by Elena Yampolsky

Created on: January 30, 2008

My English dictionary defines "essential" as "of the utmost importance, necessary". Therefore, as much as I would like to put all my favorite fantasy books on the "essential" list, I had to restrain myself from doing so, because not all of them would match this definition. So, I would have to include only books that are "must read" for any fantasy fan.

1. "Hobbit" by J.R.R. Tolkien. This is the book that began it all and is fun to read both to kids and adults.

2. "Lord of the rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien. There are some fantasy fans who don't like LOTR, some of them because of the archaic language, others because there are too many characters and stories to follow. I personally love LOTR, but I was lucky to first read it in the fantastically good Russian translation so I was not distracted by the difficulties of the archaic language and strange names. (Well, Russian is my native language, so it worked for me). You may love the book or you may prefer the movies, but still no "essential" fantasy reading list would be complete without "Lord of the Rings".

3. Speaking of Russian... "Master and Margarita" by M. A.Bulgakov. The genre is more "magic realism" than pure fantasy, but this is the book that is definitely beyond all the boundaries and pushes them all. It is a funny story of devil, visiting the communist Moscow on the first level; it has also an alternative, sometimes poetic, sometimes philosophical, version of last days of Jesus on the second level... And then, there is so much more.

4. M. Moorcock the "Elric" cycle and "Dancers at the end of time". Moorcock has it all intelligence, humor, action, drama and philosophy, with the combination forming one of the best "dark fantasy" series.

5. R. Howard, with "Conan from Cimmeria". True, the language is simple, the plot is straightforward, and the character is wonderfully one-dimensioned. But so many other books have followed Conan's steps. At least, Howard is not pretentious and it is refreshing to actually read page after page of non-stop action, not being distracted by philosophical and religious discussion.

6. Back to our time George Martin with "Song of Ice and Fire". It is too dark and violent for me, but nevertheless it's one of the best fantasy series I have read.

7. "A Tale of the King's Blades" series, by Dave Duncan. These books are impossible to put down and the plots are highly original.

Naturally, the "essential" list for children would be different. Again, "Hobbit" would be the first one on the list. I would also include "The lion, the witch and the wardrobe" by C.S. Lewis and, definitely, Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.

If your child is not hooked on fantasy after reading those books, you can surely bet that he or she is simply "not into fantasy books". I actually know these people exist, believe it or not!

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