The Fantasy Review’s list of 10 Classic Fantasy Books Perfect for Young Adults.
Sheepfarmer’s Daughter (The Deed of Paksenarrion, #1) by Elizabeth Moon
From the blurb:
Paksenarrion defies her father’s orders to marry the pig farmer down the road, instead, she’s off to join the army. So her adventure begins – the adventure that transforms her into a hero chosen by the gods to restore a lost ruler to his throne.
Magician (The Riftwar Saga, #1-2) by Raymond E. Feist
From the blurb:
Orphaned boy Pug is apprenticed to a powerful court magician named Kulgan in the world of Midkemia. Though ill at ease with the normal ways of wizardry, Pug soon earns his place as a squire after saving the life of one of the royals at court. But his courage will be tested still further when dark beings from another world open a rift in the fabric of spacetime to rekindle the age-old battle between the forces of Order and Chaos…
The Silent Tower (Windrose Chronicles, #1) by Barbara Hambly
From the blurb:
A wizard and a computer programmer from opposite sides of an interdimensional portal must work together to save their worlds from destruction….
In a world where wizards are relegated to ghettos, it is no surprise to see one murdered in the street. But for Stonne Caris, a young warrior monk who sees the killing and gives chase to the culprit, there is nothing ordinary about seeing a murderer disappear into a black, inky portal. The Archmage sends him in search of Antryg Windrose – a half-mad mage who understands the nature of these passages between dimensions…
The Misplaced Legion (The Videssos Cycle, #1) by Harry Turtledove
From the blurb:
As they faced one another in a duel of survival, the Roman tribune Marcus Scaurus held the spell-scribed sword of a Druid priest, and the Celtic chieftain Viridovix held a similar sword, bespelled by a rival Druid sorcerer. At the moment they touched, the two found themselves under a strange night sky where no stars were familiar and where Gaul and Rome were unknown. They were in an outpost of the embattled Empire of Videssos—in a world where magic and dark sorcery would test their skill and courage as no Roman legion had ever been tested before.
The Wizards and the Warriors (Chronicles of an Age of Darkness #1) by Hugh Cook
From the blurb:
The Confederation of Wizards is forced to put aside its long-standing historical dispute with the inhabitants of Rovac. Instead, both must join together in a common cause, to prevent the utter destruction of their world. They face two perils: the Swarms, and a power that turns living things to stone and brings rocks to life.
The Fall of Atlantis (The Fall of Atlantis, #1-2) by Marion Zimmer Bradley
From the blurb:
A wounded prince washed up on a foreign shore becomes the focal point in an epic conflict between the nature-revering Priests of the White Robes and the power-exploiting Black Robes when the full extent of his powers comes to ligh
The Will of the Wanderer (Rose of the Prophet, #1) by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
From the blurb:
Since time began, twenty Gods have ruled the universe. Though each god possessed different abilities, each was all-powerful within his realm. Now one of the Gods has upset the balance of power, leaving the others scrambling for control in the new order…
The Bishop’s Heir (Histories of King Kelson, #1) by Katherine Kurtz
From the blurb:
For centuries, a powerful faction of the Holy Church in Gwynedd has been at war with the Deryni, the mysterious race whose magic is despised and feared by those who lack their remarkable arcane abilities. The bloodshed ended with the coronation of the popular young King Kelson Haldane, himself a possessor of Deryni magic—but the peace is short-lived…
The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1) by J.R.R. Tolkien
From the blurb:
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
In ancient times the Rings of Power were crafted by the Elven-smiths, and Sauron, the Dark Lord, forged the One Ring, filling it with his own power so that he could rule all others. But the One Ring was taken from him, and though he sought it throughout Middle-earth, it remained lost to him. After many ages it fell into the hands of Bilbo Baggins, as told in The Hobbit…
The Sword of Shannara (The Original Shannara Trilogy, #1) by Terry Brooks
From the blurb:
Long ago, the wars of the ancient Evil ruined the world. In peaceful Shady Vale, half-elfin Shea Ohmsford knows little of such troubles. But the supposedly dead Warlock Lord is plotting to destroy everything in his wake. The sole weapon against this Power of Darkness is the Sword of Shannara, which can be used only by a true heir of Shannara. On Shea, last of the bloodline, rests the hope of all the races…
