Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books With Teeny Tiny Fandoms

Top Ten Books With Teeny Tiny Fandoms

Lockwood and Co. by Jonathan Stroud

              In all honesty, Lockwood and Co.’s popularity is growing (which is why it’s so low on the list) but it certainly hasn’t reached the level of say Harry Potter. I certainly haven’t met anybody in real life who has read them but they have a pretty decent presence online.  Where can you go wrong with ghostly London and teenage protagonists that actually make sense. These books totally deserve more attention than they get.

Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagen

              Admittedly this probably has a better following in Australia (in fact there’s a ranger-themed summer camp over there, so jealous) but I’m going to add it on anyway. I’ve said before that the books have their problems but I still love them for their humorous dialogue and their simple fun. What can I say? Sometimes you just need to read about a couple of guys running around shooting people and complaining about the quality of the coffee.

Of Giants and Ice by Shelby Bach

              I read these books when they first came out and almost forgot about them. Luckily for me they were sitting on my shelf in a judging sort of way so I decided to include them. They’re almost like Percy Jackson but with fairytales instead of Greek myths so I’m kind of shocked that they aren’t more popular. Now they are for kids and I’m sure there’s some cheesy bits that I don’t remember but I found them clever and interesting. There’s magic, interesting characters and some hilarious dialogue.  

Larklight by Phillip Reeve

              Alright now seriously guys! It’s like Victorian Firefly. With a bit of Doctor Who. But nobody seems to have read it?! But they have illustrations! And a space train!

A Hero’s Guide to Saving your Kingdom by Christopher Healy

              I don’t think I have ever read a book that made me laugh so hard so often. I’ve never been one for comedic books, I prefer to spend my time with more serious books, but dang that’s the way to do it. It probably helps that is a comedy centered around how ridiculous fairytales can get. For example the bards are kind of like tiny Rita Skeeters and Prince Charming is actually one of four different princes etc.

Mirrorworld series by Cornelia Funke

              Because these books are my new obsession. Though again, they might have a larger following in Germany seeing as how Cornelia Funk actually lives there and the books we get are just the translated ones. But how can you not love dark stabby fairytales with terrifying monsters and beautiful settings.

Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy

I had to beg my library to get more than the first three books. It took a couple of weeks but they now have all the way up to book nine or ten. I don’t see why these books get so little attention. They’re hilarious and the writing is extremely casual and easy to get into. I do have to wonder why they’re in the kid’s section though. As I recall there was an awful lot of violent death for a book that claimed to be for middle schoolers.  

Enchanted Forest Chronicles by Patricia C. Wrede

Obviously because I literally never shut up about this series. But it’s completely deserved! They’re beautiful books with amazing characters, amazing plots and witty humor. They’re smart, enjoyable and absolutely perfect. And I’m going to shout about it annoyingly until everybody reads it.

Cry of the Icemark by Stuart Hill

Oky let’s talk about a thing 

 high fantasy has a problem with their characters being kind of hard to connect with. It’s not their fault really, after all it’s kind of hard to understand a character when there’s a lot of . . . let’s call it extraneous detail. Most high fantasy characters focus more on being cool than relatable. Which is fine, sometimes you just want to hang out with a mildly one dimensional kick butt warrior but when a high fantasy actually has interesting character on top of the classic world and magic it’s ten times as beautiful. That’s Cry of the Icemark and, much like the Enchanted Forest Chronicles, I will sit here and shout about it until it gets the recognition it deserves.

Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Come on! There are a million different retellings of Cinderella or Rapunzel but how many are there exactly of the Goose Girl? Not a lot! And this one was done so well with interesting characters and wind magic. Though did we really have to have the decapitated talking head of the horse? Now this is why Disney’s never gotten their hands on this one.  

Thanks for putting up with my confused ramblings. And thanks again to the ladies at the Broke and the Bookish for starting Top Ten Tuesdays you can check them out here if you're interested.