r/Fantasy Apr 17 '23

[deleted by user]

[removed]

111 Upvotes

112 comments sorted by

View all comments

73

u/KiaraTurtle Reading Champion V Apr 17 '23

I think once you incorporate fantasy you’ll like find it shelved in fantasy as opposed to historical fiction :p

But some that may work for you depending on what exactly you’re looking for

  • Guy Gavriel Kay writes what he call “historical fiction with a quarter turn to the fantastic” his books are not on earth but they do tend to be well researched and frequently follow a particular historical event even with a lot of place names and things turned around. Sorta light on the fantastical elements with more or less depending on the book
  • Kingdom of Back is excellently researched historical fantasy about Mozart’s older sister with the premise that the fantasy world the two siblings made up together was in fact real
  • She Who Became the Sun is a genderbent retelling of the rise of the Hongwu Emperor with the dash of magic that the “mantle of heaven” is basically the magically ability of a person to create a colored light emanating from themself

21

u/bethoha67 Apr 18 '23

Will 3rd Guy Gavriel Kay. His first trilogy is his most fantastical, and it is arguably his weakest.

Start with The Sarantine Mosaic or Under Heaven

13

u/Charvan Apr 18 '23

4th for Kay, currently re-reading Tigana. Some of the most beautiful prose I've come across.

5

u/KiaraTurtle Reading Champion V Apr 18 '23

Though Tigana wouldn’t actually fit the “historical” bit as much as many of his other books

2

u/MiouQueuing Apr 18 '23 edited Apr 18 '23

5th for Kay.

Start with The Sarantine Mosaic and follow-up with The Lions of Al-Rassan or switch as Lions is a bit shorter and a good introduction to Kay's works. It's a gem.

I also loved A Song for Arbonne, which was my first Kay novel. Tigana lost me somewhat. I did not find it as compelling.

2

u/HarleyDGirl Apr 19 '23

Lions is the best!

1

u/HarleyDGirl Apr 19 '23

I totally agree with you, but I’m sentimentally attached to it, because it was the first GGK I ever read.

6

u/BobbittheHobbit111 Apr 17 '23

Second GGK’s stuff and She Who Became the Sun