Oxford literature professor shares 5 MORE of his favourite fantasy books
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Oxford literature professor shares 5 MORE of his favourite fantasy books
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Fantasy readers, we’ve got five more books for you 📚✨
Oxford English Literature Professor and Tolkien expert Stuart Lee is back with five more fantasy recommendations - from enchanting worlds and ancient myths to epic adventures and modern classics.
Following his first video, Prof Lee also responded to some of your questions and comments, sharing more about how he chose his recommendations and whether The Priory of the Orange Tree should be considered romantasy.
Here’s what he had to say:
1. How do you choose just five books from the hundreds of thousands written in the fantasy genre? 📚
'Following my first video, I saw lots of comments asking why I’d chosen certain books, and why I’d left others out.
'When trying to choose just five, you could ask: were they influential? Were they innovative? Or did they have an impact on you personally?
'For me, it was largely the latter. I chose five books that I remember having an impact on me when I first read them.
'I’d challenge you to try it yourself: choose your top five, then look at your bookshelves and ask, ‘Why did I leave that one out?’ You’ll quickly see how difficult it is!'
2. Should Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree be classed as romantasy?
'The other question that came up was whether The Priory of the Orange Tree should be classed as romantasy, and I think that’s a really fair question, as Samantha and her publishers clearly say it is not and it is high/epic fantasy.
'Fantasy is a huge genre with hundreds of subgenres, and where one ends and another begins isn’t always clear, and if you look at BookTok, for example, you will often see Priory grouped with Romantasy books.
'You could certainly argue that The Priory of the Orange Tree isn’t romantasy. It operates on an epic scale, and while romance between two of its main characters is important, it doesn’t drive the entire plot. Take that romance away and you would still have a compelling epic fantasy story.
'But you could equally argue that it is romantasy or at least sits on the borderline – because of the importance of that relationship.
'And perhaps that’s the more interesting question: what do we actually mean by genres and subgenres?
'Books might be marketed as belonging to a particular subgenre, but that doesn’t mean every reader will interpret them in the same way. Part of the joy of reading is what you take from a book yourself. And definitions of sub-genres change over time.
'If you disagreed with me calling The Priory of the Orange Tree romantasy, that’s fair enough; I may even agree with you. Hopefully you can see why it opens up an interesting discussion.'
Oxford English Literature Professor and Tolkien expert Stuart Lee is back with five more fantasy recommendations - from enchanting worlds and ancient myths to epic adventures and modern classics.
Following his first video, Prof Lee also responded to some of your questions and comments, sharing more about how he chose his recommendations and whether The Priory of the Orange Tree should be considered romantasy.
Here’s what he had to say:
1. How do you choose just five books from the hundreds of thousands written in the fantasy genre? 📚
'Following my first video, I saw lots of comments asking why I’d chosen certain books, and why I’d left others out.
'When trying to choose just five, you could ask: were they influential? Were they innovative? Or did they have an impact on you personally?
'For me, it was largely the latter. I chose five books that I remember having an impact on me when I first read them.
'I’d challenge you to try it yourself: choose your top five, then look at your bookshelves and ask, ‘Why did I leave that one out?’ You’ll quickly see how difficult it is!'
2. Should Samantha Shannon’s The Priory of the Orange Tree be classed as romantasy?
'The other question that came up was whether The Priory of the Orange Tree should be classed as romantasy, and I think that’s a really fair question, as Samantha and her publishers clearly say it is not and it is high/epic fantasy.
'Fantasy is a huge genre with hundreds of subgenres, and where one ends and another begins isn’t always clear, and if you look at BookTok, for example, you will often see Priory grouped with Romantasy books.
'You could certainly argue that The Priory of the Orange Tree isn’t romantasy. It operates on an epic scale, and while romance between two of its main characters is important, it doesn’t drive the entire plot. Take that romance away and you would still have a compelling epic fantasy story.
'But you could equally argue that it is romantasy or at least sits on the borderline – because of the importance of that relationship.
'And perhaps that’s the more interesting question: what do we actually mean by genres and subgenres?
'Books might be marketed as belonging to a particular subgenre, but that doesn’t mean every reader will interpret them in the same way. Part of the joy of reading is what you take from a book yourself. And definitions of sub-genres change over time.
'If you disagreed with me calling The Priory of the Orange Tree romantasy, that’s fair enough; I may even agree with you. Hopefully you can see why it opens up an interesting discussion.'
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