Reader discussion: Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women

Phantastes: A Faerie Romance for Men and Women (1858) by George MacDonald

By pineChapter

I was reading a fantasy book that basically has everything you’d expect from modern fantasy (maybe even more) than Tolkien’s stuff, and it came out the same year as The Fellowship of the Ring, which honestly made me feel kind of bad for the author. That whole situation just made me question whether these guys really came up with the same kind of thing at the exact same time, so I went digging through older fantasy. I ended up finding one from the mid-1800s where this guy gets thrown into this unknown magical world on his 21st birthday, and a lot of the story is him trying to track down some impossible beauty. It’s not an otome or a romance in the modern sense, but it apparently counts as a classic romance novel for that era. So yeah, I guess this is one of the grandfathers of otome isekai.

Name an obscure fantasy novel and lose a point for every person who says they’ve read it

By faintLynx

Hey everyone, Me and a little book club I’m in tried this game recently and it sounded like something the bigger fantasy crowd might enjoy too. Basically: pick a fantasy book you think most people here probably haven’t read, then you start losing points every time someone comments that they’ve actually read it. Try to end with the most points. How it works: everyone begins with 20. Post the title of a fantasy book you think is obscure enough that there’s a decent chance nobody else has read it. If someone replies saying they’ve read your pick, you drop a point for each person who confirms. Rules-wise: it has to be in English (or an English translation). It should be a real published book—trad or self-pub is fine as long as it wasn’t some super tiny/unknown thing. And when people reply, only “I’ve read this” if they genuinely have read it—if they’re not sure, leave it. My pick: *Myrren’s Gift* by Fiona McIntosh I read this a while back and I swear I haven’t seen a single person mention it, even though it looks like it might be more popular than I remember (like, Goodreads seems to have some stuff on it), so… maybe I’m about to get wrecked. Should be fun to see who can hang onto the most points. Edit: wow, some of these responses are wild—actual finds, or complete flops. Edit 2: also, please use the search function before posting your book, just in case it’s already been picked.