Almost all good fantasy stories come in the form of series. As discussed earlier, it is difficult to find a single book containing a good and well-balanced fantasy story. The genre has a preference for series, probably because it provides more room for building and describing the world the author has created.
Written in 1990 by Guy Gavriel Kay, Tigana is one of the few exceptions to the rule. Kay has managed to encompass his fantasy story in one book and, while not focusing on too much details, did make it feel like a real world and also made enough pages available for character development.
The story
Tigana tells the story of a peninsula called the Palm, ruled by two foreign sorcerers and their armies, dividing the continent in two parts. The sorcerer king Brandin lost his son during the conquest of one of the kingdoms of the peninsula called Tigana and therefore cast a spell to make all people, except those from Tigana, forget the name of the kingdom. Together with several other people Alessan, the former Prince of Tigana, plots not only to kill Brandin but also the other sorcerer Alberico of Barbadior. Alessan sees killing them at the same time as the only way to really free Palm from the oppressors.
Another main part of the story is the life of Dianora, a woman from Tigana who intented to kill Brandin but becomes part of his harem, falls in love with him and ends up as his wife.
Both story lines slowly come together throughout the book and as a reader you find out how the characters are connected to each other and how the story will play out in the end.
Conclusion
Tigana is a great book, with a good story, original concepts and interesting characters. Magic, and with it fantasy, is not a very big element in Tigana. Wizards mostly have subtle powers like influencing other people.Therefore, the book can be considered as low fantasy.
I have to admit that I haven’t read other books by Guy Gavriel Kay but, based on Tigana, I will definitely do so in the future.
Over the years quite a few animated fantasy movies have been produced, varying from cartoon and anime styled movies to puppet extravaganzas. When listing my favorite fantasy movies I decided not to include these animated movies but to dedicate a specific post to it. This, because these kind of movies are often quite different from ‘regular’ fantasy movies, have a different vibe (especially Anime movies) or are focused on a younger audience.
Within the genre of animated movies there are many, many differences in type and style of animation, making it difficult to compare the movies. Therefore, instead of a top 5 of the best animated fantasy movies ever made, below the movies I really liked and/or were very influential in no particular order.
Spirited Away
Japan has a long history in fantasy telling and in portraying fantasy in cartoon series and movies in a style called Anime. It is a style loved by many, including myself, but others hate it.
Spirited Away, also known as “Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi” is one of the highlights of this genre. Having won many prices, including an Oscar, and ranked number 54 in the best movies list of IMDB, the movie tells the story of a young girl who finds herself in a environment filled with ghosts and spirits, has to save her parents who have been turned into pigs.
Directed by the great Hayao Miyazaki, Spirited Away is beautifully made, has an interesting and intense storyline and contains drama, action and humor: a great movie.
Princess Mononoke
Princes Mononoke, Mononoke-hime in Japanese, is another fantastic Anime movie that was also written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki.
Produced in the late nineties, the movie is about a young boy who saves his town from a monstrous boar but gets infected with a demonic disease and is therefore exiled. He goes looking for a cure and finds himself in a struggle between the habitants of a mining town and a group of forest people and animals lead by princess Mononoke.
I liked Princess Mononoke a bit less than Spirited Away, it is also listed a bit loweron IMDB, but it is still a very good movie.
The Dark Crystal
One of the many fantasy movies from the eighties, The Dark Crystal uses a completely different form of animation that the other animated movies in this list: puppetry. Puppet masters Jim Henson and Frank Oz created this fantastic movie in 1983, telling the story of birdlike monsters that cruelly rule a planet filled with strange and mysterious creatures. One of those starts on a quest to find a crystal and stand up against the evil oppressors.
The Dark Crystal is beautfully made and tells a classic fantasy story in a unique setting and is therefore a must-see.
Alice in Wonderland
Probably not the first title you think of but Alice in Wonderland is indeed a fantasy movie.
Based on the book of Lewis Carroll, Disney made the cartoon movie in 1951 which is seen by many as one of the best Disney movies ever. The story is of course very famous: little Alice falls into a rabbit hole and enters a magic world with strange beings and gets involved in bizarre situations. Eventually, she has to escape from the queen of harts.
A new Alice in Wonderland movie (not animated but with real people like Johnny Depp) came out in early 2010.
Shrek
You might consider it an odd one out in this list but I believe that the Shrek movies can be seen as part of the fantasy genre. As we all know, they tell the story of the ogre Shrek who is forced out of his swamp and marries the princess of Far Far Away who also turns out to be an ogre. Most if not all characters in the movies come straight from fairy tales.
Personally I find the movies hilarious and although it is questionable if they are really fantasy movies, Shrek is simply to good to pass over in this list.
So far my favorite animated fantasy movies. If you don’t agree with some of the movies in this list or if you any additions then please share your opinion with the rest of us!
Being a soldier is probably never easy but being a Bridgeburner in the armies of the Malazan Empire really sucks.
It is quite difficult to shortly describe this story thought up by Steven Erikson as there are so many different story lines being told and so many characters that play a role in the books. If I have to give it a try, I would say it is a story about Gods and humans and the wars they fight and games they play. In the middle of all that, the Malazan empire, expanded over several continents, is slowly collapsing. As a reader you mainly follow a group of Malazan soldiers and their battles against incredible powerful wizards, scary demons, ambitious ascendants and scheming Gods while at the same time you also look at the world and conflicts from the point of view of the enemies of the empire.
Besides the enormous quantities of magic and action in the series, another great aspect of The Malazan Book of the Fallen is that on the one hand, no one in these series seems to be without some kind of ability while on the other hand everyone, even the most powerful, are vulnerable in some way. And the Gods are probably more afraid of mortals than the other way around.
The Malazan Book of the Fallen is my all time number 3 favorite fantasy series and for a good reason. Written by Steven Erikson, according to many, including myself, one of the finest fantasy authors around, it is fantasy to its extreme, epic, overpowering, almost more you can handle. Everyone is special and everyone is flawed. A character in a book of Steven Erikson will have no clue as to what will be waiting for him around the next corner as is the case for you as a reader.
The series can be seen as a bit over the top but personally I love it. Especially the last 100 pages of each book are simply fantastic.All in all, the Malazan Book of the Fallen series is one of the greatest fantasy series around.
The Books:
1. Gardens of the Moon (1999)
2. Deadhouse Gates (2000)
3. Memories of Ice (2001)
4. House of Chains (2002)
5. Midnight Tides (2004)
6. The Bonehunters (2006)
7. Reaper’s Gale (2007)
8. Toll the Hounds (2008)
9. Dust of Dreams (2009)
10. The Crippled God (forthcoming)
After comparing the television series Hecules and Xena in a previous post, I figured it would be interesting to create a listing of the best fantasy television series. However, this turned out to be quite difficult. Where there have been quite a few good and successful fantasy movies, fantasy television as a genre has never been as popular as for example the science fiction genre, which had great and long running series like Star Trek, Babylon 5 and Stargate.
You will see that there is only short list of possible contenders for the title of best fantasy television series that I can come up with, as in my view only a few fantasy television series stand out enough to qualify for the title of the best television series. However, I have good hope that around this time next year, a new contender will be around.
As regular visitors of this website will know, I greatly admire George R.R. Martin and his Song of Ice & Fire series. The storylines are so deep and the books so well written that he is todays number one writer and Ice & Fire the number one series.
The story is about politics and warfare: the most powerful Houses of Westeros are fighting for the throne, while at the Wall in the north long-forgotten, mythical enemies gather for invasion. At the same time, on another continent, a young girl – the righteous queen of Westeros according to some – prepares for an invasion of her own. And she will bring some interesting pets to battle…
There is a lot of focus on character development. At first several members of the Stark family are followed but later on in the series more and more characters get importants roles in the story, partly because some of the original ‘main characters’ have died. Another interesting point is that the characters are rarely simply black or white, good or evil. Everyone has his/her doubts and everyone has a dark and/or weak side.
Fantasy does not have a prominent place in A Song of Ice & Fire, certainly not in the beginning of the series. Especially in the beginning of the series you might think you are reading a historical novel but more and more fantasy elements are introduced. Examples are the mysterious Others who threaten the northern Wall and the dragons of Daenerys.
The Books:
1. A Game of Thrones (1996)
2. A Clash of Kings (1998)
3. A Storm of Swords (2000)
4. A Feast for Crows (2005)
5. A Dance with Dragons (Forthcoming)
6. The Winds of Winter (Forthcoming)
7. A Dream of Spring (Forthcoming)
George R.R. Martins writing skills, together with many, interesting plots, unexpected turns and incredible characters, make this series a masterpiece. All the better is the news that a television series based on the first book of the series (A Games of Thrones) will be produced. If only Martin had a bit more “writers testosterone” and would also focus part of his attention on completing the next books in the series…
What can I tell you about this series that you haven’t heard before? Probably nothing. However, I felt that I had to dedicate at least one post on The Lord of the Rings so that perhaps one day, someone completely new to the genre of fantasy might visit this website and stumble upon it. For that person here is a short review of the series.
The Books
In 1954 J.R.R. Tolkien published his fantasy book The Lord of the Rings. The book was split up in the following three parts and became extremely popular over the years:
1. The Fellowship of the Ring
2. The Two Towers
3. The Return of the King
The series is considered by many (including myself) to be the best and most influential fantasy series ever made.
It is a classic story about good against evil. Against all odds, but with the help of a fellowship, the Hobbit Frodo has to destroy a magic ring to prevent the evil lord Sauron from ruling the world, while at the same time the forces of good are fighting Orcs and Uruk-Haiin huge battles to distract Sauron.
The Movies
Between 2001 and 2003 the three books of the series were made into movies by director Peter Jackson. It became a brilliant trilogy of movies. With a great cast of both well-known and unknown actors, the LotR movies became a huge hype and very popular and won many Oscars. According to the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) the movies are all among the 30 best movies of all time.
Millions have read this masterpiece of Tolkien and a whole new generation has gotten known the trilogy through the movies. Fantasy as we know it today wouldn’t be the same without this series.
