped into briefly are Teresa Edgerton and Susan Dexter - both of them I've only read a couple books, and both have a much deeper catalogue that I am looking forward to exploring now that I've realized how good they are.

Some other biggies: I'm always a huge fan of everything by Carol Berg, Martha Wells, and Glenda Larke, and this year I really loved Rod Duncan's Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire series.

7Cecrow
Modificato: Mag 3, 2018, 7:42 am

Another to look up is The Anvil of Ice and sequels, written with an almost mythological style. The whole Winter of the World trilogy is magical, taking place in an alternative universe North America (and later Europe) that is being encroached upon by an ice age, where the ice itself is malevolent. I've read nothing else quite like it.

8saltmanz
Modificato: Apr 16, 2018, 12:12 pm

It's funny, I tend to read more fantasy, but when I go through my catalog looking for underappreciated gems, the bulk of them turn out to be sci-fi.

Matthew Stover's Acts of Caine series is criminally underrated. It does get pretty dark and brutal, fair warning. The first book stands alone, or you can stop at the second. And then the third and fourth make an odd kind of duology that ties everything together.

On a lighter, more comedic note is G. Derek Adams' ongoing Spell/Sword series. Three books in, and they get better with each installment. I read the third one first, and fell in love, but they definitely make a bit more sense in order.

And it's got more than 1600 copies on LT, but it's my favorite book of all time (and therefore vastly underappreciated, especially compared to his more famous work, Watership Down): Richard Adams' Shardik.

92wonderY
Apr 16, 2018, 12:14 pm

>8 saltmanz: Great first line in Spell/Sword!

10TimSharrock
Apr 16, 2018, 12:25 pm

thanks everyone: my kindle samples list is exploding again! so many of these sound as if I will like them

11ScarletBea
Apr 16, 2018, 1:12 pm

I'm not sure what to say, as what I think obscure you might already know, and vice versa, but here are a few names :)

I recommend Jen Williams, Anna Stephens, Daniel Abraham, Aliette de Bodard, A. J. Dalton, John Gwynne, Anne Lyle, G. R. Matthews, Peter Newman, Michael J. Sullivan and Chris Wooding.

12Watry
Apr 16, 2018, 2:55 pm

Lud-in-the-Mist by Hope Mirlees. Came heavily recommended by Neil Gaiman and I've read about half of it; super enjoyable.

13rshart3
Apr 16, 2018, 11:40 pm

"Obscure" is relative. But for things not on best seller lists, or household names:
Older/classic: George Macdonald Phantastes , At the Back of the North Wind, or the Princess books
some of Abraham Merritt -- The Moon Pool is his best known, but Burn Witch Burn is a great supernatural thriller
Most of these aren't series, but everyone should at least try them

Medium old: Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast books, starting with Titus Groan

Relatively recent: Hodgell's Kencyrath books, starting with God Stalk
The Summer Country and others by James Hetley
Nina Kiriki Hoffman - try The Thread that Binds the Bones

142wonderY
Apr 17, 2018, 7:20 am

Two rising young stars are Kate Griffin and Rainbow Rowell.

Griffin's Matthew Swift and offshoot Magicals Anonymous books are awesome. If you want creative writing that zings, she's your girl.

Rowell's Fangirl duology veers from tradition too. I read Carry On first, and was glad of that order. The second book is purportedly the fictional work of the main character of the first book.

15Cecrow
Apr 17, 2018, 8:32 am

>8 saltmanz:, that's a couple of places I've seen you cite Shardik as your favourite, and I'm starting to regret that copy I had as a teen but parted with unread. Loved Watership Down, didn't much care for The Plague Dogs though.

16infjsarah
Modificato: Apr 21, 2018, 7:23 am

I can see that you are already reading Robin Hobb - keep going - I can never understand why she is not more well known. You MUST read Curse of Chalion - just a fab book. You are already reading a couple of my favourites Lynn Flewelling and Jacqueline Carey.
I also think Guy Gavriel Kay is criminally unknown compared to the"famous".
I would also recommend Juliet Marillier, Jasper Fforde, Sarah Zettel, Kate Elliott, Celia Friedman

There is a blog called the Wertzone and he has just done a list of completed fantasy series here - http://thewertzone.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/gratuitous-lists-twenty-great-complete...

My TBR really didn't need any more.......;)

17MyopicBookworm
Apr 21, 2018, 11:13 am

Not enough people seem to have read Geraldine Harris's Seven Citadels sequence: Prince of the Godborn, Children of the Wind, The Dead Kingdom, and The Seventh Gate. They are faintly reminiscent of Ursula le Guin's Earthsea books, but with a more consciously Oriental style of setting.

18Cecrow
Modificato: Apr 23, 2018, 8:19 am

>16 infjsarah:, whew, I don't think anybody you named is suffering from inattention. If they have written at least one title with more than 1000 LT copies, I'd discount them. So, maybe Sarah Zettel counts. ;)

19Ennas
Apr 23, 2018, 4:09 pm

>16 infjsarah: I don't think these authors are obscure at all...

20Sakerfalcon
Modificato: Apr 24, 2018, 7:26 am

Doris Egan's Ivory trilogy has elements of fantasy and SF, and I love it. The world in which it is set is quite unique, and the heroine, Theo, who narrates the stories is a great protagonist. These books do not deserve to be as obscure as they are.

21Narilka
Apr 24, 2018, 9:30 am

>16 infjsarah: Thanks for that blog link. My wishlist just grew :)

22infjsarah
Apr 24, 2018, 5:28 pm

>18 Cecrow: >19 Ennas: Shrug. They are not in the questioner's library and they are not Tolkien, Rowling, Martin, Jordan, Rothfuss, Pratchett or Sanderson.

>21 Narilka: You're welcome.

23kceccato
Apr 26, 2018, 10:24 am

Here's a list of some favorites of mine:

The Ladies of Mandrigyn and sequels, Bride of the Rat God (Barbara Hambly)
Redemption in Indigo (Karen Lord)
Beyond Ragnarok (Mickey Zucker Reichert)
The Broken Crown (Michelle West)
Range of Ghosts and sequels (Elizabeth Bear)
Heart's Blood, Wolfskin (Juliet Marillier)
Mystic and Rider and sequels (Sharon Shinn)
Black Wolves (Kate Elliott)

These books may not be entirely obscure, but they're not nearly as popular as they deserve to be.

24Darth-Heather
Apr 26, 2018, 11:40 am

>23 kceccato: I don't know if they are unfamiliar to anyone else, but I haven't heard of any of these and am glad for the suggestions. Thanks!

This is a good idea for a thread!

26Sakerfalcon
Mag 3, 2018, 4:32 am

>25 merrystar: I just read The broken citadel recently and second your recommendation! I have the two sequels lined up to read soon.

27Kanarthi
Mag 3, 2018, 8:29 pm

Nobody's Son by Sean Stewart is a standalone book that I loved and can't believe there isn't more conversation about.

28Quaisior
Mag 10, 2018, 12:01 pm

The Eye of Night by Pauline J. Alama is one of my favorite fantasy books of all time.

Jane S. Fancher's Dance of the Rings series is great.

I wouldn't call Patricia A. McKillip obscure, but she hasn't been mentioned here. My favorite is The Bell at Sealey Head.

I haven't gotten to read much by Sherwood Smith yet, but the Crown Duel YA duology is wonderful.

Speaking of YA, my favorite YA fantasy series is The Queen's Thief by Megan Whalen Turner.

29Niko
Mag 10, 2018, 12:40 pm

>28 Quaisior: Oh, if you liked Crown Duel, you are in for a treat when you read further. :) The Inda series is absolutely AMAZING! Deserves a place high in the top "epic" fantasies of all time, imo.

30Quaisior
Mag 10, 2018, 2:48 pm

>29 Niko:: That's great to hear, I have the whole series, it's just finding the time to read such long books. Maybe once my daughter is in school, I will have time to read huge books again. ;)

31Kiddboyblue
Mag 13, 2018, 10:08 pm

Thank you all! There are so many recommends on here, I will have a great time hunting these down and checking them out!

32humouress
Giu 5, 2018, 1:59 am

Oh wow! There are so many authors mentioned here that I love and many others that I haven't come across yet, but if they're as good - well Mt TBR, here they come!

Mmm ... most of my favourites have already been mentioned but how about Simon Green's Blue Moon series?

33cindydavid4
Giu 5, 2018, 5:40 am

>4 2wonderY: Oh I love Hambly! The The Darwath Series (Time of the Dark) is one of my all time favorite series, read in college and still holds up after many decades. Also writes some very good historic fiction - The Emancipator's Wife is one of the best accounts of the life of Mary Todd LIncoln. She also wrote a fun series starting with The Ladies of Mandrigyn with very strong women characters. She also writes The Benjamin January Mysteries, about an African American man solving crime in New Orleans in the 1830s. Quite an amazing author

34cindydavid4
Modificato: Giu 5, 2018, 6:01 am

Well this is a dangerous post - I now have added 10 books to my TBR list..... :) One of my fav obscure books is Wizard of the Pigeons a book I read in college, and keep rereading now and again. Beautifully written book about a wizard living in the Seattle Underground . There is a twist which you sort of think is coming but still surprises you when it does. Feels a bit like Gaiman's Neverwhere in Seattle.