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.
- Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard
Bach
- The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
- The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels
by C.J. Cherryh
- The Forever King, The Broken Sword, and The
Third Magic by Molly Cochrane (the first two with Warren Murphy)
- The Neverending Story by Michael Ende
- Stardust by Neil Gaiman
- The Princess Bride by William Goldman
- The Riddlemaster 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 High House by James Stoddard
- 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.
You can buy Magical Worlds title in the Other
Worlds Bookstore.
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