​The mentor character is a very familiar one, especially in hero journeys and coming-of-age stories. The pretty classic formula for the mentor (Obi-Wan, Gandalf, Dumbledore) goes like this:

After the protagonist becomes committed to the quest, the mentor provides advice, help, and tools. Once the quest gets tough, however, the mentor disappears—or dies—and doesn’t come back for a long time. If the mentor does finally come back, it is in a different capacity: he can sometimes advise or deal with events elsewhere (or maybe he just left a helpful diary), but he can no longer personally lead the hero through what only the hero can do.
 
This formula worked just fine in Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter, because those three stories follow the coming-of-age of the new guard (SW and HP) or the lone adventure of an everyman (TLOTR). But what happens when the protagonist is in a power-growth fantasy? Take the following story:
 
Y is a high school student who is possessed by a dangerous magical entity but who manages to retain control. He slowly begins to be able to use the entity’s magic himself, but in the process, the entity becomes more and more powerful. If he doesn’t keep the entity under control, the entity will destroy everything.
 
Enter Professor G. Professor G is the strongest sorcerer in the world, although only in his mid-twenties. In order to fight internal corruption in the magic world, Professor G has been recruiting and training sorcerers who have the potential to be as powerful as he is. Impressed at Y’s potential, Professor G brings Y to his magic school and begins training him.
 
So far, we have a pretty classic beginning, but there are two big differences here between this story and Star Wars or Harry Potter, and those differences are important: First, Professor G is less than a decade older than Y, which means Y can’t be the new guard replacing the old guard—they’re the same generation. Second, Y is explicitly said to have the potential to be as powerful as Professor G within the course of a few years—which is certainly not the case for Harry or Frodo. (Luke has the potential to be more powerful than Obi-Wan, but, as with the others, the age gap is huge.)
 
There’s one more element that I haven’t mentioned, but which is very important for story and character development: Y is a fairly classic, good-hearted and grimly determined hero, whereas Professor G is silly and extravagant. This not only creates a very different interpersonal dynamic than the classic hero-mentor dynamic; it also lends the story much-needed variety.
 
Now, given this information, let’s plug in the classic next step for the mentor (which is what the story does):
 
When things become dangerous, the villains specifically target Professor G and trick him into being trapped. Now Y is fighting them alone, without the help of the world’s most powerful sorcerer, and the situation is dire.
 
And here is where everything falls apart. Let me explain:
 
1. The Protagonist Looks Pathetic #1: The author (in real life) got Professor G out of the way because G was overshadowing Y by being way cooler and more fun than Y. But how pathetic is that? You don’t make your protagonist more cool by getting rid of everyone cooler than he; if he isn’t cool enough on his own, that’s his problem. Besides, man is judged by the company he keeps. Y is cooler because Professor G respects him and interacts with him. What’s more, Professor G provided an excellent foil, and without him, the story becomes a one-note grind. (Also, you got rid of the best character, you dunce. I’m not going to keep watching your show now, though I will look up how it ends.)
 
Solution: Make Y cooler through keeping his association with Professor G.
 
2. The Protagonist Looks Pathetic #2: The entire premise of the show is that Y has the potential to be as powerful as Professor G. So if you have to get rid of Professor G to give Y a challenge (since otherwise Professor G would easily solve everything), what does that tell us about Y’s power level? Besides, since Professor G was the scale by which power is measured in this world, any power growth apart from him is meaningless.
 
Solution: Make Y look more powerful by showing he has become worthy to fight alongside Professor G.
 
3. The Villains Look Pathetic: If they can only be a threat when Professor G isn’t around, they aren’t a threat.
 
Solution: Make the villains so powerful that they’re a threat even when Professor G is around.
 
4. Characterization Is Ruined: Professor G is depicted as someone who can only be delayed but never truly stopped, and who endlessly does the impossible. So the fact that he doesn’t ever figure a way out of the trap by himself . . . is unbelievable and annoying.
 
Solution: Keep Professor G in-character by having him find his way out. (Bonus: this may itself cause further interesting complications.)
 
5. It Isn’t Awesome: This is an extreme-power-growth magic story. Having the protagonist not look pathetic isn’t enough; we need the most awesome fight and magic visuals that are full of personality for a variety of battles. Getting rid of some of the best visuals, and visual variety, is foolish.
 
Solution: Include the most awesome climactic sequence by utilizing both Y and Professor G’s powers, personalities, and interactions to the max.
 
If your goal is to make your protagonist look strong and cool and awesome in a power-growth fantasy, show that he can fight as an equal next to the world’s strongest sorcerer . . . not that the only way to make him look good is by getting rid of everyone better than he is.
 
Note to anyone who figured out which story I’m talking about: Yes, I do know how the rest of the series goes and how it ends, and I’m sorry to say it only doubles down on the error I outline here. A pity.

​ 
For more writing tips, check out our Advice from an Editor YouTube series, or this set of blog posts.

1. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne M. Valente: starts a series. A tween girl from Omaha is summoned to help the new, young Marquess of Fairyland. If she doesn’t retrieve a talisman from the enchanted woods, the fickle Marquess will make life difficult for those under her rule.

2. Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: A young businessman discovers a secret world below the streets of London, a labyrinth full of angels and monsters. There, he must help a noblewoman save her kingdom from destruction.

3. Between Two Thorns by Emma Newman: a fusion of urban fantasy and Fae court intrigue; starts a series. Born in the Fae-touched mirror-world, the Nether, Cathy doesn’t want to be a debutante, so she runs away to the human world. She’s dragged back toward an arranged marriage but ends up helping a border-patroller named Max unravel a high-profile disappearance.

4. Magic Kingdom for Sale/Sold by Terry Brooks: A widower purchases a magic kingdom . . . what could possibly go wrong? A light-hearted romp with a talking dog and a woman who turns into a tree by moonlight.

5. Mister Monday by Garth Nix: starts a series. Arthur, a 7th-grader with severe asthma, is given magical keys (one per book) to a mysterious world and finds himself caught up in an ancient conspiracy between supernatural forces.

6. A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer: starts a trilogy. Harper, a young American woman, is magically abducted to Emberfall, a kingdom in peril whose prince is under a curse. The vindictive sorceress who cast it is determined to stop Harper from breaking it.

7. Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: one of the most prominent examples of “literary nonsense” full of eccentric characters and extraordinary imagination! (If you’re a fan of this book, you might love The Land of the Purple Ring too!)

8. The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis: Four siblings travel through a wardrobe to a fantasy world called Narnia. Winter witches, talking animals, heroic deeds, voyages to enchanted islands, and more!

9. The Secret Country trilogy by Pamela Dean: Five cousins invent a fantasy-filled world as a game . . . but the Secret turns out to be a real place and, transported there, they must win the game—which has escalated into war.

10. Tom’s Midnight Garden by Philippa Pearce: A boy finds a magical garden where he has adventures with a lonely girl, and discovers that time can be both an enemy and a friend. A beloved children’s classic.

11. The Last Partner by Deborah J. Natelson*: Agents Daisy and Lawrence work for the mysterious Agency, which sends its personnel through gates called Paths to combat genres invading the real world. Can ex-Romance agent Daisy cut it in Horror with the infamous Lawrence . . . all of whose other partners have died?

*The Last Partner comes out October 1, 2026, but is available for pre-order now. It's book 1 of The Midnight Files, an action-packed, dark fantasy drama previously serialized on Kindle Vella. (It was consistently Top Faved and achieved a final rank of #6 in Fantasy).

​
What’s your favorite portal fantasy? Tell us in the comments!


P.S. – ​If you loved these book recommendations, why not sign up for our newsletter? Twice a month, we’ll send you a themed list of fantasy and/or sci-fi book recommendations, and sometimes music, movies, or manga too. (Not to mention jokes, games, puzzles, memes, and the occasional recipe!)

​This post originally appeared in Deborah’s blog and is used here with permission.
 
As part of my “Advice from an Editor” YouTube series, I made a video on how to Write a Great Ending. In case you haven’t seen it, I’ll summarize it first:

A good ending will fulfill all of a book’s narrative promises without beating you over the head with them.
 
The three promises I highlight are plot, character, and tone: plot arcs should be sufficiently wrapped up; character arcs should be completed; and the tone of the ending (happy, tragic, ambiguous) should match with the rest of the book. 
 
A great ending will add an unexpected (but fitting) element to the ending.
 
This doesn’t necessarily mean a “twist” ending or “big reveal,” which can be great but can also ruin your book. It simply means that your ending isn’t exactly what your reader could have predicted. Your protagonist may need to come up with an unlikely solution, or something might change that 100% makes sense in context, but which the reader didn’t see coming from ten chapters ago.
 
That’s as far as the video goes, but I’d like to discuss further the types of endings:
 
Twists, Reveals, Final Battles
 
I recently watched a rather famous anime that is often cited as having one of the best anime endings ever (except for the few people who say it has one of the worst endings ever). Personally, I think the ending is very solid: it fulfills its narrative promises, fitting the story and wrapping up the plot lines and character arcs, and it didn’t do it in quite the way I expected. 
 
Without spoilers, it goes somewhat like this:
 
Throughout the series, the protagonist has emphatically spouted an extreme philosophy regarding how to fix the world. When all else fails, he takes up a new mantle and engages in extreme but unexplained actions. Then at the very end, an explanation for these extreme actions is shown, and it exactly matches and is the culmination of his philosophy.
 
This ending fits the show in every way: it fits the philosophy, it finishes the character’s arc, and it follows the show’s format of having the protagonist plot secretly before revealing his strategies as he carries them out. To be clear, this is not a twist ending.  
 
TWIST ENDING: an ending wherein you’re given a piece of information you didn’t have before, didn’t realize you didn’t have, and couldn’t reasonably have guessed, which recontextualizes everything that came before.  
 
Example: The film The Sixth Sense does this flawlessly.
 
Pros: impressive when it works.
 
​Cons: ruinous when it doesn’t work (which is at least as often as not).
 
This is why I say the anime I watched didn’t have a twist ending: throughout the final arc of the series, the viewer knows very, very clearly that the protagonist is up to something and the sorts of things he gets up to and what his goal is. The only thing the viewer doesn’t know is the exact details of his plan. When that plan is revealed, it shouldn’t come as a shock to any viewer who has been paying any attention for the past fifty episodes. This is a reveal ending.
 
REVEAL ENDING: one in which you’re finally given the details you were waiting for in order to understand the evidence that’s come before.  
 
Examples: most mystery and heist stories. Think of it like this: In a mystery, when the detective reveals the murderer, the reader doesn’t sit back in shock because, gasp, someone was murdered! Obviously, because they’ve been following the detective around for the past 200 pages / 45 minutes. They know all that; they’re just waiting to have the details filled in. 
 
Uses: mysteries and heists or any story in which the protagonist has figured out the ending but isn’t going to share it until the reader can experience it alongside him.
 
Pros: a far safer option than the twist, especially as it is more likely to stay enjoyable even when the reader figures it out ahead of time. 
 
Cons: can be frustrating for readers who don’t like being purposefully kept in the dark.
​
By far the most common type of ending on my shelves, however, is what I’m going to call “the final battle”—“battle” here not necessarily being literal:
 
FINAL-BATTLE ENDING: you experience the outcome of the climactic sequence simultaneously with the characters. If there was a plan, you knew about it beforehand, and it went wrong. 
 
Differences: Unlike in a twist, the entire story before now is not recontextualized in a single shocking moment. Unlike in a reveal, you were not being kept in the dark about key facts known by any of the protagonists.  
 
Pros: works great for almost every type of story and is typically the appropriate choice.
 
Cons: unlikely to cause shock and awe in your reader, so you might not make it onto many “best (or worst) ending ever” lists.

 
. . . Do please leave a comment if you have another type of ending you’d like to add that isn’t included in these. I don’t mean this to be an all-inclusive list; only what I happened to be thinking about for this blog post. 
 

For more writing tips, check out our Advice from an Editor YouTube series, or this set of blog posts.

We hope you’re having a cozy, not-too-sweltering summer! Summer and winter are great times (but really, any time is) to read cozy books! What do we mean by “cozy”? In most of these, the stakes are lower and there’s nothing too dramatically epic happening; and the others have a generally optimistic and fairy-tale-like feel. So water we waiting for? Let’s dive into the list of excellent cozy fantasies we recommend!

1. The Sun and the Starmaker by Rachel Griffin: A young woman, Aurora Finch, discovers she is destined to become the next Starmaker and must leave behind her home to train with the mysterious immortal guardian who draws the sun’s light over the mountains each day to keep her village alive, only to find herself falling in love with the very man she is meant to replace.
 
2. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: After being cursed into the body of an old woman, Sophie seeks out the wizard Howl’s enchanted castle and becomes entangled in his magical adventures.
 
3. The Neverending Story by Michael Ende: A lonely boy named Bastian is drawn into the magical world of Fantastica, where he discovers he has a vital role in saving the realm from the Nothing.
 
4. Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson: Tress leaves her quiet island to cross deadly spore seas and rescue her kidnapped friend Charlie, becoming an unlikely hero along the way.
 
5. A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher: A teenage baker whose magic only works on bread and pastries must use her unusual talents to save her city after she becomes caught in a deadly conspiracy.
 
6. Stardust by Neil Gaiman: Tristran Thorn crosses into the realm of Faerie to retrieve a fallen star for the woman he loves, only to find the star is a living woman pursued by powerful enemies.
 
7. The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst: A shy librarian flees a revolution with a cache of magical books and opens a spellshop on a quiet island, where she rebuilds her life through friendship, community, and a touch of romance.
 
8. Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett: Brilliant but socially awkward scholar Emily Wilde travels to a remote village to study the Hidden Ones, only to uncover dangerous faerie secrets alongside her enigmatic colleague.
 
9. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles series by Patricia C. Wrede: Princess Cimorene rejects a conventional royal life to become a dragon's princess and is swept into magical adventures filled with dragons, wizards, and fairy-tale twists.
 
10. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle: A unicorn sets out to discover the fate of the rest of her kind, embarking on a poignant quest through a fading world of magic and myth.
 
 
What’s your favorite cozy fantasy book? Tell us in the comments!

​ 
P.S. – ​If you loved these book recommendations, why not sign up for our newsletter? Twice a month, we’ll send you a themed list of fantasy and/or sci-fi book recommendations, and sometimes music, movies, or manga too. (Not to mention jokes, games, puzzles, memes, and the occasional recipe!)

1. Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke: set during the Napoleonic wars; follows a rivalry between two London magicians. One is cautious and traditional, the other reckless and attracted to wild, dangerous magic.

2. The Bear and the Nightingale (and sequels) by Katherine Arden: a many-layered tale of a family living at the edge of the Russian wilderness. Vasya’s new stepmother tries to remake the family’s whole life, while evil from the forest creeps closer to their village.

3. The Vampire Tapestry by Suzy McKee Charnas: a slice-of-life drama about a vampire who lives a mostly normal life as a college professor. He hunts humans for their blood but also has some empathy toward them.

4. Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury: Two boys learn the heavy cost of wishes after a mysterious carnival rolls into their small town, beckoning people with seductive promises but ultimately turning their lives into nightmares.

5. The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin: A human ambassador travels to the icebound planet Winter, where the inhabitants’ gender is fluid. He’s there to bring them into a galactic alliance but must first reconcile his own views with their culture’s.

6. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis: After her beloved younger sister is taken from her and married to the God of the Mountain, then banished, Orual turns her back on the gods and forges her own life as a warrior queen. But near the end of her life, she confronts the gods and learns the truth about herself and her sister.

7. The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova: three narratives spanning generations, tied together by folklore about Vlad the Impaler. A professor and his wife, and later their daughter, venture across Europe looking for Dracula’s tomb.

8. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle: an enduring classic. A lonely unicorn leaves the enchanted forest where she lives alone, on a quest to find others of her kind.

9. The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly: Twelve-year-old David is angry and alone, mourning his mother’s death. He takes refuge in his books and finds himself propelled into a fantasy land of heroes and monsters, ruled by a faded king who keeps his secrets in a mysterious book: The Book of Lost Things.

10. Charlotte Sometimes by Penelope Farmer: Charlotte wakes up after her first night at a new boarding school to find herself in 1918, and everyone thinks she’s a girl named Clare. For months, she alternates between her life and Clare’s. If she doesn’t find a way to stop this time travel by the end of term, she may never be able to.

11. The Tales from the Mythusian Empire series by Remy Apepp: Described as “Anne Rice meets the Epic of Gilgamesh,” these books provide a rich atmosphere and well-drawn characters in a setting like those of ancient myths. Book 1 shows the effects of great pressure on the four classical personality types (or “humors”), and book 2 features memory loss and two mysterious characters stuck together in a gilded cage.
​

What’s your favorite literary fantasy or sci-fi book? Tell us in the comments!

​
P.S. – ​If you loved these book recommendations, why not sign up for our newsletter? Twice a month, we’ll send you a themed list of fantasy and/or sci-fi book recommendations, and sometimes music, movies, or manga too. (Not to mention jokes, games, puzzles, memes, and the occasional recipe!)

​(This article was originally posted in Deborah’s blog and is used here with permission.)
 
Two years after the end of Amazon’s Kindle Vella serial novel format, The Midnight Files is finally being published by Thinklings Books as e-book, paperback, and hardback. Book one, The Last Partner, will be coming this October and the other two books in Octobers 2027 and 2028. 

​It’s been a boatload of work reediting these, of course, but that’s not what I want to talk about. Instead, I’m very excited to say that I’m having custom art done for the covers.
 
Now, not all covers need custom art. For many, in fact, stock images do as well or better. However, The Midnight Files really needed its protagonists on the covers but those protagonists also have some extremely specific characteristics that it’s frankly impossible to find in a stock photo. Namely: Nebekah Lawrence’s hatchets and Daisy Allen’s gloves.
 
Thinklings Books has an excellent cover designer, but we don’t have a dedicated artist, so we turned (where else?) to Fiverr. After several hours of searching, we found Gaurav. 
 
It’s always a risk, hiring on a new artist, but we thought, based on his previous work, that he might be well-suited to creating art for The Midnight Files. I reached out to him and arranged a custom gig, sent him the files, and he sent me back his first sketch.
 
The sketch was good, but not quite right. I’d given him a description of Agent Lawrence for the cover, and she ended up a bit too superhero-looking. I gave him a few notes. Now, professionally, for my books and other Thinklings books and books from clients back in my editing days, I’ve dealt with a lot of graphic designers, and my experience has generally been a difficulty communicating well with them.  
 
Not so with Gaurav. He took my notes and ran, not only adjusting everything I’d mentioned but somehow practically reading my mind and getting back to me a sketch that was astonishingly good.
 
But I hadn’t hired him just for his sketch work. I’d hired him for his brilliant use of light and color, and he didn’t disappoint.
 
This is what he got back to me. Just look at that back glow . . . and the gleam on those hatchets . . .

​Now: is this always how I pictured Agent Lawrence to look? No, and it’s still not. But it also is, because he captured the essence of her. He even somehow captured something deep and complex in her expression . . . because from a distance, it looks tough, even angry, but if you zoom in close, it looks somewhat sad. And that is not only an astonishing combination and achievement from the artist, but also about the truest possible representation you could have of her as a character. . . .
 
Overall, it’s been an interesting and nerve-racking experience. But I’m extremely happy with the result, and I hope you like it too!
 
I’ll continue to update you on the book as time approaches. At the moment, a proof copy just arrived, and so I’m editing it. Again.
 
 
UPDATE: The covers for the other two Midnight Files books are also done (by Gaurav), and we are excited to show you them sometime in the future, so stay tuned!
 
The cover for another one of our books (by a different author) is also in the works, with our usual designer, and that one will be revealed sometime in the nearer future. Hooray!

Fantasy (and sci-fi) books in general enchant us! But this week, we've compiled a special list of our favorite fantasy books that involve enchantments or curses. So read on, and maybe these books will put a spell on you too!

​1. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones: Cursed by a witch, Sophie seeks out the traveling castle of the infamous Wizard Howl. She discovers there’s more to him—and herself—than meets the eye. Sophie must confront the witch to save not only herself but Howl too. (We also love the movie!)

2. Stardust by Neil Gaiman: Tristan crosses a wall into a magical country in order to catch a falling star and bring it back to the girl he loves. But he’s not the only one after the star, and dangerous enemies will do anything to get it. (Ditto about the movie!)

3. The Riddle-Master trilogy by Patricia A. McKillip: Morgon of Hed, a young prince with a mysterious star-shaped birthmark and the ability to solve complex riddles, embarks on a perilous journey across kingdoms and faces ancient powers to discover his true identity and destiny in a world full of magic, shape-shifters, and ancient lore.

4. Bryony and Roses by T. Kingfisher: Caught in a snowstorm, Bryony takes refuge in a mysterious manor full of dark enchantments. Is the Beast who lives there her captor or fellow prisoner? She must untangle the house’s secrets before it destroys both of them.

5. The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh: Mina sacrifices herself to the Sea God in place of the woman her brother loves. In the Spirit Realm, she encounters mythical beings, faces trials, and attempts to break a curse that has plagued her people with storms.

6. A Spell for Chameleon (Xanth #1) by Piers Anthony: Bink, a young man in the magical land of Xanth, faces banishment due to his lack of visible magical abilities, setting him on a journey filled with dangerous creatures, powerful spells, and strange allies.

7. Fool Moon (Dresden Files #2) by Jim Butcher: Wizard-detective Harry Dresden is pulled into a dark and complex investigation involving multiple types of werewolves after a string of brutal murders occurs under the full moon in Chicago.

8. A Curse So Dark and Lonely (Cursebreakers #1) by Brigid Kemmerer: Harper is magically abducted from Washington, D.C., to Emberfall, a kingdom in peril whose prince is under a curse. A vindictive sorceress is determined to stop Harper from breaking it.

9. East by Edith Pattou: Rose accepts an offer from a huge white bear to live with him in his castle in exchange for her family’s health and prosperity. But after she makes a devastating mistake, she must go on a dangerous quest to fix what she broke. Based on “East of the Sun, West of the Moon.”

10. The Fruits Basket manga series by Natsuki Takaya: Tohru Honda, a kind-hearted orphan, becomes entwined with the Chinese-zodiac-cursed Sohma family. As she uncovers the pain and trauma behind their curse, she seeks to break it by offering empathy and love, helping the family confront their struggles and heal. (See also the 2019 anime series...IMO, better than the 2001 series.)

11. Hunter’s Moon by Sarah M. Awa: A camping trip gone terribly wrong plunges college student Melanie into a painful new life—one in which she must keep secrets from even her closest friends. She finds an ally in the mysterious Gavin, and they start to develop romantic feelings; but bullies, stalkers, and a secret Organization complicate their lives as well as their relationship.


What’s your favorite book involving a curse or enchantment? Tell us in the comments!

​
P.S. – ​If you loved these book recommendations, why not sign up for our newsletter? Twice a month, we’ll send you a themed list of fantasy and/or sci-fi book recommendations, and sometimes music, movies, or manga too. (Not to mention jokes, games, puzzles, memes, and the occasional recipe!)

P.P.S. – See also this recommendation list: fangtastic vampire and werewolf books!

​And now, for something a bit different! We’ve been thinking about the classics lately (and not just speculative-fiction ones) and how important they still are, especially with literacy’s current state of decline. Classic books are classics for a reason and can teach us a lot, if we slow ourselves down enough to learn from them!
 
So in the previous blog post and this one, we’re sharing some excellent classics we’ve been meaning to read—not all of them are actually terribly old, although some are. Now, we just need to find more time between the grind and our side hustles. . . .

Sarah’s list:
 
1. The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu: Often called the world’s first novel, it follows the life and romantic entanglements of Prince Genji in Heian-era Japan, exploring court politics, love, and the impermanence of beauty and human relationships.
 
2. The Epic of Gilgamesh: This ancient epic follows King Gilgamesh of Uruk and his companion Enkidu as they undertake heroic adventures, confront loss and mortality, and ultimately grapple with the limits of human life and the search for meaning.
 
3. Phantastes by George MacDonald: A young man, Anodos, enters a dreamlike fairy realm where his wandering experiences of beauty, temptation, and transformation lead to moral and spiritual growth.
 
4. The Broken Earth trilogy by N.K. Jemisin: This series follows a world plagued by catastrophic seismic activity and the oppressed orogene people who can control it, focusing on three intertwined narratives of survival, power, and systemic oppression as the truth behind the world’s collapse is revealed.
 
5. The Wolf Leader by Alexandre Dumas: A humble shoemaker gains supernatural control over wolves and uses his power to exact revenge on those who have wronged him, leading to increasingly dark consequences.
 
6. The Once and Future King by T.H. White: a retelling of the Arthurian legend, following King Arthur’s upbringing, rise to the throne, and reign as he and his knights of the Round Table struggle with war, justice, and the tragic flaws that ultimately doom Camelot.
 
7. The Legend of Drizzt books by R.A. Salvatore: This series follows the drow ranger Drizzt Do’Urden as he rejects the cruelty of his subterranean society, journeys through the surface world, and battles prejudice, monsters, and his own violent heritage while seeking honor and belonging.
 
8. Watership Down by Richard Adams: A group of rabbits flee their doomed warren and undertake a perilous journey to find a safe home, facing predators, rival colonies, and challenges to their survival and leadership along the way.
 
9. The Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K. Le Guin: This series follows the life of the wizard Ged and other characters across the archipelago of Earthsea as they confront magic, identity, and the balance between light and shadow in both the world and themselves.
 
10. The Vampyre by John William Polidori: a major influence on Dracula. The mysterious aristocrat Lord Ruthven befriends a young gentleman named Aubrey and gradually draws him into a web of fascination, manipulation, and destruction as Ruthven’s vampiric nature brings ruin to those around him.
 

What’s your favorite classic book, or which one have you really been meaning to read? Tell us in the comments!
 
​
P.S. – ​If you loved these book recommendations, why not sign up for our newsletter? Twice a month, we’ll send you a themed list of fantasy and/or sci-fi book recommendations, and sometimes music, movies, or manga too. (Not to mention jokes, games, puzzles, memes, and the occasional recipe!)

​And now, for something a bit different! We’ve been thinking about the classics lately (and not just speculative-fiction ones) and how important they still are, especially with literacy’s current state of decline. Classics are classics for a reason and can teach us a lot, if we slow ourselves down enough to learn from them!
 
So in this blog post and the next one, we’ll be sharing some excellent classics we’ve been meaning to read—not all of them are actually terribly old, although some are. Now, we just need to find more time between the grind and our side hustles. . . .

Deborah’s list:
 
1. The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss: A shipwrecked family uses ingenuity, cooperation, and faith to survive and build a thriving life on a deserted tropical island.
 
2. The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser: an allegorical epic in which various knights undertake quests that symbolize different virtues, ultimately serving the glory of Queen Gloriana and reflecting moral and political ideals. (I'm working on the new prose version and then listening to the excellent LibriVox recording of the original, read by Thomas Copeland, to compare to the original text.) 
 
3. Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe: A shipwrecked man survives for years on a deserted island, relying on ingenuity, faith, and perseverance before eventually being rescued.
 
4. Bulfinch’s Mythology by Thomas Bulfinch: a comprehensive retelling of Greek, Roman, and other classical myths, presenting ancient stories and legends in an accessible form for modern readers.
 
5. The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka: Gregor Samsa awakens transformed into a giant insect and, as he becomes increasingly isolated and unable to communicate, watches his family’s fear and resentment grow until he is ultimately rejected.
 
6. Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe: The scholar Faust makes a pact with the devil Mephistopheles for knowledge and worldly pleasures, leading to profound moral struggle, tragedy, and eventual redemption.
 
7. Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery: Anne Shirley, an imaginative orphan, is adopted by siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert and grows up in Avonlea, where her creativity and strong spirit lead her through friendships, education, love, and personal growth.
 
8. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy: This classic interweaves the lives of several aristocratic Russian families during the Napoleonic Wars, exploring love, fate, and the sweeping forces of history on individual lives.
 
9. Hard Times by Charles Dickens: This classic follows the Gradgrind family and others in the industrial town of Coketown as rigid utilitarian values clash with imagination, compassion, and human individuality.
 
10. The Lord of the Flies by William Golding: (I finally just read it.) A group of British schoolboys is stranded on an uninhabited island, and their attempt to govern themselves collapses into chaos and violence, revealing the darker side of human nature.
 
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What’s your favorite classic book, or which one have you really been meaning to read? Tell us in the comments!
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