Lev Grossman is the author of The Magicians and The Magician King, which were both New York Times bestsellers.He also writes about books and technology for Time magazine.
One of Grossman's five favorite fantasy novels as told to Sophie Roell at The Browser:
The Once and Future KingRead about another novel on the list.
by T H White
White is less famous than Lewis and Tolkien, but he was a better writer, at least as far as style goes, and his book is a true masterpiece in its own right – a thoroughly modernre-imagining of the great English epic, the story of King Arthur. Like Tolkien, White takes an ancient, mythic landscape and scales it down to human size (or perhaps he scales us up). But White’s world is more brightly lit than Tolkien’s – he dispenses with all those Wagnerian storm clouds. White’s England is all streaming banners and sun-splashed meadows and shining walls, and he lingers longer over his characters, making them more complex and flawed and divided against themselves. The first part alone, “The Sword in the Stone”, about Arthur’s early years and his education by Merlin, may be the best story of a childhood ever committed to paper.
Also see Megan Wasson's list of five fantasy series geared towards teens that adults will love too.
The Page 69 Test: Lev Grossman's The Magicians.
--Marshal Zeringue
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