Curious [foreign fantasy books]

[Wiccangixie]

I'm curious about other magical books written in other countries. Particularly those about the faery lands, Celtic lore, and interesting magical stories period. Can you guys tell me of the great books that you've come across?

[Garrett Fitzgerald]

The Dark Is Rising

You might like The Dark Is Rising sequence by Susan Cooper. It's more British lore than Celtic, but it's worth trying - as long as you stay far, far away from the movie. :-)

The first book is Over Sea, Under Stone: The Dark Is Rising itself is actually the second book in the series.

[Emi]

When you say magic books written in other countries do you mean the setting or actually written?? There's a few that I've read... sort of meeting your explanation.

Faerie Path by Frewin Jones. It is set in modern day London and Faerie Land. It's a triology. I love it... read those three books within a week.

Another is A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray. It's set in Elizabethan London. It involves some magic and mythical creatures. There's not a whole lot of magic in this book, but it is fantasy. It's also another triology as well.

Hope you like them.

[A Traveller with Magic]

I second The Dark is Rising.

O.R. Melling's The Chronicles of Faerie (The Hunter's Moon to The Book of Dreams: the last one really blends Celtic with other ethnic folklore existing in or brought to Canada, like French and Native American and Chinese. I didn't care for the last third of the book, but the other two thirds more than make up for it.)

Alison Baird's The Hidden World also plays up the Celtic aspect of Newfoundland culture- there's an alternate magical world featuring the Four Treasures of Ireland, natch.

[alla]

I haven't read that many things dealing with celtic lore, but I can make suggestions of books with a strong magical leanings.

I third the Dark is Rising sequence (pay no attention to the movie, the books are much much much better). There's also the Pendragon Cycle by Stephen Lawhead: its arthurian, but different to others that I have read.

You might enjoy the Riddle of the Treesong quartet by Alison Croggon, too. Its a tale of bards and magic. The Bitterbynd Trilogy by Cecilia Dart-Thornton is also well grounded in magic. The Chrestomanci Books by Diana Wynne Jones (and all of her other stuff too) are good.

[eowyngirl]

I fourth The Dark is Rising and second the Riddle of the Treesong quartet and anything by Diana Wynne Jones; they're all fantastic.

I feel like there's something else in that category that I've read and enjoyed, but I can't think of anything at the moment.

I also second the post below mine.

[KizzyShima]

Herbie Brennan's Faerie Wars series takes place part in the Faerie world and part in (I think) Ireland.

I definitely enjoyed it--it strays a lot from the usual path of fantasy series. Each of the characters is rather distinct and there's a lot of wit thrown in.

[kk]

I read "Shadowmagic" by John Lenahan. That was an interesting story...It was about Irish Mythology, but wasn't set specifically in Ireland...mostly, it was set it Tir na Nog...

I haven't read The Dark is Rising sequence; I really need to...hmm...

[Stormwind]

I don't know how much they correspond with anything other than fairy tales (meaning the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Anderson type) but a cute series of books called Princess School, by Jane B. Mason and Sarah Hines Stephens. They are short little light reading stories that tell of Briar Rose, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Snow White, and a friendship that forms as they attend Princess School. I've enjoyed them...

I've also come across a series known in the US as the Spooks Apprentice, by Joseph Delaney. It's basically set in the south of England (or the County) and is a good little series, the first book is Revenge of the Witch - but some of the other titles may be different as the US publishers can't seem to leave things in their native format (AKA Harry Potter and the Philospher's Stone, not Sorcerer's Stone) Just Google Joseph Delaney and you'll find them.

Also try Ranger's Apprentice, though it's not specifically magic dealing, it's also set in a land much like England that that area.. those are by John Flanagan.

[Kathy Li]

Ok, since this thread wasn't about foreign language editions of YW, I moved it into Chatter II and elaborated the title a little. I'd also like to mention that we've got a huge Books thread for the "interesting magical stories period" bit.
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Celtic covers a lot of ground. I'd recommend going to the Wikipedia Celtic myth entry and from there finding source materials like the Mabinogion for Welsh myth, the Ulster cycle for Irish legends, etc.

Assuming you're not in Ireland, DD's work pretty much counts as 'written in other lands' since she lives in Ireland these days. And A Wind From the South is set in Switzerland. Kinda. And her Stealing the Elf-King's Roses has definite ties to Faery.

Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy was original written in German and then translated into English, although you probably can't tell, the translation's just that good.

Personally, if you're looking for weird faery stuff, I'd actually recommend going back to the 1920s and finding the older fantasy from the pre-Tolkien era. Lord Dunsany's The King of Elf-Land's Daughter and Hope Mirrlee's Lud-in-the-Mist are both terrific wonderful reads. And two modern titles I love the hell out of (and at completely opposite ends of the style spectrum) would be Susannah Clarke's Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and Esther Friesner's Elf Defense.

In fact, I'd also like to mention the Ballantine Adult Fantasy series, which can often be found for cheap-cheap in used bookstores, and it's amazing how few of the titles Lin Carter picked (both old and new) are clunkers. You'll even find a book DD loves on that list: E.R. Eddison's The Worm Ourobouros.

[Taran]

Neverending Story

Quite a few people have posted more on this in other the thread Kathy mentioned: "What is your favorite series, other than YW"

One of the best foreign fantasy books of the last 30 years was Michael Ende's The Neverending Story (Die Unendliche Geschichte).

If you decide to read it, check any copy you are about to buy or borrow to be sure it contains type in different colors. If it is all in black type, the story is not the same.

The book is much better than the movies that were made from it.

[Cress]

There is a new book out called Runemarks that centers around Norse mythology. It's quite interesting.

[Wiccangixie]

There is a new book out called Runemarks that centers around Norse mythology. It's quite interesting.

Thanks Cress lol
I made this thread way back in December in my Cosmicqueen days. I think I like wiccangixie better. You know I started reading City of Bones and Wicked (not the play) by Nancy Holder, and I've been reading The Healer's Keep.

Runemarks sounds like a great title. So Cress, what do you know about Norse?
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Ok i've read runemarks it's great, and wicked, and the city of bones they are all great... oh and cress did you know their is an island named Cres in the meditarainian(sp) sea???

What is runemarks about?
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Wow! Now that sounds like something I should get into as quickly as possible. Got any other recommendations. I've been expanding my horizon (as my friend Ellana put it)
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I think the best of the Wizard series was the Warrior Heir, but that was because that seemed to be the main book she put her heart into. What is Ranger's Apprentice about?
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It sounds like it! wow, now there's a good book for foreign fantasy lol
i've been getting this weird interest in foreign faerie tells and mythology. got any recommendations.
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Oh snap! That reminds me, Justine Larbalestier is a great writer too. There's this book called How to Ditch Your Fairy that I want to read.
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Have you ever read Magic or Madness? Justine wrote that triligoy too.
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They're incredibly short, but they're beautiful works. Septy I have to get off for my little sis TTYL Promise.

[Septimus]

Ok i've read runemarks it's great, and wicked, and the city of bones they are all great... oh and cress did you know their is an island named Cres in the meditarainian(sp) sea???
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A girl born with magical rune talents, a battle scarred man who teaches her to use them and is like a father to her and they go on adventures i'ts almost like a serios(sp) comedie with magic.
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City of bones series, ranger's apprentice, wizard heir series, and more. i posted in another thread listing sum of the books i've read if you could find that it would help.
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really??? honestly i fell in love with Seph's story in seconds, jackson swift did have a rather addicting charm about hm though, Ranger's Apprentice is about an orphan in a medieval world, he is chosen to be apprenticed to the rangers, the kings secret agents, the rangers are mysterious people who excell at everything nut most commoners are scared of them. It's also about his four friends, later on as he gets older the story gets more and more twisted i think they are on book 9 in austarilia and book 5 here. all in all it's an amazing story.
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Same here! percy jackson series knida kidish but still really awesome, i've had a craving for werewolf books sugjestions(sp) anyone? oh and you should reed the good faries of new york it's HILARIOUS!
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HOW TO DITCH YOUR FAIRY! that sounds hilarious! i should get that.
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No they any good???
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kk i got ya ttyl

[Zirsta]

Septy, Wiccangixie, please take a look at this thread. The post you need to read is in the last page at the bottom, #130.
http://www.youngwizards.com/forums/showthread.php?t=449