Best Early Modern Fantasy Books (1930's to 1950's)

Lord Of The Rings

by Tolkien, J.r.r.

Possibly the most, well-recognized world of fiction in history. The Lord of the Rings is the third best-selling novel ever written, with over 150 million copies sold. This high fantasy novel follows the adventures of Fro...

The Chronicles Of Narnia

by Lewis, C. S.

A classic high fantasy series with much adventure to offer. But, it can also be read allegorical and incorporates Christian imagery.

These well-written series of children's novels tell the story of English children who visit a fanciful land known as Narnia. Narnia is full of talking animals, villains, heroes, witches and adventures, and is ruled over...

The Broken Sword

by Anderson, Poul

The Broken Sword explores what happens when a human child is exchanged at birth and taken and raised by the elves. It is a solid bit of writing and a masterful story. This dark fantasy borrows strongly from Nordic Mythol...

I Am Legend

by Matheson, Richard

One of the first to make vampirism or zombies have a scientific origin with plenty of medical inquiry and rational causation provided.

This is the story that influenced the zombie genre and popularized the concept of a worldwide zombie apocalypse. Robert Neville is the last human on the earth. He is immune to a virus that either killed people or turned...

The Once And Future King (The Once And Future King)

by White, T. H.

An Arthurian retelling and is also very much a coming of age story.

This classic is the Arthurian tale standard by which modern iterations are measured. Or blatantly ripped off ('cough' Disney 'cough'). While the first section is a bright and comical depiction of Arthur as a familiar...

The Iron Castle

by Donald, Angus

This enjoyable novel is a sequel to The Incomplete Enchanter and continues the adventures of Harold Shea, a 20th century American who finds himself in a world of wizards, dragons, and other fantasy elements. In The Castl...

The Borrowers

by Norton, Mary

Deep below the floorboards lives the petite Borrower family - Pod, Homily, and Arrietty Clock. Everything they own is borrowed from the humans above them, even their names are not quite their own. There is just one rule:...

Dandelion Wine

by Bradbury, Ray

The first in a series of stories about Green Town, this is the story of one summer in a young boy's life—a magical summer where he discovers is how aliveness.

Ray Bradbury weaves the story within your imagination, touching upon fun summertime memories we all have as kids, such as childhood friends, the smell of freshly cut grass, the enigma of old people (when you're 12 everyo...

Conjure Wife

by Leiber, Fritz

What if every woman secretly practised witchcraft? A professor discovers his wife's charms, in Leiber's classic of suburban magic.

What if half the world's population practiced witchcraft? Specifically, what if Women practiced witchcraft and kept it a secret from men? And what if a husband found his wife's charms, spells, and totems and made her de...

The 13 Clocks

by Thurber, James

This gothic fairy tale has a classic plot: A gorgeous princess is imprisoned by a dark and evil mage. He will release her into marriage, but only to the bravest and strongest suitor. One who is able to fulfill a seemingl...

A Canticle For Leibowitz

by Jr., Walter M. Miller

After a nuclear war monks preserve civilization.

A Canticle for Leibowitz follows the rejuvenation of "civilization" after a devastating nuclear holocaust. It has three distinctive chapters, each one disconnected by centuries, focusing on life at a desert monastery nam...

Titus Groan (Ghormenghast) Start here

by Peake, Mervyn

Titus Groan is the first book in Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast trilogy and it opens with the birth of Titus, the heir to the imposing Gormenghast castle. It then proceeds to unfold into a story of intrigue, betrayal, and Ma...

The Screwtape Letters

by Lewis, C. S.

Letters from a senior devil to his nephew on how to corrupt a human soul, C. S. Lewis's sharp satire.

The Screwtape Letters consists of letters written from a “superior” devil to a junior devil (Wormwood) about how to lead a human soul away from The Enemy (God). Screwtape is a retired and wise tempter, or “devil”. The b...

Islandia

by Wright, Austin Tappan

The novel describes the adventures of John Lang, an American who gets appointed as a consul to the mysterious land of Islandia. Islandia is fairly isolationist, only allowing about a hundred foreigners at a time in the c...

Stuart Little

by White, E. B.

This ridiculous but entrancing story follows the life of a city family called the Littles. They adopt a son and name him Stuart, but the unusual thing is that Stuart is a mouse! So why would you want to read a story abou...

The Adventures Of Superman

by Lowther, George F.

This book was the very first Superman novel, and tells the familiar story of how the legend came to be. The story begins on Krypton, follows Superman as his spaceship crashes to earth, and takes us through the events aro...

Land Of Terror Frazetta Art

by Burroughs, Edgar Rice

This is the sixth installment of Edgar Rice Burroughs's Pellucidar series. The protagonist, David Innes, has traveled from our world into the center of the Earth, where he has become renowned, feared, and respected to ma...

The Hobbit (The Lord Of The Rings) Start here

by Tolkien, J.r.r.

Smaug is the classic dragon figure lying under the mountain—a scary creature who keeps the dwarves from their home and who must be defeated.

The Hobbit is one of the most well-loved fantasy novels of all time. Written by J.R.R Tolkien as a bedtime story for his children, The Hobbit is a light-hearted tale, focussing on the exploits of an increasingly adven...

At The Mountains Of Madness

by Lovecraft, H. P.

An Antarctic expedition finds the ruins of an ancient civilisation, and something that is still alive, a Lovecraft landmark.

The book is a story of an arctic expedition that discovers the remains of a yet unknown, intelligent extraterrestrial civilization that predates human life on earth. The survivors of this expedition have to face unknown...

Lost Horizon: A Novel

by Hilton, James

A popular success, this novel has philosophical and social commentary and idealized the lost world as a paradise.

The story of four airplane passengers whose plane crashes into a mysterious mountain range near Tibet. They are taken to a secret monastery in the enigmatic Shangri-La that is complete with a library, music room, and all...

The Sword In The Stone (The Once And Future King) Start here

by White, T. H.

A bit of King Arthur and Merlin for children. This book adds a bit of education and a bit of humor to the ancient legends. 5. Mary Norton, The Borrowers. An imaginative story about a teeny tiny family living under the floorboards.

Instead of picking up the story of King Arthur from the day when young Art pulls the sword from the stone, T.H. White gazes back to the innocent childhood of England's once and future king, the days when outlaws like Rob...