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[BlizzKrut]

I'm looking to get into reading a bit more again, and while I love the fantasy genre, it's filled with your usual knight/magic/trolls/goblins/medieval tropes, I'd like to know which series/book(s) you recommend to someone who's looking for unusual fantasy settings.

I've heard of Mistborn, it sounds interesting with the metal magic thing the series has, is the series any good?

I also saw a series called Predator Cities, which sounds weird enough, I'll be looking more after I know about more books like these.

 

[Coppanuva]

The Book of the New Earth might count? I'm only about 150 pages in, and the setting isn't really typical so far. There are swords, but most of the setting isn't really explained so far, just weird stuff you come across.

 

[fredrancour]

Mistborn is like the summer blockbuster of relatively long fantasy novels. pretty fun but nothing amazing. magic system is pretty cool, the worldbuilding does a couple neat things, there's some good fights. there was a specific thing about the writing that drove me nuts by the end of the trilogy but overall i enjoyed them.

The Book of the New Earth might count? I'm only about 150 pages in, and the setting isn't really typical so far. There are swords, but most of the setting isn't really explained so far, just weird stuff you come across.

do you mean book of the new sun?

 

[HStallion]

Anything by China Mieville. Seriously he is probably one of the most creative writers of speculative/weird/fantasy fiction we've had in a long time. I'd say check out his Bas Lag trilogy that starts with Perdido Street Station. You can thank me when you get to the Slake Moths.

 

[Ogodei]

Mistborn starts out as a different take and ends up as a very different take (mostly the third book where things wander into very weird high-concept territory).

 

[choco-fish]

Anything by China Mieville. Seriously he is probably one of the most creative writers of speculative/weird/fantasy fiction we've had in a long time. I'd say check out his Bas Lag trilogy that starts with Perdido Street Station. You can thank me when you get to the Slake Moths.

Come to post this, his stuff is so descriptive and weird, Perdido street station is GOAT.

 

[Hulud]

The Book of the New Earth might count? I'm only about 150 pages in, and the setting isn't really typical so far. There are swords, but most of the setting isn't really explained so far, just weird stuff you come across.

Mistborn is like the summer blockbuster of relatively long fantasy novels. pretty fun but nothing amazing. magic system is pretty cool, the worldbuilding does a couple neat things, there's some good fights. there was a specific thing about the writing that drove me nuts by the end of the trilogy but overall i enjoyed them.



do you mean book of the new sun?

Gene Wolfe's sci-fantasy/dying earth masterpieces. You'll have a hard time finding anything better in either genre.

 

[Adaren]

do you mean book of the new sun?

This is what I was gonna suggest. The series has the guise of dark fantasy, but ends up going in some unexpected and unconventional directions. The less information you go in with, the better.

 

[CHC]

Yeah I've already been beaten to it but Book of the New Sun all the way. Truly a weird and abstractly described setting, very uncanny and imagination provoking.

 

[BlizzKrut]

Mistborn is like the summer blockbuster of relatively long fantasy novels. pretty fun but nothing amazing. magic system is pretty cool, the worldbuilding does a couple neat things, there's some good fights. there was a specific thing about the writing that drove me nuts by the end of the trilogy but overall i enjoyed them.



do you mean book of the new sun?

I've been reading a bit about the series itself (not the plot), and it seems like after the original trilogy, there are another 3/4 books but they're set in modern times? What's up with that?

 

[Noaloha]

I love, love, love these books (the trilogy is known as The Castle Trilogy).

Thoroughly fantasy, though has more in common with Starship Troopers and Trainspotting than any Tolkien or DnD derivative. Funny, bleak, political and surreal. Doesn't really ease you into the universe much either. Picking it up as you go along is on you.

 

[Coppanuva]

Mistborn is like the summer blockbuster of relatively long fantasy novels. pretty fun but nothing amazing. magic system is pretty cool, the worldbuilding does a couple neat things, there's some good fights. there was a specific thing about the writing that drove me nuts by the end of the trilogy but overall i enjoyed them.



do you mean book of the new sun?

Yeah, that's the name. Got it mixed up with the world being named Urth and the fact the books are technically named different things from the overall work

 

[Orpheus94]

+1 for Book of the New Sun, really outstanding series. Haven't read them, but you may enjoy M. John Harrison's Viriconium series. They're a bit older but inspired people like Mieville. Another recommendation would be Jeff Vandermeer's City of Saints and Madmen, or his newer Area X trilogy - another big writer of weird fiction. Robert Jackson Bennett's City of Stairs may be up your alley as well. N.K. Jemisin's works. Daniel Abraham's Long Price Quartet. I haven't read most of these, but I'm pretty sure they fit your criteria and I've heard good things!

 

[Arkeband]

The "Prequel" books in the Legend of Drizzt series are unique within the D&D sphere.

Since Drizzt is a Dark Elf, who are subterranean, the books Homeland/Sojourn/Exile take place in and around the lightless cavern city of Menzoberranzan, ruled by women and a spider god. It's been a while since I've read them but he eventually leaves the city and he's basically in the wilderness of the Underdark where he befriends and fights strange aberrations while evading those looking for him.

I dunno if R.A. Salvatore is for basic nerds or not but that's my recommendation and I'm sticking to it.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Throne of the Crescent Moon, by Saladin Ahmed.

Its unusual enough by being more of an arabian nights inspired setting, but that has been done before in both fictional and pseudo-historical contexts. Part of what make the Crescent Moon Kingdoms really shine though is how the writer went the extra mile to make them a broader parallel to the sheer breadth of Islamic influence, but also the pre-Islamic histories of the middle east, particularly ancient Egypt. I'm a bit of a history buff so this stuff was all cool anyway, but I think its got an inherent appeal.

Really, the biggest problem is that the world beyond a particular core region is, as of right now, not really fleshed out beyond the bare bone details. Interesting details sure, but bare bone nonetheless.

 

[thomaser]

Another vote for Book of the New Sun. It's truly one of a kind. But it is complicated and has a jumbled timeline, and can be very hard to follow along with. The sequels are excellent too, although more straightforward.

I want to recommend Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness too. You might call it sci-fi instead of fantasy, but it doesn't matter. It has a unique world, a fascinating story and some truly great writing.

The Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake are also unusual. They mostly take place inside a giant, dusty old castle (except the third book, which is less interesting), and there are only a handful of characters. Slow-moving and confusing, not for everyone.

 

[Any Questions]

Look no further.

Read it and be stunned

 

[BlizzKrut]

Look no further.

Read it and be stunned

This one looks interesting, I'll go look more about it.

 

[HStallion]

Look no further.

Read it and be stunned

I'm still waiting for Netflix or HBO or the BBC or whoever to get off their asses and give us an adaptation of Perdido Street Station though the budget would be probably make Game of Thrones look cheap.

 

[ukas]

Deathgate Cycle

 

[sans_pants]

not fantasy, but your title immediately made me think of raft by stephen baxter

The story follows a group of humans who have accidentally entered an alternate universe where the gravitational force is far stronger than our own, a "billion" times as strong. Planets do not exist, as they would immediately collapse under their own gravity; stars are only a mile across and have extremely brief life-spans, becoming cooled kernels a hundred yards wide with a surface gravity of five g. Human bodies possess a "respectable" gravity field in and of themselves. "Gravitic chemistry" also exists, where gravity is the dominant force on an atomic scale.

 

[ScienceBro]

I'm looking to get into reading a bit more again, and while I love the fantasy genre, it's filled with your usual knight/magic/trolls/goblins/medieval tropes, I'd like to know which series/book(s) you recommend to someone who's looking for unusual fantasy settings.

I've heard of Mistborn, it sounds interesting with the metal magic thing the series has, is the series any good?

I also saw a series called Predator Cities, which sounds weird enough, I'll be looking more after I know about more books like these.

Mistborn is really, really good. Someone recommended the audiobook versions by Graphic Audio to me and they are -excellent-. Some of the best sound effects and performance work I've heard in an audiobook.

The metal magic system is quite cool too

 

[Ashodin]

Deathgate Cycle

+1 so hard for this shit. SO GOOD

 

[Landford]

Mine when it finnally releases

Spoiler

(Along Half Life 3)

Elantris is considered kinda weird and good?

 

[Pau]

Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan
Setting: Alternative 19th century of psuedo-Earth where dragons exist
First book: A Natural History of Dragons
Lot of settings you don't normally see in JRR Tolkien inspired fantasy: psuedo-Philippines, psuedo-Congo, etc. The series also gets a lot better as it goes along.

Temeraire series by Naomi Novik
Setting: Alternative Napoleonic wars with dragons
First book: His Majesty's Dragon
Air forces are made up of crews on dragons. Concept is really fun, although the series gets rather repetitive as it goes on.

The Queen's Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Setting: Based on classic antiquity
First book: The Thief
It's technically YA but not anymore than Mistborn really. Lots of politics after the first one. Great characters.

The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett
Setting: Psuedo-India takes over Psuedo-Europe after killing its gods
First book: City of Stairs
Only two in the series so far, but it's really fucking good.

Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal
Setting: Early 19th century England with magic
First book: Shades of Milk and Honey
If you enjoy Jane Austen era romances you might enjoy this.

Eternal Sky Trilogy by Elizabeth Bear
Setting: Psuedo-Central Asia. With magic.
First book: Range of Ghosts
I haven't finished because while I enjoyed the world building, I found the prose to be a bit lacking.

 

[BlizzKrut]

Mine when it finnally releases

Spoiler

(Along Half Life 3)

Elantris is considered kinda weird and good?

What's your book about?

Memoirs of Lady Trent series by Marie Brennan
Setting: Alternative 19th century of psuedo-Earth where dragons exist
First book: A Natural History of Dragons
Lot of settings you don't normally see in JRR Tolkien inspired fantasy: psuedo-Philippines, psuedo-Congo, etc. The series also gets a lot better as it goes along.

Temeraire series by Naomi Novik
Setting: Alternative Napoleonic wars with dragons
First book: His Majesty's Dragon
Air forces are made up of crews on dragons. Concept is really fun, although the series gets rather repetitive as it goes on.

The Queen's Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
Setting: Based on classic antiquity
First book: The Thief
It's technically YA but not anymore than Mistborn really. Lots of politics after the first one. Great characters.

The Divine Cities by Robert Jackson Bennett
Setting: Psuedo-India takes over Psuedo-Europe after killing its gods
First book: City of Stairs
Only two in the series so far, but it's really fucking good.

Glamourist Histories by Mary Robinette Kowal
Setting: Early 19th century England with magic
First book: Shades of Milk and Honey
If you enjoy Jane Austen era romances you might enjoy this.

Eternal Sky Trilogy by Elizabeth Bear
Setting: Psuedo-Central Asia. With magic.
First book: Range of Ghosts
I haven't finished because while I enjoyed the world building, I found the prose to be a bit lacking.

These sound very interesting, thanks for posting!

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

I remember in high school I read these books by Melanie Rawn in which the entire society was matriarchal with almost all female main characters. They weren't particularly good, but it was a unique setting. The Exiles series or something like that.

 

[Palmer_v1]

I've been reading a bit about the series itself (not the plot), and it seems like after the original trilogy, there are another 3/4 books but they're set in modern times? What's up with that?

The author(Brandon Sanderson) believes pretty firmly in keeping the "magic" in his stories grounded, i.e. there are internally consistent rules behind it, and no pulling any deus ex machina bullshit to handwave something.

With that said, he also doesn't like the way so many fantasy worlds never seem to evolve. Just because this magical stuff exists, doesn't mean civilization stops progressing. So the Mistborn trilogy is kind of a medieval setting, maybe even newer. I'm not a historian. The newer books, Wax and Wayne, Allow of Law, etc, are essentially westerns, so think early 1900s, and are how he thinks the world would have evolved over those centuries.

I believe he plans to do a truly modern set, as well as a futuristic set as well.

 

[phisheep]

The Gormenghast books by Mervyn Peake are also unusual. They mostly take place inside a giant, dusty old castle (except the third book, which is less interesting), and there are only a handful of characters. Slow-moving and confusing, not for everyone.

I'll second this.

Slow moving it might be, but I've never read a book that has had such a stunning visual impact. I last read it 40 years ago, and just you mentioning it here has brought back clearly scene after scene after scene of extraordinary images - bleak, bizarre, joyous, ghoulish, heartrending and astoundingly beautiful.

Helluva trilogy.

 

[lazypants]

Hardboiled Wonderland by Murakami has a strange fantasy setting. Well, half of the book does.

 

[Fuzzery]

Black company series, its medievalish but pretty out there

Malazan can get pretty weird too, with interesting societies and races

 

[fester]

I'm looking to get into reading a bit more again, and while I love the fantasy genre, it's filled with your usual knight/magic/trolls/goblins/medieval tropes, I'd like to know which series/book(s) you recommend to someone who's looking for unusual fantasy settings.

I've heard of Mistborn, it sounds interesting with the metal magic thing the series has, is the series any good?

I also saw a series called Predator Cities, which sounds weird enough, I'll be looking more after I know about more books like these.

You might want to check out Hyperion by Dan Simmons. It's traditionally classified as Sci-Fi, but the world it takes place on is pure fantasy genius.

 

[BlizzKrut]

The author(Brandon Sanderson) believes pretty firmly in keeping the "magic" in his stories grounded, i.e. there are internally consistent rules behind it, and no pulling any deus ex machina bullshit to handwave something.

With that said, he also doesn't like the way so many fantasy worlds never seem to evolve. Just because this magical stuff exists, doesn't mean civilization stops progressing. So the Mistborn trilogy is kind of a medieval setting, maybe even newer. I'm not a historian. The newer books, Wax and Wayne, Allow of Law, etc, are essentially westerns, so think early 1900s, and are how he thinks the world would have evolved over those centuries.

I believe he plans to do a truly modern set, as well as a futuristic set as well.

That sounds very interesting, thanks for replying.

Thank you all who've been replying, there's lots of great stuff here, love these unusual settings.

 

[Krowley]

Stephen King's Dark Tower series

Roger Zelazny's Amber series

K.J. Parker's Scavenger series (Or pretty much anything by Parker, from what I've seen)

Steven Brust's Vlad Taltos series

edit: also maybe Edgar Rice Burroughs' Barsoom books (John Carter on mars)... I've only read one of them and it's been a little while, but it was pretty cool, and I think it fits your criteria pretty well. I've been thinking of reading the first book again (it's pretty short) and then continuing on through the series.

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

The Book of the New Sun series takes place in a pretty weird universe. Part of that is due to the author's vagueness about what exactly is going on at times. I enjoyed the second book in the series more than the first, but not quite enough to compel me to continue further with the series. Wasn't a huge fan of the prose.


I see lots of people here recommending several novels that I'm deciding between for my next read. Not to hijack your thread, but which of these should I read next if my priorities are immersive language and deep atmosphere (think Cormac McCarthy):

The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula Le Guin
The Dispossessed, by Ursula Le Guin
Perdido Street Station, by China Miéville
Fevre Dream, by George R.R. Martin

 

[Thac0]

Tales of the Dying Earth by Jack Vance. Super far future where technology is indistinguishable from magic. One of my favorites. Also hugely influential on fantasy in general.

Edited to include a few more that came to mind:

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. This one jumps from past to present to future and ties together different characters that are tangentially related. It was also made into a movie a few years ago

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennet


And a couple other good New Weird fantasy novels, kind of like Mielville:

Echo City by Tim Lebbon

The Etched City by K.J. Bishop

 

[Any Questions]

This one looks interesting, I'll go look more about it.

It's the only book I have read that once I finished it I went straight back to page 1.

To be fair I didn't continue past a couple of pages, but yes, I have reread it since