Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series Part 1
Discover the magic of the Ballantine Adult Fantasy Series with our curated list of essential reads. Explore classic titles like Katherine Kurtz's *Deryni Rising*, Poul Anderson's *The Broken Sword*, and Lovecraft's *The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath*. Dive into the foundational works of adult fantasy, from George MacDonald's *Phantastes* to G.K. Chesterton's *The Man Who Was Thursday*, in this definitive guide to the series' most influential books.
Book
The Silver Stallion
by James Branch Cabell
A humorous historical novel, set in a fictional French province during the Middle Ages. The novel describes the power struggles between the various rulers of the province.
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Phantastes
by George Macdonald
Anodos enters a dream-like fairyland of tree-spirits and magic, where he searches for the spirit of the Earth.
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The Dream-quest of Unknown Kadath
by Howard Phillips Lovecraft
Where a simple, mystifying dream of a dazzlingly opulent city becomes an obsession that leads to a labyrinthine world of nightmare ...
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Deryni Rising
by Katherine Kurtz
Mysterious forces of magic and the superior power of the Church combine to challenge the rule of young Kelson. Now, the fate of all the 11 kingdoms rests on his ability to quash the rebellion by any means necessary . . . including magic.
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The Broken Sword
by Poul Anderson
Thor has broken the sword Tyrfing so that it cannot strike at the roots of Yggdrasil, the tree that binds together earth, heaven and hell. But now the mighty sword is needed again to save the elves in their war against the trolls, and only Scafloc, a human child kidnapped and raised by the elves, can hope to persuade Bolverk the ice-giant to make Tyrfing whole again. But Scafloc must also confront his shadow self, Valgard the changeling who has taken his place in the world of men.
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The Man Who Was Thursday
by G. K. Chesterton
G. K. Chesterton's surreal masterpiece is a psychological thriller that centers on seven anarchists in turn-of-the-century London who call themselves by the names of the days of the week. Chesterton explores the meanings of their disguised identities in what is a fascinating mystery and, ultimately, a spellbinding allegory. As Jonathan Lethem remarks in his Introduction, The real characters are the ideas. Chesterton's nutty agenda is really quite simple: to expose moral relativism and parlor nihilism for the devils he believes them to be. This wouldn't be interesting at all, though, if he didn't also show such passion for giving the devil his due. He animates the forces of chaos and anarchy with every ounce of imaginative verve and rhetorical force in his body.
