Books like The Great Good Thing — picked by fans

Ursula K. LeGuin was the first writer who taught me that words can transport you not just into other worlds, but into other people. In this book, she continues the story of Tenar, the escaped priestess of the Wizard of Earthsea series, as she adopts and cares for a brutalized child. Of all the Earthsea books, this one is my favorite for the way in which LeGuin takes the seemingly mundane details of Tenar’s life as she struggles to protect Tehanu and turns them into something deeper and more profound than even the magic her companion Ged wielded as the great wizard leader in the earlier books in the series. 

I was quickly captivated by the story of Princess Ani and her magical gift of animal speak. I related to her insecurity of being an outcast, feeling different, and finding refuge within the natural world. Her fast-paced story engages with both colorful and menacing characters as she confronts parental conflict, loss, betrayal, and true love.

Inspirational to read as she faced these challenging obstacles and evolved into self-acceptance, realizing that her differences and gifts were actually her greatest allies. This story explores bonds to animals and nature, parental conflict, betrayal, determination, insecurities around being different, acceptance, and listening to one’s inner voice.

I had never heard of the capaill uisce, the malevolent water-horses of Celtic folklore, before reading The Scorpio Races.

These creatures are magnificent, but also, as I’ve said, malicious. I just think that combination is so interesting!

We love horses; we love magical creatures; but these are something else again—mythical creatures that reflect the complexity of life in this world.

Anyway, Stiefvater makes the most of this rich tradition in a stunningly beautiful young adult novel about love, about courage, about conflicting loyalties, about dreams of glory, about the challenges of survival versus the claims of integrity. And a thrilling race!

This is one of my very favorite water-creature stories. Unforgettable!

Magical doors that appear out of nowhere, a fantastical book that may not be fiction, some truly sketchy villains, a quest, and an intrepid heroine.

The author had me at fantastical book, but what I love about this novel is the world and character building, that feeling of opening the cover and being somewhere that has nothing to do with ordinary life.

And yet, there is mystery. And romance. A lost father. A daring daughter. You’ll want to race through it, but slow down at the same time, just to savor the ride.

Elizabeth Knox is a world-class writer with an exceptional imagination and her fantasy novel, Dreamhunter, is a great introduction to her work. Set in an alternative past, dreamhunters harvest dreams which are transmitted to the public for entertainment and therapy – or worse. Fifteen-year-old Laura Hame must enter The Place of Dreams to uncover what happened to her missing dreamhunter father and in the process reveals how the government has used dreams to control an ever-growing population of convicts and political dissenters. Those who love Philip Pullman or Garth Nix won’t be disappointed.

The Dragon and the Stone is something that I very much want to share with my children when they grow older.

As an adult I enjoyed the creativity and sense of wonder that marked many of the stories I read and heard as a youth.

I was delighted by the beautiful fantasy that Kathryn created. I found myself getting lost in her words in the most wonderful way.

This is exactly what fantasy strives to be.

I’ve read all of this author’s work and the Rushed series is my favourite because although it’s a sinister paranormal fantasy, it is filled with humour. The world-building for each book is amazing – certainly daunting and nasty in parts, yet believable.

There are remarks in reviews that it’s confusing and weird, so maybe you have to be odd to understand and appreciate it. I did, so I must be.

Set in a Mesoamerican-inspired world, The Lost Dreamer is seeped in Latin culture and tradition.

Everything about this novel reaches deep into my soul and makes me feel more connected to my land and my ancestors. The magic system feels more organic and earth-bound, closer to shamanism than depictions of magic in more modern fantasy novels and I loved it.

The novel follows two courageous and strong Latin women with gifts - a Dream Walker and a Seer. Individually we see them learn to fight for themselves, and for the land and lives they love. The queerness in this novel is intrinsic to the world and story, characters able to be themselves without question or oppression. (At least, not oppression due to their sexuality - which I appreciated!)

The Dream Master was originally published in Amazing (Jan/Feb 1965) titled, He Who Shapes. The novella won Roger Zelazny a Nebula Award in 1966. I have re-read this novel several times over the years, and subconsciously I think it influenced the premise for Dream Phaze. Some of the tech is a little outdated by today’s terms, but the overall idea is still fresh.

Thomas Ligotti is one of the few writers whose work genuinely, profoundly scares me. His vision is underscored by an all-too-convincing commitment to pessimistic philosophy (which is accessibly detailed in his 2010 book The Conspiracy Against the Human Race). Songs of a Dead Dreamer is haunted by the philosophical outlooks of E. M. Cioran, Arthur Schopenhauer, H. P. Lovecraft, and Edgar Allan Poe, but Ligotti’s fixation on marionettes, dolls, and the illusory nature of human agency is singular and distinctive. This is a masterpiece of existentially disturbing dark literature.