What are good fantasy books to read for fun?

kiraaa: What are good fantasy books to read for fun?
I need to read other books, preferably fantasy, to heal my damaged eyes from reading twilight *cringe* You see, friends recommended this wretched book and I was completely disappointed in it.
But anyways, I want to read fantasy books that is just a “fun read” like the Phantom Tollbooth or Alice in Wonderland. What other books are like this? Something that is a feel good book?

Answers and Views:

Answer by narnia/twilightluvr♥
these are my favorite books:
pendragon, dj machale- ten book series, its amazing, a boy that finds new worlds and must save them from the evil guy,lol, (saint dane), he is called a “traveler” and works together with the few other travelers to win and save the universe aka halla.
Imagine what it would be like to discover you aren’t the person you thought you were.
That’s what happened to Bobby Pendragon. He was living the life of a normal 14 year old guy, until his Uncle Press came by one night to say: “I need your help.” From that moment on, nothing was the same. He and his uncle were swept off on a series of adventures that would take them through both time and space. Their mission? To protect the territories of Halla from a demon named Saint Dane, a cold-blooded villian who wants nothing less than the destruction of all humanity. The only force standing in Saint Dane’s way is a mysterious group of people called…Travelers.

Bobby is surprised to discover that he is a Traveler. He has no choice but to band together with the others in their battle against Saint Dane, wherever and whenever it takes them. Trouble is, Bobby would much rather be home playing basketball. But that wasn’t meant to be, because when he left home, his entire family vanished without a trace!

Each of the Pendragon books follows a unique adventure as Bobby and the Travelers shoot across the universe in pursuit of Saint Dane. They must match wits with this fiend while doing their best to unravel his wicked plans. But Bobby is also driven by the ultimate mystery: Why was he chosen to become a Traveler? And more important…. What happened to his family?

The amazing truth unravels slowly for Bobby over the course of all the Pendragon books. Along the way, he encounters the kind of nail-biting, hairy adventures that he used to love to watch in the movies, but now must live out every day for real.
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maximum ride, james pattinson- four book series (soon to be more though!) kids that can fly and are running away from there crazy/evil creators, really good book!!!
Max and five other kids, “the flock,” were created by evil scientists at a place called the School, by combining human and avian DNA. They can fly, are unusually strong, and have a variety of other talents, some just emerging. Before the book begins they have escaped from the School, where the scientists were keeping them in cages and torturing them with experiments, and have been living on their own.

The youngest of the flock, Angel, is recaptured, and the rest fly back to the school to rescue her. Now they are being hunted by Erasers, human/wolf mutants also created at the School, while they travel across the country, trying to discover the secrets of their origins and purposes.

thats the summary of the first book
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the host,stephenie meyer- GREAT BOOK!!!! oh my god its good, so ya read that….Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that take over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed.

Wanderer, the invading “soul” who has been given Melanie’s body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind.

Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves – Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she’s never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.
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the shadow children, margaret peterson haddix- well mph is a great author and has many other wonderful books also, such as turn-about, well sc is a seven book series about kids that are in hiding…Luke Garner, a shadow child, lives his life hidden from the outside world for fear of the Population Police (the government who is responsible for the assurance of a low population). One day, he notices one of his new neighbors has a shadow child, named Jen Talbot. Unlike most shadow children, though, Jen lives a privileged life as the third child of a Baron, one of the social elite. Educated and dedicated, she intends to organize a rally of all the shadow children in the country, to be staged outside of the president’s house, to prove to the world that what the government is enforcing is wrong. Luke reluctantly refuses and stays home, realizing weeks later that Jen has not returned. After being caught sneaking into Jen’s house by her father, a double agent of the Population Police, he discovers Jen and the other 39 people at the rally were shot. Mr. Talbot, hoping to help Luke, gives him a fake identity and sends him to a private school in hopes of obtaining some freedom in the world.

Luke struggles to adjust to his new life, fearful that he will be caught and declared an impostor. He gradually discovers he is not the only third child at the school and finds new friends. He also secretly finds that one of them is a spy for the Population Police. The spy is caught and arrested under the pretense of being a third child, and Luke discovers that almost every student in the school is a third child.

Luke is not alone in the dangerous world he now lives in. Nina, Trey, and Matthias, also third children, join his battle. They are forced to deal with betrayal, courage, and the true faces of the enemy. Together, they try to overthrow the government and the Population Police and obtain true freedom.
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so all in all these books are great and you must try them! good luck and happy reading 😀

Answer by ryan
Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy!

Answer by tobra
The conan fantasy books are addictive

Answer by Camille C.
Peter Pan : )

A little Princess is kind of fantasy too. Idk if you’d be interested or if you’ve seen the movie, but it’s really cute.

I’m sure you can find lots of other ones online or you could probably even ask your local librarian.

Answer by beautifulmomma38320
The Death Gate Cycle books by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Answer by Kilroy
Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

The author, Gregory Maguire, has other good reads, including:Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Both novels are based on popular stories but told from a different point of view, reinforcing the notion that there are two sides to every story. You’d love them. I did.

Answer by HanZ
Narnia
Red Wall
Captain’s Fury

Answer by hazro83
I just finished reading Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. It’s a good fantasy novel because it’s set in a world that is not too far removed from reality … I think a lot of fantasy tries to be too weird. It’s also got a bit of humour in it. 🙂

However, it’s a bit violent in places so only read it if you can handle that sort of thing.

Answer by Tabby
Check out the books by Tamora Pierce. They are light-hearted, girlpower type fantasy books with plenty of action and adventure. Start with “Alanna: The First Adventure” .

Hope you like it!

Answer by Sassy
I dont know about “feel good” but I love Neil Gaiman. Stardust is a fairytale he wrote for adults and its so charming and funny. His stuff is a mixture of fantasy, horror, folklore, and just almost every genre but he writes so well.

Answer by Roland Matthew Joseph Ziemke
The Princess Bride
The Silent Gondoliers (both by William Goldman)

The Chrysalids
Day of the Triffids (both by John Wyndham)

The Tripods by John Christopher

The Futurological Congress
Tales of Pirx the Pilot (both by Stanislaw Lem)

Anything by Lord Dunsany

Answer by kktromboner
The Harry Potter series is definitely a fun and though provoking read, and the Narnia books are amazing. LOTR is great, though not if you don’t want something long. bernard cornwall and his arthur series are great if you like history mixed in with the fantsy.

Answer by Jean
Discworld series by Terry Pratchett is always a nice read~ have funnn

Answer by Emily V.
The Castle in the Attic by Elizabeth Winthrop

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

The Princess Tales by Gail Carson Levine(hilarious!!)

I’d tell you I love you, but then I’d have to kill you by Ally Carter

The Beginning of the End by AVI

The Sisters Grimm: The Fairy Tale Detectives by Michael Buckley

The Wedding Planner’s Daughter by Coleen Murtagh Paratore

George’s Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl

Once on a time by A. A. Milne

Dealing with Dragons by Patricia C. Wrede

hope this helps!

Answer by Michelle Sells Seashells
If you don’t mind children’s lit (which I think Phantom Tollbooth and Alice could be considered in a way), I recommend Half Magic by Edward Eager. It’s about four children that find an ancient talisman that grants wishes but half of its power is gone. It’s a fun book that made me fall in love with reading as a kid.
If you’ve never read The Hobbit, it too can be a fun read (its sequel Lord of the Rings is much more serious in tone, though I love it).

Answer by zeranking
I know what you mean about Twilight, and the way it was written. That’s why I recommend to JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL. This book is written ala Jane Austen and is highly acclaimed. It’s also Susanna Clarke’s best novel, which took her over 10 years to write. It’s light and fun like Alice in Wonderland yet it is very engaging and fascinatingly well researched (fae lore) as well.

Check it out:

Answer by Random Hobo
Eragon, Eldest, Brisingr by Christopher Paolini

Answer by Scott K
Hi, you might want to try my own recently published book, entitled “The Tales of Tanglewood: The Lon Dubh Whistle”.

You can download the first three chapters for free, at

Within the pages of the book, readers will discover Colin, a child who is fully aware of the hidden world of myth and wonder hiding within the woods just beyond his home, long kept secret by old magic. Only the fey magic which runs through his veins has enabled Colin to find what others cannot; the Tanglewood, the ‘wood within the woods.

Full of odd characters and creatures of the fey, the Tanglewood is a world of magnificent folklore come to life. As Colin begins to explore the Tanglewood, he will find friendship with the ferrish Ailfrid, the elfin girl Deidre, and Doc Muffingrow, a wise druid.

Colin will also find that there is much magic in himself, as well as dangerous enemies who will not let him find solace in the wood so easily. Ailil, King of the Sprites and ruler of The Below, has laid claim to his spirit, and Colin will need the help of his friends and quite a bit of magic to save himself.

The Tanglewood is a place like no other, and Colin is a boy like no other. Throughout his adventures, he will uncover the secret of the fey blood within him, and help dispel the poisonous corruption and hidden dangers that threaten the inhabitants of the wood and the Tanglewood itself.

For more details and to download the first three chapters for free, go to

or you can check out the reviews at Amazon.com

Answer by Alice Cullen Fan <3
the Twilight Saga. its about vampires only not regular vampires. i know it seems weird its a love story between a vampire and a teenage girl. Its the BEST! i thought it sounded weird too. everyone who’s reading this should read the book. i know guys that have read it, my grandma, my mom, my cousin, my best friend, my 17 year old sister.its really a great book. the first one is “twilight” the second is “new Moon” the third is “eclipse” the fourth is “breaking dawn” oh yeah and the author is Stephenie Meyer. the movie is coming out november 21st.

Answer by rehan.rafique786
* Kage Baker, The Anvil of the World
* John Barnes, One for the Morning Glory
* Peter Beagle
o I See by My Outfit [Not fantasy, and I have no idea what the title means, but lovely]
o The Last Unicorn
* K. J. Bishop, The Etched City
* Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes
* Steven Brust
o The Vlad Taltos books [Enjoyable so far — there’re a good many more in the series, which hasn’t ended, and will probably amount to seventeen books in all. Brust is probably the last writer of real talent to be a follower of Trotsky.]
+ Jhereg
+ Yendi
+ Teckla
o To Reign in Hell [Making sense of Milton; see under Demonology]
o The Khaavren books [Faithful pastiches of Dumas, consistently fit into a world Brust had already made up for the Vlad Taltos books — and more fun than I remember Dumas being.]
+ The Phoenix Guards
+ Five Hundred Years After
* Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm, The Gypsy
* Lois McMaster Bujold
o The Curse of Chalion
o The Paladin of Souls
o The Spirit Ring
o The Hallowed Hunt
o The Sharing Knife:
1. Beguilement
2. Legacy
* Emma Bull, War for the Oaks
* Robert W. Chambers, The King in Yellow [online]
* Suzy McKee Charnas, The Vampire Tapestry [A superb vampire novel; also science fiction]
* C. J. Cherryh
o The Dreaming Tree [=The Dreamstone, plus The Tree of Swords and Jewels, plus Cherryh’s corrections and ending]
o Fortress in the Eye of Time [I think the story ends best here, with the first book; certainly the sequels go downhill, and the last, Fortress of Dragons, had me wondering whether my copy was defectively printed and missing about, oh, two hundred pages. Sadly, no.]
o The Gate of Ivrel
o The Paladin
* Susanna Clarke, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell
* B. W. Clough, The Dragon of Mishbil
* Avram Davidson [General Review: Avram Davidson’s Afterlife]
o Vergil Magus (unfinished):
+ The Phoenix and the Mirror
+ Vergil in Averno [Anyone have a copy they’d be willing to sell?]
o Peregrine: Primus and Secundus
o The Enquiries of Dr. Estzerhazy
o Adventures in Unhistory [Essays on legendary subjects]
o The Avram Davidson Treasury [The best of his numerous short-story collections]
* Avram Davidson and Grania Davis, The Boss in the Wall: A Treatise on the House Devil
* Pamela Dean, Tam Lin
* L. Sprague de Camp
* Stephen R. Donaldson [I read all his Thomas Covenant books, and cannot know imagine why, except for adolescent masochism; these are utterly different, and, to my mind, infinitely better]
o The Mirror of Her Dreams
o A Man Rides Through
* Doyle and MacDonald, Literature of the Fantastic [Electronic texts of classic fantastic stories]
* Lord Dunsany
o The King of Elfland’s Daughter
o The Pegana books:
+ The Book of Wonder
+ The Sword of Welleran
o The Shadow Valley books:
+ Don Rodriguez
+ The Charwoman’s Shadow
* Rosemary Edghill (a.k.a. eluki bes shahar)
o The Sword of Maidens’ Tears
o The Cup of Morning Shadows
o The Cloak of Night and Daggers
* Harlan Ellison, see under science fiction
* Charles Finney, The Circus of Dr. Lao
* John M. Ford
o Casting Fortune
o The Dragon Waiting [Almost an alternate history of Renaissance Europe, except that magic works.]
o The Last Hot Time
* Esther Friesner, Yesterday We Saw Mermaids
* Neil Gaiman
o American Gods
o The Sandman [Yes, I mean the ten-volume graphic novel cycle]
* Randall Garrett
o Murder and Magic
o Too Many Magicians
o Lord Darcy Investigates
* Mary Gentle
o Rats and Gargoyles
o The Book of Ash [Owing to the manifold crimes and wickedness of American publishers, I’ve only seen the first half of this]
1. A Secret History: The Book of Ash, #1 [Review: Vera Historia Fraxini]
2. Carthage Ascendant: The Book of Ash, #2
* Charlaine Harris, Dead Until Dark
* P. C. Hodgell
1. God Stalk
2. Dark of the Moon
3. Seeker’s Mask
* Barry Hughart
1. Bridge of Birds
2. The Story of the Stone
3. Eight Skilled Gentlemen
* Diana Wynne Jones
o Dark Lord of Derkholm
o Deep Secret
o Hexwood
o The Tough Guide to Fantasyland [Review]
* Guy Gavriel Kay, The Lions of Al-Rassan
* Caitlín R. Kiernan, Threshold [Southern Gothic L