Do you remember the lessons your parents taught you as a child? Not on science, history or math, but on values and morals? They read you those fairy tales, fables and books, always with a wholesome message in the end. But did you ever grow out of them? Are these stories still relevant to you as you have grown older?
The fact is, as we mature, emotions become more complex, relationships become significantly harder to navigate, and we have to deal with identity crises, existential crises, and a whole host of other such problems about finding our roles and purposes in the world. Fantasy books and the realms in which they dwell can help us understand these subtler ideas in the same way those children’s fairy tales taught us the basics. Instead of listening to the advice of self-proclaimed self-help experts, reading the classics and following along on a character’s journey to grow and change, can show you who you want to be, and how you can achieve it. Stories when plotted well and filled with deep characters are much more open to our own interpretations and contain many lessons worth absorbing.
Fantasy also provides a sense of immersion that other genres do not. Why else do hundreds of dedicated fandoms exist? These imaginary worlds can exaggerate and personify the important questions of life in a way that reality simply cannot. Also, they’re super fun.
If you’re like me you also enjoy the good fantasy read! Here are some of the fantasy books/series that have deeply affected me, and I think are really worth your time.
The Stormlight Archive – Brandon Sanderson
The series has really helped me understand what thinking about the bigger picture means. There is a literal scene wherein the protagonist flies over the world, and sees everything, how a war in the north would not even be known to the farmers in the south. And then he starts to begin to think about what he is doing and why. Furthermore, the fantastical aspects act as a form of exaggeration, and allows complex societal issues like racism, slavery, and more to really come through.
Aside from what it discusses, the series also teaches important lessons, like the quote below. It also talks about honor, glory, and so many other things a lot of people think are worth seeking. And it’s just a great story, with a super immersive world, which is worth the commitment.
“Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination.”
Knights Radiant
Raven’s Shadow – Anthony Ryan
The series starts with a young boy who is left to the Brother’s of the Sixth order, tasked with protecting the realm. As he grows up and becomes a great warrior, he earns the kings favor, and is tasked with leading certain conquests. He rises to the occasion and is extremely proud and determined to his life’s cause. But that doesn’t last long, as time passes he eventually was disillusioned to the realities of his cause. When honor stopped being something that he should strive for, but rather something people say to justify their actions.
As he deals with the aftermath of those realizations. He learns a lot about himself, and we have a lot to learn from him. His actions afterwards show this complete change in character, one that is tangible and insightful.
“Time is as much a delusion as your faith, brother. To look into the void is to see the vastness and smallness of everything at once, in an instant of terror and wonder.”
The Witch’s Bastard
The Kingkiller Chronicles – Patrick Rothfuss
I have to say that if I had to pick any one of the series it would have to be this one. I really don’t know where to start. It talks about a young boy who’s part of a wandering troupe, and once tragedy strikes, his whole world goes awry. For months he spends his time with his lute, and this phase of the book talks about art and taught me a lot about what it really is. Eventually as all of his strings break, he travels to a large city. Wherein he is forced to live on the streets for years.
An important thing to mention is that it is a retelling of his story to a chronicler, and within the story he comments on his thoughts during the time, as a retrospective. It provides this sense of immersion and engagement to the story, but every so often there’d be hints of foreshadowing, how tragedy would strike, or even a retrospective comment about his mindset, and that just allowed me to see the bigger picture.
Later on, the character travels to The University, wherein magic is taught as a science. And over here you learn stories of his commitment, being extremely poor compared to the rest, how he has to save up on every penny, and how he has to rise up the ranks quickly to start earning. I’ve told a lot more about this series compared to the previous ones, and that’s because it encompasses a lot of different aspects of life. And unlike the others, it’s mostly told from a single perspective. But the retelling makes it almost as if there is a higher being narrating it, who understands what others are thinking, even when the main character is oblivious to it.
“It’s the questions we can’t answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he’ll look for his own answers.”
Kvothe
Final Thoughts
These books are really worth the read. Personally, I’ve been waiting for 11 years for some of their sequels. And I don’t hate the authors because I know they’re going to be worth every second of the wait. Part of their beauty is that the authors almost mess with your feelings, and at times they made me root for the antagonists. Above all, they have truly changed the way I perceive the world, and have taught me countless lessons which I have never forgotten.
“I want to read books full of people being awesome. You can go too far. You can become unrealistic. But I think the fear of writing someone too perfect or too cool leads to a lot of godawful fucking books. If I wanted to watch people sucking and being dumb, I would just spend all my time on Twitter.”
Patrick Rothfuss
The Candid Contrarian 