Series

Books like Phantastes: 9 series to read next

Phantastes is fantasy and mythic fantasy, about quests, set in fairyland, reflective in register. The 9 series below are ranked by how much of that they share — each card says which parts.

Phantastes is 4 books, 1858–2019.

The Phantastes page →Narrow this list →

Fairyland
Tolkien's legendarium
Earthsea
The Last Unicorn
Where the Mountain Meets the Moon Universe
The Quest of the Riddle-Master
The Sea of Trolls
Tamisin
Coloured Fairy Books

FairylandSeries

seriesCatherynne M. Valente7 books2009

Portal fantasy, adventurous in tone, about coming of age.

“The novels follow a 12-year-old girl named September as she is spirited away from her average life to Fairyland.”
from the catalogue description
Wikipedia CC BY-SA 4.0

Start with The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making →

Tolkien's legendariumUniverse

universe163 books1923

Set in secondary world.

“Before the seas were bent and the mountains raised, there was Music — and from that Music came Arda, and in the west of Middle-earth the long defeat and stubborn hope of those who dwell there.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

EarthseaUniverse

universe19 books1964

Epic fantasy, about wizards, set in secondary world.

“There is a lesson every wizard of Earthsea learns young: to know a thing's true name is to hold its whole being, and to speak it is to move the balance of the world.”
from the catalogue description

Reading order →

The Last UnicornSeries

seriesPeter S. Beagle8 books1968

Bittersweet in tone, set in secondary world.

“The Last Unicorn is Peter S. Beagle's 1968 fantasy novel about a unicorn who, believing herself the last of her kind, sets out to learn what became of the others.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Last Unicorn →

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon UniverseSeries

seriesGrace Lin3 books2009

Hopeful in tone, about coming of age, set in secondary world.

Start with Where the Mountain Meets the Moon →

The Quest of the Riddle-MasterSeries

seriesPatricia A. McKillip3 books1976

Epic fantasy, adventurous in tone, set in secondary world.

“Drawing on Celtic myth, the three books are prized for their lyrical prose and riddle-based magic, and are often cited among the best high fantasy of the 1970s.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Riddle-Master of Hed →

The Sea of TrollsSeries

seriesNancy Farmer3 books2004

Adventurous in tone, about coming of age, set in secondary world.

“Nancy Farmer's trilogy, continuing through The Land of the Silver Apples and The Islands of the Blessed, sends Jack further into Norse myth, eventually as far as the realm of the giants, Jötunheimr.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Sea of Trolls →

TamisinSeries

seriesE. D. Baker2 books1995

Portal fantasy.

“When Tamisin Warner's swim coach sends her home with something sprouting from her back, she feels more mortified than magical.”
from the catalogue description of Fairy Wings

Start with Fairy Wings →

Coloured Fairy BooksSeries

seriesAndrew Lang & Anatole France13 books1883

Fairy tale retelling, set in our world.

“Compiled with his wife Leonora Blanche Lang, the series collects nearly 800 stories in all and did much to establish fairy tales as a respected part of children's literature, inspiring many later imitators.”
from the catalogue description

Start with The Blue Fairy Book →

Why these

No sales rank, no star ratings, no readers also bought.

Shared terms are not a promise that a book feels the same. Two series can be far-future political intrigue and read nothing alike — what the ranking can say is what they are about, and each card says which parts it shares.

Questions readers ask

What should I read after Phantastes?: Fairyland — the closest match to Phantastes on what it is about, not on what sells.
Where do I start with Phantastes?: Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women. It is the entry the catalogue recommends for Phantastes.
How big is Phantastes?: Phantastes is 4 books, 1858–2019.

Books like Phantastes: 9 series to read next

Read next in Phantastes

Why these

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