Five Recommended Indie Fantasy Novels
The indie publishing market is full of diamonds in the rough. Unfortunately, finding them is a chore because there's very few ways to tell whether a book is fantastic prose with great plot and characters or something...less than great. However, I’ve benefited from having read a bunch of great fantasy novels written by authors who have decided to go nontraditional routes.
Each of these books is one that I’ve read and enjoyed greatly as well as believe you could do so as well. I hope you’ll give them a look over once you’ve checked out my thoughts. There’s an entire new world to be found once you look beyond more “traditional” publishing.
5. The Finder of the Lucky Devil by Megan Mackie
This is a novel that blends multiple genres, specifically fantasy, urban fantasy, and cyberpunk. Taking place in a world where witches, fairies, and magical creatures like alongside dystopian megacorporations with their cyborg secret agents. Ironically, it’s mostly a cozy mystery with the protagonist just wanting to run her oddball bar in peace. Rune is an immensely likeable protagonist and Megan Mackie has strong Patricia Briggs energy. The cyberpunk elements are fairly light but that didn’t mean I didn’t get a strong “Shadow Run bar owner” feel from the work.
4. Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike
Have you ever wondered how an economy would function with the massive amounts of treasure that pour into it from all the slain dragons, goblins, and beholders? No? Just me. Well, apparently not, because the author here talks about the entire dungeon economy that resulted from adventurers trying to make their fortunes via killing monsters. Unfortunately, said economy is a bubble that’s about to burst and those riffraff monsters want to stop being murdered too. A book with some truly Pratchett-esque energy.
3. Paternus by Dyrk Ashton
Paternus is a fantastic book trilogy that tells the tale of a war of the gods that has been waged on our world for millennia with no one the wiser. The gods each have many names across hundreds of cultures and their numbers have depleted thanks to their incessant warring. Unfortunately, the side that wants to openly rule over mankind and slaughter anyone who resists has figured out a way to bring back their dead members. The protagonists are ordinary teens, seemingly, but soon find themselves in the crossfire of a battle between immortals.
2. Kings of Paradise by Richard Nell
Kings of Paradise is one of the few indie works that I’ve found which manages to stand up there with Martin and Abercombie. I’m not doing hyperbole here either. Mind you, he’s in the back of the crowd but he’s still standing up there. A deformed witch’s son, a renegade priestess, and a spoiled prince have their destinies tied together in a fascinating conflict of cultures. It’s just fantastic prose from beginning to end.
1. Dragon Mage by M.L. Spencer
It was a tough call between this novel and the author’s other series, Rhenwars Saga. However, between the two I’m going to have to pick this one because it is a homage to classic Nineties Dungeons and Dragons-esque fiction. It also stars an autistic protagonist and as someone on the spectrum, I appreciate this. There’s goodies, there’s baddies, and there’s dragons. What more could you want?
