Get to Know the Fantasy Reader Tag (Wyrd and Wonder)

“It was late winter in northern Rus’, the air sullen with wet that was neither rain nor snow.”

First line in The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden

Hi, guys. It’s time for a tag. I picked Get to Know the Fantasy Reader Book Tag because this is my first time participating in Wyrd and Wonder so it felt appropriate to make a sort of introduction. This tag was originally created by The Book Pusher on YouTube and is a modifiction of another tag called Get to Know the Romance Reader. There are 10 questions so let’s get to it.

1. What is your fantasy origin story? (How you came to read your first fantasy novel)

I’m not sure but I believe the first book I read outside of school was Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets when I was about 9 or 10. I had gotten the first two books in the series for 2 Christmases in a row when I was 6 and 7. Otherwise known as ages where you’re not able to read yet. My mom didn’t seem to care about that so she kept buying them for me, and books are just not the most exciting present when you’re 6 years old. I tried reading the first one with my grandmother but we didn’t even get through chapter 1. Starting the series from the POV of Vernon Dursley was actually a risky move on Rowling’s part.
So yeah, the books sat on my shelf for a few years until one day when I was bored out of my mind and I thought “I might as well give it a go.”. Proving that old saying that it’s good for you to be bored sometimes.

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?

I love this question. The author would be Katherine Arden. She has written my favorite heroine in fantasy (Vasya) so I would trust her to make me look great and improve the things that need improvement. The one trope I would insist on is the exsistence of a magical library. Preferably for me to live in it.

Now I really want Arden to write a book about a magical library. Any kind really. I just want her words describing it.

3. What is a fantasy you’ve read this year, that you want more people to read?

Talking about magical libraries, The Library of the Unwritten by A. J. Hackwith isn’t being read by enough people. It’s about a library in Hell which holds all the books that have yet to be written and the ones that never will be. What’s really cool is that characters from these books may materialize to search for their authors. It also has the best group of flawed characters that are so easy to latch onto.

4. What is your favorite fantasy subgenre? What subgenre have you not read much from?

It might not be my absolute favorite subgenre but I want to mention historical fantasy as something I really enjoy. I’m just very picky about it and therefore haven’t read much from it. In my experience, these books tend to very romance heavy and that’s not really what I want. I just want the fantasy in a historical setting. Some of my favorites are The Binding by Bridget Collins and Winternight Trilogy by Kathering Arden. If you know of any similar books, please share.

The subgenres I’ve read the least from would probably be steampunk or paranormal fantasy. Not really something I have an interest in either.

5. Who is one of your auto-buy fantasy authors?

I don’t exactly have one but Leigh Bardugo is probably the closest. I own 4 of her books and at least consider buying anything she puts out. Victoria Schwab is a close second.

6. How do you typically find fantasy recommendations? (Goodreads, Youtube, Podcasts, Instagram..)

Mainly on YouTube or other blogs.

7. What is an upcoming fantasy release you’re excited for?

There’s a lot of course so I’m going for something I haven’t seen talked about much. The Left-Handed Booksellers of London by Garth Nix which is out September 22nd 2020. I mean that is the best title I’ve ever heard so that alone makes me excited.

8. What is one misconception about fantasy you would like to lay to rest?

I think some people have the misconception of fantasy as it being only epic battles, epic quests and epic political scheaming. You know… epic. Especially when talking about adult fantasy. There are so many other facets to the genre. I mean, Circe by Madeline Miller and The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern are also adult fantasy just to mention a few. I’ve actually been working on a dicussion post about this which will be up very soon.

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?

Jesus.. Well, first I would have to conduct a 30-minute interview to get to know their taste. In this hypothetical scenario I guess I’ll just throw in 3 great starting points.

• This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling (duh)

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10. Who is the most recent fantasy reading content creator you came across that you’d like to shoutout?

Becca and Her Books is a BookTube channel I recently starting following. She reads both fantasy and romance and is a huge Sarah J. Maas fan. Even though I don’t read Maas, I still like watching Becca’s videos. She creates her TBR around a game of bookopoly every month and for some reason that is so satisfying to watch.

Now you know a little bit more about me as a fantasy reader. Feel free to do the tag yourself. I thought it was some really interesting questions and would love to see other people’s answers. You can also just write some of your answers in the comment section. Happy reading!