Your fantasy introduction

[DanTheSeamonster he/him]

The first Fantasy book I remember reading is The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by Lewis. But, I wouldn't really say that got me into fantasy. If I was to choose a turning point I would have to say Burning Brightly by Mercedes Lackey. After I read it, I couldn't get enough of Fantasy, I searched high and low and devoured almost every Fantasy story I came across.

[Unhinged he/him]

Ummmm.... is it a good thing or a bad thing that I honestly can't remember? I know the first novel I read was either Harry potter or the Lion the witch and the wardrobe... I think. 

 

But if you count books on tape my father let me listen to the hobbit when I was like five or six and I loved it. (I liked it even better when I learned how to read)

[Kasimir he/him]

Strangely enough, the very first fantasy books for me that I can recall reading (though probably Chronicles of Narnia may have come in before--that I can't recall in order) were Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small books. I think only First Test and (possibly) Page were published, back then. From there, I moved backwards to her Song of the Lioness quartet, and then to books like Deltora Quest and The Hobbit, and the Old Kingdom Trilogy,

 

Eventually, I encountered Mercedes Lackey, Dennis L. McKiernan, was able to finish the Lord of the Rings, and then the Wheel of Time and the addiction grew

[The Rooster he/him]

The Bible

[the Gleeman he/him]

Reading the Redwall books in the third and fourth grade got me started. I then read through most of the Star Wars expanded universe (I know, sci-fi) until my uncle suggested one book series that might occupy my time for awhile-- the Wheel of Time. I read through that, at least up to The Gathering Storm, in the sixth grade and then randomly picked up a book by this Brandon Sanderson guy. I've been hooked ever since!

[Orlion Blight he/him]

I was raised on various Oz books growing up. My grandparents had a bunch of them, and every time we visited we could take one back home with us. 

 

Then there was The Wind in the Willows, which might be hard to classify as fantasy, so we'll just call it integral.

 

I can't remember if I read the Hobbit or The Lord of the Rings first... it would have been around fourth grade, then in I was introduced to the Chronicles of Narnia by my fifth grade teacher who read a few of them to us. Then in sixth grade, I revisited Tolkien and read the Divine Comedy by Dante.

[Pestis the Spider she/her]

I started with Harry Potter on the day of my 7th birthday. I've got first 3 books from my godfather on that day, and I started reading the first one immediately.  They were my first 'adult' (I mean 'much more text than pictures') books that I owned and that I read entirely, and also the first proper fantasy books I've read (before that I read only some stories for kids). And basically I am a great fantasy fan and an absolute bookworm since that birthday. You can say that Harry Potter really made my day back then.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Pestis the Spider

[wills1422 he/him]

For me the first fantasy books I read that made me really like reading fantasy and fantasy in general were the Artemis Fowl books. I also very much enjoyed the Percy Jackson books and reading each of those took me only maybe three days or so. These books had a huge inspiration to me as a reader and if I had never read them I know I would have never picked up Mistborn, my first book from Brandon Sanderson.

[Meg]

I think one of the first fantasy books were the story about Alanna of Trebond. I loved it. Later I read Daine's books.

But what really kind of caught me was "Tailchaser's Song" from Tad Williams. As well as I've never forgotten the name Tamora Pierce, I also remembered Tad Williams. I don't remember whether the "Memory, Sorrow and Thorn" or The Wheel of Time came next but re-discovering Tad Williams surely had a great influence on my reading habits.

[-Deleted-]

I use to hate reading. There was only one book I liked when I was younger, and I refused to read books. Odd enough for an 11 year-ol, it was Frankenstein, and I had to write a paper to my teacher stating exactly why it was the only book I was ever going to read. my argument was that, for some reason, i didn't think that any book could match what that book had done. I had seen it as a dualism between ugliness and beauty in the world, though of course not quite in those words. She said there were plenty of books in the world but left it at that. Other than that, all I read was mythology stuff, because it was really interesting, and it seemed shorter because the bits I was reading themselves were shorter rather than in large amounts (remember, I'm 11 and stupid so have no concept of the fact that what I read probably amounted to significantly more than what is in the average book).

 

One day, my parents decided to take me to the bookstore, and made me get a book, because they knew I would like reading if I simply found the appropriate thing to get me into it. They got me a book called Rise of the Shadow King, first book in the Grey Griffins series, and I loved it. It was full of all sorts of mythological references and things that I got. Since this book had just come out, I wanted something else to read. So, I proceeded with Narnia, Harry Potter, and the Sword of Truth by Goodkind. Then when the Hitchhiker's Guide movie came out, a family friend wanted to watch it and we all watched, then afterwords he told me it was based off of a book series, so I spent some time reading those and was absolutely in love. Then i started reading the Wheel of Time (my moms couldn't get into them but had the first nine). In between those I read a bunch of classics, especially Mark Twain. Then I got books about mythology, and then I wanted to learn the history of the guys who made these great stories I loved, so I read history books, and my love for mythology even got me into games because I learned that elements, motifs, and characters from mythologies are often used in all sorts of games. I even started appreciating the movies I watched, because I appreciated the effort put into everything else I loved so much.

 

So really the thing that got me into fantasy isn't just that: it got me into reading in general, as well as video games, and even music since the first music I really got into was folk music and that happened because a lot of it deals with folktales and narrative histories, and mythology. This cheesy, average, little-known children's fantasy novel is the reason I love everything as much as I do. Rise of the Shadow King (Derek Benz & JS Lewis) is the reason I read, watch, play, and listen to everything I do. I suppose there's an argument that mythology is, but it didn't actually lead me to any of these things; the book, which is the true start, was practically forced on me, and it is what made me start doing other things.

 

It's interesting this topic is here today, I just did the very same for my sister this morning before she left for school: I had her read a piece of my writing, and she genuinely loved it. She says she wants to read more. i thought she meant my book. She said "no, in general." She is actually interested in reading now.

 

I always think it's interesting to see how people got into doing the thing they love to do. That spark, the thing that flipped the switch. The thing that makes people go, "I want to do more of this."

[Winds Alight she/her]

Harry Potter. I grew up with the books.

Lord of the Rings was my first high fantasy with a totally different world. After that came Eragon and a trilogy from a French author. I have no idea if it was translated to English and if, what the English translation of the title is.

I was 14-15 at the time.

[Bort he/him]

My first fantasy novel was Sorceress of Darshiva, by David Eddings (book 4 in the second series involving those characters - great place to start), and after that I delved into other fantasy authors, Tolkein, Feist, and Pratchett mostly - Tolkein because he was the classic fantasy author. Pratchett because they were funny. And Feist because his Midkemia was the first place I read about that did something different with their magic system.

 

Over the years since then, I have expanded my fantasy collection, and now own most of Robin Hobb's books, all of WoT, Eragon, and a host of others.

[Kestrel she/her]

I'm fairly sure it was Harry Potter. Or Warriors, if those count. They're cats, not humans, but have a lot of fantasy in them.

[ZoneZero]

I wasn't reading books for fun before my parents gave me the first Harry Potter book as a present. This all started it, I was through the book quickly and wanted more of it.

Later on it continued with LoTR (first book, didn't enjoy) and then Otherland (great read, though you could say it's mostly SciFi), Drizzt and Discworld novels. The biggest pro of the Fantasy genre for me is that there's always much to explore and imagine. While some themes are well known and repeated in various series, there is at least the world building and magic (or whatever) that can make the experience interesting.

[Dunkum he/him]

Wow, all the folks citing Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Inheritance make me feel old.  Harry Potter came out when I was well into middle school and Inheritance and Percy Jackson weren't big until I was in college.

 

The earliest Fantasy I can remember is probably The Hobbit, though it has some competition from The Dark is Rising series, and a book in our elementary school library: Gom on Windy Mountain.  All of those, I read some time in elementary school.  On a somewhat more Sci-Fi note the Animorphs books were coming out at that time too, and I got really into those as well.  I also remember trying to read the Narnia books, but never really getting into them.  After that though, I devoured our public library's fantasy section, reading eddings, fairland, weis and hickman, brooks, feist, and probably several more that i can't recall offhand.  I actually got in trouble for reading during class at least once or twice (it was middle school, it's not like I was actually learning anything anyway)

[Bort he/him]

I used to get into trouble for reading at school too. My teacher kept interrupting me to quiz the person apparently not paying attention (also me) to what the rest of the class were listening to, and it took her some time, but she eventually stopped when she realised that I was answering her correctly every time.

 

I doubt I could do that now though. Oh, for the multitasking ability of youth.

[Orlion Blight he/him]

I would get in trouble for reading too much of the assigned reading. This meant that when I opened my mouth during class discussion, the teacher couldn't cover what she wanted and I would be talking about all the plot points. 

 

I remember specifically when we read Beowulf and the teacher warned me after assigning the first reading, "Don't you dare read beyond the assignment". I read the entire thing before the next class. She happened to have enough foresight to talk to me before class to ask if I enjoyed the reading, to which I said something along the lines of "I liked the dragon!".

 

Since the assignment had not even reached the point where Beowulf fought Grendel, she told me to just read what I wanted while the rest of the class discussed the assignment.

[maxal she/her]

Wow, all the folks citing Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and Inheritance make me feel old.  Harry Potter came out when I was well into middle school and Inheritance and Percy Jackson weren't big until I was in college.

 

The earliest Fantasy I can remember is probably The Hobbit, though it has some competition from The Dark is Rising series, and a book in our elementary school library: Gom on Windy Mountain.  All of those, I read some time in elementary school.  On a somewhat more Sci-Fi note the Animorphs books were coming out at that time too, and I got really into those as well.  I also remember trying to read the Narnia books, but never really getting into them.  After that though, I devoured our public library's fantasy section, reading eddings, fairland, weis and hickman, brooks, feist, and probably several more that i can't recall offhand.  I actually got in trouble for reading during class at least once or twice (it was middle school, it's not like I was actually learning anything anyway)

 

Sigh. I feel old.

 

Harry Potter became popular when I was at University (after book 4 was released, before that, nobody talked of Harry Potter, then all of sudden, it was everywhere). Back when I was a teen, there was not much going on in the wonderful world of fantasy. I thus ended reading LoTR about 8 times  However, I did not know there were other books to be read until a friend of mine lend me a copy of the Eye of the World when I was, again, in University. 

 

There was no fantasy section at our school library... It just didn't exist 

 

As a kid, I read those:

 

 

Which nobody on the forum probably ever heard of      Had no idea it was called "fantasy", though these were sort of a role playing game. I did not play the game: I just read the story.

 

I am glad younger people have had a better introduction than I and have had more reading choices than I. I'll definitely go through some of the young people's stuff with my own kids in due time 

[Dunkum he/him]

Sigh. I feel old.

 

Harry Potter became popular when I was at University (after book 4 was released, before that, nobody talked of Harry Potter, then all of sudden, it was everywhere). Back when I was a teen, there was not much going on in the wonderful world of fantasy. I thus ended reading LoTR about 8 times  However, I did not know there were other books to be read until a friend of mine lend me a copy of the Eye of the World when I was, again, in University. 

 

There was no fantasy section at our school library... It just didn't exist 

 

As a kid, I read those:

 

 

Which nobody on the forum probably ever heard of      Had no idea it was called "fantasy", though these were sort of a role playing game. I did not play the game: I just read the story.

 

I am glad younger people have had a better introduction than I and have had more reading choices than I. I'll definitely go through some of the young people's stuff with my own kids in due time 

Pretty sure Potter was popular around here after book 1 or 2, though it could just be that I was associating with the types of folks who were more alert to that sort of thing.  Our elementary school library didn't have a fantasy section, they were just kind of all mixed into the fiction section, I think, but the local public library had a decent sci-fi/fantasy section, plus the ability to borrow books from across the county, and if necessary the state.

[Bort he/him]

Sigh. I feel old.

 

Harry Potter became popular when I was at University (after book 4 was released, before that, nobody talked of Harry Potter, then all of sudden, it was everywhere). Back when I was a teen, there was not much going on in the wonderful world of fantasy. I thus ended reading LoTR about 8 times  However, I did not know there were other books to be read until a friend of mine lend me a copy of the Eye of the World when I was, again, in University. 

 

There was no fantasy section at our school library... It just didn't exist 

 

As a kid, I read those:

 

 

Which nobody on the forum probably ever heard of      Had no idea it was called "fantasy", though these were sort of a role playing game. I did not play the game: I just read the story.

 

I am glad younger people have had a better introduction than I and have had more reading choices than I. I'll definitely go through some of the young people's stuff with my own kids in due time 

 

Granted, I've never heard of them in French, but these are the Fighting Fantasy books. I read most of them as a child, even owned a few, and they were very fun. My preference though, was for the Lone Wolf choose-your-own-adventure books. With Lone Wolf, you started at book one, and got to keep your character as you played through the series.

[maxal she/her]

Granted, I've never heard of them in French, but these are the Fighting Fantasy books. I read most of them as a child, even owned a few, and they were very fun. My preference though, was for the Lone Wolf choose-your-own-adventure books. With Lone Wolf, you started at book one, and got to keep your character as you played through the series.

 

ME TO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Loup Solitaire          I did not know it was called Lone Wolf in English. In fact, I never saw them in English... Gee, I used to play at being Lone Wolf, with a stick, in the woods, drawing maps and fighting evil creatures   My sister and I invented ourselves our own characters... I think my sister was Golden Falcon and I was Tiger something      Can't remember. I had no idea there were fantasy back then, but I literally started reading with these. I spend my elementary school days reading on of these in the back of the classroom 

 

Very popular in Quebec back in the late 80s, early 90s. I think my sister still has the entire collection. 

[-Deleted-]

I'm fairly sure it was Harry Potter. Or Warriors, if those count. They're cats, not humans, but have a lot of fantasy in them.

 

Yeah, those definitely count. I never got into them but I know someone who was really into them. 

[Colours]

I think there was one section of my school library that happened to have lots of fantasy books in it (it was arranged by author surname), so I took up reading those. I can't remember what it was that caught my eye first - might have been the Belgariad, or something else that I read before that. I remember the Empire trilogy well, so I likely read it afterwards... Hmm.

 

But even before that, fantasy books were pretty much everywhere, so I don't know what the first one was. Maybe something by Roald Dahl.

[Moonskin she/her]

Oh, "Le livre dont vous êtes le héros", that's all my chilhood!    (I cheated all the time, but I was more interested in the story than in the game anway).

 

My first real fantasy book was "The lord of the rings" some 20 years ago. I really loved it, but I could not find anything good in the same genre and I kind of forgot about the idea. I re-discoverd fantasy with Terry Pratchett's Discwolrd years later and I realized that a whole world of good fantasy books was born while I wasn't looking, so I am now trying to keep up with what I missed

[maxal she/her]

Oh, "Le livre dont vous êtes le héros", that's all my chilhood!    (I cheated all the time, but I was more interested in the story than in the game anway).

 

I cheated all the time as well   If I accidentally died, I would go back to the previous chapter to change my choice     I often tried many many different paths, just to read all the possible adventures. Are you French as well? I recall how long it took me to finish "Le Labyrinthe de la Mort" and "L'Épreuve des Champions", these two had only one way to the end. One only way and it proved to be a challenge for 9 years old me to find it 

 

I saw they re-edited the books... I can't wait to start buying them for my kids  We'll do them together 

 

Edit: I just saw the Lone Wolf story arc is not finished! They still have a few more books to published      It is official, it has been going on longer than WoT  And there was an extended universe... Gee, where were you Internet when I was a kid?

Edited May 25, 2015 by maxal