Book Genre Spotlight: Fantasy

Welcome back to another blog post! Over the next few weeks, I’ll be discussing a variety of genres, starting today with fantasy.

Fantasy is such a broad genre. The official definition of fantasy is this: a genre of fiction set in an imaginary setting, often including magical and supernatural elements and excluding real-world topics. This definition allows a lot of interpretation for both writers and readers. There are many subgenres fitting within fantasy.

The most common subgenre of fantasy is epic/high fantasy. The stereotypical fantasy world is set in a whole very different from our own, with magic of some sort, imaginary creatures, and settings inspired by medieval times. Think of dragons, wizards, princesses, thieves, etc. Some book recommendations following this subgenre include For the Wolf by Hannah Whitten, Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, and The Prison Healer by Lynette Noni.

Another subgenre of fantasy is low fantasy. Low fantasy is set in the real world and the world appears to be “normal”, but there are magical and supernatural themes present. For this genre, think of portals to other worlds that could be located in an average New York City alley. Some book recommendations following this subgenre include Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, and The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer.

The next subgenre of fantasy is historical fantasy. Historical fantasy is as it sounds: a genre in which its stories take place in past eras, but there are fantastical elements involved. Many of these books take a spin on a real-world historical event, movement, etc. and incorporate magic or the supernatural into it. Some book recommendations following this subgenre include A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab, These Violent Delights by Chloe Gong, and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern.

There are many more subgenres of fantasy, but that’s it for today’s post. I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you for reading. See you next week!