Top Picks for Fantasy

Beauty: a Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast by Robin McKinley

A most unforgettable love story is wonderfully reinvented in this Young Adult fantasy novel where Beauty is no beauty, but rather her father's plainest but most faithful daughter who must leave her family to enter the enchanted world of the Beast. Much of the classic fairy tale remains unaltered by McKinley, but added details and observations, narrated in first-person by our heroine, grant the story complexity and realism by allowing young readers to more deeply delve into the emotions of this cursed-- and then blessed-- pair of lovers.

The Bellmaker by Brian Jacques

Joseph the Bellmaker is troubled. It has been four seasons since his warrior-mouse daughter, Mariel, and her companion, Dandin, set off from Redwall to fight evil in Mossflower. Nothing has been heard of them since. Then one night, in a dream, the legendary Martin the Warrior comes to the Bellmaker with a mysterious message.

The Conan Chronicles by Robert Jordan

Less than nineteen years old, and new to the snares and enticements of civilization, the young Conan must join forces with Karela, a dangerously seductive female bandit, to storm the palace of Amanar, a supremely evil necromancer, and confront the dreaded Eater of Souls. Conan the Defender: As revolution brews in the shadowy streets of Belverus, Conan braves the traps and treacheries of the Royal Palace of the Dragon. Pursued by the luscious and shameless Sularia, the mighty warrior challenges a magic- spawned menace that cannot die: the invincible Simulacrum of Albanus. Conan the Unconquered: Conan defies the sorcerous power of the Cult of Doom for the sake of a beautiful young woman known only as Yasbet.

An Earthly Knight by Janet McNaughton

The Celtic legend of Tam Lin is most skillfully placed into its proper 12-century Scotland setting in this new fantasy for Young Adults. Love slowly but steadily blossoms after Jenny, a 16-year old daughter of a nobleman, encounters in the woods a mysterious young man named Tan Lin.

'The Enchanted Forest' chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede; Book 1: Dealing With Dragons, Book 2: Searching for Dragons, Book 3: Calling on Dragons, Book 4: Talking to Dragons

In this series of 'Fractured Fairy Tales,' with its tongue-in-cheek humor, Wrede describes the adventures of a cynical teen-aged princess, Cimorene, who breaks away from her expected role and befriends the King of the Dragons (who happens to be a female dragon) in her efforts to map her own future (Books 1-3). Reluctantly, she falls in love with a prince/sorcerer who is eventually captured and magically-bound by the evil Society of Wizards, leading us to Book 4, narrated from the first-person perspective of Cimorene's now teen-aged son, Daystar, who with the help of those he meets along the way (including a decidedly hot-tempered young fire witch) finds himself struggling through the Enchanted Forest to rescue his father and save the kingdom.

The Green Rider by Kristen Britain

This novel is a classic quest tale set in a standardized medieval fantasy world. It begins when protagonist Karigan G'ladheon is expelled from an exclusive school. In a forest on the way home, she encounters one of the magically bound Green Riders, who carries a vital message for King Zachary. The messenger is dying with assassins' arrows in his back, so with more loyalty than caution, Karigan takes over his magic brooch. This also means taking over his mission and becoming a Green Rider herself, an act that flings Karigan into a cesspool of intrigues both magical and mundane.

The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley

Although she is the daughter of Damar's king, Aerin has never been accepted as full royalty. Both in and out of the royal court, people whisper the story of her mother, the witch woman, who was said to have enspelled the king into marrying her to get an heir to rule Damar-then died of despair when she found she had borne a daughter instead of a son. But none of them, not even Aerin herself, can predict her future-for she is to be the true hero who will wield the power of the Blue Sword. This ugly duckling learns to defeat dragons, debate with wizards and even make polite small talk through the course of her adventures.

'His Dark Materials' trilogy by Philip Pullman; Book 1: The Golden Compass Book 2: The Subtle Knife Book 3: The Amber Spyglass

In an England seemingly like the reality we'd expect, Pullman steadily and ingeniously introduces mystical elements into this trilogy centers around the dark and gripping adventures of young Lyra and her personal daemon, Pantalaimon, as-- with a blending of science, theology, and magic-- they discover the secrets of their existence

Homeland by Robert Salvatore

Drow ranger Drizzit Do'Urden, first introduced in The Icewind Dale Trilogy, quickly became one of the fantasy genre's standout characters. But Homeland first revealed the startling tale of how this one lone drow walked out of the shadowy depths of the Underdark, leaving behind a society of evil and a family who wanted him dead. It is here that the story of this amazing dark elf truly began.

I Was a Teenage Fairy by Francesca Lia Block

The harsh reality of child molestation is startlingly but soothingly shrouded by a fantastical shadow in this postmodern, Los Angeles-based fairy tale where spunky, straight-talking Mab (a magenta-haired pixie) helps two young teenage models, Barbie Marks and Griffin Tyler, recover from the traumatic sexual secrets of their pasts.

Myth Adventures by Robert Asprin

Skeeve, a magician's apprentice. Aahz, a green scaly Prevect from the dimension of Perv. Gleep, Skeeve's pet dragon. Tananda, a green haired, shapely assassin. These are just a few of the characters you'll fall in love with just from reading this first book in the Myth series. Follow the adventures of Skeeve as he meets and becomes the apprentice of Aahz and accidentally acquires Gleep at the bazaar on Deva.

'The Old Kingdom' trilogy by Garth Nix; Sabriel, Abhorsen

Death lives in the fantastic world Nix has created with his trilogy centered around the exhausting duties of an Old Kingdom Abhorsen, who alone possesses the magical power to lay the reawakened Dead to rest, again. Sabriel may stand alone, whereas Lirael and Abhorsen should be regarded as two parts of one whole. In Sabriel, our young heroine finds herself thrust into the role of Abhorsen when her father is somehow captured and held in Death by the dark powers of Free Magic spreading through the Old Kingdom.