I’ve noticed a ton of “beginner” fantasy videos on Youtube recently. So I finally decided to watch a few. There were a ton of great recommendations, and The Mistborn Trilogy was on almost all of them. I totally agree that that is a good place to start, but then I found it humorous because I’m just now picking it up. Then I got to thinking about my fantasy reading journey. It was literally backwards. Do you want to know what the first fantasy book I picked up was? A Game of Thrones. I’m not kidding. That was the first one. I didn’t really like fantasy at the time. I don’t really even know why I decided to read it. And let me tell you there was some genre shock there. I didn’t understand half of what I was reading. I felt totally lost, so I put it down.
Then a few weeks later I picked it back up. I decided to give it another shot, and I’m so glad that I did. The Song of Ice and Fire Series is still one of my favorite series to this day. Ever since then I’ve considered myself an “advanced fantasy” reader. In my mind I made it through George R. R. Martin, so I can make it through anything.
I’ve missed out on a lot of the “beginner” fantasy books. But I’m catching up. I’m also starting a new epic fantasy that I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to get to. If you haven’t picked up The Wheel of Time series yet, you need to. I started The Eye of the World on the first and I’m devouring it. I absolutely love it, so far. I’m interested to see where the next thirteen, yes thirteen, books go. So that’s my fantasy reading journey so far. The thing I’ve learned from it is start where your gut tells you. If there’s a series calling out to you, try it.
