Best Fantasy Books Subgenre Reading Challenge discussion

Are there any subgenres you're looking forward to reading the most? For me, it's prehistoric fantasy, colonial fantasy, literary fantasy, and celtic fantasy.

Prehistoric and colonial just sound so interesting. I'm wondering whether some actual history will be involved, and I'm also interested to see if there are similar themes between the two. I can see prehistoric working very well, but colonial is a bit of a mystery to me as to how it will work and for what purpose.

I love books classified as "literary" to begin with, so literary fantasy is right up my alley.

Celtic things interest me in general, although I haven't done much research into any aspect of it. I'm going to be looking to see if there's a balance between history and mythology AND fantasy.

What subgenres are you most excited about?

I'm interested mostly in prehistoric, colonial and alternate history fantasy. I love history anyway, and I've found such thought-provoking stories in alternate history that I'd be interested to see how that would be handled in the fantasy genre.

Mostly, I'm interested in becoming more familiar with fantasy books as a whole. :)

A.L. wrote: "I'm interested mostly in prehistoric, colonial and alternate history fantasy. I love history anyway, and I've found such thought-provoking stories in alternate history that I'd be interested to see..."

Alternate history fantasy does sound really intriguing. I read only one alternate history book that wasn't fantasy, and it wasn't my favorite - a TON of time describing landscape in a way that was not engaging at all. I think if you replace that with fantasy's world-building descriptions, it could be great!

The subgenres that would interest me would be anything that has a element of romance e.g. erotic, fantastic, paranormal and vampire fantasy.

I am interested in YA or children novels so YA or Juvenile fantasty is appealing.

I enjoy books that make me laugh so comic fantasy sounds interesting.

Books made into films also spike my interest e.g. Watership Down and Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell.

A low fantasy novel would have more appeal than a high fantasy novel just because I would think the world created is easily recognisable with a small element of fantasy.

Prehistoric fantasy spikes my interest I enjoyed the films about pre historic times and the novel 'Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel'.

An element of horror is interesting to me so I would read 'The Passage'.

Some book have a personal appeal just because of were I was when I read them or heard about them so I know I enjoyed 'The Borrowers' as a child and I know where I was working and living when 'Watership Down' was the rage, I was given the book but never got around to reading it.

I should have included Watership Down in my list too, I've always wanted to find out what made it so huge.

Also I like the look of heroic fantasy not sure why.

I'm so new to the straight fantasy genre, so I'm curious on all sorts.

Sue wrote: "The subgenres that would interest me would be anything that has a element of romance e.g. erotic, fantastic, paranormal and vampire fantasy.

I am interested in YA or children novels so YA or Juven..."

That's a good variety, and I'm glad you've already got some books that you were planning on reading anyway. The only book I own at this point is the first one we're reading, Eye of the World by Robert Jordan. I'm going to buy a couple of them that aren't at my library.
It seems like all of us so far are interested particularly in the prehistoric subgenre, so that should yield a good discussion!

Erin (Paperbackstash) wrote: "I'm so new to the straight fantasy genre, so I'm curious on all sorts."

Great! You've come to the right place then. :) I can't wait to see the differences, whether very slight or large, between subgenres.

Erin (Paperbackstash) wrote: "I'm so new to the straight fantasy genre, so I'm curious on all sorts."

Me too Erin, I haven't read any fantasy yet, so I'm interested in being introduced to the genre as a whole (as well as certain subgenres sounding intriguing! I didn't even know there were so many subgenres.)

A.L. wrote: "Erin (Paperbackstash) wrote: "I'm so new to the straight fantasy genre, so I'm curious on all sorts."

Me too Erin, I haven't read any fantasy yet, so I'm interested in being introduced to the genr..."

I know, it's going to be fun to discover the ones we like and don't like. I won't be able to participate in every group read, but will the ones I can (which will be a decent amount)

Hi I'm new to this group. I am completely into epic, high, heroic and military fantasy. I've read lots of different genres but these are my favourites. I also dabble a little in urban fantasy but not too much into YA. I think it would be fun to get to know every subgenre of fantasy so that I can find new things to read. I would love to participate in group reads. :)

Eldritch wrote: "Hi I'm new to this group. I am completely into epic, high, heroic and military fantasy. I've read lots of different genres but these are my favourites. I also dabble a little in urban fantasy but n..."

Welcome! Great to have you here! We have a good mix of fantasy fans and newbies as well as some authors, so we get lots of different perspectives. Military fantasy is one of the subgenres I have definitely not read, so that'll be an interesting one for me. Just FYI none of the discussion threads ever "close", so feel free to read and comment on any book at any time. Can't wait to hear your thoughts and opinions!

Hi, new to the group. I've been reading fantasy books of all different sub-genres all my life. The ones I'm super-excited about right now are the ones with M/M relationships.
The romance doesn't have to be the big thing. Just having those relationships (and really, any QUILTBAG, etc.) relationships or just a balanced, dynamic relationship being part of the narrative is great. There have always been books with alternative relationships, but never so many. Some of those old fantasy relationship tropes made a lot of otherwise great fantasy books obnoxious to read.

E.M. wrote: "Hi, new to the group. I've been reading fantasy books of all different sub-genres all my life. The ones I'm super-excited about right now are the ones with M/M relationships.
The romance doesn't h..."

Hi, E.M., glad to have you here! I'm not sure if any of the books on our list have quilt bag romances/relationships, but if you have one to suggest, definitely let me know. I have seen a couple of great indie authors integrate it into their books, like Joseph Murphy's Sword of Kassandra series - it's subtle but there. I'm also not a fan of when romance take over a story but there's no real reason for it or it blots out the actual plot. I saw an article about this, particularly about the cliched woman who melts at her man's touch and can concentrate on nothing but him, but I can't find the article again. Ugh!

Ellen Kushner's "Swordspoint" is one of my favorite books ever. I'm almost afraid to read more of her books for fear that they won't be as good. Isn't that dumb? LOL
I'll get around to reading the rest of her Riverside books eventually.

Added to my tbr list. It sounds really good! Haha I definitely understand what you mean about being afraid to read more from an author who wrote a book you love. I actually feel that way about books AND music. When I love a whole album by an artist I'm afraid to listen to more. It's so funny you said that!