I am trying to expand my Fantasy book collection and I was wondering if there were any good ones about teenagers coming from our world into a fantasy land. I am going to be trying John White's "The Archives of Anthropos," in hopes of liking the series. Please let me know your suggestions.
Mary Hoffman's Stravaganza series is about several teenagers (usually around 17 years old), who have the ability to travel between modern day London (usually), and a alternate, olden day version of Italy. For example, in the first book Lucian lives in London, but has this talisman that takes him to an alternate Italy, where there is a Duchessa, all the women over 17 wears masks, and magic is considered science . . . . . . I actually want to read it again now I've been talking about it :redface: Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials is about a younger girl in an alternate world, but I'm pretty sure they cross over into our world too in later novels (not 100% because I've only read the first book, as yet).
You should try something called Harry Potter - I've heard good reviews of the series (/sarcasm) Joking. There's always Alice in Wonderland, though that's different from an everyday fantasy world. If you haven't read it yet, I can recommend Clive Barker's Weaveworld. It's not really about teenagers (more like twentiers), but they definitely go to another world. There's another series, Gone by Michael Grant, which is about a city where all adult mysteriously disappear, and the city gets an impenetrable dome covering it, and the children still left develop psychic/super powers, so the city slowly transforms into a fantasy setting. Be aware though, for it is a rather macabre story (for as far as I've read it). Hope this helps!
Robert holdstock's mythago wood is awesome. Also that one by Peter straub and Stephen king (the talisman?) and of course weave world, Clive barker.
If you're looking for urban fantasy, Neil Gaiman's American Gods and Neverwhere are great choices. For high fantasy underlined with epic themes, you could try the Tales of the Otori by Lian Hearn and His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman; both are page-turners and, in my opinion, are masterfully written. Truth be told the label 'fantasy' has come to span a wide, often contradictory array of sub-genres, so unless you specify what you're looking for you'll end up with a list of works that differ greatly one from the other, probably not to your taste.
Piers Anthony has some interesting fantasy books. They're a little out there, mind you, and it would take some hardcore love of fantasy to appreciate the humor in them, but if you like zany literature then I'd suggest you check out his books. In at least one of them, I think he refers to this world as "Mundania," and in another, he twists the phrase "death rides a pale horse" into a plot wherein death is a character who literally rides around on a shape-shifting horse. I don't know about you, but I think that kind of stuff is amusing!
So far the only books I can think of that haven't been mentioned above is the Chronicles of Narnia series, Terabithia, or the Wizard of Oz. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
You should give The Last Wish by Andrzej Sapkowski a try. The Witcher video games are based off of Sapkowzki's books.
The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub is worth a try. Usually these two authors specialize in horror, but this book falls more under the heading of fantasy. A teenager named Jack Sawyer finds out he must travel to an alternate America called the Territories and journey across the continent in order to save his dying mother and her "twinner" (basically a copy of her that resides in the Territories). At over 700 pages, it's quite long, but well worth the time spent reading it. Although it differs somewhat in style from The Talisman, you might also enjoy its sequal, Black House. Do be aware, however, that as with all of Stephen King's work it does contain some violence and foul language. If you don't mind that, though, I think you'll enjoy this book.
Tamora Pierce writes good historical fantasy for teens, especially Song of the Lioness and Circle of Magic, while her more modern books have been those like Trickster's Choice and Terrier. Jasper Fforde's books have all been enjoyable, especially Thursday Next (starting with The Eyre Affair). Heather's recommendation of Stravaganza is spot-on, that series was fantastic. Percy Jackson series is fun and is about teenagers learning about another facet of the world that no one else can see. Hunger Games is quite an amazing teen-fiction trilogy. Darren Shan is also quite a good teen fiction read. L J Smith's fantasy novels, a few of them recently turned into tv series such as Secret Circle and Vampire Diaries, are good, especially Nightworld series, and Forbidden Game trilogy.
Traci Harding has a series called the Ancient Future trilogy, and leads into another trilogy. It's not to do with teenagers, but they're fantastic epics that have to do with a woman somehow being sent to the past, future and other worlds. Very good books.
The Fionavar Tapestry Trilogy by Guy Gavriel Kay. The Summer Tree, The Wandering Fire, The Darkest Road. If you haven't read them I very highly recommend them. I read them about 20 years ago and I read them recently, they are still an amazing story in my opinion.
hi I'm going to second Philip Pullmans "northern lights" and a book "Jonathan strange and mr.Norell" is an amazing book.
