10 Great Fantasy Books to Read If You Love the Lord of the Rings
Fantasy beyond Middle-Earth
J. R. R. Tolkien’s trilogy follows unlikely heroes on a mission to destroy a magical ring and prevent the world’s destruction. Its imagined history and Middle-Earth setting helped establish Tolkien’s lasting place in fantasy.
The article connects Tolkien’s work to his experiences in the First World War, his affection for England and his concern about industrialization in rural areas. Those interests also help explain why readers may find real-world concerns beneath the genre’s fantastic settings.
A strange journey by train
Kage Baker’s The Anvil of the World begins the Lord Ermenwyr trilogy, though its three books are described as largely self-contained stories sharing a world and some characters. The first follows Smith, a smuggler, and Lord Ermenwyr, a young mage.
Smith is assigned to escort the mage by train to a port city and protect him from factions seeking to kill him. The story mixes steampunk elements, humor and a broad adventure among unusual creatures.
Magic and politics in Earthsea
Ursula K. Le Guin’s A Wizard of Earthsea is the first of six books set across an island archipelago where dragons and humans live. Many people have magical abilities, though their skill varies.
The Hardic people in the central archipelago regard magic as useful, while the Kargish people in the east view it as evil and often clash with them. The series uses its fantasy world to address political tensions and is described as an influential work of the genre.
A struggle to restore magic
Tomi Adeyemi’s YA novel Children of Blood and Bone opens the Legacy of Orïsha trilogy. Its setting resembles West Africa, where Divîners can use magic and Kosidán rulers have taken it from the world.
After years of oppression, Divîner Zélie and Kosidán princess Amari seek to bring magic back and end the conflict. The story’s political themes and its recreation of Nigeria through fantasy are compared with Tolkien’s interest in England and his own world’s deeper concerns.
Key points
- Tolkien’s trilogy blends a quest to destroy a magical ring with a richly imagined history.
- The Anvil of the World follows a smuggler and a young mage on a dangerous train journey.
- Earthsea pairs magic with political tensions between the Hardic and Kargish peoples.
- Children of Blood and Bone follows Zélie and Amari as they seek to restore magic.