[ SECRET POST #3146 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #3146 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 065 secrets from Secret Submission Post #450.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Standalone fantasy novels

[skeletal_history]

I'm looking for a good fantasy novel that is a self-contained story, not part of a series, and preferably under 500 pages. By "good" I mean: the characters feel like real people and are genuinely interesting; the plot is gripping (bonus if it hinges on an interesting moral dilemma) and the ending satisfying; and the author has a fine command of the English language.

I'm not here for anything that involves women being treated like shit and it's no big deal (I.e., George RR Martin and his imitators can piss off).

Books I have enjoyed: Felix Gilman's "The Half-Made World" (LOVED THIS), Charles de Lint's "Moonheart," Ursula K. LeGuin's "The Lathe of Heaven" (not the OP of the secret from the other day!), Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy, etc.

Thanks for any suggestions you can provide! I go to my library's SF section and it's like 90% 900-page 6-part series, and I don't have the energy for that!

Re: Standalone fantasy novels

[sarillia]

Guy Gavriel Kay has a lot of standalone novels outside of his Fionavar Tapestry and Sarantine Mosaic.

Octavia Butler's Fledgling is one of my absolute favorite vampire books.

I should have a lot more but I'm having trouble thinking of them.

Re: Standalone fantasy novels

[(Anonymous)]

DA

Butler's Wild Seed, too, tho I don't think that could really qualify as fantasy. Maybe if you squint??

Re: Standalone fantasy novels

[elialshadowpine]

The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison. It's fucking amazing, it fits all your requirements, though I'll note the plot is heavily political. If you don't like normal political stories, I do suggest trying this one, because the central character is actually, genuinely, a good person trying to function when he very accidentally (... very) ends up the emperor and has NO IDEA how to deal with the exceedingly formal court. And the plot is very much around moral dilemmas. Lots of them. Lots and lots.

My only complaint about the ending is that there wasn't more, but that's in part because I felt it could easily have been a trilogy; author insists it's only a stand alone, sigh. It does stand alone, so I'm not sure how much of that is because I am a series reader, if an unusual one: I save up all the books until I'm ready to read them and then binge them, because I get lost in world settings and one book just isn't enough.

Re: Standalone fantasy novels

[feotakahari]

Nick Harkaway varies widely in quality, but The Gone-Away World was pretty clever. (I also tried searching for "standalone fantasy novels," and I found a lot of books that sound great, but I haven't actually read most of them.)

Re: Standalone fantasy novels

[(Anonymous)]

Most books by Robin McKinley are stand alone, although she has two that are semi-connected (in the sense that they take place in the same world, though centuries apart). In particular I'd recommend Chalice.