Bookish Confession - 10 Fantasy Authors I Have Never Read

‘Assassin’s Apprentice’ by Robin Hobb

Considering I’ve been reading fantasy for most of my teen and adult life, it’s a little embarrassing to admit to the number of well-known fantasy authors I have never read.

Obviously, I’ve been aware of them but, for whatever reason, I never picked up any of their books.

Like Ursula Le Guin.

‘The Books of Earthsea The Complete Illustrated Edition’ by Ursula K. Le Guin

Over the years, I have dithered many times over her ‘Earthsea’ books but never got around to even owning a copy.

With Robert Jordan, however, I know why I didn’t start ‘The Wheel of Time’ series.

‘The Eye of the World’ by Robert Jordan

At the time I discovered it, it was already beyond a trilogy, and I’d gotten jaded with series and only wanted to read standalones.

With Robin Hobb, it shouldn’t have been difficult to start her series as my sister had some of her collections, but I just never got around to it.

‘Assassin’s Apprentice’ by Robin Hobb

Patrick Rothfuss’ books, on the other hand, didn’t seem to pique my interest at all.

‘The Name of the Wind’ by Patrick Rothfuss

But Brandon Sanderson did.

‘The Final Empire’ by Brandon Sanderson

Pleased that my local library had copies of his ‘Mistborn’ trilogy, I was all set to dive in, then lockdown happened, and the libraries shut.

Same with Laini Taylor.

‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’ by Laini Taylor

I had my eye on her ‘Daughter of Smoke and Bone’ trilogy.

Again, the local library had copies of all three books.

Again, I was scuppered by lockdown.

Of the more recent authors, three seem to feature a lot with reviewers on YouTube.

V.E. Schwab looks to be quite the favourite.

‘A Darker Shade of Magic’ by V.E. Schwab

But I can’t explain why I haven’t felt drawn to read any of her books.

Unlike the next two authors.

Naomi Novik published her first novel in 2006, but it’s her later books, ‘Uprooted’ (2015), and ‘Spinning Silver’ (2018), a retelling of ‘Rumpelstiltskin’, that get mentioned the most.

‘Spinning Silver’ by Naomi Novik

Of the two, ‘Spinning Silver’ sounds rather interesting.

I thought Katherine Arden’s ‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ was a standalone but turns out it’s the first book of her ‘Winternight’ trilogy, based on Russian fairytales.

‘The Bear and the Nightingale’ by Katherine Arden

Technically, I have read something by the last author on my list, Guy Gavriel Kay; he helped Christopher Tolkien edit J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Silmarillion’.

‘Tigana’ by Guy Gavriel Kay

But I haven’t read any of his own works; guess I get too distracted by ‘The Silmarillion’.

So, am I planning on reading any of these authors?

Yes, but not all.

I already have ‘Assassin’s Apprentice’, the first book of Robin Hobb’s ‘The Farseer Trilogy’, which I’m planning on starting soon.

The library has copies of Naomi Novik’s ‘Spinning Silver’ and Katherine Arden’s ‘The Bear and the Nightingale’.

And I’m very taken with the complete illustrated edition of Ursula Le Guin’s ‘Earthsea’ books as the illustrations are by Charles Vess.

Guy Gavriel Kay is also on the list as his books seem to be a mix of historical fiction and fantasy.

I’m still dithering about Sanderson, as the local library no longer has all the ‘Mistborn’ books, and I’ve since discovered there’s another set of four books after this first trilogy.

But, as those four books are set about 300 years after the original trilogy, I guess it’s not imperative to read them all.

As for Laini Taylor, I think that ship has sailed as it were.

It’s not easy making these decisions, but life is short, and choices must be made.

And I’ll write more about that next week.