Lately with the excitement of reading or BookTok, finding the next best read is all over everyone FYP. A genre that I have seen rise in popularity is the fantasy genre, but with the rise is also the confusion from many new readers who don’t understand some of the things in the stories. The world-building and language are confusing and the big books are as someone who was also scared to dip into this genre. I have put together my guide to understanding and actually enjoying these books.
WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FANTASY?
There is such a wide range of subgenres within the fantasy category itself. Understanding these will help you find books you may enjoy based on your contemporary reading habits.
- High fantasy – This is the type of story that has a lot of magic similar to Fourth Wing or A Court of Thorns and Roses.
- Low fantasy- This is when you have a story where magic things come into the regular world which could be compared to Harry Potter.
- Dark Fantasy- From blood and ash this is a genre that has a lot of gore and is similar to the horror genre.
- Sword and Sorcery- These stories are packed with adventure and will follow your hero to save the day. But all of their cool action takes place in a unique fantasy world.
- Historical Fantasy- These stories are just like your typical historical fiction but they have blended elements of fantasy (dragons, time travel, magic, etc).
Another element in fantasy is the different species that you may not fully understand. A lot of the fantasy species that you will come across are from the tabletop game Dungeons and Dragons. You will see these things mentioned through big fantasy stories like Game of Thrones and The Lord of the Rings books.
HOW TO READ BOOKS ON A BUSY SCHEDULE?
The other thing is how daunting these books can be. When I would walk down the fantasy aisle of a bookstore, the over six hundred-page books looked daunting. Not only did they look time-consuming and scary to read, but there were also a lot of characters and dynamics you keep up with in the story.
Something that helped me the most was audiobooks. Spotify has added a feature to its premium membership that gives you access to all kinds of books for free.
I personally love free audiobooks while reading physical books. I often use them while I’m on campus or when I don’t have time to sit and read a physical book. It’s also great for me when there is extreme world-building to understand it better.