How to Start Reading Fantasy! 🐉 🧙‍♂️

My thoughts fantasy books to start reading the genre with! This includes awesome titles like The Belgariad, The Little Prince, His Dark Materials, Mistborn and more!

My books

[Nasser]

*Goblin Drug Dealer voice* You wanna read some books?

[rikvald]

I finished my first book after a yearslong dry spell yesterday and told myself "I should go back to reading fantasy but picking a new series is going to be difficult". Your timing couldn't be better 🙏

[Dynnen]

"Have you heard about Brandon Sanderson?"

- me just meeting someone for the first time

[raymonddejaeger]

"He can publish faster then you can read" gave me a good laugh.

[shastatastic]

Holy shit! You finally mentioned the Belgariad!! This was my re-introduction into fantasy, back in highschool when I decided to start reading again.
I had listened to my father’s copies of the Zanth series by Piers Anthony back in middle school and knew I liked fantasy so when a friend put the Belgariad into my hands it was a perfect match.
Super great recommendation for a newbie reader into fantasy. 10/10

[christopherztooi]

Saw a tweet about the way of kings a few weeks ago and it resparked my reading kick, havent read fantasy since the inheritance cycle in middle school and now im halfway through the cosmere

[ironwolf]

Step 1, pick up book
Step 2, read book
Step 3, don't stop reading
Step 4, finish book
Step 5, move onto next book, and continue till death.

[greath]

Sanderson should always enter rooms with a walk-on song like a WWE wrestler.

[tajadaleen]

As a German (that probably taught herself to read at age 5 mainly to read fantasy):
My first two books (that my mom gifted me when she noticed I could read) were "Die kleine Hexe" and "Das kleine Gespenst", both classic children's books by Ottfried Preußler. (They're still really cute to read as an adult though, a bit like The Little Prince.)
What really got me sold on fantasy (and dragons) for good though was Cornelia Funke's Drachenreiter, I loved that book to pieces, and can recommend it to anyone who likes stories with a dragon companion.

[TheKnightedDawn]

I'm so glad to see the Belgariad on this list! My parents are also huge fantasy fans, and when I was a kid they read stuff to me every night before bed. They DID start with the Hobbit, and followed it with Narnia and the Chronicles of Prydain (I think I had watched the Black Cauldron movie and my Dad was like "THE BOOK IS MUCH BETTER!" lol) BUT "The Belgariad" was another very early one that DEFINED my love of fantasy in so many ways. It's also one of my Dad's favorites, and as a kid I related a lot to Garion but my absolute FAVORITE will always be Silk. I'm a huge fan of charming and witty rogues, but he was the one who made me start writing my own little stories about heists and capers.

[Staz_Pizzazz]

I can’t say how happy I was hearing you recommending The Magicians so much. It’s legit one of my fav piece of media ever.

[tylersmith]

YouTube started playing the video before I opened it, and without actually looking at it I thought that was a wall of funko pops behind you and was worried that was some subliminal message for help

[katysedai]

Love this kind of content Daniel! Excellent suggestions, and many I’m going to add to my reading list!

[pablolacalle]

Sir Pratchett as a whole is a great intro to fantasy with Discworld (worked for teenage me lol). He combines genuine love, talent and earnestness in delivering inventive, rich, whimsical fantasy characters and elements but with that absurdist edge that is more palatable to fresh readers unaccustomed to a lot of fantasy's loftier, sometimes daunting scope, lore-dumps and verbage

[jarltrippin]

For those who aren't interested in heavy world building, I want to give a mention to the short fiction of the early 20th century. Lord Dunsany, Clark Ashton Smith, Robert E. Howard, etc. All of these authors had incredibly beautiful writing styles, which took you to other worlds with the atmosphere of their words alone. Honestly, I wish there was still room for this in the modern era of fantasy.

[kathrynmackin]

I had to recommend a fantasy book for the bookclub I attend at my local bookshop for this month's meeting and no one in the group has really read fantasy at all except for a couple of people who read sci-fi. This video will be really helpful for me to personalise recommendations for individuals after we've talked about what I picked (Tress of the Emerald Sea by the way since it had just come out in PB). I'm also very happy that you included the Belgariad because I've been telling people to read it for years! Those were the books that made me fall in love with fantasy ❤

[koriel-in-real-life]

I swear that Daniel’s book premise readings (also referencing Fantasy News self pub promos here) are specifically calculated to test his viewers to see who likes his content enough to stick around. It’s a test, a trial, and some may not survive.

[zen_lemming]

LOL that golden compass summary was incredible 10/10 no notes.

[alexandruteodor]

Beautiful list, my TBR just expanded 😁. I think Night Angel trilogy would be a good suggestion. It introduced me to grimdark fantasy and I've read some comments that it introduced others into fantasy altogether.

[erfanashkan]

the little prince is pure poesy it's a life changin read that will warm and heal your inner child on so many levels. it's a master piece.