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Fantasy isn't always about swords and sorcery, evil overlords, elves and dragons. Sometimes it is about any dang thing the author wants to write about, wrapped in a world not our own. The grand confrontations might be internal, or they might be intense but without bloodshed, full of hard decisions rather than armies. Lovely, gentle tales can also be great reads, in our opinion.
This book is almost unclassifiable, but though one confused reviewer long ago thought it was non-fiction, it is told from the POV of the seagull. Hellooooo. That makes it fantasy in our book, and really good fantasy, too. A gentle, thought-provoking story about a seagull who really, really wants to fly faster and higher than any other gull ever did. Where will it lead? What happens when you get there?
The prose is beautiful and the story timeless, of a very old unicorn in search of the rest of her kind. Along the way she meets up with an inept magician and an old lady who has never quite given up the hope of magic. A tale to ponder long after you've finished it, this still ranks as one of the modern classics of fantasy.
A re-issuance of the duology The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels. Like much of Cherryh's fantasy work, it is dense in description and rich with themes beyond the obvious. Arafel, the last of the Sidhe guardians of Faerie, maintains one last, untouched corner which she holds against the encroachment of Man and his wars. But she becomes involved anyway, and a kind act toward a trespassing human draws her into their world, and the humans she touches into hers, in a rather sad and beautiful twining of worlds. This is fantasy with a Celtic flair, where one cannot help but feel for both sides.
This is a good take on the Arthurian legends, set in the modern day, with Hal, a retired FBI agent, discovering he is the reincarnation of Galahad, suddenly tasked with protecting the boy who is Arthur returned. As he struggles to keep young Arthur safe and the Holy Grail out of the hands of the madman Saladin, he must track down the rest of the knights of the Round Table as well as Merlin. The story moves backward and forward in time, retelling the legend while weaving in the modern bits.
The sequel to The Forever King finds the Grail in the hands of Beatrice, a blind girl, and Arther and Hal still on the run. Arthur's a teenager now, reaching the difficult age, and the knights of the Round Table are as difficult to herd as ever. Once again the narrative winds between past and present, giving backstory on Merlin and the others and lending an air of poignancy at times to offset the very mundane modern setting.
Not as successful, in our opinion, as the previous two, but worth reading to wrap the trilogy. Arthur, now 18, has been in hiding since revealing himself to the world at the end of the last book. It is time for him to claim his destiny, but can even Arthur save a world that no longer believe in magic? How can even the most puissant knight of all prevent a nuclear catastrophe?
What a delightful story this is, about Bastian, a lonely boy caught up in the pages of a magical book, breathlessly following the adventures of its young hero, Atreyu, as he races to save Fantastica from The Nothing. Those familiar with the 1984 movie may be surprised to learn that the movie was taken only from the first half of the book, and there is so much more to discover and enjoy in the novel. Written originally in German.
This is one of those books you come away from wishing you'd written it. Classed as Young Adult, it is as appealing to adults as to younger readers. Foolish but brave Tristan promises to bring his girlfriend the star they watched fall to earth beyond the Wall in Faery, but unknown to him, the star is a person with problems of her own. From witches hunting the star to ruthless brothers competing to recover the gem that knocked her from the sky, this book pretty much has everything from humor to friendship to creepy ghosts to a bang-up finish. Nicely done, Mr. Gaiman.
The movie wasn't half bad either:
DVD: Stardust (Widescreen Edition)
The award-winning screenwriter of the side-splitting movie of the same title brings us this adaptation of the original tale. As he describes it, this is "the good parts version" of "S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure." The good parts, of course, include riddles, RUSs, really bad guys, really good guys, and miracles. Oh, and kissing. We love this story, and the movie, which was so perfectly cast it will be criminal to try and remake it.
DVD: The Princess Bride (20th Anniversary Edition)
McKillip is our kind of author, a writer as well as a storyteller. Her prose is instantly evocative; she draws her world in elegant phrases and beautiful imagery. The journey of Morgon, the prince of Hed, the gentlest and most boring place on earth, begins when he meets Deth, whose harp bears three stars like the ones that have marked Morgon's forehead from birth. The riddle of the stars takes Morgon, who wants only to stay home and farm, ever farther from Hed, into realms of danger and magic he must master if he is to save himself and all that he holds most dear. This is the first in the trilogy concluded in:
This tale of friendship and danger in a land of magic is one of Springer's earliest works. The story incorporates all the best fantasy elements: friendship, true love, magic, and the triumph of courage over evil. The writing is nowhere near as polished as in her later work, but the story is very good.
Other books set in this same magical Isle:
The Book of Vale 
The Black Beast
The Golden Swan
Evenmere, the High House, is a strange and wonderful place, the doorway to many other worlds. But its master has disappeared somewhere in its depths, and his son, Carter Anderson, long exiled, must return to keep the Society of Anarchists from opening all the hidden doors within and inciting chaos. A very fine first novel and a good way to spend a rainy afternoon.
Mixing Greek mythology, ancient history, and pure fantasy, this takes us back to the dawn of time, with dryds and centaurs living alongside men. But a king of men becomes enchanted with the dryads, and two children are brought to the palace at Knosses, where they grow into something unexpected.d
Swan wrote a lot of fantasy set in far-distant times. weaving in legends and myths little touched these days. They also qualify as historical fantasy and are somewhat difficult to find:
Green Phoenix
How Are the Mighty Fallen
The Not-World
The Forest of Forever
Wolfwinter
The Weirwoods