Clean Fantasy

[Atilium she/her]

Okay, so I'm a 15-year-old girl who doesn't really like reading about sex in every book. But I don't really enjoy reading only YA books. One of my favorite things about Brandon is how his books are adult fantasy but without more than references to sex.

I don't mind reading references to sex, or whores or whatever, (think Black Prism by Brent Weeks) but full-on sex scenes put me off. (Even something like the sex scene in Rachel Bach's Fortunes Pawn is fine, so long as its infrequent.)

So anyway, the point of this thread is,  anyone know any great fantasy books/series that are "YA Friendly"?

Edited July 22, 2014 by Atilium

[Left he/him]

Fantasy.....

Hmmmmm, I agree with your specifications but have a hard time actually finding those. Ermmmmm,

Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn is pretty clean I think, its been a little while since I've read them.

The Imager series and Corean cycles are both good and follow the specs to the letter pretty much.

Oh, and Shannara. I don't like the books, but they're clean that's for sure.

[SmurfAquamarineBodies he/him]

David Eddings' books are fairly clean, so are Raymond E Feists', RA Salvatore's and Adrian Tchaikovsky's.

[Left he/him]

Raymond E Feists', RA Salvatore'

 

Hmmm, yeah, don't know how much I agree with that.

What I've read of Feist isn't any worse than Warbreaker, and a few are more like the rest of Brandons.

Salvatore.... Well, the first two (three? can't remember) trilogies aren't too bad. After that though things start getting pretty dark and gritty.

[Aleksiel]

You are looking for a YA friendly, but not YA fantasy, correct?

 

This is kind of tricky, because I don't pay much attention to such scenes and that isn't what I remember about a book. I won't recommend all the books on my mind because I can't guarantee that they all meet your requirements, so here's what I'm currently sure of:

 

Terry Pratchett - either the Discworld series or any other books. Everything Discworld is awesome and hilarious imo.

 

I haven't read the entire 'Arcane Society', but those I have, had no sex scenes. I wouldn't call them great books, but I enjoyed them, so take a look and decide for yourself.

 

'Tales of Dunk and Egg' by George R R Martin has no sex scenes, however there is graphic violence. But nothing else Martin has written, though you probably know it already.

 

I also don't think 'The Wheel of Time' has any graphic sex. There's cursing and violence, but no sex on screen, however this recommendation needs a second opinion just in case.

[Swimmingly he/him]

I believe it describes the experience as seen from the perspective of someone who can feel the engaged party's emotions? That's as close as it gets. Codex Alera implies, but what doesn't? Kingkiller Chronicles... book one is fine. Wait until you're alright with a bit of it for book two.

[Araris Valerian he/him]

I'm pretty sure that the Codex Alera by Jim Butcher is pretty clean, but his Dreseden Files are a bit worse. The Riera Revelations are good, although the main characters are fairly shallow in the first book. Also, the Assasins Trilogy and the Tawny Man Trilogy by Robin Hobb are clean for the most part and all are well written, the two trilogies have all the same characters and wrap up very well at the end.

[GreyPilgrim he/him]

Sorry, I can't really help you with this; I can't really think of any that haven't been mentioned that are sex-free. Definitely try Wheel if Time if you are not opposed to a couple of definite off-screen instances.

Kingkiller Chronicles... book one is fine. Wait until you're alright with a bit of it for book two.

"A bit", he says. I think you might be under exaggerating the amount in book two a bit.

[Swimmingly he/him]

Well, yes. But it's only graphic for the entire Felurian debacle, and maybe a little with the Adem.

[GreyPilgrim he/him]

Oh, Felurian...

[Briar King]

Everything I'd reco is already listed. Shadows of the Apt series, Codex Alera, Dragonlance.

I'd also say Greg Keyes 4 bks starting with The Briar King. Oh and maybe Katherine Kurtz's Deryni bks. I don't think she had any sex in the 2 I read of her though it's been awhile now.

[PeterAhlstrom he/him]

Anne McCaffrey's dragon books.

[Iredomi]

Monster Blood Tattoo is highly recommended though it starts off feeling very junior fiction it develops quite incredibly I recommend them wholeheartedly. No sex at all. Maybe some allusions to sex but yeah. As clean as it gets really.

When it comes to violence however it can be quite full on in ways. Nothing ever over the top though.

[Atilium she/her]

Thanks for all the recommendations! You guys are awesome.

 

RE Kingkiller: I just started the first book. I have heard about the scene in the second book with Felurian... is it possible for me to skip that scene without missing serious story things? I must sound like such a newbie

 

I have started WoT, on the fourth book now and loving it (: Go Matt!

 

You are looking for a YA friendly, but not YA fantasy, correct?

 

This is kind of tricky, because I don't pay much attention to such scenes and that isn't what I remember about a book. I won't recommend all the books on my mind because I can't guarantee that they all meet your requirements, so here's what I'm currently sure of:

 

Terry Pratchett - either the Discworld series or any other books. Everything Discworld is awesome and hilarious imo.

 

I haven't read the entire 'Arcane Society', but those I have, had no sex scenes. I wouldn't call them great books, but I enjoyed them, so take a look and decide for yourself.

 

'Tales of Dunk and Egg' by George R R Martin has no sex scenes, however there is graphic violence. But nothing else Martin has written, though you probably know it already.

 

I also don't think 'The Wheel of Time' has any graphic sex. There's cursing and violence, but no sex on screen, however this recommendation needs a second opinion just in case.

 

Yeah. I don't have anything against YA fantasy, I just find that often if an author is purposefully writing for younger people they can be a bit.. condescending. It annoys me One of the reasons why I love Diana Wynne Jones so much is because she doesn't treat her YA readers like we're stupid.

 

RE Discworld: Hells yes. Love this series. Terry Prattchet is the man.

 

I'll def look into everything else you all mentioned, thanks!

 

EDIT: Just looked up Monster Blood Tattoo on goodreads, it looks awesome!

EDIT 2: Does anyone know if Amanda Downum's Necromancer Chronicles is clean? David Dalgish's Shadowdance series? Ryan Anthony's Blood Song? Abercombie?Peter V Brett? Glenda Larke's Watergivers series? All books I have on my wishlist.

Edited July 23, 2014 by Atilium

[Swimmingly he/him]

Thanks for all the recommendations! You guys are awesome.

RE Kingkiller: I just started the first book. I have heard about the scene in the second book with Felurian... is it possible for me to skip that scene without missing serious story things? I must sound like such a newbie

I have started WoT, on the fourth book now and loving it (: Go Matt!

Yeah. I don't have anything against YA fantasy, I just find that often if an author is purposefully writing for younger people they can be a bit.. condescending. It annoys me One of the reasons why I love Diana Wynne Jones so much is because she doesn't treat her YA readers like they're stupid.

RE Discworld: Hells yes. Love this series. Terry Prattchet is the man.

I'll def look into everything else you all mentioned, thanks!

Honestly, no. It's an important character thing for Kvothe - you could skip it, I guess. Or at least skim the description. But that's about a hundred thousand words away, so worry about it when you get to it.

I mean, for what it's worth, the prose is excellent as always. And it's worth it for the dialogue, which is all in iambic pentametre on one side.

Basically, it's your call. The novel doesn't devolve into graphic lewdity after that.

[Prince of Ravens he/him]

I understand your position and I can respect that. Some people just don't care about sex or reading about it. So don't think my next comment is anything against you, it just reminded me of the comment George R.R. Martin made.

 

I can describe an axe entering a human skull in great explicit detail and no one will blink twice at it. I provide a similar description, just as detailed, of a [explicit] entering a [explicit], and I get letters about it and people swearing off. To my mind this is kind of frustrating, it's madness. Ultimately, in the history of [the] world, [explicit] entering [explicit] have given a lot of people a lot of pleasure. Axes entering skulls, well, not so much.

 

See one of this I had to put censure on it just to keep it proper ... other ,which is so much worse, I didn't have to. We have to ask our selves where did we go wrong as society that books filled with blood and gore, betrayal and murder, wars and struggle are considered "clean" but if you add sex to than it turns in to something "unclean" and "dirty".

 

 

Don't mind my ramble. I am just killjoy at the moment and had to argue semantics and figure of speech

 

 

But I have to agree on sex scenes which serve no purpose. Having lengthy descriptions of sex just for sex sake is cheap way to keep readers attention.

 

Sorry I couldn't help you on the topic question. I don't really pay attention if there is sex in the book or not ... I just read. Only sex scene I really wanted to read about is in Dresden Files and Jim Butcher cheated in last book. Poor Harry goes years with no lady friends.

[Left he/him]

Eh, theres some minor character development for Kvothe, but really nothing important. I'd skip it if I reread the book. The you'll notice when the section starts and I believe it ends at the end of a chapter so just skim read whatever you want.

There's some stuff later on, but its not as graphic and can be skimmed very easily.

[Kobold King he/him]

Oh, Felurian...

 

Felurian is the Cognitive idea of a sex scene made flesh.

 

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with any clean fantasy books besides the ones others have mentioned. Sorry. 

[Swimmingly he/him]

To be fair, that's kind of her schtick.

[traceria she/her]

Seconding (or thirding or whatevering) both David Eddings (specifically the Belgariad and Mallorean books) and Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders book (Pern).

[Quiver he/him]

Garth Nix's Old Trilogy Kingdom was rather clean, if I recall correctly... and quite good, as well.

[Eerongal he/him]

Garth Nix's Old Trilogy Kingdom was rather clean, if I recall correctly... and quite good, as well.

 

Yeah, the old kingdom trilogy is really good. You can also get audio books of Tim Curry reading them, which is utterly wonderful.

 

 

Anne McCaffrey's dragon books.

 

Very yes! Dragonriders of pern.

 

 

 

 

 

And as was mentioned wheel of time is relatively clean, a few vague references and beginning of a scene followed by a cut to afterwards, without showing "on stage" the scene itself.

[Quiver he/him]

Yes, the Old Kingdom Trilogy is much better than the Old Trilogy a Kingdom. Maybe I should change my avatar to Ditzy Doo instead...

Anyway, as for other 'clean' fantasy... I'm sure there is more, I'm just hesitant to recommend anything without having read them.

It dawns upon me how limited my library is.

[Swimmingly he/him]

The Seven Towers was remarkably good, despite the page count per book and being YA. I wish I could recommend everything Neil Gaiman. Unfortunately, I can't because he doesn't really bother with keeping it clean. On the other hand, my entire family listened to Anansi Boys in the car when I was 8 or 9. So there's that.

[Quiver he/him]

Actually, I remember Gaimans Neverwhere being quite clean.

I also remember not really liking it though, so... take that with what it's worth.