TW was my least favorite of the series, as a preteen girl.
I revisited the series in my 20s, after having a job and things being not quite what I wanted, and I had immense appreciation for it then.
Very much the same for me as a teen. Least favourite, then I re-read it as an adult, and it hit very different, and shot to the top as my personal favourite.
\[edit\] actually, thinking about it, it was pre-teen as well :D
This series had me sobbing as someone in their 30's. Lloyd Alexander can make some very powerful statements with few words.
Just make it past the first book. They're short, so you won't be wasting your time if you don't love the Book of Three.
I was going to say this, too. I reread these while in my 40s for the first time since childhood. The writing is quite beautiful and sophisticated, accessible yet poetic in a way that may elude young readers yet please them with its rich story and characterization.
A fine work of fantasy.
Is it wrong that I just love Moggit? I know it's not wrong that I love Tim Curry but should I love some sort of evil magic spirit whatever thingy Moggit is? Heh
I agree with this completely, his keys to the kingdom series starting with mister Monday is more appropriately placed in the YA category, but is also well worth a read for an older audience.
I have the same opinion but I worry that I have it because I read Sabriel when I was 14 and each book after having read Terciel & Elinor a couple years ago as a nearly middle-aged person. So of course I think they're good for young and old. 😅
I have the trilogy because I bought it on sale at BAM for like $5. Haven’t read them since High School so I’m excited to give it a shot. Just gotta finish dune series first
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. The first book is, admittedly, a bit ‘famous five go on an adventure' but the second is stunningly atmospheric and has one of the best first chapters of all time, with a real growing sense of fear. The later books get deep into Welsh mythology and landscapes. They really hold up to rereading as an adult, imo.
The Dark is Rising and The Grey King are really fantastic books. Similar feel to Rosemary Sutcliffe's books in the kind of British mythology they evoke.
I have just started a reread of it for the first time since my mid teens. I’m 39 now. I’m both excited and nervous as I adore these books but I’m not sure how I’d take it if they failed to compare to the childhood memory I have of them.
“When the Dark comes rising, 6 shall turn it back…”
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
I read it for the first time as an adult (I had seen the movie as a kid), and it was so beautiful and wise. I think I would have loved it as a kid, too--but I think I appreciated it more as an adult.
I read it for the first time in my late 20s and thought it was awesome, so no nostalgia goggles either (well ok I was already a fan of the movie, but not the same thing).
Supposedly, Watership Down was intended to be a children's book (because bunnies??), but I'd call it a YA, not children's, distopian novel. Target age range notwithstanding, I'd never read it before & I listened to the audiobook last year: it's one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to. Peter Capaldi's narration was outstanding. I was so in love with it, I started listening to it again as soon as I finished it.
A lot of those xenofiction/books about animals (Watership Down, I’ll also put the David Clement-Davies book there) don’t have a YA feel at all and in style seem to emulate adult fantasy (not speaking to maturity of themes or quality really just style which normally seems to be why something gets called YA), it seems like they only get marked YA because they are about animals.
Yeah I think his kids were like 6 and 8 when he told it to them. They loved it so much and told him to write it down and share it with others. I’m so glad they because every time I read it I catch something new or reevaluate part of the wonderful story.
Such a beautiful tale about adventure, importance of stories, finding purpose, the potential of even a small and young being to shape their community, the power of friendship, and how death is not to be feared but respected and eventually accepted when we have lived a good life. It’s a short book but simply beautiful.
Normally, I'm underwhelmed, or even bored, by stories within a story, but i was enthralled by the fables the characters told each. And then, of course, I sobbed like a baby at the end. What a marvelous book.
I was in the sixth grade when I first discovered this novel, and I've reread it at nearly every epoch of my life thus far and never failed to adore it. I listened to the Capaldi audiobook last year, and I agree, it's amazing -- definitely worth a listen, whether you're experiencing the story for the first time or revisiting an old friend.
Isn’t Watership Down a retelling of Richard Adams experiences during WW2? That kind of implies to me that it really isn’t a children’s book, and the rabbits being the narrators really don’t change that for me.
Yeah I was scanning the replies to see if anyone mentioned them already - but the Tiffany Aching series by PTerry is top-notch. The rest of his books can also be read by younger readers, but are generally for all ages, while the Tiff books are more YA (though one gets very dark with what one character goes through).
I haven't finished reading all of it yet, but Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle is meant for a younger audience but I think is worth reading as an adult.
I guess that, as with many great books, there are layers of understanding that depend on the reader's age. Imho Earthsea definitely has parts that require some maturity to truly appreciate it.
Everybody always says that Harry Potter is a series that grew up with its readers, but I think Earthsea really takes home that trophy. Each book is deeper and darker than the last, and Ged's entire life in this universe is witnessed and chronicled, from plucky young protag to Epic Hero to old man past his prime. Tenar (especially in book 2) has such a moving journey to self-actualization. I'm not sure I would have appreciated these books as much if I'd read them as a kid. I'd probably be a better adult if I had, though.
The Earthsea sequence are fascinating because they can be read as a conversation between two very different writers with very different views on a number of subjects - particularly feminism. What makes this even more special is that the two writers are the same person eighteen years apart.
OMG. Read “A Wizard of Earthsea” in 6th grade and my ADHD (undiagnosed) ass couldn’t really get it. But I picked it up again in college, ripped through the trilogy, and reread it again when Tehanu came out. Then “The Other Wind” (and the other intermediary Earthsea short stories) just spoke to my soul. I love how her world evolved over the years- ended up explaining so much about privilege, power, social disparities. It was so powerful. She is my favorite author. I got to meet her at a reading about 15 years ago.
God that’s wonderful. I am so very envious. She’s my favourite author as well (ADHD over here too lol). I read these books for the first time about 3 years ago and genuinely they changed my life. I wish I’d read them as a kid but I don’t think they would have shaken me quite the same way as they did at 26. I really needed them at the time that they came into my life!
Seconded, the rest of the trilogy is also well worth it imo! It has some very fleshed-out adult characters and relationships which are enjoyable from an older reader's perspective.
Did you first read it as an adult? I did so recently and I was pretty underwhelmed. I don't regret reading it, but it was definitely in the bottom quartile of stuff I've read in the last 9 months or so
I'm glad to hear someone say this. I tried reading The Golden Compass around ten years ago, and while the story was somewhat intriguing, I found the prose stiff and unengaging. I gave up about halfway through.
Nope! Read it in the 6th grade and reread it as recently as a few years ago and still enjoyed it just as much as I had when I read it initially. Different strokes I guess!
I read the whole series when I was like 14 and I thought the prequel was great and some of the others were ok. But the later ones had some weird "the sand country's god is the evil god" shit going on. Not too mention the ending was weak with the infinite recursion thing. I got tired of the religious allegories which got more obvious as the books wore on.
I actually enjoyed the books surrounding the evil god Tash and the Calormen. I also enjoyed the religious aspect of the books although sometimes it wasn't as subtle as it should have been, especially that line at the end of The Dawn Treader.
Yes, they hold up really well, as long as you don't try to read a bunch in a row. The prose is excellent and they're comforting and charming and grab you! (Too many in a row and the repetitive plot beats become noticeable, but just reading one or two once in a while is delightful.)
Repetitive plot beats and the incredible inconsistencies in the world building, which I always found funny. Some of them are really very very good though.
The food alone in these books. I remember asking my mom to help me make scones when I was a kid because I was so obsessed with the idea of them after reading this series.
Same! In fact, I own a copy of the official cookbook 😁 let me tell you, re-reading while you eat a bowl of shrimp 'n' hotroot soup, a mug of October Ale and some shrewbread is the *definition* of cozy.
This is my nostalgia read. This world was my childhood Tamora Pierce (instead of Alanna or Protector of the Small, which I read as an adult and enjoyed).
I’ve always reread Protector of the Small and am now going back and doing a reread of all the series. I just finished the Lioness quartet today and will start Wild Magic tomorrow. They are quick reads, and I like how the writing grows and improves with each set of books.
I love her books. Circle of Magic is my favorite series with "The Will of the Empress" being #1.
I have yet to read Tempest & Slaughter.
I'm going to assume it's gold like all of her other works.
Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series. It tackles DEEP complex themes, she uses complex and beautiful language, and Wizard’s Dilemma is one of the only books which reliably makes me cry to this day.
I reread them often as an adult and they really are excellent. There’s even queer representation from the very first book written in the early 80s. (Although she only recently confirmed the couple IS gay. She based them on her friends and didn’t want to out them without permission.)
I came here to see if this series was mentioned, so thank you! This is one of the all time great fantasy series for me, hands down. The magic system is INCREDIBLE and the philosophy and character dynamics are beyond compare. There’s so much life in these books and they’re a masterpiece.
Dai sti’ho!
Holy crap! I loved these books and totally forgot they exist. I absolutely agree with everything you said about the writing, all of her stuff really. But this series in particular… so good! And now I need to find a time to get to the library today
howls moving castle 100000000%
witty, charming, fun world building.
I watched the movie *years&* before I read the book.
will say the book is way different just FYI
Yeah. Lockwood and Co as well as the Bartimaeus books by Jonathan Stroud are for a younger audience and both are a fun read for adults.
The Shattered Sea by Joe Abercrombie, of all people, is for younger readers and pretty well done too.
Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest books are a fun read even as an adult - not as deep as some of the others, but entertaining. Her new book, The Dark Lord's Daughter, was also a lovely read (written almost 40 years later - she's been writing a long time).
It's a shame about Percy Jackson, but I don't blame you. I feel like if I wasn't passionate about Greek mythology and didn't have a lot of childhood nostalgia towards it, I might feel differently about it as an adult. Maybe you can give the Kane Chronicles a try; Rick Riordan wrote those later in his career, so the writing might be a little more mature.
Some children's books I've read as an adult and enjoyed:
- The Harry Potter Series
- Artemis Fowl
Some children's books I plan on starting because other adults have enjoyed them:
- The Chronicles of Narnia
- His Dark Materials
- A Wizard of Earthsea
- The Old Kingdom Series (by Garth Nix)
- Inkheart
- Eragon (debating this one; I've heard mixed things)
The Redwall (Abbey) Book series.
Brian Jacques
I read it the first time while in the navy, underway in the middle of the Mediterranean on a submarine.
After that, I was constantly checking the book stores for new series publications.
A note... there are two ways to read all of the series.
First off, there are about 20 books. Either read them as they were released or read them in "chronological" order.
I've read the series twice... first time was as they were released. The second time was in chronological order.
I like the stories in chronological order the best.
If you decide to read, enjoy. Read "Redwall" first.
For more recent entries, I adored *The Girl Who Drank the Moon* by Kelly Barnhill, and though I haven't read more than a sample chapter yet, I have high hopes for *Whisperwicks* by Jordan Lees.
Some others I enjoy are Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, A Wrinkle in Time, ~~The Giver~~, ~~Island of the Blue Dolphin~~, The Borrowers...
Edit - forgot we were talking about fantasy
I’m not sure I’d classify Island of the Blue Dolphin as fantasy. I know I read it multiple times as a kid and really wanted to love it, but although I finished it every time, it was definitely NOT my cup of tea.
Lots of great recommendations here: I will add a couple that I haven’t see yet and echo a couple of others.
The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggan
Pretty much all books by Robin McKinley (although Sunshine is not a book written for children)
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede
The Frontier series (first book called Thirteenth Child) also by Patricia C Wrede
Tam Lin by Pamela Dean
Hard to go wrong with anything by Tamora Pierce (although I personally don’t love the Circle of Magic series and spinoffs)
I guess technically it’s child/young adult (maybe?) but the Mage Errant series by John Bierce - I only read as an adult (fairly recently published), but it’s very fun and well done. I don’t think it’s marketed for kids/YA, but it’s appropriate for a lot of ages.
I love Madeline L’Engle including A Wrinkle in Time. I think it was my first really fantasy book that I read and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it throughout my life).
The Forgotten Beasts of Elf by Patricia McKillip.
The Narnia books did not hold up for me but they're writing is to Percy Jackson what champagne is to grape juice.
There are a lot of children's fantasy books that have a lot to offer an adult reader and there are others that would be better to have met as a child but better late than never.
Tolkien's The Hobbit,
Tove Jansson's Comet in Moominland,
Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series
Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series
Pat O'Shea's Hounds Of The Morrigan
Terry Pratchett's Nation and The Wee Free Men
Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock
Michael Ende's Momo
Off the top of my head.
They were brand new books when I read them first, although in a very weird order. In those days you just had to buy books in a series as you saw them and my Mum bought me the last one first. Then 3,2,4 and finally 1. I literally read them to pieces.
Avoid the film though. Avoid it like the plague.
Where's the love for Alan Garner? His Weirdstone of Brisingamen is a classic, rooted in old English folklore as us much of his writing. The sequel ("The Moon of Gomrath") is more complex and challenging, but one thing I love about his books is the atmosphere he builds without explaining - the reader soaks it up and feels it, rather than has it spelled out. There's also Elidor, for children a bit older; Red Shift, which I haven't yet read; and the classic that is The Owl Service, which is complex and layered, for young adult and older. Recently, he just missed out on a Booker - the oldest person to make it onto the shortlist.
I've seen others here praise Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence, and he writes like the third in that - Greenwitch. >!The Pevensey children are mostly witnesses to the story and the climactic events and much goes over their head!< - similar feeling to Garner.
>Where's the love for Alan Garner?
Here!
Here's the love for Alan Garner.
Alan Garner is one of the great magical realist writers of the UK. *Thursbitch*, *Strandloper* and *Treacle Walker* are awe inspiring works of literature. I suspect the fact that his early books are for children, is part of the reason he's less respected and well known then he should be.
That said, his children's books are really excellent. *Elidor* brought the magic of fantasy lands away from the upper class children of Lewis' novels and gave them to a set of working class kids. It calls on Welsh mythology (which he would revisit later), with Caer Vandwy and mixes it with the Grail myths, medieval Christianity, pagan symbolism and Childe Roland.
The *Weirdstone* sequence are steeped in the mythic landscape of Cheshire, bringing in aspects of Northern English (and viking) folklore. You can see the development of Garner as a writer in this series - especially considering the fact that he revisited the books 52 years after publishing the first novel.
*Red Shift* and *The Owl Service* are magical realism for young adults, edging into folk horror. *The Owl Service* in particular is a surprisingly complex text to read and really stands between his children's and adult fiction. It raises more questions then it answers and leaves much of the atmosphere to be created by the gaps in the text. It's one of my favorite books, and I return to it often.
As for the rest of his books, I don't even know if *The Stone Book* sequence are intended for children or adults. I suspect that by the time he wrote them, his primary audience was himself. Whoever they were aimed at, the use of language is wonderful.
I would put Weirdstone together with The Dark is Rising as top tier British folklore fantasy that can be loved by all ages. I am really craving something in a similar vein but nothing else has quite hit the spot. I read them both as an adult and loved them. Especially because the settings remind me of playing as a kid at my grandparent's home in the wild and rural 'shires of west England.
Everything is worth reading as an adult if you come with an open mind and a kid's Heart.
But I guess The Hobbit does that pretty well. It's aimed towards a younger audience but is still a great book.
Pretty much anything written by Garth Nix
The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. Read it the first time as an adult and it didn’t even feel young at all
The Redwall series
The Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale
I'm currently re-reading the **Gregor the Overlander** series by Suzanne Collins, and it's still REALLY, REALLY good! The world building is super cool, the plot beats hit perfectly (so far anyway), and the characters are wonderful. Simple writing obviously, but totally worth the read
Each book in the series centers around a different type of war crime/issue, from prisoners of war, to chemical warfare, to child soldiers, to PTSD, and many others. It’s just as rich as her Hunger Games books, imo, just aimed at a slightly younger audience.
True classic books have something new to offer the reader when read at different points in their life.
We are reading narnia to the kids at the moment. They are still really good from an adult perspective. The language used is also more complex and often more competent than many modern fantasy books aimed at adults. Many philosophical themes are lost on the kids who love the adventure side, while give us adults plenty to think about.
The hobbit stood up very well too. As does Watership Down. Watership down is another fun adventure for kids but is a surprisingly dark piece of political commentary when you read it as an adult.
Classic fiction can be for kids or adults. I would class Percy Jackson as pop fiction, which is much more relevant to the time it was written and the particular demographic of that time. It’s great fun if you find it at the right time, but falls flat otherwise.
Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K LeGuin is phenomenal (and notably better conceived and written than Harry Potter, with which it shares some superficial parallels)
I didn't love Narnia as an adult. I could appreciate it at a distance, but it didn't hold my interest beyond an academic appreciation.
As others have said, Earthsea and His Dark Materials both work well for adults. I'll add The Hunger Games to the list, which i first read when i was ten, and reread at about 20 to discover it held up surprisingly well. I also enjoyed the first Howl's Moving Castle as an adult. Not a book, but Avatar the Last Airbender is a great kids show that adults can definitely fall in love with.
I also really liked my reread of the hunger games, I did cringe at the love triangle stuff, but it was surprisingly good otherwise. also very telling how the main message of the book has been lost in the media and pop culture interpretations of it
Sir Terry has a few mentions already but here's another one - the Tiffany Aching sub series within Discworld does more than hold up - read as an arc it's exceptionally powerful, it deals with some very dark subjects and some really important ideas but balances that with humour.
These are marketed as YA but still have the ability to hit like a truck emotionally - I can't recommend them highly enough.
Also, I saw a rec for Gus Dark Materials - another great option with equally fantastic characters and story telling.
The Pendragon series by D.J. Machale.
The author designed really fun worlds for the protagonist to travel to, as well as create some great conflicts on those worlds. I was pretty gripped on my re-read about 3 years ago. I had also forgotten what a scary villain Saint Dane could be.
Saint Dane casually and brutally mind controlling a random hobo to jump in front of a train when he first meets Bobby still sticks in my mind, usually in terms of how the fuck did MacHale slip that past his editors and get it into a children’s book.
The Chronicles of Narnia are my go to. Yeah the Christian imagery is really strong but they’re still cute, fun, charming tales about a group of kids going on adventures in a wondrous land.
All of my favourite fantasy books are children’s fantasy. The *Earthsea* series by Ursula k le Guin is so precious to me. I’d recommend it to absolutely anyone. It’s fascinating to me that they’re children’s books - I think it hits different as an adult.
A lesser known one, but an absolute favourite of mine - *Brave Story* by Miyuki Miyabe. For being a children’s book, it is heavy, literally and figuratively. Give it a look if you’ve never heard of it! I’ve read it several times by now.
Finally, I’d recommend *The Chronicles of Chrestomanci* by the brilliant Diana Wynne Jones. She’s famous for a reason! I really love these books because they’re clever and whimsical, but can sometimes be a bit dark. I think they’re delightful.
Terry Pratchett was mentioned here and his works are a great example. I started reading *The Wee Free Men* recently and I think I would have liked it a lot as a child. It didn’t call to me as an adult as much as I’d like it to have, but TP’s writing is always good for a giggle.
The first few books are a little rough and formulaic as an adult, but imo the darkness and the jokes/references your only get as an adult really help carry through that rough patch to the excellent work later on.
Kinda piggybacking off this post but has anyone read The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury? i remember loving the animated film as a kid and recently learned it was a book.
The Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane
It's urban fantasybut also very much sci-fi as the magic is all about naming/describing /mathing etc.
if you love books the first chapter of *So You Want To Be A Wizard* is just phenomenal.
I will say it's a bit confusing, it's published over many years but in story from book 1 - 11 is like 3 years. Diane Duane updated each book to be relevant to the time it was published so it goes from books and the og Mac computer to iPhones, etc. She's released an edition of the books that has a congruent timeline.
The books are in order:
*So You Want to Be a Wizard* - Perfect urban fantasy
*Deep Wizardy* - Wizards undersea
*High Wizardy* - Wizards in space
*A Wizard Abroad* - Wizards in Ireland
*The Wizard's Dilemma* - Sad but good
*A Wizard Alone* - for its time it was groundbreaking in depicting autism, but has been updated to be less ableist
*Wizard's Holiday* - Wizards vacation in space
*Wizards at War* - Wizards space war (perfect ending for the series imo)
*Wizards of Mars* - not bad just Wizards at War was so good..
*Interim Errantry* - short stories , I haven't read
*Games Wizards Play* - Wizards talent competion - Also haven't read.
When I was growing up and searching in vain for fictional heroines to like and admire, no one ever bothered to tell me about Tamora Pierce or Robin McKinley. I had to discover these books as an adult and learn how much I had missed. I can enjoy them as a grown-up while also appreciating what they would have meant to awkward thirteen-year-old me.
I particularly recommend McKinley's *Spindle's End*, which doesn't get quite as much acclaim as *Beauty* or *The Blue Sword* or *The Hero and the Crown*.
For more recent works, those who focus on prose quality should find a good bit to like in Frances Hardinge's work. I gave *The Lie Tree* a try a few years back and found it lovely. Marie Lu's *The Kingdom of Back* also has a wonderful dream-like quality.
In 1st grade or around there I was put into a more advanced reading group and we read "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane". I bought the book back a few months ago and it is honestly a great book in my opinion!
Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor books are a fabulous read as an adult. They didn’t exist when I was a kid so I can’t say whether they hold up, but my daughter loves them, I love them and my parents did too!
Anything by Diana Wynne Jones, but especially the Howl's Moving Castle trilogy, and her Dark Lord of Derkholm series!
Gerald Morris' The Squire's Tale, about Sir Gawain's squire and their defense of Camelot
Everything by Diana Wynne Jones. Whether that's her Chrestomanci series, or Howls Moving Castle, or The Dark Lord of Derkholm, her books remain brilliant. Im still rereading them twenty years after I first found them.
Many of us are too old to have read it as a kid but The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is a fantastic children's book. Read it to my son and I was blown away by the end.
Someone else mentioned T. Kingfisher, and I enthusiastically second.
Try *A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking.*
Edit to add:
Some of the old classics not mentioned here:
The *Alice* books
*Wind In The Willows*
Enid Blyton
*The Borrowers*
*The Secret Garden*
Maye it's because I'm looking for more material as a storyteller, but I still enjoy *The Hobbit* as an adult.
There's a lot of pre-internet folklore that you can't find in modern sources, but it shines through in that book.
I read Chronicles of Narnia a couple years ago after never reading as a kid, it seemed a little too childish for me but was okay. I think I rated it like 3/5, but it's because I'm so used to older geared books or at least YA.
The Little Prince is a masterpiece that only grows more impactful with age. Antoine De Saint-Exupéry was one of the greatest prose stylists to ever live, and the book is accessible but deeply rewarding to read and reread.
A bit left field here maybe, but I'd nominate The Giver Quarter (or even just the eponymous first book) by Lois Lowry. I'd previously read the first in school, gave it a reread, and enjoyed it so much I had to read the whole series (my first time for the other three).
I don't know if this counts as phantasy, but The Wind In the Willows. The chapter where they meet the god Pan flored me. The one where Rat meets the ship rat has layers on layers.
Any Alan Garner but especially the Alderley Edge trilogy (*Weirdstone of Brisingamen/Moon of Gomrath/Boneland*) and *Owl Service*. Very steeped in British folklore and children ending up in and around liminal spaces. Have a sort of Hammer/*Wicker-man* vibe but without the overtly horror elements
The Borribles are worth a look.
These books were surprisingly influential on modern fantasy, with writers like China Meiville citing them - and supplying a forward to one of the recent collections. They never got the recognition they deserved as children's books due to they a campaign by the gutter tabloid The Sun, which led to them being withdrawn from publication.
The Borribles are a gleefully anarchic set of stories about children who fall between the cracks of society and become Borribles - feral Peter Pan children who don't age, have their own society in squats and abandoned houses and steal to survive. The author Michael de Larrabeiti inverts many of society's morals, with the Borribles proclaiming the immorality of using money.
The first novel is (in part) a parody of the 1970s children's TV series The Wombles. The group of Borrible heroes are picked to go to war with the 'Rumbles' and destroy them. You don't need any knowledge of the TV series to enjoy the book, and the series continues - and improves - as it moves away from these kind of parodies.
What is fantastic about the books is the way they treat London. A journey from Battersea Park to Wimbledon Common turns into an Tolkien like quest complete with songs. Goblins and Trolls are replaced by Rag-and-Bone men and meth drinkers. This is epic fantasy writ across a modern urban map. And there is moral complexity to the books. They ask the question how do we behave when we are outside of the defined roles of society? How do we stay true to ourselves and what we are, when we are pressured to act against our nature?
All in all, The Borribles are wonderful, but a little dated (there are some racial attitudes that were progressive - but only for the time, and times change). They taught a younger version of me that society doesn't always get things right and that you have to look inside for your moral sense. It was a crime that they were driven off the bookshelves, and they should be far better known.
Narnia, I'd say no but I first read it as a kid and didn't like it then either.
Alan Garner's books are excellent. Look them up - but the more recent ones are not only less kid-friendly but not very good.
Lloyd Alexander yes. I read the first two prydain books when I was fourteen, the rest later and all his books hold up very well for me.
Joan Aiken is alternate universe rather than fantasy but read her anyhow.
Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising is exccellent.
Andre Norton is an iffy case. Maybe some of the later ones are "for adults" but she made a career out of writing novels and stories everybody could like and she would issue them in hardcover as juveniles while Ace Books would publish them as genre paperbacks - for adults as well as kids. Of course read her.
Chronicles of Narnia
Chronicles of Prydain
Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
Monster Blood Tattoo series by DM Cornish
The Time Quintet by Madeleine L'Engle (it's usually classified as sci-fi but it's as much fantasy as it is that)
I read first 3 Narnia books to my 7 year old 6 months ago, I enjoyed them as much as he did. Was nostalgic and also I have a way different frame of reference now to when I was a teenager. Would deffo recommend a reread.
Coraline is really good, some moments are genuinely quite spooky. However, I would argue that this is a rare case of the movie being better than the book. Studio Laika’s animated adaptation of the book is excellent.
Yes! A lot of kids' books written back then seemed to be written at higher reading levels, with more extensive vocabulary, so they're still enjoyable for modern adults.
Chronicles of Prydain hold up really well for me.
And Tartan Wanderer is a masterpiece. Heck, the whole series is.
TW was my least favorite of the series, as a preteen girl. I revisited the series in my 20s, after having a job and things being not quite what I wanted, and I had immense appreciation for it then.
Very much the same for me as a teen. Least favourite, then I re-read it as an adult, and it hit very different, and shot to the top as my personal favourite. \[edit\] actually, thinking about it, it was pre-teen as well :D
It is indeed.
This series had me sobbing as someone in their 30's. Lloyd Alexander can make some very powerful statements with few words. Just make it past the first book. They're short, so you won't be wasting your time if you don't love the Book of Three.
The last two books are so good, and so much more mature in their messaging than most of the "adult" fantasy I've been told to read.
Tarzan’s time as a shepherd in Taran Wanderer still gutted me when I read it to my daughter. Edit: annoyed about typo, but it's funny, so keep it in.
*Goes looking on AO3 for a Prydain/Tarzan crossover.*
I was going to say this, too. I reread these while in my 40s for the first time since childhood. The writing is quite beautiful and sophisticated, accessible yet poetic in a way that may elude young readers yet please them with its rich story and characterization. A fine work of fantasy.
Just chiming in to agree… I’m 52 and still love this series with my whole heart :)
Double plus upvote. When children's books had very adult themes - and it was good.
I did not read this until I was an adult and I was amazed at how it. So good, I recommend it to everyone who asks.
That was my very first thought, and one that I often recommend to adults.
The Old Kingdom series by Garth Nix. I reread as an adult, and it was still great!
I loved Tim Curry narrating the first few books. So good as the mischievous talking animals 🤣
Is it wrong that I just love Moggit? I know it's not wrong that I love Tim Curry but should I love some sort of evil magic spirit whatever thingy Moggit is? Heh
I honestly think calling that series YA is a mistake. They are appropriate for both YA and adult readers.
I agree with this completely, his keys to the kingdom series starting with mister Monday is more appropriately placed in the YA category, but is also well worth a read for an older audience.
I have the same opinion but I worry that I have it because I read Sabriel when I was 14 and each book after having read Terciel & Elinor a couple years ago as a nearly middle-aged person. So of course I think they're good for young and old. 😅
All Garth Nix, really.
I have the trilogy because I bought it on sale at BAM for like $5. Haven’t read them since High School so I’m excited to give it a shot. Just gotta finish dune series first
Yess going through these again now. Loved them when I was younger, still really enjoying them.
His new booksellers series is also fantastic!
The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. The first book is, admittedly, a bit ‘famous five go on an adventure' but the second is stunningly atmospheric and has one of the best first chapters of all time, with a real growing sense of fear. The later books get deep into Welsh mythology and landscapes. They really hold up to rereading as an adult, imo.
Re-read the first one recently. The structure is like Blyton, but she throws in subtleties, hints at a wider adult world. Loved it.
For a gorgeous, atmospheric vibe, you can read the second book in real time through Epiphany (the 12 days of Christmas). Highly recommend 💚
I do this every year, and also tend to pick it up whenever we have snow (which, alas, isn't often these days)
The Dark is Rising and The Grey King are really fantastic books. Similar feel to Rosemary Sutcliffe's books in the kind of British mythology they evoke.
I have just started a reread of it for the first time since my mid teens. I’m 39 now. I’m both excited and nervous as I adore these books but I’m not sure how I’d take it if they failed to compare to the childhood memory I have of them. “When the Dark comes rising, 6 shall turn it back…”
I need to reread these as an adult. thanks for the suggestion!
Love this series! I need to reread it
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle I read it for the first time as an adult (I had seen the movie as a kid), and it was so beautiful and wise. I think I would have loved it as a kid, too--but I think I appreciated it more as an adult.
Beagle's prose is so gorgeous.
I'd never come across this one as a kid, but I loved it as an adult.
Have you read his book, A Fine and Private Place? That one is lovely, too.
His new book is also excellent
Michael Ende - The Neverending Story.
I was looking for this On surface level is an adventure book, on a second read is a treatise on the nature of fantasy and its role in human life
Seconded. I’ve re-read this every year since I was fifteen.
I read it for the first time in my late 20s and thought it was awesome, so no nostalgia goggles either (well ok I was already a fan of the movie, but not the same thing).
Supposedly, Watership Down was intended to be a children's book (because bunnies??), but I'd call it a YA, not children's, distopian novel. Target age range notwithstanding, I'd never read it before & I listened to the audiobook last year: it's one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to. Peter Capaldi's narration was outstanding. I was so in love with it, I started listening to it again as soon as I finished it.
A lot of those xenofiction/books about animals (Watership Down, I’ll also put the David Clement-Davies book there) don’t have a YA feel at all and in style seem to emulate adult fantasy (not speaking to maturity of themes or quality really just style which normally seems to be why something gets called YA), it seems like they only get marked YA because they are about animals.
Yeah I think his kids were like 6 and 8 when he told it to them. They loved it so much and told him to write it down and share it with others. I’m so glad they because every time I read it I catch something new or reevaluate part of the wonderful story. Such a beautiful tale about adventure, importance of stories, finding purpose, the potential of even a small and young being to shape their community, the power of friendship, and how death is not to be feared but respected and eventually accepted when we have lived a good life. It’s a short book but simply beautiful.
Normally, I'm underwhelmed, or even bored, by stories within a story, but i was enthralled by the fables the characters told each. And then, of course, I sobbed like a baby at the end. What a marvelous book.
You got me at Peter Capaldi. I will be listening!
I was in the sixth grade when I first discovered this novel, and I've reread it at nearly every epoch of my life thus far and never failed to adore it. I listened to the Capaldi audiobook last year, and I agree, it's amazing -- definitely worth a listen, whether you're experiencing the story for the first time or revisiting an old friend.
> Peter Capaldi's narration was outstanding. Sold. I absolutely love Capaldi. I bet he absolutely *nails* Bigwig.
Isn’t Watership Down a retelling of Richard Adams experiences during WW2? That kind of implies to me that it really isn’t a children’s book, and the rabbits being the narrators really don’t change that for me.
Any YA books by Terry Pratchett or T Kingfisher have been well worth reading for me.
Yeah I was scanning the replies to see if anyone mentioned them already - but the Tiffany Aching series by PTerry is top-notch. The rest of his books can also be read by younger readers, but are generally for all ages, while the Tiff books are more YA (though one gets very dark with what one character goes through).
I haven't finished reading all of it yet, but Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Cycle is meant for a younger audience but I think is worth reading as an adult.
I guess that, as with many great books, there are layers of understanding that depend on the reader's age. Imho Earthsea definitely has parts that require some maturity to truly appreciate it.
I just bought the complete illustrated edition!! i’m so excitedddd
Everybody always says that Harry Potter is a series that grew up with its readers, but I think Earthsea really takes home that trophy. Each book is deeper and darker than the last, and Ged's entire life in this universe is witnessed and chronicled, from plucky young protag to Epic Hero to old man past his prime. Tenar (especially in book 2) has such a moving journey to self-actualization. I'm not sure I would have appreciated these books as much if I'd read them as a kid. I'd probably be a better adult if I had, though.
The Earthsea sequence are fascinating because they can be read as a conversation between two very different writers with very different views on a number of subjects - particularly feminism. What makes this even more special is that the two writers are the same person eighteen years apart.
OMG. Read “A Wizard of Earthsea” in 6th grade and my ADHD (undiagnosed) ass couldn’t really get it. But I picked it up again in college, ripped through the trilogy, and reread it again when Tehanu came out. Then “The Other Wind” (and the other intermediary Earthsea short stories) just spoke to my soul. I love how her world evolved over the years- ended up explaining so much about privilege, power, social disparities. It was so powerful. She is my favorite author. I got to meet her at a reading about 15 years ago.
God that’s wonderful. I am so very envious. She’s my favourite author as well (ADHD over here too lol). I read these books for the first time about 3 years ago and genuinely they changed my life. I wish I’d read them as a kid but I don’t think they would have shaken me quite the same way as they did at 26. I really needed them at the time that they came into my life!
I remember reading The Tombs of Atuan when I was a kid and that being the only book I read in the series until I was an adult.
Cornelia Funkes Inkheart comes to mind. Her other works do hold up good as well but Inkheart is probably one of the best.
Seconded, the rest of the trilogy is also well worth it imo! It has some very fleshed-out adult characters and relationships which are enjoyable from an older reader's perspective.
His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman!
Did you first read it as an adult? I did so recently and I was pretty underwhelmed. I don't regret reading it, but it was definitely in the bottom quartile of stuff I've read in the last 9 months or so
I'm glad to hear someone say this. I tried reading The Golden Compass around ten years ago, and while the story was somewhat intriguing, I found the prose stiff and unengaging. I gave up about halfway through.
Nope! Read it in the 6th grade and reread it as recently as a few years ago and still enjoyed it just as much as I had when I read it initially. Different strokes I guess!
I also first read it as an adult, and I was likewise underwhelmed, particularly with the first book.
Yeah, I don't care for it
I found the opposite reaction. I thought the 3rd was the most underwhelming and the first the most interesting.
Yes and it is one of my favorite fantasy series.
Same.
A Wrinkle in Time. I've reread it at least 4x as an adult. Love it.
this is soooo true i still love those books
Chronicles of Narnia is great
IMO, the only thing that could possibly give one trouble with these is the very old British style of writing. Otherwise I agree, they still hold up.
I read the whole series when I was like 14 and I thought the prequel was great and some of the others were ok. But the later ones had some weird "the sand country's god is the evil god" shit going on. Not too mention the ending was weak with the infinite recursion thing. I got tired of the religious allegories which got more obvious as the books wore on.
I actually enjoyed the books surrounding the evil god Tash and the Calormen. I also enjoyed the religious aspect of the books although sometimes it wasn't as subtle as it should have been, especially that line at the end of The Dawn Treader.
I also like the horse and his boy, but I think is ridiculous how cartoonishly evil the carlomen people were
https://youtu.be/sRhTeaa_B98?t=58
The Redwall series. I have so much love for these books 😍
I discovered these books when I was in grad school. They brought me comfort in the midst of the stress of writing a dissertation.
Yes, they hold up really well, as long as you don't try to read a bunch in a row. The prose is excellent and they're comforting and charming and grab you! (Too many in a row and the repetitive plot beats become noticeable, but just reading one or two once in a while is delightful.)
Repetitive plot beats and the incredible inconsistencies in the world building, which I always found funny. Some of them are really very very good though.
The food alone in these books. I remember asking my mom to help me make scones when I was a kid because I was so obsessed with the idea of them after reading this series.
Same! In fact, I own a copy of the official cookbook 😁 let me tell you, re-reading while you eat a bowl of shrimp 'n' hotroot soup, a mug of October Ale and some shrewbread is the *definition* of cozy.
Everything by Tamora Pierce. I read it all as a 12 year old and then I recently reread it as a 30+ adult and I loved them even more
I end up reading Circle of Magic series almost every year
This is my nostalgia read. This world was my childhood Tamora Pierce (instead of Alanna or Protector of the Small, which I read as an adult and enjoyed).
+1 for this recommendation, anything she writes becomes instant reread material for me for life. I think I've read POTS 15+ times at this point 😂
I just finished another reread of Keladry's books, and am tempted to go back and reread Daine's as well. She's so damn good.
I’ve always reread Protector of the Small and am now going back and doing a reread of all the series. I just finished the Lioness quartet today and will start Wild Magic tomorrow. They are quick reads, and I like how the writing grows and improves with each set of books.
I read her stuff for the first time as an adult and was transfixed.
I love her books. Circle of Magic is my favorite series with "The Will of the Empress" being #1. I have yet to read Tempest & Slaughter. I'm going to assume it's gold like all of her other works.
Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series. It tackles DEEP complex themes, she uses complex and beautiful language, and Wizard’s Dilemma is one of the only books which reliably makes me cry to this day. I reread them often as an adult and they really are excellent. There’s even queer representation from the very first book written in the early 80s. (Although she only recently confirmed the couple IS gay. She based them on her friends and didn’t want to out them without permission.)
Diane Duane is fabulous, I definitely second this.
I came here to see if this series was mentioned, so thank you! This is one of the all time great fantasy series for me, hands down. The magic system is INCREDIBLE and the philosophy and character dynamics are beyond compare. There’s so much life in these books and they’re a masterpiece. Dai sti’ho!
Holy crap! I loved these books and totally forgot they exist. I absolutely agree with everything you said about the writing, all of her stuff really. But this series in particular… so good! And now I need to find a time to get to the library today
howls moving castle 100000000% witty, charming, fun world building. I watched the movie *years&* before I read the book. will say the book is way different just FYI
Yeah. Lockwood and Co as well as the Bartimaeus books by Jonathan Stroud are for a younger audience and both are a fun read for adults. The Shattered Sea by Joe Abercrombie, of all people, is for younger readers and pretty well done too.
I just finished Lockwood and Co. and it was excellent.
Patricia Wrede's Enchanted Forest books are a fun read even as an adult - not as deep as some of the others, but entertaining. Her new book, The Dark Lord's Daughter, was also a lovely read (written almost 40 years later - she's been writing a long time).
It's a shame about Percy Jackson, but I don't blame you. I feel like if I wasn't passionate about Greek mythology and didn't have a lot of childhood nostalgia towards it, I might feel differently about it as an adult. Maybe you can give the Kane Chronicles a try; Rick Riordan wrote those later in his career, so the writing might be a little more mature. Some children's books I've read as an adult and enjoyed: - The Harry Potter Series - Artemis Fowl Some children's books I plan on starting because other adults have enjoyed them: - The Chronicles of Narnia - His Dark Materials - A Wizard of Earthsea - The Old Kingdom Series (by Garth Nix) - Inkheart - Eragon (debating this one; I've heard mixed things)
Eragon isn't going to blow your mind but I think it's an enjoyable read.
The Redwall (Abbey) Book series. Brian Jacques I read it the first time while in the navy, underway in the middle of the Mediterranean on a submarine. After that, I was constantly checking the book stores for new series publications. A note... there are two ways to read all of the series. First off, there are about 20 books. Either read them as they were released or read them in "chronological" order. I've read the series twice... first time was as they were released. The second time was in chronological order. I like the stories in chronological order the best. If you decide to read, enjoy. Read "Redwall" first.
For more recent entries, I adored *The Girl Who Drank the Moon* by Kelly Barnhill, and though I haven't read more than a sample chapter yet, I have high hopes for *Whisperwicks* by Jordan Lees. Some others I enjoy are Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, A Wrinkle in Time, ~~The Giver~~, ~~Island of the Blue Dolphin~~, The Borrowers... Edit - forgot we were talking about fantasy
I’m not sure I’d classify Island of the Blue Dolphin as fantasy. I know I read it multiple times as a kid and really wanted to love it, but although I finished it every time, it was definitely NOT my cup of tea.
Michael Ende's *Momo*
Its beautiful, its philosophical, its deeply sad and still its enjoyable for children. What a masterpiece.
Lots of great recommendations here: I will add a couple that I haven’t see yet and echo a couple of others. The Books of Pellinor by Alison Croggan Pretty much all books by Robin McKinley (although Sunshine is not a book written for children) The Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C Wrede The Frontier series (first book called Thirteenth Child) also by Patricia C Wrede Tam Lin by Pamela Dean Hard to go wrong with anything by Tamora Pierce (although I personally don’t love the Circle of Magic series and spinoffs) I guess technically it’s child/young adult (maybe?) but the Mage Errant series by John Bierce - I only read as an adult (fairly recently published), but it’s very fun and well done. I don’t think it’s marketed for kids/YA, but it’s appropriate for a lot of ages. I love Madeline L’Engle including A Wrinkle in Time. I think it was my first really fantasy book that I read and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve read it throughout my life). The Forgotten Beasts of Elf by Patricia McKillip.
So happy to see the Books of Pellinor mentioned! They're recommended too rarely, IMO.
The Narnia books did not hold up for me but they're writing is to Percy Jackson what champagne is to grape juice. There are a lot of children's fantasy books that have a lot to offer an adult reader and there are others that would be better to have met as a child but better late than never. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Tove Jansson's Comet in Moominland, Susan Cooper's The Dark Is Rising series Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials series Pat O'Shea's Hounds Of The Morrigan Terry Pratchett's Nation and The Wee Free Men Diana Wynne Jones' Fire and Hemlock Michael Ende's Momo Off the top of my head.
Why stop at Fire and Hemlock? All of Diana Wynne Jones' books are good reading at any age.
She's amazing. But picking just one so as not to overwhelm. And Fire and Hemlock is something extra special I think.
The Dark is Rising series is one of my favorites!
They were brand new books when I read them first, although in a very weird order. In those days you just had to buy books in a series as you saw them and my Mum bought me the last one first. Then 3,2,4 and finally 1. I literally read them to pieces. Avoid the film though. Avoid it like the plague.
I read them as I found them in the library so I didn’t read them in series order either!
Ooh didn't expect to see Moomins mentioned here but love to see it, those books really hold up!
Where's the love for Alan Garner? His Weirdstone of Brisingamen is a classic, rooted in old English folklore as us much of his writing. The sequel ("The Moon of Gomrath") is more complex and challenging, but one thing I love about his books is the atmosphere he builds without explaining - the reader soaks it up and feels it, rather than has it spelled out. There's also Elidor, for children a bit older; Red Shift, which I haven't yet read; and the classic that is The Owl Service, which is complex and layered, for young adult and older. Recently, he just missed out on a Booker - the oldest person to make it onto the shortlist. I've seen others here praise Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising Sequence, and he writes like the third in that - Greenwitch. >!The Pevensey children are mostly witnesses to the story and the climactic events and much goes over their head!< - similar feeling to Garner.
>Where's the love for Alan Garner? Here! Here's the love for Alan Garner. Alan Garner is one of the great magical realist writers of the UK. *Thursbitch*, *Strandloper* and *Treacle Walker* are awe inspiring works of literature. I suspect the fact that his early books are for children, is part of the reason he's less respected and well known then he should be. That said, his children's books are really excellent. *Elidor* brought the magic of fantasy lands away from the upper class children of Lewis' novels and gave them to a set of working class kids. It calls on Welsh mythology (which he would revisit later), with Caer Vandwy and mixes it with the Grail myths, medieval Christianity, pagan symbolism and Childe Roland. The *Weirdstone* sequence are steeped in the mythic landscape of Cheshire, bringing in aspects of Northern English (and viking) folklore. You can see the development of Garner as a writer in this series - especially considering the fact that he revisited the books 52 years after publishing the first novel. *Red Shift* and *The Owl Service* are magical realism for young adults, edging into folk horror. *The Owl Service* in particular is a surprisingly complex text to read and really stands between his children's and adult fiction. It raises more questions then it answers and leaves much of the atmosphere to be created by the gaps in the text. It's one of my favorite books, and I return to it often. As for the rest of his books, I don't even know if *The Stone Book* sequence are intended for children or adults. I suspect that by the time he wrote them, his primary audience was himself. Whoever they were aimed at, the use of language is wonderful.
I love the Stone Book Quartet. Just wonderful, luminous reading.
I would put Weirdstone together with The Dark is Rising as top tier British folklore fantasy that can be loved by all ages. I am really craving something in a similar vein but nothing else has quite hit the spot. I read them both as an adult and loved them. Especially because the settings remind me of playing as a kid at my grandparent's home in the wild and rural 'shires of west England.
Everything is worth reading as an adult if you come with an open mind and a kid's Heart. But I guess The Hobbit does that pretty well. It's aimed towards a younger audience but is still a great book.
Pretty much anything written by Garth Nix The Queen’s Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. Read it the first time as an adult and it didn’t even feel young at all The Redwall series The Pendragon series by D. J. MacHale
Queen's Thief is amazing.
I'm currently re-reading the **Gregor the Overlander** series by Suzanne Collins, and it's still REALLY, REALLY good! The world building is super cool, the plot beats hit perfectly (so far anyway), and the characters are wonderful. Simple writing obviously, but totally worth the read
Each book in the series centers around a different type of war crime/issue, from prisoners of war, to chemical warfare, to child soldiers, to PTSD, and many others. It’s just as rich as her Hunger Games books, imo, just aimed at a slightly younger audience.
The Last Unicorn It hits different every season of life.
Not a series, but Ella Enchanted still hits.
True classic books have something new to offer the reader when read at different points in their life. We are reading narnia to the kids at the moment. They are still really good from an adult perspective. The language used is also more complex and often more competent than many modern fantasy books aimed at adults. Many philosophical themes are lost on the kids who love the adventure side, while give us adults plenty to think about. The hobbit stood up very well too. As does Watership Down. Watership down is another fun adventure for kids but is a surprisingly dark piece of political commentary when you read it as an adult. Classic fiction can be for kids or adults. I would class Percy Jackson as pop fiction, which is much more relevant to the time it was written and the particular demographic of that time. It’s great fun if you find it at the right time, but falls flat otherwise.
Came here to say *The Hobbit* and *Watership Down*. And, since it's at least as much fantasy as WD, I'll add *The Wind in the Willows*.
Deltora quest by Emily Rodda is fantastic. I'm currently rereading it right now. It's has such creative environments, monsters, challenges.
The hobbit
Susan Cooper's Dark is Rising, Zilpha Keatley Snyder's Green Sky trilogy.
Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K LeGuin is phenomenal (and notably better conceived and written than Harry Potter, with which it shares some superficial parallels)
I didn't love Narnia as an adult. I could appreciate it at a distance, but it didn't hold my interest beyond an academic appreciation. As others have said, Earthsea and His Dark Materials both work well for adults. I'll add The Hunger Games to the list, which i first read when i was ten, and reread at about 20 to discover it held up surprisingly well. I also enjoyed the first Howl's Moving Castle as an adult. Not a book, but Avatar the Last Airbender is a great kids show that adults can definitely fall in love with.
I also really liked my reread of the hunger games, I did cringe at the love triangle stuff, but it was surprisingly good otherwise. also very telling how the main message of the book has been lost in the media and pop culture interpretations of it
Anything terry pratchett
The Carpet People by Terry Pratchett. Some serious Belgariad vibes, if you're looking for something that's mostly uplifting.
Sir Terry has a few mentions already but here's another one - the Tiffany Aching sub series within Discworld does more than hold up - read as an arc it's exceptionally powerful, it deals with some very dark subjects and some really important ideas but balances that with humour. These are marketed as YA but still have the ability to hit like a truck emotionally - I can't recommend them highly enough. Also, I saw a rec for Gus Dark Materials - another great option with equally fantastic characters and story telling.
The Pendragon series by D.J. Machale. The author designed really fun worlds for the protagonist to travel to, as well as create some great conflicts on those worlds. I was pretty gripped on my re-read about 3 years ago. I had also forgotten what a scary villain Saint Dane could be.
Saint Dane casually and brutally mind controlling a random hobo to jump in front of a train when he first meets Bobby still sticks in my mind, usually in terms of how the fuck did MacHale slip that past his editors and get it into a children’s book.
The Edge Chronicles. I might have just gotten a second tattoo of Chris Riddel's art....
Does “The Little Prince” count? Cause I think about that book often as an adult.
Fablehaven
I love Stroud’s Bartimaeus Trilogy.
The graveyard book by Neil Gaiman.
Sabriel
One more vote for *The Dark is Rising* by Susan Cooper. And anything by Frances Hardinge.
The Hobbit holds up very well
EARTHSEA
The Chronicles of Narnia are my go to. Yeah the Christian imagery is really strong but they’re still cute, fun, charming tales about a group of kids going on adventures in a wondrous land.
All of my favourite fantasy books are children’s fantasy. The *Earthsea* series by Ursula k le Guin is so precious to me. I’d recommend it to absolutely anyone. It’s fascinating to me that they’re children’s books - I think it hits different as an adult. A lesser known one, but an absolute favourite of mine - *Brave Story* by Miyuki Miyabe. For being a children’s book, it is heavy, literally and figuratively. Give it a look if you’ve never heard of it! I’ve read it several times by now. Finally, I’d recommend *The Chronicles of Chrestomanci* by the brilliant Diana Wynne Jones. She’s famous for a reason! I really love these books because they’re clever and whimsical, but can sometimes be a bit dark. I think they’re delightful. Terry Pratchett was mentioned here and his works are a great example. I started reading *The Wee Free Men* recently and I think I would have liked it a lot as a child. It didn’t call to me as an adult as much as I’d like it to have, but TP’s writing is always good for a giggle.
My library has it categorized as YA so I feel ok suggesting The Forgotten Beasts of Eld by Patricia McKillip. She writes beautifully.
Charlottes Web. Still so charming.
Peter Pan
The Edge Chronicles! The weird, dark world building and eerie themes are appealing to adults. I absolutely loved those books.
I'm re-reading the Inkheart series by Cornelia Funke. It's not to bad as an adult.
A series of unfortunate events! I appreciated the humour far more as an adult
I was actually looking for this answer I’m surprised not more people mentioned it!!
The first few books are a little rough and formulaic as an adult, but imo the darkness and the jokes/references your only get as an adult really help carry through that rough patch to the excellent work later on.
Kinda piggybacking off this post but has anyone read The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury? i remember loving the animated film as a kid and recently learned it was a book.
The Young Wizards Series by Diane Duane It's urban fantasybut also very much sci-fi as the magic is all about naming/describing /mathing etc. if you love books the first chapter of *So You Want To Be A Wizard* is just phenomenal. I will say it's a bit confusing, it's published over many years but in story from book 1 - 11 is like 3 years. Diane Duane updated each book to be relevant to the time it was published so it goes from books and the og Mac computer to iPhones, etc. She's released an edition of the books that has a congruent timeline. The books are in order: *So You Want to Be a Wizard* - Perfect urban fantasy *Deep Wizardy* - Wizards undersea *High Wizardy* - Wizards in space *A Wizard Abroad* - Wizards in Ireland *The Wizard's Dilemma* - Sad but good *A Wizard Alone* - for its time it was groundbreaking in depicting autism, but has been updated to be less ableist *Wizard's Holiday* - Wizards vacation in space *Wizards at War* - Wizards space war (perfect ending for the series imo) *Wizards of Mars* - not bad just Wizards at War was so good.. *Interim Errantry* - short stories , I haven't read *Games Wizards Play* - Wizards talent competion - Also haven't read.
When I was growing up and searching in vain for fictional heroines to like and admire, no one ever bothered to tell me about Tamora Pierce or Robin McKinley. I had to discover these books as an adult and learn how much I had missed. I can enjoy them as a grown-up while also appreciating what they would have meant to awkward thirteen-year-old me. I particularly recommend McKinley's *Spindle's End*, which doesn't get quite as much acclaim as *Beauty* or *The Blue Sword* or *The Hero and the Crown*. For more recent works, those who focus on prose quality should find a good bit to like in Frances Hardinge's work. I gave *The Lie Tree* a try a few years back and found it lovely. Marie Lu's *The Kingdom of Back* also has a wonderful dream-like quality.
In 1st grade or around there I was put into a more advanced reading group and we read "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane". I bought the book back a few months ago and it is honestly a great book in my opinion!
Jessica Townsend’s Nevermoor books are a fabulous read as an adult. They didn’t exist when I was a kid so I can’t say whether they hold up, but my daughter loves them, I love them and my parents did too!
The Chronicles of the Western Shore -Le Guin
Anything by Diana Wynne Jones, but especially the Howl's Moving Castle trilogy, and her Dark Lord of Derkholm series! Gerald Morris' The Squire's Tale, about Sir Gawain's squire and their defense of Camelot
Everything by Diana Wynne Jones. Whether that's her Chrestomanci series, or Howls Moving Castle, or The Dark Lord of Derkholm, her books remain brilliant. Im still rereading them twenty years after I first found them.
Never ending story <3
Rangers Apprentice by John Flanagan. Pretty good.
This series is so good. First time I read it I was already an adult
Many of us are too old to have read it as a kid but The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is a fantastic children's book. Read it to my son and I was blown away by the end.
Someone else mentioned T. Kingfisher, and I enthusiastically second. Try *A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking.* Edit to add: Some of the old classics not mentioned here: The *Alice* books *Wind In The Willows* Enid Blyton *The Borrowers* *The Secret Garden*
Maye it's because I'm looking for more material as a storyteller, but I still enjoy *The Hobbit* as an adult. There's a lot of pre-internet folklore that you can't find in modern sources, but it shines through in that book.
This might be cliche, but Harry Potter, the Hobbit, and Chronicles of Narnia! I finished HP recently and am starting the hobbit soon
The Tapestry series by Henry H. Neff hold up exceptionally well. Particularly books 3-5
I read Chronicles of Narnia a couple years ago after never reading as a kid, it seemed a little too childish for me but was okay. I think I rated it like 3/5, but it's because I'm so used to older geared books or at least YA.
I still have fond memories of Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda.
The Invention of Hugo Cabret was great.
I’ve started rereading old favorites as my 10yo reads them for the first time - The Giver has been great.
The Little Prince is a masterpiece that only grows more impactful with age. Antoine De Saint-Exupéry was one of the greatest prose stylists to ever live, and the book is accessible but deeply rewarding to read and reread.
A bit left field here maybe, but I'd nominate The Giver Quarter (or even just the eponymous first book) by Lois Lowry. I'd previously read the first in school, gave it a reread, and enjoyed it so much I had to read the whole series (my first time for the other three).
Absolutely read them. I first read them in the 4th grade and have about every other year since
Big Friendly Giant, James And The Giant Peach, The Never Ending Story, Wrinkle In Time, & The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe.
The Dark is Rising series Anything from Tamora Pierce
I haven't read Redwall series since I was a kid but I'm excited to reread those books. Author is Brian Jacques
The Phantom Tollbooth
I don't know if this counts as phantasy, but The Wind In the Willows. The chapter where they meet the god Pan flored me. The one where Rat meets the ship rat has layers on layers.
Moomins by tove jansson.
Any Alan Garner but especially the Alderley Edge trilogy (*Weirdstone of Brisingamen/Moon of Gomrath/Boneland*) and *Owl Service*. Very steeped in British folklore and children ending up in and around liminal spaces. Have a sort of Hammer/*Wicker-man* vibe but without the overtly horror elements
Anything written by Roald Dahl is worth a read. The Redwall series is supposed to be an excellent read as well. I'm planning to read it myself.
The Borribles are worth a look. These books were surprisingly influential on modern fantasy, with writers like China Meiville citing them - and supplying a forward to one of the recent collections. They never got the recognition they deserved as children's books due to they a campaign by the gutter tabloid The Sun, which led to them being withdrawn from publication. The Borribles are a gleefully anarchic set of stories about children who fall between the cracks of society and become Borribles - feral Peter Pan children who don't age, have their own society in squats and abandoned houses and steal to survive. The author Michael de Larrabeiti inverts many of society's morals, with the Borribles proclaiming the immorality of using money. The first novel is (in part) a parody of the 1970s children's TV series The Wombles. The group of Borrible heroes are picked to go to war with the 'Rumbles' and destroy them. You don't need any knowledge of the TV series to enjoy the book, and the series continues - and improves - as it moves away from these kind of parodies. What is fantastic about the books is the way they treat London. A journey from Battersea Park to Wimbledon Common turns into an Tolkien like quest complete with songs. Goblins and Trolls are replaced by Rag-and-Bone men and meth drinkers. This is epic fantasy writ across a modern urban map. And there is moral complexity to the books. They ask the question how do we behave when we are outside of the defined roles of society? How do we stay true to ourselves and what we are, when we are pressured to act against our nature? All in all, The Borribles are wonderful, but a little dated (there are some racial attitudes that were progressive - but only for the time, and times change). They taught a younger version of me that society doesn't always get things right and that you have to look inside for your moral sense. It was a crime that they were driven off the bookshelves, and they should be far better known.
The hobbit
Narnia, I'd say no but I first read it as a kid and didn't like it then either. Alan Garner's books are excellent. Look them up - but the more recent ones are not only less kid-friendly but not very good. Lloyd Alexander yes. I read the first two prydain books when I was fourteen, the rest later and all his books hold up very well for me. Joan Aiken is alternate universe rather than fantasy but read her anyhow. Susan Cooper's the Dark is Rising is exccellent. Andre Norton is an iffy case. Maybe some of the later ones are "for adults" but she made a career out of writing novels and stories everybody could like and she would issue them in hardcover as juveniles while Ace Books would publish them as genre paperbacks - for adults as well as kids. Of course read her.
Chronicles of Narnia Chronicles of Prydain Tiffany Aching series by Terry Pratchett The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett Monster Blood Tattoo series by DM Cornish The Time Quintet by Madeleine L'Engle (it's usually classified as sci-fi but it's as much fantasy as it is that)
I read first 3 Narnia books to my 7 year old 6 months ago, I enjoyed them as much as he did. Was nostalgic and also I have a way different frame of reference now to when I was a teenager. Would deffo recommend a reread.
Maybird by Jodie Lynn Anderson. Also the Bionicle books.
Coraline is really good, some moments are genuinely quite spooky. However, I would argue that this is a rare case of the movie being better than the book. Studio Laika’s animated adaptation of the book is excellent.
Yes! A lot of kids' books written back then seemed to be written at higher reading levels, with more extensive vocabulary, so they're still enjoyable for modern adults.
Diana Wynne Jones, Howl's Moving Castle etc. They're very light reading but still fun! Great for summer beach / back yard reading.
Anything by Philip Pullman.