Discworld - I just love stories from Terry Pratchet and there are lots of them (40 books).
GNU Terry Pratchett
GNU Terry Pratchett
Plus one for Discworld. I also really like the way Gods, magic and interplanetary travel worked in the Raymond E Feist Universe (the main planet was midkemia?)
Before Disney it used to be Star Wars because it has so much potential for any kind of story. You can go super science fictiony without encountering any kind of fantasy elements. You can have a western type setting, dystopia, magic, drama, comedy, any weird combination of them all.
Same, you were guaranteed an adventure, especially with Jedi Knight
Earthsea by a country mile.
Came here to say this! All the different islands with their overlapping but different cultures, talking dragons, great magic system. It’s awesome. I love the nomadic tribes on their huge floating rafts, especially.
Boring answer, but probably Middle-earth/Arda. Just such a well-crafted world with deep and interesting lore.
Runner up would be Bas-Lag from China Miéville’s books. Very unique, somewhat Lovecraftian steampunk world with many weird inhabitants.
Possibly considered a bit basic or boring, but definitely Tolkien for me. It’s a classic for a reason, and personally it is still so special to me
One of my earliest and dearest childhood memories was my dad reading the Hobbit to me when I was quite small. We later read the trilogy books as well. Loved them all. Recently read them all with my daughter, creating a whole new set of precious memories.
Out of curiosity and self interest. How old were you when your dad read the hobbit to you? And how old was your kid when you started the trilogy?
Can‘t wait to get started with the books with mine.
I was 5 or 6 when he read the Hobbit aloud to me. The trilogy is a bit denser so I read that jointly with him I think when I was 10. My daughter and I did all the books as bedtime stories when she was 8, and she liked them all, but the Hobbit is definitely her favorite.
Me too. Middle earth is my haven. LOTR is both my favorite book and favorite movie. I have even enjoyed other Tolkien content including the Silmarillion, the Hobbit movies, and the Rings of Power. I know they’re not LOTR standard but they are still enjoyable and don’t detract from what I love about Tolkien’s universe.
Probably Warcraft and Starcraft because I grew up playing Warcraft and Starcraft BW. It never gets old to me.
Pern. Just the quirk of it’s physical environment that I don’t want to give away, and the way people lived because of it felt very unique to me. It was so integral to the stories, too. You often see unusual environments in fantasy and sci-fi, but often only while setting the stage.
Yes! The planet and strange ecosystem is as much a character as any of the people, constantly affecting the events of the story. It is a story that couldn’t just as well happen on earth.
One of the things I like about the Pern universe (similar to the Wool universe) is that you start with a technologically advanced society that (for whatever reason) loses knowledge, and the way that hidden history impacts society over extended periods
That too!
Cradle by Will Wight because the characters are endearing and believable and tangibly grow as people while they grow in the magic system which while we’re at it is very satisfying variation on Chinese martial arts “magic” systems, the power scaling is nuts.
The world is deep and interesting and you get a lot of insight into it from other characters perspectives
It’s 12 books and everything builds from everything you’ve read naturally. The themes speak to me, etc.
I’m currently rereading this for like the twentieth time (ending Dreadgod atm). I’m going through some shit and these books are very… easy to read and they just are comfort reads.
Dreadgod is so damn good, it and Ghostwater are my tops.
Couldn’t agree more, they helped me through some stuff and I regularly re-read. Keep advancing my friend
I would say Ascendance of a Bookworm is my favorite but it’s not The Best world.
Disc World would be the best. Naussica from the valley of wind, and Made in Abyss had very good worlds but they lack depth.but they lack depth.
Read the mangas, both of them are absolutely packed with a ton of detail that never made it into the animes.
Naussica especially, there’s a whole worldwide ancient apocalypse buried in there on top of a VERY unique and well thought out ecosystem.
The Culture, because you could have every other world inside it.
Who wrote it? Google is not being helpful
Ian M Banks. Player of Games is the best intro book.
Do videogames count as well? If so, then Hyrule - specifically the one from Breath of the Wild. There is something incredibly tranquil and peaceful about that world … I could get lost in there for days.
Otherwise, I am Team Discworld. GNU Terry Pratchett.
What’s peaceful about a place where somebody invades your home and smash all your pots for rupees? ;)
Easy solution: don’t own any pots =P
Or raise some chickens. No green-clothed, sword-swinging little weirdo would dare mess with chickens. (at least not more than once)
Depends on the definition of fantasy. Star trek if its not limited to sword and sorcery. Then maybe xanth if it has to be magic. This is based on where I would want to live if I was in one because most of them are horrific or at least have all sorts of wars and conflicts and the average person does not have it so good.
Xanth isn’t exactly the bastion of safety either.
Oops, you went to the beach and stepped into quicksand and now you’ve aged so far that you’ve become sand.
well if you know the land it should not be to bad. Its hard to identify a fantasy world were the average person gets the benefits.
Truth be told right now it’s One Piece. I never watched / read when I was younger, but was aware of it in the periphery. I watched the first episode of the Netflix adaptation and immediatly decided that it might be worth checking out. 900 some odd episodes later and I’m kinda sad I’m near the end of what’s currently available. Is it dumb as shit? Yes. Is it immensely charming and at times genuinely moving? Yes. Could it use a massive trimming of the fat—oh god yes. But still I love how completely zany the world is and how unabashedly batshit crazy things get.
Narnia. Morality as a physical force. Accessible multiverse. Magic. Benign deity. Talking animals. Sex with talking animals.
I don’t remember that last one being in the movies…
The wizarding world. I thoroughly enjoy Harry Potter and anything related to it (the books, movies, Hogwarts Legacy game, etc).
Imagine living in a world where you can enrich your life and the things around you with magic, spells, charms…
