Fantasy is hardly a new genre, so it won’t surprise you to know that there are some excellent fantasy classics out there. Some of them you may know, of course (one can hardly live very long without hearing of LoTR), but some of them are far less popular and well-known.
I’m here to give you a little bit of both: the famous titles you probably read (or should read, at least) and hidden gems you should definitely try. Either way, you’ll find some of the best fantasy classics right here.
The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
“Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
You know the story: Bilbo Baggins, a comfort-loving hobbit, is interrupted in his life when the wizard Gandalf and a company of dwarves recruit him for an adventure. Their goal is to reclaim the dwarves’ homeland and treasure from the fearsome dragon Smaug.
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
“He’ll be coming and going” he had said. “One day you’ll see him and another you won’t. He doesn’t like being tied down–and of course he has other countries to attend to. It’s quite all right. He’ll often drop in. Only you mustn’t press him. He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”
It only makes sense to put these two frenemies close together, so next up is the famous Narnia. This is a seven-book fantasy series that follows children who discover the magical world of Narnia, where animals speak, mythical creatures roam, and the forces of good and evil are constantly at odds. I love how everlasting this book is. I read it as a child and now my daughter loves it too.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
“He loved mountains, or he had loved the thought of them marching on the edge of stories brought from far away; but now he was borne down by the insupportable weight of Middle-earth. He longed to shut out the immensity in a quiet room by a fire.”
This is the beloved story of Frodo Baggins, a young hobbit who inherits the One Ring, an ancient weapon capable of giving its creator, the dark lord Sauron, immense power. With a fellowship of companions, Frodo sets out to destroy the Ring in the fires of Mount Doom while Sauron’s forces wage war across Middle-earth. I love the movies, but the books are so much better!
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
“It seemed to travel with her, to sweep her aloft in the power of song, so that she was moving in glory among the stars, and for a moment she, too, felt that the words Darkness and Light had no meaning, and only this melody was real.”
Meg Murry, a bright but insecure girl whose scientist father mysteriously disappears while working on a secret project travels through space and time with the help of three strange celestial beings. With her on this journey are her borther and their friend, and together they have this amazing, slightly dangerous adventure.
The Princess Bride by William Goldman
“I’ve been saying it so long to you, you just wouldn’t listen. Every time you said ‘Farm Boy do this’ you thought I was answering ‘As you wish’ but that’s only because you were hearing wrong. ‘I love you’ was what it was, but you never heard.”
Buttercup, a beautiful young woman who believes her true love Westley is dead, is forced to become engaged to Prince Humperdinck. When she is kidnapped by a trio of unusual criminals, a mysterious masked man sets out to rescue her, leading to sword fights, escapes, revenge, and romance. This book is so charming and so funny that yoi can’t help but love it.
Alphabet of Thorn by Patricia A. McKillip
“Do you become in visible?’
‘No. I’m there, if you know how to look. I stand between the place you look at and the place you see. Behind what you expect to see. If you expect to see me, you do. I listen in places where no one expects me to be.”
This is very short (for a fantasy novel) at only 290 pages, but it’s mesmerizingly beautiful. We follow an orhaned girl who lives in the library of Raine and translates books fervently. But then she receives a book from a young mage that cannot be translated: it’s written in the language of thorns. Our heroine becomes obsessed with its translation and as she succeeds, the book’s story is revealed to us. A mage named Kane falls for a conquering emperor as he helps him in this mission, even though the emperor only cares about finding new lands. But there’s magic in this book that may threaten the land and people our heroine cares about.
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
“If you have never wept bitter tears because a wonderful story has come to an end and you must take your leave of the characters with whom you have shared so many adventures, whom you have loved and admired, for whom you have hoped and feared, and without whose company life seems empty and meaningless.
If such things have not been part of your own experience, you probably won’t understand what Bastian did next.”
Bastian Balthazar Bux is a lonely boy who discovers a mysterious book about the magical land of Fantastica. As he reads, he becomes increasingly drawn into the story and eventually discovers that he has a role to play in saving Fantastica from the destructive Nothing. I loved this book as a child, and it left a lasting impact on me.
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
“When I was alive, I believed — as you do — that time was at least as real and solid as myself, and probably more so. I said ‘one o’clock’ as though I could see it, and ‘Monday’ as though I could find it on the map; and I let myself be hurried along from minute to minute, day to day, year to year, as though I were actually moving from one place to another. Like everyone else, I lived in a house bricked up with seconds and minutes, weekends and New Year’s Days, and I never went outside until I died, because there was no other door. Now I know that I could have walked through the walls. (…) You can strike your own time, and start the count anywhere. When you understand that — then any time at all will be the right time for you.”
There’s a unicorn who discovers that she may be the last of her kind after learning that other unicorns have mysteriously disappeared. Determined to find them, she sets out on a journey with the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the fiercely loyal Molly Grue. Their quest leads them to the kingdom of King Haggard, where they uncover the terrifying truth behind the missing unicorns.
Daughter of The Forest by Juliet Marillier
“He would have told her – he would have said, it matters not if you are here or there, for I see you before me every moment. I see you in the light of the water, in the swaying of the young trees in the spring wind. I see you in the shadows of the great oaks, I hear your voice in the cry of the owl at night. You are the blood in my veins, and the beating of my heart. You are my first waking thought, and my last sigh before sleeping. You are – you are bone of my bone, and breath of my breath.”
This is the first book in the Sevenwaters series, and it’s a fantasy saga like no other. In this one, we follow Sorcha, whose father is charmed by his new wife and her brothers put under a spell. Only she can help them, but she cannot speak before she completes her quest, and so she sets off on a journey, and finds love along the way as well. I absolutely adore this series, and the prose especially, so give it a try if you want something romantic and epic.
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. LeGuin
“From that time forth he believed that the wise man is one who never sets himself apart from other living things, whether they have speech or not, and in later years he strove long to learn what can be learned, in silence, from the eyes of animals, the flight of birds, the great slow gestures of trees.”
Ursula K. LeGuin writes fantasy too! And what a fantasy book it is. It tells you all about Ged, the most powerful wizard of Earthsea, who in his youth did some very bad things in his quest for power. You’ll see him tame a dragon, and do a bunch of great things in order to fix his mistakes. And if you like this, there are six more books.
Final Thoughts
If you love fantasy, then I’m sure you’ll love at least one of these books. If not, let me know in the comments below and I’ll do my best to give you a recommendation that suits your tastes. But if you prefer to find one on your own, here are some excellent resources:
- Here, you’ll find some classic books with romance.
- And if you prefer humor, there are some excellent funny classics.
- If you’re new to classics in general, you can try some amazing classics for beginners.
- Or if you just want something warm and comforting, you can try my favorite cozy fantasy books.
- I have a full witchy book list here. And a werewolf one here.
- And here you can find some excellent romantasy books.
What’s your favorite fantasy classic? Drop your own rec in the comments!
