The State of Fantasy

I’m a fantasy fan and while I may not like everything out there I’m never going to complain that there is too much of it. My great thanks to Ms. Rowling for changing the US publishing landscape in that regard — BHP there was mighty little — many of my fellow gatekeepers preferred realistic fiction and so that is what mostly got published. And then there were others who had problems because it was against their religion (really).  So, first of all, hurray for the popularity of fantasy!  May it never wane.

Since I love the genre  I read a lot of fantasy books and have had in mind a few posts on some recently read books, but they are complicated (thematic rather than straight reviews) and I’ve yet to complete them.  Unfortunately, what with school looming and some other pressing projects to get done first, I fear that it may be a while till they see the light of day (or light of the Internet? Whatever). In the meantime, I figured I’d at least provide you with some recently published and forthcoming fantasy titles that I’ve read and feel are worth seeking out for yourselves. These are titles that my students and I liked, a few I’m especially mad for, others my students are mad for, and a few we are all equally mad for. Most would probably work for an upper-middle-grade-fantasy-buff, but a few are very definitely YA.  That all said, here you are, in no particular order:

Already Published

• Cal Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making
• Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Witch
• Rachel Neumeier’s The Floating Island
• Frances Hardinge’s Twilight Robbery
• John Stephen’s The Emerald Atlas
• Jonathan Auxier’s Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes
• Colin Meloy’s Wildwood
• C. London Alexander’s  We Are Not Eaten By Yaks
• N. D. Wilson’s The Dragon’s Tooth
• Kelly Barnhill The Mostly True Story of Jack
• Troy Howell’s The Dragon of Cripple Creek
• Caitlin Kittredge’s The Iron Thorn
• Eva Ibbotson’s The Ogre of Oglefort
• Ellen Boormaem’s Small Persons with Wings
• Gail Carson Levine’s A Tale of Two Castles
• Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Coming Soon

• Anne Ursu’s Breadcrumbs
• Catherine Gilbert Murdock’s Wisdom’s Kiss
• Patrick Ness’s A Monster Calls
• Franny Billingsley’s Chime
• Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone
• Maile Meloy’s The Apothecary
• Lauren Oliver’s Liesel & Po
• Carmen Agra Deedy and Randall Wright’s The Cheshire Cat Cheese
• Chris Moriarty’s The Inquisitor’s Apprentice
• Chris Van Allsburg’s (and others) The Chronicles of Harris Burdick
• Richard Peck’s Secrets at Sea