Fantasy Series to Dive into
As readers of this blog know, I love fantasy as a genre. It’s a special treat when you love a book that is the first in the series and you can anticipate all the reading enjoyment in your future as you make your way through. In the three amazing series described below, I’ve only read the first book so far, but I am confident the future books will deliver on the promise of volume one.
The Mistborn Saga by Brandon Sanderson (started 2006)
This trilogy is part of Sanderson’s Cosmere universe, so if you get sucked in to this series, you’ll have oodles of books to add to your TBR. In Mistborn, Vin is a young girl trying to stay alive and safe in a harsh, ash-filled world. When she meets a group planning an overthrow of the Lord Ruler and the theft of his wealth, she also learns that she has the gift of Allomancy. Allomancy is a magic of consuming and burning metals. Some people can only burn one kind (and use only the single talent that the one brings), but others, like Vin, can burn multiple kinds and gain a panoply of powers. Part heist, part revolution, all amazing world building. My teen has read all three books and adored them and now is on to the other branches of the Cosmere.
The Atlas series by Olivie Blake (started 2020)
Six Medeans (magic-wielders) are offered a remarkable opportunity — spend a year studying the books of the library of Alexandria with the chance for five of the six to be initiated into a society of magicians at the end of the year. Very few details are given but the benefits/temptations are too strong to pass up. The six characters are wary of each other at first, but soon discover how their different types of magic can work together for unfathomable power. They also reveal the strings attached to the opportunity offered.
The Stonewater Kingdom series by Rachel Gillig (started 2025)
This book was so hard to put down! Six is an orphan and an oracle. Members of the kingdom come to her and her fellow seers to tell their future by drowning in magical water and interpreting the signs of the gods. When Six meets a young king and his entourage, she is led on an adventure through the kingdom — outside of her cloister for the first time — on the trail of missing people and in search of the gods. Book 2 is due to be published in 2026!