The Fantasy Book that started it all

[I think I am here.]

Funny thing, my friend would keep asking me to read Steelheart and I would say I've seen superpowers done a thousand times and then eventually I read it. Then, I read The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. You've probably never heard of it.

[Kidpen]

I have a good memory of mine. Technically they were the magic tree house books, but I didn't really want to read any large fantasy books for a while. The rule in our house is that you can't watch a movie til you read the book. The one glimpse I had seen of the Harry Potter movies was a humongous snake. I REALLY wanted to watch that humongous snake. So I begrudgingly read Harry Potter. I was a slow enough reader that I went weeks without finishing it, so I was crazy excited when I finished one and got to watch the movies. That was what got me hooked though. I think I finished them in early second grade, and started them in late first grade. So maybe more than weeks to finish each. I'm not totally sure.

[Zelly]

On 4/26/2018 at 7:01 PM, daschaich said:

Anyway, out of that list, two early ones that I would highlight are Eddings's Belgariad and Cooper's The Grey King.  The Belgariad didn't hold up so well as I grew up, but it successfully introduced me to second-world 'fat fantasy with maps'.  I honestly don't remember many details of The Grey King (and much of it probably went well over my head at age... 7, I think), but what I do recall quite distinctly is the sense of wonder I got from that book's mythology and (Welsh) setting.  (It is probably coincidence that I am again trying to get a job in Wales---I've gone 0/5 in Welsh job applications since 2013, but perhaps persistence will pay off.)

Omg, yes, The Dark is Rising series was a favorite when I was kid (I avoided the movie, so I shouldn't comment on it, but from what I saw of the trailer it looks like they completely threw the script in the trash.  If you only saw the movie, maybe try to forget it and give the books a try).   

[Life&Death]

I don’t remember a time where I wasn’t reading fantasy books. I have literally been reading books (or being read to) that are fantasy my whole life. My parents read Harry Potter and Chronicles or Prydain to me and I read The Lord of the Rings in third grade. So it has been a part of my life as long as I can remember.

Edited June 22, 2018 by Life&Death

[Kaymyth]

When I was in junior high (back in the Dark Ages when the Berlin Wall fell and the internet was just starting to think about being born), we were granted access to the high school library. I stumbled across Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey, and I was gone.

[Guest]

For me it was the lord of the rings, but I had watched the movie first, and loved it.  The book is amazing as well.  I absolutely adore Goldberry.  the world needs more Goldberry fanart.

 

 

 

 

[Snipexe]

To me it was go big or go home. I stated with the Hobbit, then Lotr, and then stumbled on Brandon’s work

[Gray to]

My first thought to this question was Harry Potter, but then I remembered that Magic Treehouse will always have a place in my heart as the series that got me into fiction.

[Stampede]

Tolkien and the Inheritance Cycle, I read them around the same time.

[Barbarian AL]

Mistborn and The Name Of The Wind

[Voidus]

Harry Potter was the first fantasy series that I read of my own volition I think but the one that sticks in my mind more was Tamora Pierces Circle of Magic series, which I also started at Book 4 and didn't immediately realize that I'd stumbled in at the end of a series.

[Kairos]

Wow. It's been a long time for me, I literally cannot remember how old I was for these, or which one I read first. But here they are, from sometime before age 7.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien (have to put this at the top, although I don't know if it was first or not)

Chronicles of Narnia (in their proper, as-written order)

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Story of the Amulet by E. Nesbit

 

Edited May 17, 2018 by Kairos
Mixed up name due to mistake.

[Kairos]

On 4/27/2018 at 4:10 AM, Xtafa said:

I don't remember the name of the first one, I've been trying to find it since I was a kid. 

It involved two armies, one leader had a blue sword, the other had a gold sword. I remember LOVING IT and looked for similar books as a kid.

 

The Amulet of Samarkand was an earlier pick up that I remember, gave me a sense of wonder.

The RIFTWAR saga was one of the first 'Heavier' books I got into, It made me crave larger worlds.

 

I have a horrible memory for names though and tend to forget the titles of books I love. 

 

Would the name of that first one be the Blue Sword mayhaps?

 

[Xtafa]

@Kairos

Checked the plot, doesn't seem like it sadly, though i might give that a read, seems interesting.

[Slimy_Slider]

Didn't see this anywhere above, maybe its just an Australian thing (or just something about me) but my first fantasy books were the Rondo ones by Emily Rodda. They were important to me, but the major breakthrough was when I read her Deltora Quest books. Not just the story itself, I loved the background she put into the world. My favourite book for sometime was the Explorer's Guide spinoff, I used to go through, planning imaginary journeys through Deltora. It was amazing and was probably responsible for me continuing to read when pretty much no one else I knew did.

[LopenTheTwoArmedHerdazian]

For me it was Harry Potter. I got a set of all 7 books for my sixth birthday, and devoured them in around two months. After a series of miscellaneous fantasy novels such as Wolven and stuff like that I came across LoTR, which really opened my eyes to high fantasy. Soon after I discovered Robert Asprin, Sergey Lukyanenko, and of course the legendary Terry Pratchett. But the most important fantasy series' to me have to be the most recent three I've read: GoT, the Dark Tower, and everything Brandon Sanderson. They revived my love of high fantasy, which had been dampened when I reread LoTR and was overwhelmed by the amount of descriptive prose.

 

Apologies for the rambling.

Edited May 20, 2018 by LopenTheTwoArmedHerdazian

[Wyndlerunner]

Definitely Harry Potter, and then Tolkien's Legendarium, and I became super invested into that, I then just meandered my way to TWoK, and devoured it.

[Farnsworth]

The Hobbit. My dad gave it to me in third grade, and I still have the physical copy. I've probably reread it more than any other book in my life, even though it isn't the best in terms of plot (in my opinion) it remains in my top ten books ever.

[Wander89]

Mine was Earthsea, the first novel. I remember thinking about Ged and magic and my mind was opened to a whole new realm of possibilities. Then I read Belgariad and Name of the Wind and my standards shot straight up. I blew through Mistborn Era 1 in like a week and I've never looked back since!

[StrikerEZ]

I think the first fantasy book I read was either Eragon or Narnia. I discovered Brandon after discovering Steelheart and Rithmatist separately, then discovered his fantasy books. 

[Silva]

Okay, so this is a little sad, but the first fantasy book I read was Ruby the Red Fairy by Daisy Meadows.

Granted, I was 4 years old and it got me writing my first novel. Even now I believe my four year old self wrote a better story.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Ookla the [your choice]

[Wander89]

I remember reading Earthsea and blasting through it. Wondering how Le Guin managed to fit so much world-building and atmosphere into one tiny little book. I read Lord of The Rings and Mistborn from there, moving onto Kingkiller, Malazan and later Wheel of Time.

It's such a wide genre that can only be appreciated when you really look at the finer points but can still be enjoyed as a casual reader.

[Sandra]

On ‎10‎.‎03‎.‎2018 at 11:26 PM, Awesomness said:

Everything started with Harry Potter 

yup. However, I remember one of the first books I EVER read was Hexe Lilli (a little witch, which was part picture book, part written letters )

[Totally_Not_A_Worldhopper]

Um.... I think I listened to the Hobbit before I could even read very well, so probably that (though I don't think I finished it). But really I've been reading books, and especially fantasy, for such a long time it's hard to tell. Harry Potter was definitely one of the most memorable early fantasy books I read, along with His Dark Materials, Knife, Inkheart, the Chronicles of Narnia, and Warrior Cats.

Edited July 27, 2018 by Totally_Not_A_Worldhopper

[A Secret Corner]

Hard to say...

for the longest time as a child, I pretty much hated fantasy and fiction in general... if I remember correctly, I just found them to be stupid, filled with ridiculous stuff and I found them to  make no sense. At somewhere around 8-10 I think I remember having read a few fantasy books in all but if my remember correctly, my experience, hazy, but probably around when I was ten years old, I discovered Brandon Sanderson. I believe I had heard little bits of his work from my parents listening to him on audiobooks, so long ago... 

In his work, I truly found that fantasy can be plausible, that it can make sense, and that it can be great. 

The fantasy book that I would have to say really started my love of the genre was Mistborn book one, The Final Empire. 

I do believe it is Sanderson who truly turned my views on such upside-down starting with that book. Meanwhile, I have since come to love fantasy and fiction of many types, devouring all of Sanderson's works, much of Tolkien's stuff, Asimov, Lewis, and many more. I still look forward to more good books, with probably the best book I've ever read being one that I've read since the start of my reading being The Way Of Kings.

And I find it ironic, funny, and fulfilling that now I have in several things, defended fantasy's ability to be plausible, make sense, and be good.