More like The Afterward

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Tolkien's legendariumUniverse
universe163 books1923
Fantasy, 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
Start with The Fellowship of the Ring →
includes The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The History of Middle Earth, The Fall of Gondolin, The History of the Lord of the Rings
EarthseaUniverse
universe19 books1964
Epic fantasy, reflective in tone, about wizards.
“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
The Last UnicornSeries
series8 books1968
Fantasy, bittersweet in tone, about quests, 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
Start with The Last Unicorn →
FolktalesSeries
series3 books1978
Fairy tale retelling.
“Almost 20 years later, McKinley returned to the same material with her 1997 novel Rose Daughter.”
from the catalogue
Start with Beauty →
The Princess and the GoblinSeries
series2 books1871
completed
Adventurous in tone.
“Strahan had published the story and illustrations as a serial in the monthly magazine Good Words for the Young, beginning November 1870.”
from the catalogue
Start with The Princess and the Goblin →
A Court of Thorns and RosesSeries
series6 books2015
Romantasy, about fae.
“There are currently five novels in the series, with the sixth scheduled to release on October 27, 2026, and the seventh on January 12, 2027.”
from the catalogue
Start with A Court of Thorns and Roses →