Reading

7 Great Reasons to Read Fantasy (+Best Fantasy Books)

by Helen Ng on Oct 17, 2024

7 Great Reasons to Read Fantasy (+Best Fantasy Books)

Book reading is something that has been with human beings for many thousands of years.

They are interesting, exciting and could help men & women of all ages and also children to get transported to a completely and totally different world.

There are many other reasons as to why many people are attracted towards fantasy book reading.

Let us look at a few of them in some detail for the benefit of our readers. Before that let us understand a few more things about fantasy book reading.

This will help you to have a look at fantasy reading from a new perspective.

In short, are fantasy books a waste of time as many people think?

Fantasy books aren't a waste of time, and they have numerous benefits, including improved imagination, complex world-building, and universal life lessons.

Why are Fantasy books so long?

This again is a common question that we often come across as far as fantasy book reading is concerned.

Most of the famous fantasy books are quite long and they run in many segments. Hence, those who are looking for a few minutes to read may often find these books a bit boring.

However, we need to understand the reasons behind their becoming so popular.

These fantasy books are certainly built over a theme.

Further almost all characters are fictional in nature. They must be built from scratch and the author has to spend quite a bit of time to explain to the readers the finer points and some important details and each character.

Even small characters have a big role to play in the overall plot of these fantasy books. Good definition and description of the characters also makes these fantasy books more interesting and therefore more marketable.

7 Great Reasons to read Fantasy Book

Here are seven main reasons why it makes sense to read fantasy books.

1. It helps in complex world building

Building a complex world is not easy and ask any good author of different genres, he or she will agree on this.

These fantasy books help create characters that may be a bit outlandish but at the end of the day, they will ensure that they are fully integrated into the book and are ingrained into the main theme and objective of the book.

It could be even about rival nations who are always at loggerheads with one another, and also could be some magnificent creatures that have special powers and magical dispositions.

There are some amazing fantasy books including the likes of Harry Potter where the characters are extremely complex but have been well-thought-out. The complex worlds that are created by authors of these fantasy books are extremely intricate.

Additionally, they are limitless and immortal.

2. They come with infinite potential

The best thing about fantasy is that they are built on fantasy and imaginations. Hence, authors of such books are bound only by their imagination.

There could be some new and wonderful characters that could be beyond the realms of imagination. The only thing constant about fantasy characters and books is that they are always evolving and changing.

They are in a flux.

They are often compared with science fiction because science fiction books also talk about the world of possibility.

For example, there were some books that talked about the internet and other such things perhaps many decades ago. Many people scoffed and laughed at these ideas and the internet is not only a reality but an absolute necessity.

3. You can certainly expect the unexpected

The best thing about fantasy is that it comes with unique dynamism. The elements that can be incorporated into a plot or fantasy is again bound by only the author’s imagination.

This could lead to things, events and happenings that would have been totally and completely unexpected. The readers will always be made to sit on the edge of their seats because they never know what to expect in the next page or even in the next few lines.

Since fantasies are not bound by realities, they can come with infinite possibilities.

Books like Games of Thrones is one such example where every moment, every few lines and every page is loaded with immense possibilities of change.

The same is the case with some trendsetters like Harry Potter and various other books like Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit and many more.

4. Capability of mental expansion

It would also be pertinent to mention here that the author when penning a fantasy book is free to travel wherever he wants.

Therefore, he has many components of fantasy situations, creatures and circumstances to pick and choose. This also goes quite well with the readers because of a number of reasons.

They will be in a much better position to expand their own concept and understanding of reality versus fantasy. These fantasy books and works allow the creation of numerous characters.

These characters are capable of traversing green hills and they also will be able to travel far from home. This also allows the readers to become a part of such a journey and obviously, in real life they will never even be able to fathom such travels, leave alone being a part of it.

The various works of fantasies are liked by almost everyone across the world because of various reasons. They transcend the boundaries of gender, class, race, and other such manmade boundaries.

Hence, if you are one of those who would like to expand your overall mental horizon, it certainly does make a lot of sense to go in for these fantasy books penned by some great authors.

5. Blends the New with the Old

There is one more reason why it makes a lot of sense to go through fantasy books. It allows and gives freedom to the authors to blend the old with the new.

In fact, they are able to seamlessly merge the real and current world with that of history. Yes it is a fact that fantasy is not bound or shackled by the realms of reality and quite often it is born out of history.

However, merging the history and the historical men and creatures with modern day civilization is not easy and the best of fantasy books authors are able to do it effortlessly and seamlessly.

Hence, if you are one of those who would like to know the history and at the same time find out ways to bring to the world of reality as it exists today, it makes a lot of sense for you to go in for these wonderful fantasy books.

You will learn to respect history and youngsters, in particular, will love it because today’s world of computers and games may not be able to offer them a detailed insight into history.

6. Problem-solving mindset

It would be pertinent to mention here that many of these fantasy books are written for young minds.

Parents would do well to encourage their children to read as many good fantasy books as possible because of a number of reasons.

They will be able to know more about the various cultures and histories across the world, some dating back to thousands of years.

Secondly, they also will be able to develop a problem-solving mindset. It helps the young minds to develop their imagination and this could help them in approaching their school studies and also perhaps their careers, later in their lives, with a problem-solving mindset.

Many of these fantasy books also throw some interesting problems and situations to the young readers and this certainly requires them to be more imaginative and have a mindset that is focused on solving issues.

7. Character analysis

There are endless mythological and other types of characters in most fantasy books.

Each one may have a different character and when children, in particular, are able to read more of these books, they will be able to develop a much better skill set when it comes to analyzing characters.

5 best fantasy books everyone should read

There are dozens of fantasy books and it may not be possible to read each one of them. However, I am listing down five best fantasy books that should be ready by everyone.

  • Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland.
  • J.R.R Tolkien’s Hobbit
  • Lord Dunsany’s The Kind of Elfland’s.
  • T.H. White’s The Sword in the Stone
  • Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising

Conclusion

It would be wrong to suggest that fantasy books are just collections of certain events built around certain fantasy characters. They are much more than that. They have the best ingredients of mystery, humor, adventure, treachery, love and other such emotions that make up the human psyche.