Gentle Fantasy at Other Worlds

These, for lack of a better classification, fall into "gentle fantasy", the kind where beasts talk and the scenery is lush and unspoiled, and where possibilities abound. That's not to say the villains aren't nasty, but the good guys are very good.

Magic here is marvelous and often beautiful, but the emphasis is on theurgy, understanding the goodness of the good characters, or on the reader gaining wisdom along with the character, rather than on thaumaturgy or chest-thumping confrontation. Those only come in when reason and attempts to reason fail. These always have the idyllic edge, though the plot is basically that the idyll has been interrupted or threatened and must be saved or restored.

  • The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
  • The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels by C.J. Cherryh
  • The Riddle-master of Hed, Heir of Sea and Fire, and
  • Harpist in the Wind by Patricia A. McKillip
  • The White Hart, The Black Beast, The Golden Swan, The Silver Sun and The Sable Moon by Nancy Springer
  • The Day of the Minotaur, Green Phoenix, How Are the Mighty Fallen, The Not-World, The Forest of Forever, Wolfwinter, The Weirwoods and most anything else by Thomas Burnett Swan. These also qualify as historical fantasy.

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