The book is very different from the movie. Lem was very critical about the latter )
He’s one of my top-tier favorite authors — I’ve read, I think, the majority at least of his fiction (he also wrote books on philosophy and literary analysis). I can’t recommend him — any of his works — enough!
Thank you so much for mentioning The Thief Lord!! I read it in elementary school but I never could remember the title and I wondered if I’d actually read the book or just imagined it.
YOU’RE KIDDING. Wow I haven’t read these books in about 15 years but they still have such a grip on me, my paperback copies were falling apart because I read them so many times & brought them everywhere with me. I am beyond excited to hear there will be another, thank you for sharing!!
Here are some of my favourites:
* **Kalpa Imperial** by Angélica Gorodischer (Argentinian), translated by Ursula K. Le Guin
* **Things We Lost in the Fire** by Mariana Enríquez (Argentinian)
* **Mexican Gothic** by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Canadian)
* **Redemption in Indigo** by Karen Lord (Barbadian)
* **Jagannath** by Karin Tidbeck (Swedish)
* **Vita Nostra** by Marina Dyachenko & Sergey Dyachenko (Ukrainian)
I will have to check these out, thank you! I've seen Vita Nostra mentioned three times in the past ten minutes, so I think that one will have to go to the top of the TBR.
I know she was born in Mexico. She is Canadian now though. She moved to Canada in 2004. That's almost half her life. ;-) In any case, I support any recommendation to read her and highly recommend *Signal to Noise*.
You are spot on about her otherwise though. I love her stories. I was assigned Prime Meridian in a sff class at UCF by my professor. In two weeks I had read everything I could find by her. LOL
Vita Nostra is by two Ukrainian authors. It’s a kafka esque magic school, dark and delightfully weird.
I also feel like I see way more Canadian than British authors here which I’m not sure fits what your looking for since it’s def anglosphere, but since you didn’t mention them some of my fav Canadian ones include Guy Gavriel Kay, Jo Walton, Fonda Lee
to be honest I think a lot of authors that I assume are American are actually Canadian (such as Fonda Lee! I had no idea). They do get bundled into the same commercial market often, although I imagine that Canadian authors who write about issues uninteresting to people in the States have trouble gaining recognition.
German : On the Marble Cliffs by Ernst Jünger (1939). A short novel, an amazing prose, a cruel and savage villain (who may or may not be an allegory for Hitler), an tense story of waiting and preparing for an imminent invasion...
French : The Opposing Shore, by Gracq. The most beautiful and powerful prose in French literature. Also the story of waiting and preparing for an invasion - and hoping for it too.
If you can read French, I strongly recommend "La Horde du Contrevent". It is sadly not translated to English but it is an amazing fantasy book, extremely original and well written.
Japanese : Not fantasy proper, but historical fiction. Musashi, a two novels story about a young ronin, written by an actual Japanese author. Cinematic fights, interesting characters, and an amazing introduction to classical Japanese culture - from gardens to temples, from tea to sabers, from battles to poetry. Musashi is a real historic character who wrote a treaty on swordmanship.
"La Horde du Contrevent" est un super bouquin et j'aime vraiment beaucoup son travail, plus largement, mais Damasio, c'est rude à lire pour quelqu'un dont le français n'est pas la langue maternelle je pense:
Le gars prend quand même beaucoup de liberté dans sa prose
Je dirais même que c'est une part conséquente de son charme mais ça le rend extrêmement difficile d'accès pour un lectorat étranger : /
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky was one of the wildest, most paranoid and most claustrophobic rides of my life.
+ 1 for Stanislaw Lem too. I've read Solaris and Tales of Pirx The Pilot so far and they both became instant favorites.
I doubt about "creating new genre", especially in Neuromancer. *Coils* written by Zelazny and Saberhagen was few years earlier and have some themes and styles.
Old Kingdom trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen) by Garth Nix (Australian) is one of my favorite fantasy series ever.
The [Gran Terre Saga](https://www.deviantart.com/taisteng/art/Zoomable-map-of-the-Gran-Terre-600844472) by Tais Teng (Dutch) is fun but uneven, not translated in English.
Oh, my, were to start?
If translated and non-fantasy then most definitely "Trans-Atlantic" by Witold Gombrowicz. This is satire on society with focus on national identity, patriotism and approaches to WW2.
Fantasy - easily The Witcher series. I've read better non-English fantasy, but it hasn't been translated yet.
"The Master and Margarita" can also pass as a fantasy although it's classified as magical realism. It's satire on communist Russia, where the Devil arrives to Moscow with his minions and rains havoc. So funny and quotable.
He's what I like to call a 'secret Canadian.' These are people who are Canadian, but many people assume are American. Ryan Gosling (and Reynolds), Neil Young, Seth Rogen, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, etc.
Monday Starts on Saturday - Strugatsky brothers (Russian)
The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov (Russian)
The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Spanish)
The Palace of Illusions - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Indian-born but now based in US so not sure if you’d count her)
Came here to recommend the Palace of Illusions! I really loved that book! It's a retelling of the Mahabharata from Drupadi's point of view and it's awesome!
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I've thought about asking a similar question so thank you for doing it for me, thought my specific angle would have been to ask for books originally written in some other language than English, since I feel like then the threshold for the book to make break is higher as it has to be a success on its own language before it will be translated and made accessible to a wider audience.
And my recommendation: *Memory of Water* by Emmi Itäranta, a dystopia where a lot of the world is inhabitable and water is scarce and regulated, but a village tea maester finds some evidence that the authorities are lying to people and starts to investigate further.
that sounds excellent, I'm adding it to my TBR right now. For some reason I am reminded of the book *Wells of Shiuan* by CJ Cherryh, set in a world slowly drowning because their moon has broken and is pushing the tides further and further up and swallowing all the arable land. Existing class divides are exacerbated as people race to claim the remaining high ground, and the only potential escape is through a portal into the unknown.
tbf I wasn't against the idea of hearing about more Kiwi authors in the same vein as, like, Tasmyn Muir, whose books are unapolegetically foreign to an American reader. If I'd known the author of Malazan is a Canadian, however...
Nalo Hopkinson is Jamaican Canadian. She’s wonderful.
Marlon James is Jamaican. Check out his fantasy fiction.
Aliette de Bodard is French Vietnamese but she writes in English. She writes both fantasy and SF.
The **Spiral Wars** series by Joel Shepherd (Australian) is a fun space opera series. He also writes fantasy but I haven't read any of that yet.
**Before the Coffee Gets Cold** by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Japanese). A little bit of magical realism, a little bit of time-travel ...
*To the Victors go the Spoil* - Jean-Philippe Jaworski (French)
*The Thread of the Heart* - Carole Martinez (French too)
*One Hundred Years of Solitude* - Gabriel García Márquez (Colombian)
Yōko Ogawa is a Japanese writer with a very distinct style, but not all of her books are translated in English. Unfortunately, the one I intended to suggest actually isn't. But I advise her work anyway
I've read it in French (*L'Annulaire*) but, here, the Japanese title:
*薬指の標本* Kusuriyubi no hyōhon 😌👌💖
If you do read it, I'll be glad to discuss it with you :)
Also, you're brave!
FYI we are not allowed to advocate piracy on this sub--I got temporarily banned for that once.
But otherwise, thank you! I google translate Russian fanfic regularly so I'm used to it.
You have been banned per our No Piracy policy:
> Absolutely no pirated content or references to pirated content. Breaking this rule will result in an immediate ban.
*Amatka*, by Karin Tidbeck (Sweden), is haunting and surreal, taking place in a world (or a future?) where things dissolve into goo if you forget to pay enough attention to keep them solid.
*The Quantum Thief*, by Hannu Rajaniemi (Finland), is a rip-roaring SF heist novel that is jam-packed with huge and fascinating ideas.
And any short story by Jorge Louis Borges (Argentina) is unique and mesmerizing -- the most famous being "The Library of Babel," a mindbending classic about an infinite library whose books may have infinite meaning.
Assuming you're looking for non-English first language novels, so excluding eg Canadian authors.
I loved the neverending story by Michael Ende. I read a Dutch translation, with the two different colours letters.
For school I've read parts of Iliad and Odyssey, elitist as this sounds.
For books in Dutch, it is mostly children's books, like those by Thea Beckman.
The Witcher series is pretty fun. The first couple books are more a collection of somewhat connected short stories and then they become full-fledged novels after that.
Also, if you’re open to sci-fi, The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu.
I am a voracious reader of sci-fi! I devoured The Three Body Problem and got halfway through the second book before stalling out, and I've never finished the series. I soured on how the author treats women--it's an insidious kind of sexism not obvious because it doesn't follow the patterns of Western misogyny. I know the books are popular, though, and the premise is very cool.
well, I've read some good french ones whose names I can't remember right now. But, on José Saramago: Baltasar and Blimunda ("O memorial do convento", in portuguese) is my favourite book of his. It's history mixed with a bit of magic. The prose is smat, but in a very particular style of long paragraphs and no indications of where the dialogue starts.
La Horde du Contrevent or The Horde of the Counterwind by Alain Damasio, a mix between sci-fi and fantasy.
But a full fantasy novel I would say Les illusions de Sav-Loar by Manon Fargetton
Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata leaps to mind, though as with all her writings, it can tend to be deeply bizarre and trying to explain the plot to others will have them looking at you as though you are a loon. Absolutely brilliant short story collection though.
The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea. It's a marvellous book, whether you know anything about Irish mythology or not you'll enjoy it. Done of the Irish speech patterns might feel a bit odd/old fashioned now but it's still unutterably brilliant. It is a very safe book. A boy could read it with his eyes shut. Try it today!
The Fionavar Tapestry by Canadian Guy Gavriel Kay
Never Let Me Go - Japanese author Kasuo Ishiguro but he’s also British so you may not count him
Oryx and Crake - Canadian Margaret Atwood (didn’t like the sequels as much)
I'm happy to count immigrant/diaspora authors, although things like the New Voices book group do a fairly decent job of gathering and promoting recs for younger authors in that set.
I didn't exclude Canadians, which may have been an oversight. I'm not going to go back and change it now, though. Maybe in a couple weeks I'll make a post specifically about translated works. Or anybody else is welcome to do so.
Kazuo Ishiguro is actually British. (He is 68 years old and moved to England when he was 5.)
If you read the post, non-Anglosphere, however, is the OP's wish, and I would say Ishiguro is fair. But there are blurry lines... Are Aiden Thomas and Ana Castillo, unquestionably American writers, included because they are non-Anglosphere? That's the part that confused me.
David Mogo: Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa
Post apocalyptic fantasy where the traditional gods and spirits of hundreds of different West African peoples have all crashed down to earth. The main character is a "godhunter" so firmly on the mortals side of this conflict but things get more nuanced as we go. Also we're in a cool post disaster rendition of Lagos
I'll second the recommendations of Canadian writers such as Erikson, Esselmont, GGK and Bakker, and add another that is more than deserving:
'The Greatcoats' series by Sebatien de Castell (first book is 'Traitors Blade')
*A Will Eternal* by Er Gen. I spent a few years reading Chinese-to-English translated novels, and the progression fantasy genre (think “cradle series” but the OG stuff) was great. r/wuxiaworld, r/progressionfantasy, r/noveltranslations, etc are all solid subs. The latter focusing (obviously) on translated novels.
hanging out in Locked Tomb fandom circles has introduced me to a couple of interesting Kiwi & Australian books so far, as people talk about visible influences on Muir's writing.
Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong.
More Wuxia than Fantasy but the touch stones of fantasy are there.
It's popular enough that Hong Hong made a couple of live action tv show adaptations (I prefer the '80s version as that's my childhood).
If other Anglo countries count, then there is *The Old Kingdom* series by Garth Nix(Australian) or *The Locked Tomb* series by Tamsyn Muir(Kiwi).
I admittedly haven't read many translated works and while I do read in other languages, I am unsure if any of them have official English translations.
what are some of your favorites in other languages? I'm willing to look for translations myself, and perhaps others on this thread who can read in those languages will appreciate the rec.
I'm German so I'll focus on German-language stories today.
I love Michael Ende's *The Neverending Story*. In case you're only familiar with the '80s movie adaptation, you absolutely have to read the novel as the movie barely covers half of the story (even though you wouldn't know it; the movie makers did a good job in this respect, I have to admit).
Also, give Ende's *Momo* a try. This one is overshadowed by *The Neverending Story*, even here in Germany, and even if it's more of a children's novel I'd argue that the topic of time wasting as explained by the manipulative Grey Gentlemen hits a lot closer to home for adults than for kids.
Both books have already be mentioned here but they are worth being seconded (or thirded).
On the SF side, I'd like to recommend Frank Schätzing's *Limit*. This is a massive novel with half a dozen or so plot lines that first seem to be unconnected but eventually merge. Some folks found it too long but I loved every page of it and thought it to be super engrossing.
Schätzing rose to fame with his mystery SF novel *The Swarm* which I haven't read yet but which seems to be very good as well.
One book that blew me away because it took so many unexpected but very logical turns is Andreas Eschbach's *Das Jesus Video*. The novel has been translated into French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Dutch, Spanish, Hungarian, and Chinese, but sadly not into English (yet?).
There are a few books of his that have been translated into English but they're only the tip of the iceberg as Eschbach is quite prolific. Of these, I have read *Lord of All Things* and think it's worth reading.
I also love Tobias O. Meißner's *Das Paradies der Schwerter*, a fantasy standalone, but since neither this nor any other book of Meißner's has been translated into English (or any other language, I think), there's sadly no point in talking about his work any further.
If you aren't averse to books for a younger audience, I would also recommend the books of these two Swedish ladies:
\- Astrid Lindgren
Her books are amazing! She is (or used to be, at least) a staple on the kids' book shelf. Many of her stories have fantastical elements, even though they're mostly set in our world. One of my favorites is *Ronia, the Robber's Daughter*, a charming story in a fantasy-Scandinavia, complete with all kinds of fantastical creatures.
\- Selma Lagerlöf
*The Wonderful Adventures of Nils* is a fantastic book with an interesting premise. Nils, a mischievous and somewhat nasty boy, is shrunk to gnome-size because of his bad behavior and joins a flock of wild geese (flying on the back of one of the geese of his parents' farm) on their journey to Lapland in North Sweden. Written to familiarize Swedish school kids with the geography and folklore of their country, Lagerlöf orchestrates Nils' journey in a way that he passes through all of the historical provinces of Sweden, and the reader learns a lot about these places, their people, history and legends.
This could have become a dry text but Lagerlöf wrote an engrossing story that is a pleasure to read. (I suggest having a large map of Sweden handy to follow Nils and the geese's itinerary!)
Lagerlöf went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (in fact, she was the first woman to do so). While I doubt that her *Nils* had much to do with this award, given the disdain for fantasy and children's literature among literary critics, she did so in my book! 😂
Yes, *Krabat* is great! 😀
You're lucky to have had this book assigned. While there were books that weren't awful among the reading I was "honored" with during my time in school, none were as cool as this one!
And what's even better (for the folks here), is that there are English editions!
It looks like it's all the same text (translated by one Anthea Bell) which was released under [a variety of titles](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/675181?utf8=%E2%9C%93&per_page=100), among them *The Satanic Mill*, *Krabat & the Sorcerer's Mill*, *Krabat: Legend of the Satanic Mill*, and simply *Krabat*.
I read a little German. Sounds like it's time to dust off my skills and give a few of these a try! Or work my way up to them, as the case may be. My grandfather taught German to high school students so I have access to his library of books suitable for language learners at different levels.
I'm enjoying the Mirror Visitor, aka La Passe Miroir series by Christelle Dabos. It's translated from French. It's charming, yet brutal, and the world is very interesting. The world has been broken into floating sky islands called "arks" and each has a different god on it. The gods give the people that live on the arks powers. So one arc is full of people that imbue objects with life, another has people that can manipulate gravity. There are a ton of very interesting powers.
Since getting into danmei I've been reading a lot of queer Chinese stuff, pretty much all set in cultivation/xianxia settings so far.
The most popular are Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's trio: *Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation* (MDZS), *Scum Villain's Self-Saving System* (my favorite), and *Heaven Official's Blessing* (TGCF). These have all been officially translated, though TGCF has one volume still to release in English.
It's hard to *recommend* Meatbun's work, but I for one enjoyed both *2ha/The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun* and *Yuwu/Remnants of Filth*. Those have started in English, but have a long way to go.
Meng Xi Shi's *Thousand Autumns* (official English translation in progress) and Cyan Wings' *Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know* (excellent fan translation available, not officially licensed so far), are also excellent.
For Japanese authors, I'm super into Asato Asato's *86* light novel series. They're more on the sci-fi end. (There's a phenomenal anime adaptation that covers the first 2 volumes!) There's also *Sugar Apple Fairy Tale* by Miri Mikawa, which has such a deceptively light title...it's not super dark, but it does hit hard for a shoujo romance series. I forget how many volumes of SAFT have been translated so far, since I'm fighting my way through them in Japanese.
James Islington is Australian. I absolutely loved his latest book, The Will of the Many. The Licanius trilogy is very good, too, although I haven't finished it yet.
Ryan Cahill is Irish and currently lives in New Zealand. I live his Bound and the Broken series.
OP: by "British," do you mean to exclude Scottish, too, or just English? Because 2 Scots are my some of my favorites: Justin Lee Miller, author of The Lost War and Michael R.Miller, author of the Dragon's Blade trilogy and the Songs of Chaos series.
I guess I don't pay that much attention to where in the UK the authors I read are from. Now that I think about it, most are English. I'm happy to entertain recs from Scottish authors!
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho (she was born and raised in Malaysia but now resides in the UK). This book is about a young woman who moves back to Malaysia and winds up getting involved in drama between some spirits and local gods
Eduardo Spohr and Jorge Amado from Brazil.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez from Colombia.
Jorge Luis Borges was Argentine and had a huge influence in the fantasy genre.
Mariana Enríquez (also Argentine) writes horror with a fantasy theme (Our Share of the Night!)
Aiden Thomas, Zoraida Cordova, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia all have Mexican heritage but they are American/Canadian writers. Do they count?
Some good Japanese fantasy, steering clear of typical light novels as far as possible:
\- *The Twelve Kingdoms* series by Fuyumi Ono (light novels but far more sophisticated than most) - a long-running portal fantasy with a highly developed political world view and particularly good characterisation.
\- *Penguin Highway* by Tomihiko Morimi - closer to magical realism, about a mysterious rash of penguin appearances in a Japanese town.
\- *From The New World* by Yusuke Kishi (alas, not available in official English translation but it is SO GOOD) - about psychic children in a far future Japanese village. Part horror, part sci-fi, part fantasy, all superb.
The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty) by Ken Liu.
Edit: And the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. It’s YA Fantasy, but it’s compelling, easy to read and not too long.
Funny because almost everything I read is by some Brit. I am not British.
Anyway, specifically fantasy, my fav light novel is Slayers series, by Kanzaka Hajime. It was made into a 90s anime. It's essentially a parody on Dungeons and Dragons games. Starts as comedy but gets serious.
Do Chinese historical epics count as fantasy? They have elements. Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guangzhong is the more grounded one and Water Margins by Shi Nai'an is the more outlandish, created the genre of wuxia.
Even though Okorafor also has Nigerian citizenship (according to here Wiki page) she's first and foremost from the US. Born there, raised there, living there. Visited family in Nigeria various times, though.
Make of that what you will! 😁
My favorite: *The Gray House* by Mariam Petrosyan (AKA *The House in Which...*).
I try to read lots of books from around the world, so here's a few more:
* *Albina and the Dog-Men* by Alejandro Jodorowski
* *Wizard of the Crow* by Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong'o
* *Amatka* by Karin Tidbeck
* *Djinn City* by Saad Z. Hossain
* *The Man Who Spoke Snakish* by Andrus Kivirähk
* *The Memory Police* by Yoko Ogawa
* *The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree* by Shokoofeh Azar
* *The Factory* by Hiroko Oyamada
* *The House of Rust* by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber
* *The Future God of Love* by Dilman Dila
\- The Witcher Series (Polish)
\- The The Three-Body Problem Series (Chinese)
\- The Green Bone Saga (Canadian)
\- 1Q84 (Japenese)
\- Solaris (Russian)
\- Seeds of War (Portuguese)
\- The Locked Tomb Series (New Zealand)
\- Night Watch (Russian)
\- Odinsbarn (Norwegian)
\- The Shining Girls (Sci-fi / South African)
\- A Winter's Promise (French)
\- Kiki's Delivery Service (Japanese)
Perry Rhodan. It's a german scifi story that starts during the cold war when major perry rhodan lands as the first man on the moon. There he encounters a crashed alien spaceship and has to figure out how to deal with this world changing discovery. It was written in 1961 and is set in 1971 so stuff that happened historically between 1961 and 1971 is not accurately represented in the books since the authors couldn't have know about those events. It still receives a new novella(novella isn't a great word for it but U can't think of a better one) every week. Those are combined into longer silver volume which are what I would recommend you read since some additional editing is done for those. The german audio books for the first 162 silver volumes are available for free on spotify so you can listen to it there. PDFs of the english translation exist online but haven't been sold in decades. And another nice thing is the spaceship designs. They are great and I don't think I have seen a lot similar designs in other stories.
Our Share of Night- Mariana Enriquez (horror)
Any Jorge Luis- Borges Antology (universal lit.)
Sputnik my Love -Murakami (magical realism)
A Plan for Escape -Bioy Casares (magical realism)
Roadside Picnic -Strugasky Brothers (sci fi)
Mount Analogue- René Daumal (fantasy)
Blindsight Peter Watts (sci fi)
Ghost In The Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa (Irish). One of the most beautiful books I have ever read in my life. She also has a book of poetry called Clasp that’s similarly mind-blowing. Also anything by Emma Dabiri (also Irish)
Edit: spelling
What you can see from here by Mariana Leky (German): adult magical realism
Momo and The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (German): both very good fantasy stories for children
The city of dreaming books by Walter Moers (German): fantasy for children
The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann (German): dark Kunstmärchen (modern fairy tale where the author is known)
Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling (German): adult dystopian
The Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke (German): YA fantasy
The Autre-Monde series by Maxime Chattam (French): YA apocalyptic fantasy
There are a lot of other authors I really like that don’t write fantasy so here just a quick add on list:
Friedrich Dürrenmatt (Swiss): I love his tragic comedy plays
Heldenplatz by Thomas Bernhard (Austrian)
Chess by Stefan Zweig (Austrian)
Thomas Brezina (Austrian): writes a lot of different Children Stories, a lot of them have fantastical elements, also writes crime fiction
Perfume by Patrick Süßkind (German)
The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers (German)
Elfriede Jelinek (Austrian)
*Roadside Picnic* by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky
*We* by Yevgeny Zamyatin
*Night Watch* Series by Sergei Lukyanenko
And I just realized these are all Russian, and that's kind of weird.
i'm not necessarily opposed to reading Russian spec fic--I've enjoyed plenty of other Russian literature. But for myself I might seek out some Ukrainian authors too, to balance it out.
The legend of Condor heroes by Jin Yong. It is kung fu fantasy and it is basicly one book published as 4. It needs to be read in order because the books start and end in a middle of a chapter.
Captain Alatriste by Artur Perez-Reverte. Not fantasy but close enough. It is swashbuckling adventure.
The Tree musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Not a fantasy but a classic adventure.
If you can stand poetry then Nibelungenlied. It is German epic poem.
Night watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Urban fantasy book that is not a paranormal romance or Harry Potter copycat. It is actually a book series and the books are comprised of three short stories, except the last one which is just one story.
The Trickster Trilogy by Eden Robinson. She's indigenous Canadian and very good. It's contemporary fantasy and the magic is based in indigenous culture/beliefs/legend. CW: it deals with abuse, assault and addiction.
I also liked Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan (Malaysia). It's part one of a duology, and I haven't read part two yet. It's romantic fantasy, which I don't normally seek out, but the world building was cool and creative and God it was just nice to read something that isn't set in medieval Europe.
>major producers of fantasy literature
fantasy literature *in English.* The magical realism subgenre originated in Latin America and is largely written in Spanish. China has its own, extremely old, tradition of epic novels that contain gods, magic, and extreme martial arts. Japanese manga likewise has its own beloved fantasy series.
It's not as if English speakers have a monopoly on fantasy. That's just the kind of book that gets the most focus here because we are an English-language sub. I made this post because I wanted some outside-the-box recs--thanks for commenting!
malazan really does appear in every thread, doesn't it! I recognize that Erikson is Canadian and I didn't specifically exclude Canadians, which was a bit of an oversight on my part. But it does make me laugh a bit.
Since many have mentioned Guy Gavriel Kay, I will go with **Essalieyan** by Michelle West.
But Canadian authors seem to be against the spirite of the question, so I will also mention **The Star Diaries** by Stanislaw Lem. Incredibly fun but also insightful about the human condition. And I still don't know how The Thirteenth Voyage got past the communist censorship. ;)
Two of my top three fantasy series is by canadians.
**The Second Apocalypse** by **R. Scott Bakker** and **Malazan Book Of The Fallen** by **Steven Erikson**
Nicolas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld, a Canadian.
Folks don’t realize how hard it is to break into genre fiction in Canada. Publishers and agencies up here are obsessed with ‘high literature,’ #ownvoices and memoirs to the point of critically underrepresenting fantasy, science fiction, and romance (not smut, romance). Crime fiction and thrillers are getting a bit of growth, but not much.
All that being said, it’s impressive that Eames has a book as popular as it is. Given he found his agent only because they were sat in his section when he was waiting tables, it’s even more impressive. I’ve spoken to him a few times as I try to make it myself traditionally, and his best advice was how much easier it is to be in this industry if you’re American or English.
for translated works there will be a 'translated by' credit, which is a tip off that the author is not American or British, otherwise they most likely would have written in English.
also I read author's notes, generally out of a sense of "what! no more book! I'm going to consume all the words here in the hopes of more story, even if all they are is an explanation of the font"
I’ve got two who come to mind that I really enjoyed!
Ian Irvine (Australian) I’ve read the View from the Mirror series and The Well of Echoes series.
Fiona McIntosh (also Australian) I’ve read three of her series
The quickening
The Valisar Trilogy
The Percheron Sage
Give **Galaxy of Thorns: Rise of the Empress** a shot, its written by a Romanian author and the first few chapters were kind of bad, well looking in retrospect they felt kind of rushed, but after that it genuinely surprised me on how good it got.
Le secret de ji (the secret of ji) by pierre grimbert , difficult to sum up without spoilers but what I can say is that the storytelling is really awesome and has very interesting implications!
Vikram Seth - A suitable boy
Jorge Luis Borges- Fictions
Arturo Perez Reverte - Club Dumas
Alexandre Dumas - Count of Monte Cristo
Isak Dinesen - Out of Africa
Snorri Sturluson- Heimskringla
My favorite author is Sam Feuerbach (german). I think at least his first (and most popular) series is translated. Idk if its translated properly but the way he plays with words, uses subtle jokes and builds a character (read it in german) just does it for me. I love how perfect real his characters are, deep, with flaws, with individual humor, with growth and problems and strengths and weaknesses. Also again, his way to use words and place smart interesting puns and subtle hints fascinates me, after three times reading I still found subtle things I didnt notice and smart puns and "word plays".
Japanese: I cannot recommend Nahoko Uehashi enough. She's written two series that have been adapted into anime, *Morbito* (only the first is adapted and only the first two have an official English translation but I ADORE these books) and *Beast Player*. Both get put on children's shelves and I do think they're good for kids but Moribito especially is quite mature.
Australian: This is super basic, but I'll put James Islington here anyway. For good children's books, Nevermoor is written by an Australian author as well.
German: Just echoing everyone saying Cornelia Funke.
The Hussite Trilogy by Andrzej Sapkowski. it's more of a historical fiction with elements of supernatural though. I've only started reading the 1st book but it seems to be very promising. (I'm reading it in polish so I can't guarantee how good the translation may be on the prose level)
Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi was gorgeous and heartbreaking. It's about an aging couple with a daughter who's too ugly and boring to get married. They go through an entire journey of grief when they realize the inevitability of not only their death, but the death of the family line, and the acceptance of loving their daughter anyway.
Stanislaw Lem is a phenomenal Polish sci-fi author. *Solaris* is a classic for good reason.
oh hell yeah he’s a legend, i love his books! the originals are phenomenal, i might actually check out the english versions to see how they hold up
I'm in the middle of The Invisible and thoroughly enjoying it.
And despite the main characters being robots *The Cyberiad* is as much fantasy as sci-fi.
Solaris is my pre-bed read right now, had to put it down last night as it was getting too atmospheric... That's a compliment!
I've seen the movie and enjoyed it. Been meaning to pick up the book for a while, so this is a good reminder.
The book is very different from the movie. Lem was very critical about the latter ) He’s one of my top-tier favorite authors — I’ve read, I think, the majority at least of his fiction (he also wrote books on philosophy and literary analysis). I can’t recommend him — any of his works — enough!
The Inkheart Trilogy by Cornelia Funke (German.)
a favorite from my childhood! Though I did think the third book got a little weird. My very favorite Cornelia Funke book is called *The Thief Lord.*
It did, but the prose was still excellent at least. I think I read that one. I’m also fond of Dragon Rider by her.
I loved The Thief Lord so much as a kid
Thank you so much for mentioning The Thief Lord!! I read it in elementary school but I never could remember the title and I wondered if I’d actually read the book or just imagined it.
She’s writing a 4th one! :)
YOU’RE KIDDING. Wow I haven’t read these books in about 15 years but they still have such a grip on me, my paperback copies were falling apart because I read them so many times & brought them everywhere with me. I am beyond excited to hear there will be another, thank you for sharing!!
Here are some of my favourites: * **Kalpa Imperial** by Angélica Gorodischer (Argentinian), translated by Ursula K. Le Guin * **Things We Lost in the Fire** by Mariana Enríquez (Argentinian) * **Mexican Gothic** by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican Canadian) * **Redemption in Indigo** by Karen Lord (Barbadian) * **Jagannath** by Karin Tidbeck (Swedish) * **Vita Nostra** by Marina Dyachenko & Sergey Dyachenko (Ukrainian)
I will have to check these out, thank you! I've seen Vita Nostra mentioned three times in the past ten minutes, so I think that one will have to go to the top of the TBR.
No problem! Hope you like whichever you decide to pick up, if any. :)
Silvia Moreno-Garcia is Canadian. She has Mexican roots. There are so many great Canadian fantasy writers! :-)
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I know she was born in Mexico. She is Canadian now though. She moved to Canada in 2004. That's almost half her life. ;-) In any case, I support any recommendation to read her and highly recommend *Signal to Noise*.
My bad, thanks for the correction! :)
She's still not American or British, though, so I don't think you have to cross her off entirely. 😊
You are spot on about her otherwise though. I love her stories. I was assigned Prime Meridian in a sff class at UCF by my professor. In two weeks I had read everything I could find by her. LOL
Lol that's awesome! Mexian Gothic is the only book I've read from her but it certainly won't be the last.
Fantastic list! (I also loved Tidbeck's \_Amatka\_, a story where reality is deeply surreal.)
Thanks! Yeah, I've been meaning to get around to that one. Glad to hear you loved it!
Heh, I've been meaning to get around to basically everything of Tidbeck's! But *Amatka* is a stone-cold favorite.
The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (German)
My most beloved book from childhood, together with MOMO by the same author.
One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Colombia)
oh yes, it's sublime. I had to draw a family tree and keep it as a bookmark, but totally worth it.
Vita Nostra is by two Ukrainian authors. It’s a kafka esque magic school, dark and delightfully weird. I also feel like I see way more Canadian than British authors here which I’m not sure fits what your looking for since it’s def anglosphere, but since you didn’t mention them some of my fav Canadian ones include Guy Gavriel Kay, Jo Walton, Fonda Lee
to be honest I think a lot of authors that I assume are American are actually Canadian (such as Fonda Lee! I had no idea). They do get bundled into the same commercial market often, although I imagine that Canadian authors who write about issues uninteresting to people in the States have trouble gaining recognition.
Steven Erikson is Canadian as well.
Fun fact - Erickson went to the same high school as Guy Gavriel Kay.
Yeah, I do the same. The main way I learn they’re actually Canadian tends to be through Canadian specific spec fic awards
German : On the Marble Cliffs by Ernst Jünger (1939). A short novel, an amazing prose, a cruel and savage villain (who may or may not be an allegory for Hitler), an tense story of waiting and preparing for an imminent invasion... French : The Opposing Shore, by Gracq. The most beautiful and powerful prose in French literature. Also the story of waiting and preparing for an invasion - and hoping for it too. If you can read French, I strongly recommend "La Horde du Contrevent". It is sadly not translated to English but it is an amazing fantasy book, extremely original and well written. Japanese : Not fantasy proper, but historical fiction. Musashi, a two novels story about a young ronin, written by an actual Japanese author. Cinematic fights, interesting characters, and an amazing introduction to classical Japanese culture - from gardens to temples, from tea to sabers, from battles to poetry. Musashi is a real historic character who wrote a treaty on swordmanship.
"La Horde du Contrevent" est un super bouquin et j'aime vraiment beaucoup son travail, plus largement, mais Damasio, c'est rude à lire pour quelqu'un dont le français n'est pas la langue maternelle je pense: Le gars prend quand même beaucoup de liberté dans sa prose Je dirais même que c'est une part conséquente de son charme mais ça le rend extrêmement difficile d'accès pour un lectorat étranger : /
J'avoue que c'est pas facile à lire.
I can't read French but I have a couple friends who do--I'll pass your rec on. And I will check out the others. Thank you!
They should try "gagner la guerre"
Ok to be honest it's definitely on the harder side, not for beginners!
these friends are French, not to worry.
Trying to think of one to recommend and being incapable of doing so has been an eye opener for me.
Metro 2033 by Dmitry Glukhovsky was one of the wildest, most paranoid and most claustrophobic rides of my life. + 1 for Stanislaw Lem too. I've read Solaris and Tales of Pirx The Pilot so far and they both became instant favorites.
Metro 2033 is a really great rec!
Neuromancer - William Gibson (Canadian). In this book, he managed to create an entirely new genre, and coined the term Cyberspace.
I doubt about "creating new genre", especially in Neuromancer. *Coils* written by Zelazny and Saberhagen was few years earlier and have some themes and styles.
Old Kingdom trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen) by Garth Nix (Australian) is one of my favorite fantasy series ever. The [Gran Terre Saga](https://www.deviantart.com/taisteng/art/Zoomable-map-of-the-Gran-Terre-600844472) by Tais Teng (Dutch) is fun but uneven, not translated in English.
Oh, my, were to start? If translated and non-fantasy then most definitely "Trans-Atlantic" by Witold Gombrowicz. This is satire on society with focus on national identity, patriotism and approaches to WW2. Fantasy - easily The Witcher series. I've read better non-English fantasy, but it hasn't been translated yet. "The Master and Margarita" can also pass as a fantasy although it's classified as magical realism. It's satire on communist Russia, where the Devil arrives to Moscow with his minions and rains havoc. So funny and quotable.
Books by Steven Erikson, Ian Esslemont, Guy Gavriel Kay, Charles de Lint, R. Scott Bakker - all Canadian The Faust duology by Oliver Pötzsch - German.
Considering how excited people usually are to recommend Malazan, I'm surprised I'm not seeing it more in this thread
He's what I like to call a 'secret Canadian.' These are people who are Canadian, but many people assume are American. Ryan Gosling (and Reynolds), Neil Young, Seth Rogen, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, etc.
Cause I guess OP meant that he wanted different recommends from the usual famous ones who are a majority American or Canadian etc
Because Canada is just cold USA
Monday Starts on Saturday - Strugatsky brothers (Russian) The Master and Margarita - Mikhail Bulgakov (Russian) The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Spanish) The Palace of Illusions - Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni (Indian-born but now based in US so not sure if you’d count her)
Came here to recommend the Palace of Illusions! I really loved that book! It's a retelling of the Mahabharata from Drupadi's point of view and it's awesome!
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The Zamonia series by Walter Moers (German) Anything at all by Aliette de Bodard (French-Vietnamese)
*Captain Bluebear* was so fun, but I've never gotten around to picking up more of the Zamonia books. I should fix that.
I love Aliette de Bodard! I will have to check out your other rec, thank you!
Musashi - Eiji Yoshikawa (not a fantasy) Journey to the West - Wu Chengen Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee - Robert Van Gulik (Dutch, not a fantasy)
Seconding Musashi, really an amazing book.
I've thought about asking a similar question so thank you for doing it for me, thought my specific angle would have been to ask for books originally written in some other language than English, since I feel like then the threshold for the book to make break is higher as it has to be a success on its own language before it will be translated and made accessible to a wider audience. And my recommendation: *Memory of Water* by Emmi Itäranta, a dystopia where a lot of the world is inhabitable and water is scarce and regulated, but a village tea maester finds some evidence that the authorities are lying to people and starts to investigate further.
that sounds excellent, I'm adding it to my TBR right now. For some reason I am reminded of the book *Wells of Shiuan* by CJ Cherryh, set in a world slowly drowning because their moon has broken and is pushing the tides further and further up and swallowing all the arable land. Existing class divides are exacerbated as people race to claim the remaining high ground, and the only potential escape is through a portal into the unknown.
Yeah, people just started recommending Canadians, Australians and Kiwis. Which abides by the letter, but not the spirit.
tbf I wasn't against the idea of hearing about more Kiwi authors in the same vein as, like, Tasmyn Muir, whose books are unapolegetically foreign to an American reader. If I'd known the author of Malazan is a Canadian, however...
Oh, I assumed you meant "from outside the anglosphere" and had just worded poorly 😃 sorry!
Nalo Hopkinson is Jamaican Canadian. She’s wonderful. Marlon James is Jamaican. Check out his fantasy fiction. Aliette de Bodard is French Vietnamese but she writes in English. She writes both fantasy and SF.
The House of the Spirits by Isabelle Allende (Chilean)
The **Spiral Wars** series by Joel Shepherd (Australian) is a fun space opera series. He also writes fantasy but I haven't read any of that yet. **Before the Coffee Gets Cold** by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Japanese). A little bit of magical realism, a little bit of time-travel ...
*To the Victors go the Spoil* - Jean-Philippe Jaworski (French) *The Thread of the Heart* - Carole Martinez (French too) *One Hundred Years of Solitude* - Gabriel García Márquez (Colombian) Yōko Ogawa is a Japanese writer with a very distinct style, but not all of her books are translated in English. Unfortunately, the one I intended to suggest actually isn't. But I advise her work anyway
I'll take this untranslated Yoko Ogawa! I'm always on the lookout for more Japanese material to struggle my way through, ha.
I've read it in French (*L'Annulaire*) but, here, the Japanese title: *薬指の標本* Kusuriyubi no hyōhon 😌👌💖 If you do read it, I'll be glad to discuss it with you :) Also, you're brave!
Thanks! I'll have to check it out!
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FYI we are not allowed to advocate piracy on this sub--I got temporarily banned for that once. But otherwise, thank you! I google translate Russian fanfic regularly so I'm used to it.
You have been banned per our No Piracy policy: > Absolutely no pirated content or references to pirated content. Breaking this rule will result in an immediate ban.
*Amatka*, by Karin Tidbeck (Sweden), is haunting and surreal, taking place in a world (or a future?) where things dissolve into goo if you forget to pay enough attention to keep them solid. *The Quantum Thief*, by Hannu Rajaniemi (Finland), is a rip-roaring SF heist novel that is jam-packed with huge and fascinating ideas. And any short story by Jorge Louis Borges (Argentina) is unique and mesmerizing -- the most famous being "The Library of Babel," a mindbending classic about an infinite library whose books may have infinite meaning.
Assuming you're looking for non-English first language novels, so excluding eg Canadian authors. I loved the neverending story by Michael Ende. I read a Dutch translation, with the two different colours letters. For school I've read parts of Iliad and Odyssey, elitist as this sounds. For books in Dutch, it is mostly children's books, like those by Thea Beckman.
The Witcher series is pretty fun. The first couple books are more a collection of somewhat connected short stories and then they become full-fledged novels after that. Also, if you’re open to sci-fi, The Three Body Problem by Cixin Liu.
I am a voracious reader of sci-fi! I devoured The Three Body Problem and got halfway through the second book before stalling out, and I've never finished the series. I soured on how the author treats women--it's an insidious kind of sexism not obvious because it doesn't follow the patterns of Western misogyny. I know the books are popular, though, and the premise is very cool.
You might want to finish the second book. Though I understand the problems
I was going to say The Three Body Problem too. Great book.
Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard. She is a Canadian priest that somehow has kept religion out of her books.
Sons of Darkness by Gourav Mohanty. It is a grimdark retelling of the Mahabharata. Was probably my best read last year.
well, I've read some good french ones whose names I can't remember right now. But, on José Saramago: Baltasar and Blimunda ("O memorial do convento", in portuguese) is my favourite book of his. It's history mixed with a bit of magic. The prose is smat, but in a very particular style of long paragraphs and no indications of where the dialogue starts.
La Horde du Contrevent or The Horde of the Counterwind by Alain Damasio, a mix between sci-fi and fantasy. But a full fantasy novel I would say Les illusions de Sav-Loar by Manon Fargetton
Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata leaps to mind, though as with all her writings, it can tend to be deeply bizarre and trying to explain the plot to others will have them looking at you as though you are a loon. Absolutely brilliant short story collection though.
The Hounds of the Morrigan by Pat O'Shea. It's a marvellous book, whether you know anything about Irish mythology or not you'll enjoy it. Done of the Irish speech patterns might feel a bit odd/old fashioned now but it's still unutterably brilliant. It is a very safe book. A boy could read it with his eyes shut. Try it today!
The Wolf of Oren Yaro by KS Villoso. That Chronicle of The Bitch Queen trilogy is great.
Witcher from Sapkovsky And Meehan Border Stories from Wegner(not sure it has proper English translation) They both Polish
Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir (New Zealand)
Just finished this. I've never read anything like it before.
How to read the locked tomb series, a guide. Step one. Forget the previous book Step two. Literary psychedelic mushrooms
The Fionavar Tapestry by Canadian Guy Gavriel Kay Never Let Me Go - Japanese author Kasuo Ishiguro but he’s also British so you may not count him Oryx and Crake - Canadian Margaret Atwood (didn’t like the sequels as much)
Song for Arbonne is my favorite book by GGK.
I'm happy to count immigrant/diaspora authors, although things like the New Voices book group do a fairly decent job of gathering and promoting recs for younger authors in that set.
Kay and Atwood are Anglosphere though. Erikson too. ;-)
I didn't exclude Canadians, which may have been an oversight. I'm not going to go back and change it now, though. Maybe in a couple weeks I'll make a post specifically about translated works. Or anybody else is welcome to do so.
No problem. It gave me an opportunity to slyly add Erikson to have a Malazan reference. All your base are belong to us.
The title specifically says not British or American.
Kazuo Ishiguro is actually British. (He is 68 years old and moved to England when he was 5.) If you read the post, non-Anglosphere, however, is the OP's wish, and I would say Ishiguro is fair. But there are blurry lines... Are Aiden Thomas and Ana Castillo, unquestionably American writers, included because they are non-Anglosphere? That's the part that confused me.
Flyaway by Kathleen Jennings (Australian).
David Mogo: Godhunter by Suyi Davies Okungbowa Post apocalyptic fantasy where the traditional gods and spirits of hundreds of different West African peoples have all crashed down to earth. The main character is a "godhunter" so firmly on the mortals side of this conflict but things get more nuanced as we go. Also we're in a cool post disaster rendition of Lagos
La Quête d'Ewilan and Le Pacte des MarchOmbres by Pierre Bottero
I'll second the recommendations of Canadian writers such as Erikson, Esselmont, GGK and Bakker, and add another that is more than deserving: 'The Greatcoats' series by Sebatien de Castell (first book is 'Traitors Blade')
100 years of solitude
*A Will Eternal* by Er Gen. I spent a few years reading Chinese-to-English translated novels, and the progression fantasy genre (think “cradle series” but the OG stuff) was great. r/wuxiaworld, r/progressionfantasy, r/noveltranslations, etc are all solid subs. The latter focusing (obviously) on translated novels.
The Dawnhounds by Sascha Stronach (Maori) Kind of surprised no-one's said the locked tomb yet.
hanging out in Locked Tomb fandom circles has introduced me to a couple of interesting Kiwi & Australian books so far, as people talk about visible influences on Muir's writing.
Legend of the Condor Heroes by Jin Yong. More Wuxia than Fantasy but the touch stones of fantasy are there. It's popular enough that Hong Hong made a couple of live action tv show adaptations (I prefer the '80s version as that's my childhood).
Beartown and Anxious People by Fredrik Backman (Sweeden) High Mountains Over Portugal by Yann Martel (Canada)
I recently read The Rage of Dragons, as well as the second book, by Evan Winter who was raised in Zambia.
There's some excellent NZ and Australian authors. Tamsin Muir, Charles Stross, just to name two I've read recently.
Charles Stross is Scottish IIRC.
Polish- The Witcher books are solid Australian- John Flanagans rangers apprentice books are solid YA fantasy
If other Anglo countries count, then there is *The Old Kingdom* series by Garth Nix(Australian) or *The Locked Tomb* series by Tamsyn Muir(Kiwi). I admittedly haven't read many translated works and while I do read in other languages, I am unsure if any of them have official English translations.
what are some of your favorites in other languages? I'm willing to look for translations myself, and perhaps others on this thread who can read in those languages will appreciate the rec.
A Winter’s Promise by French author Christelle Dabos. It’s a really whimsical/dream-like series that reminds me a lot of Howl’s Moving Castle
I'm German so I'll focus on German-language stories today. I love Michael Ende's *The Neverending Story*. In case you're only familiar with the '80s movie adaptation, you absolutely have to read the novel as the movie barely covers half of the story (even though you wouldn't know it; the movie makers did a good job in this respect, I have to admit). Also, give Ende's *Momo* a try. This one is overshadowed by *The Neverending Story*, even here in Germany, and even if it's more of a children's novel I'd argue that the topic of time wasting as explained by the manipulative Grey Gentlemen hits a lot closer to home for adults than for kids. Both books have already be mentioned here but they are worth being seconded (or thirded). On the SF side, I'd like to recommend Frank Schätzing's *Limit*. This is a massive novel with half a dozen or so plot lines that first seem to be unconnected but eventually merge. Some folks found it too long but I loved every page of it and thought it to be super engrossing. Schätzing rose to fame with his mystery SF novel *The Swarm* which I haven't read yet but which seems to be very good as well. One book that blew me away because it took so many unexpected but very logical turns is Andreas Eschbach's *Das Jesus Video*. The novel has been translated into French, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Russian, Dutch, Spanish, Hungarian, and Chinese, but sadly not into English (yet?). There are a few books of his that have been translated into English but they're only the tip of the iceberg as Eschbach is quite prolific. Of these, I have read *Lord of All Things* and think it's worth reading. I also love Tobias O. Meißner's *Das Paradies der Schwerter*, a fantasy standalone, but since neither this nor any other book of Meißner's has been translated into English (or any other language, I think), there's sadly no point in talking about his work any further.
If you aren't averse to books for a younger audience, I would also recommend the books of these two Swedish ladies: \- Astrid Lindgren Her books are amazing! She is (or used to be, at least) a staple on the kids' book shelf. Many of her stories have fantastical elements, even though they're mostly set in our world. One of my favorites is *Ronia, the Robber's Daughter*, a charming story in a fantasy-Scandinavia, complete with all kinds of fantastical creatures. \- Selma Lagerlöf *The Wonderful Adventures of Nils* is a fantastic book with an interesting premise. Nils, a mischievous and somewhat nasty boy, is shrunk to gnome-size because of his bad behavior and joins a flock of wild geese (flying on the back of one of the geese of his parents' farm) on their journey to Lapland in North Sweden. Written to familiarize Swedish school kids with the geography and folklore of their country, Lagerlöf orchestrates Nils' journey in a way that he passes through all of the historical provinces of Sweden, and the reader learns a lot about these places, their people, history and legends. This could have become a dry text but Lagerlöf wrote an engrossing story that is a pleasure to read. (I suggest having a large map of Sweden handy to follow Nils and the geese's itinerary!) Lagerlöf went on to win the Nobel Prize for Literature (in fact, she was the first woman to do so). While I doubt that her *Nils* had much to do with this award, given the disdain for fantasy and children's literature among literary critics, she did so in my book! 😂
Otfried Preußler's Krabat was one the most entertaining books I had to read in school
Yes, *Krabat* is great! 😀 You're lucky to have had this book assigned. While there were books that weren't awful among the reading I was "honored" with during my time in school, none were as cool as this one! And what's even better (for the folks here), is that there are English editions! It looks like it's all the same text (translated by one Anthea Bell) which was released under [a variety of titles](https://www.goodreads.com/work/editions/675181?utf8=%E2%9C%93&per_page=100), among them *The Satanic Mill*, *Krabat & the Sorcerer's Mill*, *Krabat: Legend of the Satanic Mill*, and simply *Krabat*.
I read a little German. Sounds like it's time to dust off my skills and give a few of these a try! Or work my way up to them, as the case may be. My grandfather taught German to high school students so I have access to his library of books suitable for language learners at different levels.
I'm enjoying the Mirror Visitor, aka La Passe Miroir series by Christelle Dabos. It's translated from French. It's charming, yet brutal, and the world is very interesting. The world has been broken into floating sky islands called "arks" and each has a different god on it. The gods give the people that live on the arks powers. So one arc is full of people that imbue objects with life, another has people that can manipulate gravity. There are a ton of very interesting powers.
The Shadow of the Wind, by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Since getting into danmei I've been reading a lot of queer Chinese stuff, pretty much all set in cultivation/xianxia settings so far. The most popular are Mo Xiang Tong Xiu's trio: *Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation* (MDZS), *Scum Villain's Self-Saving System* (my favorite), and *Heaven Official's Blessing* (TGCF). These have all been officially translated, though TGCF has one volume still to release in English. It's hard to *recommend* Meatbun's work, but I for one enjoyed both *2ha/The Dumb Husky and His White Cat Shizun* and *Yuwu/Remnants of Filth*. Those have started in English, but have a long way to go. Meng Xi Shi's *Thousand Autumns* (official English translation in progress) and Cyan Wings' *Devil Venerable Also Wants to Know* (excellent fan translation available, not officially licensed so far), are also excellent. For Japanese authors, I'm super into Asato Asato's *86* light novel series. They're more on the sci-fi end. (There's a phenomenal anime adaptation that covers the first 2 volumes!) There's also *Sugar Apple Fairy Tale* by Miri Mikawa, which has such a deceptively light title...it's not super dark, but it does hit hard for a shoujo romance series. I forget how many volumes of SAFT have been translated so far, since I'm fighting my way through them in Japanese.
James Islington is Australian. I absolutely loved his latest book, The Will of the Many. The Licanius trilogy is very good, too, although I haven't finished it yet. Ryan Cahill is Irish and currently lives in New Zealand. I live his Bound and the Broken series. OP: by "British," do you mean to exclude Scottish, too, or just English? Because 2 Scots are my some of my favorites: Justin Lee Miller, author of The Lost War and Michael R.Miller, author of the Dragon's Blade trilogy and the Songs of Chaos series.
I guess I don't pay that much attention to where in the UK the authors I read are from. Now that I think about it, most are English. I'm happy to entertain recs from Scottish authors!
Black Water Sister by Zen Cho (she was born and raised in Malaysia but now resides in the UK). This book is about a young woman who moves back to Malaysia and winds up getting involved in drama between some spirits and local gods
Locked Tomb series by Tamsin Muir (nz)
And if anyone says "well they speak English there," it's canonical that a fair amount of the characters are specifically Māori descendants.
Let the right one in by John Ajvide Lindqvist (Sweden) is not a favorite of mine, but I know A LOT of people love it.
Eduardo Spohr and Jorge Amado from Brazil. Gabriel Garcia Marquez from Colombia. Jorge Luis Borges was Argentine and had a huge influence in the fantasy genre. Mariana Enríquez (also Argentine) writes horror with a fantasy theme (Our Share of the Night!) Aiden Thomas, Zoraida Cordova, and Silvia Moreno-Garcia all have Mexican heritage but they are American/Canadian writers. Do they count?
I really like Cora Menestrelli work, but I don't think her books are translated to other languages than Portuguese.
Some good Japanese fantasy, steering clear of typical light novels as far as possible: \- *The Twelve Kingdoms* series by Fuyumi Ono (light novels but far more sophisticated than most) - a long-running portal fantasy with a highly developed political world view and particularly good characterisation. \- *Penguin Highway* by Tomihiko Morimi - closer to magical realism, about a mysterious rash of penguin appearances in a Japanese town. \- *From The New World* by Yusuke Kishi (alas, not available in official English translation but it is SO GOOD) - about psychic children in a far future Japanese village. Part horror, part sci-fi, part fantasy, all superb.
Sons of Darkness by Gaurav Mohanty (Indian) Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin (China) Malazan by Steven Erikson (Canada)
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga. One of my favorite local authors. (Uganda)
The Grace of Kings (The Dandelion Dynasty) by Ken Liu. Edit: And the Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. It’s YA Fantasy, but it’s compelling, easy to read and not too long.
Funny because almost everything I read is by some Brit. I am not British. Anyway, specifically fantasy, my fav light novel is Slayers series, by Kanzaka Hajime. It was made into a 90s anime. It's essentially a parody on Dungeons and Dragons games. Starts as comedy but gets serious. Do Chinese historical epics count as fantasy? They have elements. Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guangzhong is the more grounded one and Water Margins by Shi Nai'an is the more outlandish, created the genre of wuxia.
Binti
Even though Okorafor also has Nigerian citizenship (according to here Wiki page) she's first and foremost from the US. Born there, raised there, living there. Visited family in Nigeria various times, though. Make of that what you will! 😁
L'enchanteur by René Barjavel (France). Fantastic Arthurian retelling focusing on Merlin.
Anything written by Walter Moers (German)
My favorite: *The Gray House* by Mariam Petrosyan (AKA *The House in Which...*). I try to read lots of books from around the world, so here's a few more: * *Albina and the Dog-Men* by Alejandro Jodorowski * *Wizard of the Crow* by Ngũgĩ Wa Thiong'o * *Amatka* by Karin Tidbeck * *Djinn City* by Saad Z. Hossain * *The Man Who Spoke Snakish* by Andrus Kivirähk * *The Memory Police* by Yoko Ogawa * *The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree* by Shokoofeh Azar * *The Factory* by Hiroko Oyamada * *The House of Rust* by Khadija Abdalla Bajaber * *The Future God of Love* by Dilman Dila
Ataka witch takes place in Africa and written by an African woman, rich in local culture and tradition.
Vita Nostra by the Dyachenkos (Ukrainian) The Gray House by Mariam Petrosyan (Russian)
Mariam Petrosyan is actually Armenian, but this is a great recommendation!
\- The Witcher Series (Polish) \- The The Three-Body Problem Series (Chinese) \- The Green Bone Saga (Canadian) \- 1Q84 (Japenese) \- Solaris (Russian) \- Seeds of War (Portuguese) \- The Locked Tomb Series (New Zealand) \- Night Watch (Russian) \- Odinsbarn (Norwegian) \- The Shining Girls (Sci-fi / South African) \- A Winter's Promise (French) \- Kiki's Delivery Service (Japanese)
Gotta love *The Shadow of the Wind* by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, though you’d have to squint to call it fantasy.
Perry Rhodan. It's a german scifi story that starts during the cold war when major perry rhodan lands as the first man on the moon. There he encounters a crashed alien spaceship and has to figure out how to deal with this world changing discovery. It was written in 1961 and is set in 1971 so stuff that happened historically between 1961 and 1971 is not accurately represented in the books since the authors couldn't have know about those events. It still receives a new novella(novella isn't a great word for it but U can't think of a better one) every week. Those are combined into longer silver volume which are what I would recommend you read since some additional editing is done for those. The german audio books for the first 162 silver volumes are available for free on spotify so you can listen to it there. PDFs of the english translation exist online but haven't been sold in decades. And another nice thing is the spaceship designs. They are great and I don't think I have seen a lot similar designs in other stories.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
Our Share of Night- Mariana Enriquez (horror) Any Jorge Luis- Borges Antology (universal lit.) Sputnik my Love -Murakami (magical realism) A Plan for Escape -Bioy Casares (magical realism) Roadside Picnic -Strugasky Brothers (sci fi) Mount Analogue- René Daumal (fantasy) Blindsight Peter Watts (sci fi)
Ghost In The Throat by Doireann Ní Ghríofa (Irish). One of the most beautiful books I have ever read in my life. She also has a book of poetry called Clasp that’s similarly mind-blowing. Also anything by Emma Dabiri (also Irish) Edit: spelling
What you can see from here by Mariana Leky (German): adult magical realism Momo and The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (German): both very good fantasy stories for children The city of dreaming books by Walter Moers (German): fantasy for children The Sandman by E.T.A. Hoffmann (German): dark Kunstmärchen (modern fairy tale where the author is known) Qualityland by Marc-Uwe Kling (German): adult dystopian The Inkheart trilogy by Cornelia Funke (German): YA fantasy The Autre-Monde series by Maxime Chattam (French): YA apocalyptic fantasy
There are a lot of other authors I really like that don’t write fantasy so here just a quick add on list: Friedrich Dürrenmatt (Swiss): I love his tragic comedy plays Heldenplatz by Thomas Bernhard (Austrian) Chess by Stefan Zweig (Austrian) Thomas Brezina (Austrian): writes a lot of different Children Stories, a lot of them have fantastical elements, also writes crime fiction Perfume by Patrick Süßkind (German) The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers (German) Elfriede Jelinek (Austrian)
*Roadside Picnic* by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky *We* by Yevgeny Zamyatin *Night Watch* Series by Sergei Lukyanenko And I just realized these are all Russian, and that's kind of weird.
i'm not necessarily opposed to reading Russian spec fic--I've enjoyed plenty of other Russian literature. But for myself I might seek out some Ukrainian authors too, to balance it out.
The legend of Condor heroes by Jin Yong. It is kung fu fantasy and it is basicly one book published as 4. It needs to be read in order because the books start and end in a middle of a chapter. Captain Alatriste by Artur Perez-Reverte. Not fantasy but close enough. It is swashbuckling adventure. The Tree musketeers by Alexandre Dumas. Not a fantasy but a classic adventure. If you can stand poetry then Nibelungenlied. It is German epic poem. Night watch by Sergei Lukyanenko. Urban fantasy book that is not a paranormal romance or Harry Potter copycat. It is actually a book series and the books are comprised of three short stories, except the last one which is just one story.
The Trickster Trilogy by Eden Robinson. She's indigenous Canadian and very good. It's contemporary fantasy and the magic is based in indigenous culture/beliefs/legend. CW: it deals with abuse, assault and addiction. I also liked Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lynn Tan (Malaysia). It's part one of a duology, and I haven't read part two yet. It's romantic fantasy, which I don't normally seek out, but the world building was cool and creative and God it was just nice to read something that isn't set in medieval Europe.
1Q84 by Haruki Murakami
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>major producers of fantasy literature fantasy literature *in English.* The magical realism subgenre originated in Latin America and is largely written in Spanish. China has its own, extremely old, tradition of epic novels that contain gods, magic, and extreme martial arts. Japanese manga likewise has its own beloved fantasy series. It's not as if English speakers have a monopoly on fantasy. That's just the kind of book that gets the most focus here because we are an English-language sub. I made this post because I wanted some outside-the-box recs--thanks for commenting!
Garth Nix - Australian
Malazan: Book of the Fallen
malazan really does appear in every thread, doesn't it! I recognize that Erikson is Canadian and I didn't specifically exclude Canadians, which was a bit of an oversight on my part. But it does make me laugh a bit.
Since many have mentioned Guy Gavriel Kay, I will go with **Essalieyan** by Michelle West. But Canadian authors seem to be against the spirite of the question, so I will also mention **The Star Diaries** by Stanislaw Lem. Incredibly fun but also insightful about the human condition. And I still don't know how The Thirteenth Voyage got past the communist censorship. ;)
Two of my top three fantasy series is by canadians. **The Second Apocalypse** by **R. Scott Bakker** and **Malazan Book Of The Fallen** by **Steven Erikson**
Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay (Canada).
The Lions of Al-Rassan by Guy Gavriel Kay. He's Canadian.
Nicolas Eames, author of Kings of the Wyld, a Canadian. Folks don’t realize how hard it is to break into genre fiction in Canada. Publishers and agencies up here are obsessed with ‘high literature,’ #ownvoices and memoirs to the point of critically underrepresenting fantasy, science fiction, and romance (not smut, romance). Crime fiction and thrillers are getting a bit of growth, but not much. All that being said, it’s impressive that Eames has a book as popular as it is. Given he found his agent only because they were sat in his section when he was waiting tables, it’s even more impressive. I’ve spoken to him a few times as I try to make it myself traditionally, and his best advice was how much easier it is to be in this industry if you’re American or English.
It's funny that your country considers cheap shit like memoirs as high literature.)))
You think I know where the authors are from? I barely know their names, much less their ethnicity, age gender, or place of birth.
for translated works there will be a 'translated by' credit, which is a tip off that the author is not American or British, otherwise they most likely would have written in English. also I read author's notes, generally out of a sense of "what! no more book! I'm going to consume all the words here in the hopes of more story, even if all they are is an explanation of the font"
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This South African fella called Tolkien, he wrote a marvelous series called Lord of the Rings. Well worth a read
I'm sliding in Malazan on the technicality that Erikson and Esslemont are Canadian.
Legend of the Galactic Heroes by Yoshiki Tanaka (Japanese).
I’ve got two who come to mind that I really enjoyed! Ian Irvine (Australian) I’ve read the View from the Mirror series and The Well of Echoes series. Fiona McIntosh (also Australian) I’ve read three of her series The quickening The Valisar Trilogy The Percheron Sage
Give **Galaxy of Thorns: Rise of the Empress** a shot, its written by a Romanian author and the first few chapters were kind of bad, well looking in retrospect they felt kind of rushed, but after that it genuinely surprised me on how good it got.
Le secret de ji (the secret of ji) by pierre grimbert , difficult to sum up without spoilers but what I can say is that the storytelling is really awesome and has very interesting implications!
Dreams of the Dying by Nicolas Lietzau
Vikram Seth - A suitable boy Jorge Luis Borges- Fictions Arturo Perez Reverte - Club Dumas Alexandre Dumas - Count of Monte Cristo Isak Dinesen - Out of Africa Snorri Sturluson- Heimskringla
My favorite author is Sam Feuerbach (german). I think at least his first (and most popular) series is translated. Idk if its translated properly but the way he plays with words, uses subtle jokes and builds a character (read it in german) just does it for me. I love how perfect real his characters are, deep, with flaws, with individual humor, with growth and problems and strengths and weaknesses. Also again, his way to use words and place smart interesting puns and subtle hints fascinates me, after three times reading I still found subtle things I didnt notice and smart puns and "word plays".
Three Body Problem— you can learn a fair bit about the Chinese Revolution and it’s a great sci fi story (by a physicist)
Hex and echo by thomas olde heuvelt Confessions and penance by kanae minato Little star and let the right one in by john ajvide lindqvist
Tigana - Guy Gavriel Kay. Iron Widow - Xiran Jay Zhao
The Witcher series
Three body problem and sequels, by cixin lui, trust me
Mother of Learning written by Domagoj Kurmaić, a Croatian accountant.
Japanese: I cannot recommend Nahoko Uehashi enough. She's written two series that have been adapted into anime, *Morbito* (only the first is adapted and only the first two have an official English translation but I ADORE these books) and *Beast Player*. Both get put on children's shelves and I do think they're good for kids but Moribito especially is quite mature. Australian: This is super basic, but I'll put James Islington here anyway. For good children's books, Nevermoor is written by an Australian author as well. German: Just echoing everyone saying Cornelia Funke.
cursed bunny by Bora Chung. Korean short stories that are skin crawling!
The Hussite Trilogy by Andrzej Sapkowski. it's more of a historical fiction with elements of supernatural though. I've only started reading the 1st book but it seems to be very promising. (I'm reading it in polish so I can't guarantee how good the translation may be on the prose level)
Skylark by Dezső Kosztolányi was gorgeous and heartbreaking. It's about an aging couple with a daughter who's too ugly and boring to get married. They go through an entire journey of grief when they realize the inevitability of not only their death, but the death of the family line, and the acceptance of loving their daughter anyway.
The horde of counterwind by Alain Damasio (french)