Uncommonly good fantasy - few elves or dragons
Discover uncommonly good fantasy books with few elves or dragons. Explore unique, fresh takes on the genre that break the traditional mold.
Book
The Worm Ouroboros
by Eric Rücker Eddison
THERE was a man named Lessingham dwelt in an old low house in Wasdale, set in a gray old garden where yew-trees flourished that had seen Vikings in Copeland in their seedling time. Lily and rose and larkspur bloomed in the borders, and begonias with blossoms big as saucers, red and white and pink and lemon-colour, in the beds before the porch. Climbing roses, honeysuckle, clematis, and the scarlet flame-flower scrambled up the walls. Thick woods were on every side without the garden, with a gap north-eastward opening on the desolate lake and the great fells beyond it: Gable rearing his crag-bound head against the sky from behind the straight clean outline of the Screes. Cool long shadows stole across the tennis lawn. The air was golden. Doves murmured in the trees; two chaffinches played on the near post of the net; a little water-wagtail scurried along the path. A French window stood open to the garden, showing darkly a dining-room panelled with old oak, its Jacobean table bright with flowers and silver and cut glass and Wedgwood dishes heaped with fruit: greengages, peaches, and green muscat grapes. Lessingham lay back in a hammock-chair watching through the blue smoke of an after-dinner cigar the warm light on the Gloire de Dijon roses that clustered about the bedroom window overhead. He had her hand in his. This was their House. "Should we finish that chapter of Njal?" she said. She took the heavy volume with its faded green cover, and read: "He went out on the night of the Lord's day, when nine weeks were still to winter; he heard a great crash, so that he thought both heaven and earth shook. Then he looked into the west airt, and he thought he saw thereabouts a ring of fiery hue, and within the ring a man on a gray horse. He passed quickly by him, and rode hard. He had a flaming firebrand in his hand, and he rode so close to him that he could see him plainly. He was black as pitch, and he sung this song with a mighty voice--" Here I ride swift steed. His flank flecked with rime. Rain from his mane drips. Horse mighty for harm; Flames flare at each end. Gall glows in the midst. So fares it with Flosi's redes As this flaming brand flies; And so fares it with Flosi's redes As this flaming brand flies. "'Then he thought he hurled the firebrand east towards the fells before him, and such a blaze of fire leapt up to meet it that he could not see the fells for the blaze. It seemed as though that man rode east among the flames and vanished there. "'After that he went to his bed, and was senseless for a long time, but at last he came to himself. He bore in mind all that had happened, and told his father, but he bade him tell it to Hjallti Skeggi's son. So he went and told Hjallti, but he said he had seen "the Wolf's Ride, and that comes ever before great tidings."'" They were silent awhile; then Lessingham said suddenly, "Do you mind if we sleep in the east wing to-night?" "What, in the Lotus Room?" "Yes." "I'm too much of a lazy-bones to-night, dear," she answered.
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ID: 0345294912
(Type: books)
Book
The Face in the Frost
by John Bellairs
A dark power is growing in the depths of two wizard kingdoms. The powerful Prospero and his sidekick Roger Bacon must navigate the magical realm to defeat their ancient enemy. "Authentic fantasy by a writer who knows what wizardry is all about." --Ursula LeGuin "The tale is rich, hilarious, inventive, filled with infectious good-humor, grisly horror, slithering evil, bumbling monarchs, and various & sundry menaces of the supernatural variety." --Lin Carter
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ID: 0671834126
(Type: books)
Book
The Weirdstone of Brisingamen
by Alan Garner
A young girl and her brother are catapulted into a battle between good and evil for possession of a magical stone of great power that is contained in her bracelet.
Book
The Three Impostors and Other Stories
by Arthur Machen
Some of the finest horror stories ever written. Arthur Machen had a profound impact upon H.P. Lovecraft and the group of stories that would later become known as the Cthulhu Mythos. This first volume of Chaosium's Arthur Machen collection begins with the chilling "The Three Impostors" in its complete form, including the rarely seen sections "The Decorative Imagination" and "The Novel of the Iron Maid." Rounding out the first volume are "The Great God Pan, " "The Inmost Light, " and "The Shining Pyramid."
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ID: 0806509449
(Type: books)
Book
A Fine and Private Place
by Peter S. Beagle
A kindly raven brings food to and is the companion of a man who has taken refuge in an abandoned mausoleum in a New York City cemetery for nineteen years.
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ID: 1582870063
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ID: 0671876953
(Type: books)
Book
Le Morte D'Arthur
by Sir Thomas Malory
Presents the unabridged text of Thomas Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur," the classic account of King Arthur's life, the adventures of his court, and his quest for the grail, and includes color illustrations.
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ID: 0916397459
(Type: books)
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ID: 0786702826
(Type: books)