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Thread: Victorian Fantasy books?

  1. #1
    If wishes were horses... rae_of_light's Avatar
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    Victorian Fantasy books?

    Hey Everyone!
    I am a great lover of Victorian fantasy books. i have read books by authors like Philip Pullman, and Kenneth Oppel, but I am looking for more!!! I would like to find more mature books, as both Pullman's and Oppel's books are written for children, but I don't know where to start!! Does anyone have any suggestions?? The only stipulation would be that the books would have to be relatively 'clean'. Also, what do you all think of this genre of books??
    Thanks, your suggestions are appreciated!
    Rae

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    Invictus Mugwump101's Avatar
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    Dragonlance series by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman are rather good fantasy books.

    Terry Pratchett's discworld are wonderful and rather humorous too.
    All the world's a stage,
    And all the men and women merely players:
    They have their exits and their entrances;
    And one man in his time plays many parts,
    His acts being seven ages.
    ~ William Shakespeare

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    rat in a strange garret Whifflingpin's Avatar
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    Victorian fantasy?

    Alice in Wonderland & Alice through the Looking Glass.

    Various stuff by Jules Verne?

    Maybe some short stories by Conan Doyle, Quiller-Couch, W W Jacobs

    Water Babies by Kingsley

    Andrew Lang's many collections of fairy tales.

    Some E. Nesbit, I think.

    Burton's translation of the Arabian Nights?
    Voices mysterious far and near,
    Sound of the wind and sound of the sea,
    Are calling and whispering in my ear,
    Whifflingpin! Why stayest thou here?

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    Serious business Taliesin's Avatar
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    When you named Pullmann, who obviously doesn't live in the Victorian era, we thought that you probably are interested in steampunk.
    Unfortunately, we don't know much about steampunk so we can't recommend anything.
    Here is a Wiki list of some steampunk works.
    We enjoyed the "Hungry cities" chronicles, actually. It isn't victorian per se, but the technology level is similiar - with one great difference -there are cities that actually move around and because they are so big and need so much fuel they feed on smaller cities.
    If you believe even a half of this post, you are severely mistaken.

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    Are you looking for fantasy written by Victorian writers, fantasy set in the Victorian era or fantasy set in a secondary world similiar to Victorian era?

    William Morris's The Well at the World's End is a good example of the first category. The main action in Christopher Priest's The Prestige takes place during the tail-end of the Victorian era. Paula Volsky's Illusion, Michael Swanwick's The Iron Dragon's Daughter and Ian R. MacLeod's The Light Ages (set in an alternate Victorian London) are excellent novels of the third type.

  6. #6
    If wishes were horses... rae_of_light's Avatar
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    Thank you Taliesin, for supplying me with the correct term for this genre, I just sort of made up my own name for it!!! EAP, the third type was the thing I was looking for, kinda like the book Airborn by Oppel.
    Thanks for your suggestions, I will be sure to check them out!

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    Watcher by Night mtpspur's Avatar
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    I don't know anything about steampunk but Victorian fantasy will always remind me of Lord Dunsany who gets reprint volumes every few years or so and well worth the read. Unfortunately I own none of him right now so titles escape me.

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    Lady of Smilies Nightshade's Avatar
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    Some although not stricktly speaking victorian they tend to vary from the early 1800 up to and including WWI
    Mercedes lackeys, Elemental Masters series.
    Caroline Stevermer's A college of Magics and the sequel to that which is rather new I cant think of its name.
    Patricia C. Wrede The Magician books
    Wrede and Stevermers Celia and the choclate pot and The Grand Tour

    Actually now that I think about it all of them barring perhaps Lackey are shelvd under teen scifi rather than just plain scifi.
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    No longer confused... Lioness_Heart's Avatar
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    Have you tried A Great and Terrible Beauty and Rebel Angels by Libba Bray? They are kind of teenage books, and can sometimes seem a bit more like a Gothic parody than a modern fantasy book, but are still really good, and have some quite deep messages. I also think that she captures the 'darker' side of ideas about friendship more realistically than most other writers. Most of the time it is a good depiction of Victorian England, although can sometimes seem a bit too 'modern'. But still, difinately worth a read for teenage (girls mainly) who like fantasy.
    "The magic gave me insight, and you gave me a heart, but for all the heart and insight in the world, I am still a cat."

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    Registered User Saphira's Avatar
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    Hello,
    I could recommend the "Temeraire" series, They are a mixture of the Napoleon wars and Fantasy. The first book is "His Majesty's dragon". They might not be Victorian, but they are very good.

    /Saphira
    What does it do if you win the world but loose your soul

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    Bibliophile JBI's Avatar
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    Macdonald's The Princess and the Goblin, or Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter.

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    The Poetic Warrior Dark Muse's Avatar
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    Though I know this is not Victorian, I was cheking out the link that Taliesin posted about the genre, and I just have to say that I loved Pasquale's Angel by Paul J. McAuley. It is more Renissance than Victorian, but when I saw the name on the list of books in the genre, I just had to mention it, becasue I thought it was a really good book.

    Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before. ~ Edgar Allan Poe

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    you might enjoy the books by C.J. Sansom. they are mystery books set in old England.

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    Quote Originally Posted by lyni View Post
    you might enjoy the books by C.J. Sansom. they are mystery books set in old England.
    They are set in the reign of Henry VIII, particularly during the period when Thomas Cromwell was Chancellor: he was executed in 1540 so the stories, which are whodunnits rather than fantasies, are a little prior to the Victorian era.

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