Best selling Fantasy author, Terry Brooks, stopped by Barnes and Nobels (huge American bookseller) recently and spoke about his favourite books. Here’s the list he came up with. I really like it, it’s diverse and spans a good many years of fantasy literature.
Terry Brooks is the New York Times bestselling author of more than thirty books, including the Dark Legacy of Shannara adventure Wards of Faerie, the Legends of Shannara novels, and the High Druid of Shannara trilogy. The author was a practicing attorney for many years but now writes full-time. He lives with his wife, Judine, in the Pacific Northwest. See below for some of his favorite reads.
The Passage (Passage Trilogy Series #1)
While I don’t normally gravitate towards stories that smack of vampires, this one about Virals gone berserk in a world closely resembling Stephen King’sThe Stand is worth making an exception. A big, sprawling end-of-the-world scenario is built around terrific, memorable characters, terrifying struggles and the always surprising resilience of the human spirit.
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Any of his three books would do for this pick, but I will stick with the first. The story revolves around a mostly clandestine section of Scotland Yard that deals with paranormal activity. Young newbie on the force Peter Grant exhibits certain characteristics compatible with the section’s work and is brought in to aid its sole member, Inspector Nightingale. A romp with funny and scary parts both.
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The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials Series #1)
This is a controversial look at our own world through a telling of a tale that takes place in another. It involves a young girl, Lyra, and her efforts to find her destiny. It includes armored ice bears, the world’s most dangerous mother, and God and Angels being cast out of Heaven. Well told, gripping. Read the trilogy for the full effect.
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The best story I have ever read about the aftershock of 9/11 and the uncertainty that accompanies such horrendous events. The main character is a policeman who has lost parts of his memory and only remembers things in incomplete snippets. It captures exactly the difficulty in determining exactly what happened and who was responsible. It is a stretch to call it science fiction, but I will take the chance. It demonstrates how confusing and unreliable things often are in the aftermath of terrible tragedy.
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Again, as with Vampires, I don’t tend to read Zombie books. But this one is stylish and gripping, a “can’t put it down” sort of book on what happens when the unthinkable comes to pass and Zombies take over the world and descend on the last remnants of civilization and humanity. Chilling.
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The Mists of Avalon (Avalon Series #1)
The best book on Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table written since Mallory’s Morte d’Arthur. A superb re-imagining of the Arthur story, offering a fresh look at the relationship between Arthur and the women in his life.
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The Hunger Games Trilogy Boxed Set
I debated on this one, but really it belongs. It is one of the most compelling dystopian stories ever written and has served as the prototype for dozens since. The adventures of Katniss Everdeen and her family and friends are worth all the time you can spare.
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The best first contact novel I can remember. They labled it “Jesuits in Space” when it first came out because the leader of the expedition was a Jesuit priest. But the complexity of coming into contact and making a connection with another species has never been so clearly illustrated or so heartbreakingly rendered. A powerful piece of writing with deep instrospection at its heart.
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No relation, a young adult novel. What happens when you wake up on an operating table and the doctor says you aren’t human? Find out in this gripping story of a boy being hunted by the government because he is in some way different from others. Particularly relevant today’s world.
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)
L. Frank Baum, J. T. Barbarese, William Wallace Denslow
I read them all, and I loved each one. I include this choice for the sake of nostalgia’s pull. Read them early and still think fondly of them. Before there was Harry Potter and Hogwarts, there was Dorothy Gale and Oz.
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Jennie Ivins