Trying to come back to fantasy as an adult — looking for recommendations
I used to read and love quite a bit of fantasy/speculative fiction when I was younger. Some of my big childhood/teen favorites were Harry Potter, His Dark Materials, The Hunger Games, and Twilight. Now I’d like to come back to fantasy as an adult, but I’m still figuring out what kind of fantasy works for me now.
Recently I read Robin Hobb’s Farseer Trilogy. I liked it and even though it actually made me cry a couple of times, something about the narration/writing style still felt oddly detached to me. I’m not entirely sure why.
I also read Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, which I really liked, though maybe more as literary fiction than as fantasy. It didn’t quite give me the “returning to fantasy” feeling I was looking for, but I enjoyed the atmosphere, mythic Americana, road-trip structure, and weirdness.
Outside fantasy, some books/authors I’ve loved or rated highly include:
- Haruki Murakami — Kafka on the Shore, The Wind-Up Bird
- Chronicle, Killing Commendatore
- Donna Tartt — The Secret History, The Goldfinch
- Thomas Pynchon — The Crying of Lot 49, Inherent Vice
- Kurt Vonnegut — Slaughterhouse-Five, Welcome to the Monkey House
- John Williams — Stoner
I’m open to both classic/foundational fantasy and modern fantasy. I’d especially love recommendations that might help me figure out what kind of fantasy I actually like as an adult.
Edit: Thank you all so much for the thoughtful recommendations! I didn’t expect this many replies, so I probably won’t be able to respond to everyone individually, but I’m reading and saving them all. This has already given me a much better map of where to start.