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Introducing Fantasy to my Book Club


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Hi!

So, my friends and I just started a book club and I get to pick the next book! I really want to bring Brandon into the club, but we just read The Devil in the White City which is a little slow, and a little long, so I don't want to introduce any book that's longer than that right now. And most of Brandon's shorter works aren't best for introductory IMO.

So I want to get their feet wet with fantasy so that I can suggest a Brandon book in the future. Unfortunately, I don't read a lot of shorter fantasy and the ones I've read, I just don't think would be right for this. With a little research I've narrowed it down to the following three:

  • Tea With the Black Dragon, by R. A. MacAvoy
  • Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
  • Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

I'm open to others as well! I haven't read any of these and I figured this would be the best community to lend advice!

I want to stick to fantasy, so I ruled out A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Ender's Game, even though those are fantastic.

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I hear what you're saying about length, but Elantris, Mistborn: The Final Empire, and even the Steelheart move so quickly that I would highly recommend considering them too.  I think they're great stand alone stories as well, so even if your book club doesn't love it after finishing (and crave even more), at least they've read a good story! =)

Edited by VirtuousTraveller
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1 hour ago, natalie.perkins said:

Hi!

So, my friends and I just started a book club and I get to pick the next book! I really want to bring Brandon into the club, but we just read The Devil in the White City which is a little slow, and a little long, so I don't want to introduce any book that's longer than that right now. And most of Brandon's shorter works aren't best for introductory IMO.

So I want to get their feet wet with fantasy so that I can suggest a Brandon book in the future. Unfortunately, I don't read a lot of shorter fantasy and the ones I've read, I just don't think would be right for this. With a little research I've narrowed it down to the following three:

  • Tea With the Black Dragon, by R. A. MacAvoy
  • Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
  • Good Omens, by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

I'm open to others as well! I haven't read any of these and I figured this would be the best community to lend advice!

I want to stick to fantasy, so I ruled out A Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and Ender's Game, even though those are fantastic.

What books do your club normally read? What is their opinions on fantasy?

Might be a good idea to show them fantasy crossed with their preferred genre before going full on fantasy. 

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@tobar14 I'd recommend The Hobbit over LOTR, since the former is much shorter and less likely to put off readers new to fantasy than the latter.

You may want to try Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. It's a MG urban fantasy of sorts that follows the story of a brother and sister who discover that their grandparents are the caretakers of a wildlife preserve for magical creatures. Pretty much all the traditional fantasy creatures make an appearance at some point in the series, plus plenty of more unusual ones. The first book stands on its own pretty well, too, in case you don't want to commit to five books right from the start.

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The Bone graphic novels by Jeff Smith. There are 7 of them, but now published as a omnibus. The omnibus is massive, but mostly pictures. These books are great, imagine calvin and hobbes crossed with lord of the rings. Delightful for children and adults. As someone above mentioned Steelheart would be a good pick also.

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The Bartimaeus books would be lovely, I think. Chances are, they might have grown up with the Harry Potter series. So why not introduce them to Harry Potter's very antithesis? It has a wry sense of humour, it's morally ambiguous, and the characters are genuinely fun and complex. Could be worth a go.

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4 hours ago, Quadrophenia said:

The Bartimaeus books would be lovely, I think. Chances are, they might have grown up with the Harry Potter series. So why not introduce them to Harry Potter's very antithesis? It has a wry sense of humour, it's morally ambiguous, and the characters are genuinely fun and complex. Could be worth a go.

hell yes!

Some questions, how old are u guys? If ur in the younger quadrant, maybe some Emily Rodda?

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