ADULT FANTASY RECOMMENDATIONS ~ with actual adult characters

ADULT FANTASY RECOMMENDATIONS ~ with actual adult characters

🎞 Videos mentioned (reviews for any books will be listed by the book titles below)

*Sword of Kaigen is not available through Bookshop, so amazon links to it will be provided below*

Books mentioned in previous videos and this video:
Sword of Kaigen
Way of Kings
Paladin's Grace
The Fifth Season
Witcher
Vicious
Queens of Renthia
Mistborn Era 2
Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
Guards! Guards!
What Moves the Dead
Shadow of the Gods
Legends and Lattes
Fragile Threads of Power
Age of Madness/A Little Hatred
Sword Defiant
Rise of the Ranger

#adultfantasy #adultfantasybooks #adultfantasyrecs

[johat]

thank you!! this is exactly what I've been looking for, Adult fantasy, with actual adults. I'm 34 yo, I already read my mandatory YA books of my youth, but now they feel too immature (?). And the common tropes like "the chosen one" had become less credible with teenagers constantly being the MC of situations that sometimes require a more mature view. And love stories that keep constantly giving "school first love" vibes.

[rainlill]

For adult fantasy my first though was all Michael J. Sullivan books. One of my absolute favourite authors. His characters are adult and he weaves his stories so beautifully and so unexpectedly. Books, books, books, I love stories. Thank you for helping me find more.

[mbranche]

I loved The Adventures of Amina Al- Sharifi!!!! She is so full of life and a realistic mature woman in a pirate profession. Cannot wait to read more of her and her world. I am currently reading the entire collection written by S.A. Chakraborty. Enjoying her worlds and writing style!!!!

[Steve_Stowers]

For "adult fantasy with actual adult characters, " the first thing I thought of was Lois McMaster Bujold's "The Curse of Chalion" and "Paladin of Souls."

[heathergoldsmith]

So glad to hear you recommend the Joe Abercrombie books. I'm yet to get to the trilogy you mentioned, because I am still finishing The Heroes, after reading through the First Law trilogy and the next stand alone book. All the characters are so interesting and are mature. I also enjoyed a trilogy by Juliet Marillia, the Blackthorn & Grim series, also about two seasoned characters. Thanks for the recommendations.

[sandyokey]

John Gwynne, yes!!! I read Nettle and Bone a couple months ago and loved it and definitely will read more T Kingfisher. Same with Legends and Lattes and Travis Baldree.

[heather]

Added lots to my TBR from this video! I usually prefer YA Fantasy, but my husband loves Adult and Epic Fantasy. All my recs for him come from your videos. He's enjoying Best Served Cold enough that he wants to move to First Law next. It's great to know there's another Abercrombie series you recommend after that.

[WildWolfGod]

I recently listened through The Raven's Mark Trilogy and I LOVED it. The protagonist is a 40 year old man who serves an incredibly ancient wizard and almost all the side characters are around his age too..

[coffeecakes]

Have read the first 3 books from the Echoes Saga (Rise of the Ranger), and it's such a great series! Fast paced and great characters! Can't wait to continue the saga!

[rapidevening]

I read the First Law and broadly liked it but I've beem stalled on Best Served Cold for like six months. But your really strong recommendation of Madness got me hyped again, I'm gonna go back and push through the rest of the books to get there. Loved the rest of the list too!

[kateg]

I'd also highly recommend Company of Liars by Karen Maitland. The main character is an elderly travelling saleman. The story is set during the start of the great Plague, witha band of misfits grouping together to travel North to escape the plague.

[katherinep]

I would love if you'd either put the book up on the screen whime you talk about it or tell us the title and author again when you're done talking about it. It's hard to go back and find that again if it's one thay sounds interesting.

[SimplementInefable]

Yess thankyou for these recomendations, I always find that the books I enjoy the most are those with adult characters as a relevant POv! I'll deffinelty will check those recommendations out. On those lines, I don't know if you have read The Heros from Joe Abercrombie, it is one of the standalone novels between the first and the second trilogy (still haven't read it) in the First Law world. I immediately thought about Curnden Craw when you described Amina.

[dougsundseth]

I'll suggest Steven Brust's "Jhereg". The protagonist, Vlad Taltos, is a lower-level human member of an organized crime group in an elvish city. One of the best heist novels I've read. The remainder of the series varies from brilliant to just OK (I'd recommend the whole thing, but it's not even in quality), but this first book is absolutely excellent.

Also, Glen Cook's "Garrett, P.I." series, starting with "Sweet Silver Blues". Garrett is a PI in a fantasy world who has recently returned from a stint as a conscript (clearly reminiscent of Vietnam) and is now dealing with that as he tries to make a living. It's often funny, but always takes itself seriously, and I really love the series. FWIW, I like it more than his more popular "Dark Company" series.

And I'll second Steve_Sowers's recommendation for Bujold's Five Gods World books (Chalion and Penric series). Anything by Bujold is very much worth reading, but I think these get less attention than they should. I also very much like her Sharing Knife tetralogy, but the protagonist there is young.

[breem]

For adult POVs, I recommend any of the Hainish Cycle books by Ursula Le Guin. The Left Hand of Darkness, The Dispossessed, and The Telling were all great. Also her novella Under the Lathe of Heaven is amazing.

[coffee_cookies_books]

Fantastic list. I will definitely pick up a few. I went through your video twice. :) I wanted to make sure I got everything, LOL. Thanks so much for your constant work on the lists you put together. Even if I am not interested in the topic, I always enjoy hearing what you have to say.

[kayleehon]

Thank you!! I struggle falling into slumps cause I accidentally buy into reading popular YA/NA and I just get annoyed and stop reading 😭 I need real adults!

[sophiacorvere]

Vintage from winnowing flame trilogy ! She reminded me of a Robin Hobb character (the queen of characters)

[maki]

such a great video, making this my tbr for sure...btw is that a arcane shirt? jinx <3

[laurenschenck]

Another fantastic video thanks so much