Find your next SF/F read by mood

universe19 books1964

Epic fantasy, reflective in tone, 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

Start with A Wizard of Earthsea →

includes Earthsea Cycle

His Dark MaterialsUniverse

universe13 books1995

About coming of age, set in parallel universe.

“In a world like ours and unlike it, every human soul walks outside the body in the shape of an animal — a daemon, who speaks, who cannot be lied to, and who settles into one fixed form only when childhood ends.”
from the catalogue

Start with Northern Lights →

includes His Dark Materials, The Book of Dust

Howl's CastleSeries

series3 books1986

completed

Whimsical in tone, set in secondary world.

Start with Howl's Moving Castle →

The Quest of the Riddle-MasterSeries

series3 books1976

completed

Epic fantasy, about quests, 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

Start with The Riddle-Master of Hed →

TortallUniverse

universe25 books1983

About coming of age, set in secondary world.

“In Tortall she does it anyway — and earns the right the hard way, through bruises, cold mornings in the training yard, and the slow winning-over of people who swore she'd fail.”
from the catalogue

Start with Alanna: The First Adventure →

includes Song of the Lioness, The Immortals, Protector of the Small, Beka Cooper / Provost's Dog, Daughter of the Lioness, The Numair Chronicles

DamarSeries

series6 books1982

About coming of age, set in secondary world.

“Robin McKinley's Damar novels are set in a desert kingdom threatened by invasion from the north.”
from the catalogue

Start with The Hero and the Crown →

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