oooooooooooh I don't know half of these books
Great list!
I would love to read some more Arthurian novels, thanks for the suggestions!
A long time since I read Cate Tiernan's books. Can't really remember much about them... I did like them.
I love Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy and the 'Mists of Avalon', book and film. I also read of few other books of Marion Zimmer Bradley: Ravens of Avalon, Priestess of Avalon and one non-Avalon book about Cassandra.
'The Once and Future King' T H White: Many have recommended this one to me. I haven't found it yet.
Earthsea: I totally agree, a bad film.
Why do they always stick Isabella in a convent of religious women? I have asked myself the very same question! ;D
I bought Wicked some months ago. The beginning was fantastic! Somewhere in the middle I lost interest. I am planning on finishing it... some day, promise
What could I add?
Anything by Julliet Marilier: true love, evil magic, some excellent fairies! Heaven with soft music and a cup of tea
Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series: a hero with a big magic sword, wizards, prophecies. quite lengthy though
Thomas the Rhymer by Ellen Kushner: a poetic character study of the Fairy Queen. This book could make anyone fall in love with Faery! The author managed to keep the Queen nameless.
Beauty by Sheri S Tepper. Sleeping Beauty does not fall asleep. She travals through time, into the bleakest future imaginable, back to the middle ages, through fairytales, Faerie itself and even an unreal wold. Ending up in a battle between angels, fairies and devils. Warning: this book is so good the end could never live up to expectations. Also very few male characters. Those who are present, Beauty's true love and Oberon, are frustratingly hollow. Big plus point: though the Fairy Queen isn't in many scenes, her name is Queen Mab.
Monica Furlong's Wise Child trilogy: growing up with magic and pagan rituals
Contains characters I deeply love. These were my favourite books for many years.
Amanda Hemingway/Jan Siegel's Children of Prospero trilogy: witches, quite dark
with Arthur refences. The baddie is Morgus Le Fay, sister to Morgana. Despite being truly evil, she totally rocks! There is a wise old wizard, who claims to have been Tolkiens inspiration for Gandolf. The author also wrote a trilogy linked to this one: the Sangreal Trilogy. A 13 year old boy has to find the Holy Grail and other magic items in a parallel universe. Quite creepy at the end (a haunting fairy dance). The final book turned me from loving the song of Scarborough Fair into total obsession!
If you want to read some perfect fairy cunning: Cecilia Dart-Thornton's Bitterbynde trilogy.
A young maiden on a quest to retrive her memory and beauty. True love, magic, poems, fairy tales, selkies, all sorts of fairies and fairy creatures. This trilogy gets better with each book!
Maggie Furey's Artefacts of Power series. Magic, easy to read, very adventurous. I especially like the main character's mother. Her conversations with the evil fairy lord are yummy. Several loose threads troughout this series
If I remember correctly Aurian saves the world at the end but they have totally forgotten about my beloved fairy folk by then. So I suspect they can now take over everything if they want
-and they do-. Some characters die or almost die all the time. The last book is very rushed. Two baddies, who we have loved for several books, die on the same page. Each in only two sentences. Death becomes a deus ex machina. This scene probably should have been impressive, but I thought it funny. Still a very good series
Making this list made me want to reread all of these books!!!
I do believe I am addicted to fairies...