unique fantasy reads
Discover the most unique fantasy reads with our curated list of extraordinary books. Explore rare and imaginative tales that stand out in the fantasy genre.
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Sunshine
by Robin McKinley
"Sunshine" is what everyone calls her. She works long hours in her family's coffeehouse, making her famous "Cinnamon Rolls as Big as Your Head," Bitter Chocolate Death, Caramel Cataclysm, and other sugar-shock specials that keep the customers coming. She's happy in her bakery--which her stepfather built specially for her--but sometimes she feels that she should have life outside the coffeehouse. One evening she drives out to the lake to get away from her family, to be alone. There hasn't been any trouble at the lake for years. But there is trouble that night for Sunshine. She is abducted by a gang of vampires who shackle her to the wall of an abandoned mansion, within easy reach of a figure stirring in the moonlight. Sunshine knows that he is a vampire and that she is to be his dinner. Yet when dawn breaks he has not attempted to harm her. And now he needs her help to survive the day...
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Spindle's End
by Robin McKinley
In the tradition of Beauty and Rose Daughter, Newbery Award-winning author Robin McKinley "lends a fresh perspective to a classic fairy tale, developing the story of Sleeping Beauty into a richly imagined, vividly depicted novel" (School Library Journal) BRILLIANT...[a] sumptuous world. (New York Times Book Review) MYTHIC GRANDEUR...with magical detail and all-too-human feeling. (Publishers Weekly starred review) Satisfying reading, pleasing in the depth of the weaving and elaboration. (Chicago Tribune) Rich prose and colorful description...keep readers spellbound. (Rocky Mountain News)
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Sorcery and Cecelia, Or, The Enchanted Chocolate Pot
by Patricia C. Wrede
In 1817 in England, two young cousins, Cecilia living in the country and Kate in London, write letters to keep each other informed of their exploits, which take a sinister turn when they find themselves confronted by evil wizards.
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Mairelon the Magician
by Patricia Wrede
Kim, a streetwise girl disguised as a boy, and Mairelon, an itinerant magician dressed as a dandy, share adventures in a Regency England that is populated with sorcerers and riddled with magic.
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Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell
by Susanna Clarke
English magicians were once the wonder of the known world, with fairy servants at their beck and call; they could command winds, mountains, and woods. But by the early 1800s they have long since lost the ability to perform magic. They can only write long, dull papers about it, while fairy servants are nothing but a fading memory. But at Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England's magical past and regained some of the powers of England's magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French. All goes well until a rival magician appears. Jonathan Strange is handsome, charming, and talkative-the very opposite of Mr Norrell. Strange thinks nothing of enduring the rigors of campaigning with Wellington's army and doing magic on battlefields. Astonished to find another practicing magician, Mr Norrell accepts Strange as a pupil. But it soon becomes clear that their ideas of what English magic ought to be are very different. For Mr Norrell, their power is something to be cautiously controlled, while Jonathan Strange will always be attracted to the wildest, most perilous forms of magic. He becomes fascinated by the ancient, shadowy figure of the Raven King, a child taken by fairies who became king of both England and Faerie, and the most legendary magician of all. Eventually Strange's heedless pursuit of long-forgotten magic threatens to destroy not only his partnership with Norrell, but everything that he holds dear. Sophisticated, witty, and ingeniously convincing, Susanna Clarke's magisterial novel weaves magic into a flawlessly detailed vision of historical England. She has created a world so thoroughly enchanting that eight hundred pages leave readers longing for more.
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The Left Hand of Darkness
by Ursula K. Le Guin
50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION—WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY DAVID MITCHELL AND A NEW AFTERWORD BY CHARLIE JANE ANDERS Ursula K. Le Guin’s groundbreaking work of science fiction—winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards. A lone human ambassador is sent to the icebound planet of Winter, a world without sexual prejudice, where the inhabitants’ gender is fluid. His goal is to facilitate Winter’s inclusion in a growing intergalactic civilization. But to do so he must bridge the gulf between his own views and those of the strange, intriguing culture he encounters... Embracing the aspects of psychology, society, and human emotion on an alien world, The Left Hand of Darkness stands as a landmark achievement in the annals of intellectual science fiction.
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Juniper
by Monica Furlong
In this highly acclaimed prequel to the award-winning Wise Child young Princess Juniper returns to her Cornish palace and discovers that her power-mad aunt is using black magic to usurp the throne. And only Juniper can stop her. "A rich, deeply colored novel of a young girl's coming of age".--School Library Journal.
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Out of the Silent Planet
by C.S. Lewis
The first book in C. S. Lewis's acclaimed Space Trilogy, which continues with Perelandra and That Hideous Strength, Out of the Silent Planet begins the adventures of the remarkable Dr. Ransom. Here, that estimable man is abducted by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice and taken via spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra. The two men are in need of a human sacrifice, and Dr. Ransom would seem to fit the bill. Once on the planet, however, Ransom eludes his captors, risking his life and his chances of returning to Earth, becoming a stranger in a land that is enchanting in its difference from Earth and instructive in its similarity. First published in 1943, Out of the Silent Planet remains a mysterious and suspenseful tour de force.
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The Princess and the Goblin
by George MacDonald
Princess Irene's discovery of a secret stair to the top turret of the castle leads to a wonderful revelation. At the same time, the miner's son Curdie overhears a fiendish plot by the goblins who live below the mountain. But it will take all their wit and courage, and the help of Irene's magic ring, to make sense of their separate knowledge and foil the goblins' schemes.
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The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm All-New Third Edition
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The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm Perhaps no other stories possess as much power to enchant, delight, and surprise as those penned by the immortal Brothers Grimm. Now, in the new, expanded third edition, renowned scholar and folklorist Jack Zipes has translated all 250 tales collected and published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, plus twenty-nine rare tales omitted from the original German edition, as well as narratives uncovered in the brothers’ letters and papers. Truly the most comprehensive translation to date, this critically acclaimed edition recaptures the fairy tales as the Brothers Grimm intended them to be: rich, stark, spiced with humor and violence, resonant with folklore and song. One of the world’s experts on children’s literature, Jack Zipes is a professor of German at the University of Minnesota and is the author of numerous books on folklore and fairy tales.
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The Ground Beneath Her Feet
by Salman Rushdie
Vina Apsara, a famous and much-loved singer, disappears in a devastating earthquake, leaving behind her long-time lover Ormus Cama, who finds, loses, seeks, and finds her again and again throughout his life in music.
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
by J. K. Rowling
Rescued from the outrageous neglect of his aunt and uncle, a young boy with a great destiny proves his worth while attending Hogwarts School for Wizards and Witches.