Saw this over at Jessticulates when Wyrd & Wonder linked to it and thought it would be a fun tag to fill out. How have I not seen this tag before? Anywho, this was originally created by Bree Hill as the Get to Know the Romance Reader Tag, and The Book Pusher adapted it for fantasy readers.
1. What is your fantasy origin story? (The first fantasy novel you read)
I’m not 100% sure but I’m fairly sure it was The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and the other Narnia books based on how obsessed with Aslan I was in elementary school. If you count other kinds of fantasy which most children’s books are the probably The Velveteen Rabbit which is fantasy in the same way that Toy Story is fantasy….
2. If you could be the hero/heroine in a fantasy novel, who would be the author and what’s one trope you’d insist be in the story?
Well, I’d LOVE to be the heroine (or hero tbh) in a Margaret Rogerson book. Her characters have lovely and scary adventures that usually seem to turn out okay in the end. Also there’s always a good romance. As for tropes….I’m a fan of love conquers all if done well. 😉
3. What is a fantasy you’ve read this year, that you want more people to read?
This is tough because I feel like I haven’t read a ton of stuff this year that I want to gush about. This year has been weird. I’m going to talk about a book I read last year that I recently read the sequel to (which comes out later this year). Silver in the Wood by Emily Tesh. That book is so amazing. It’s a lovely romance but also a dark fairy tale dealing with weird old folk magic and nature and I love everything about that book.
4. What is your favourite fantasy subgenre? What subgenre have you not read much from?
It’s got to be a tie between Urban Fantasy and Fantasy Romance. I love both of them a lot and will always read them! As for something I haven’t read a lot of…New Weird. I want to read more of it! I like weird stuff! Another one I haven’t read a lot of is Grimdark, and I don’t know that I would purposefully seek out true Grimdark because I don’t like things that are dark for the sake of being dark, or things that are nihilistic.
5. Who is one of your auto-buy fantasy authors?
So many! Stephanie Burgis, for sure. Melissa Caruso. Rebecca Roanhorse. Kate Elliott. Carol Berg (as Cate Glass as well) although (as with Kate) I do still have to read a lot of her backlist.
6. How do you typically find fantasy recommendations? (Goodreads, Youtube, Podcasts, Instagram..)
Reading other blogs these days, but also Twitter and reddit as well, I’m a moderator of the r/fantasy subreddit. When I first started hanging out there years ago my TBR probably grew five-fold.
7. What is an upcoming fantasy release you’re excited for?
Again, there are a lot. There are two final books in series coming out this year that I’m DYING for–The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty and The Burning God by R.F. Kuang.
8. What is one misconception about fantasy you would like to lay to rest?
That it’s not all Tolkien derivative. It’s not all based on some fantasy version of medieval Europe featuring different classes of characters like a D&D campaign. There’s a TON of subgenres and such a variety of stories being told!
9. If someone had never read a fantasy before and asked you to recommend the first 3 books that come to mind as places to start, what would those recommendations be?
Well see, this is a trick question! I would ask them first what other books they like to read and tailor the recommendations accordingly. If they like giant historical epics like Ken Follett I may recommend some giant Epic Fantasy tome like Lord of the Rings or Priory of the Orange Tree or maybe something by Guy Gavriel Kay. If they like mystery than I might say to check out The Dresden Files or maybe the Vicki Nelson books by Tanya Huff. Romance? Cool, check out Stephanie Burgis’ books or maybe J. Kathleen Cheney’s work. It really all depends what they’re looking for in a story and the thing with Fantasy is that it’s SUCH a wide genre encompassing so many other types of stories, I would never say ‘read these three things’ because it might not be what they’re in to! I also think this is where a lot of fantasy fans go wrong trying to get others into fantasy…we’re enthusiastic about what we love but we don’t always take other people’s tastes into account when we’re recommending things. 🙂
10. Who is the most recent fantasy reading content creator you came across that you’d like to shoutout?
Sammie over at The Bookwyrm’s Den – she’s awesome! Go read her blog!
And that’s it! Not tagging anyone but if you want to fill this one out, please consider yourself tagged. 🙂
Way Too Fantasy 
Loved reading your answers! WIll look up Silver in the wood now 🙂
(www.evelynreads.com)
It’s soooo good, I hope you get a chance to check it out!
I love urban fantasy too but I just don’t read enough of it. This is one tag I’m considering as well!
I go through phase with urban fantasy, it feels like. This was a fun one to fill out, definitely recommend it. 🙂
Enjoyed reading your answers.
I recently completed Drowned Country and enjoyed it more than Silver in the Wood. I think it might be because I like Silver more as a protag. He’s more chatty, lol.
Have you ever tried anything by Lynn Kurland? I saw one of her Nine Kingdoms books on Book Outlet last night when I was trying not to buy books and it made me curious about her work.
Silver was very fun as the protag–he’s such a drama queen, I love him. I do love Tobias though! I think it’s hard to get a read on Tobias if the story isn’t from his POV because he’s so. damn. quiet. LOL.
I used to LOVE Lynn Kurland back when I first started reading romance about…20? years ago–she was one of my first favorite romance authors! Looking back now, her stuff got very ‘same-y’ though (romance is already kind of formulaic as is) and her first time travel romance is super derivative of Outlander. I keep meaning to check out her Nine Kingdoms series (I picked up the first one) but can never seem to find the time or motivation lol.
He was lol! I love Silver for that. I also like the dialogue between him and his mom.
Very true of Tobias lol.
Oh ok. Well that makes me want to try Kurland’s work then. I’m slowly but surely getting into and liking fantasy romance. Her Nine Kingdoms series really got my interest.
I love Silver’s mom! She’s amazing. I hope you enjoy Nine Kingdoms, will be interested in your thoughts on it.
I loved reading your answers! Silver in the Wood sounds like such an amazing book, I can’t wait to read it💜
It was such a lovely read! Hope you enjoy. 🙂
I love that you mention Kate Elliott and Carol Berg! I have only read one novel by each, but don’t see their names around very often. I got some of Carol Berg’s books lined up on audible 🙂
I’m also very excited about ‘The Burning God’ 🙂
Carol Berg is such a fantastic author. She puts her characters through hell but it usually works out for them in the end. 🙂
I’ll have to look at Silver in the wood – thanks.
Currently reading and enjoying the goblin emperor.
and, might take part in this tag too.
Lynn 😀
I really loved Silver in the Wood, it was such a lovely read. Glad you’re enjoying The Goblin Emperor!
Amendment to the above £1.99 for silver in the wood = one click.
Lynn 😀
Hahah, nice!
This is a fun tag, and I will be doing it myself shortly 🙂
It’s interesting that the first three names you quote for the auto-buy authors are writers I became a fan of from the very first book of theirs I read…
They’re just such wonderful writers! I’ll admit I had a bit of a ‘meh’ time with The Tethered Mage but the rest of those books were so amazing that she’s become one of my favorite authors!
UGH YES, I would also love to be a heroine in one of Margaret Rogerson’s books! Her heroines are always so incredibly well done and such badasses, the romances are just swoon-worthy, and her worlds are so beautiful that it’s a win/win no matter what way you look at it.
Yes, exactly!
I loved Silver in the Wood so much – can’t wait to read Drowned Country. And aaaaah I need to read The Dragon Republic to brace myself for The Burned God. Not. Enough. Hours. In. The. Day. Dammit.
I love your answer to #8! I think Epic fantasy scares people off the genre in general, but there is so much more to fantasy than just long journeys!!!
Yes, exactly! I think a lot of people have a very generic thing in mind when they think of fantasy and it’s a shame because it’s such a varied genre with tons of depth.
yeah I’m not a fan of nihilistic things either tbh- but luckily a lot of grimdark doesn’t feel that way to me! (it’s mostly just really, really dark). Ahh I hear you- it’d be so hard to pick three books in fantasy that would work for every reader!
Yeah, I think it depends as there is some variation in what gets called ‘grimdark’. Even Abercrombie’s stuff has a lot of humor for grimdark.
Exciting stuff! Check out my blog too @ http://www.nathanmarekera.wordpress.com