Top 10 Comic fantasy books

This genre of fantasy parodies (mostly affectionately) all fantasy sub genres. It could be said that the primary objective of comic fantasy is to amuse.

1 love songs for the shy and cynical by Robert Shearman

Image: love songs for the shy and cynical book cover
Rating 8.9/10

The first love song in the world, as composed by a pig in the Garden of Eden... The Devil, alarmed when his hobby of writing romantic fiction begins to upstage his day job... A man finding love with someone who has an allergy to his very own happiness; another losing love altogether when his wife gives him back his heart in a Tupperware box...

2 Shadow Forest by Matt Haig

Image: Shadow Forest book cover
Rating 8.5/10

Shadow Forest tells the story of Samuel Blink and his sister Martha recently made orphans by a freak accident and shipped off to live with their only living relative in Norway, Aunt Eda, who feeds them brown smelly cheese and forbids them to enter the forest outside her lodge. Within a matter of days of arriving in their new home, Samuel realises that nothing is quite what it seems and when his Aunt tells the story of their Uncle Henrik entering the forest some years ago and never being seen again then Samuel is sure he’s not entirely happy with this relocation. When his sister, who has not spoken since the death of their parents, goes missing in the forest Samuel knows that he must risk his own safety to save her.

3 Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link

Image: Pretty Monsters book cover
Rating 7.9/10

Blending fairytale, fantasy, horror, myth and mischief in a delicious cocktail, Kelly Link creates a world like no other, where ghosts of girlfriends past rub up against Scrabble-loving grandmothers with terrifying magic handbags, wizards sit alongside morbid babysitters, and we encounter a people-eating monster who claims to have a sense of humour. With more than a pinch of macabre humour, this is writing to come back from the dead for.

4 Lex Trent Versus the Gods by Alex Bell

Image: Lex Trent Versus the Gods book cover
Rating 7.5/10

Cheats never prosper. At least that’s what everyone else would have you believe. But Lex Trent knows better. Lex knows that, with a bit of luck, the quickest route to success is to lie, swindle and cheat all the way to the top. Unfortunately Lex has taken his scams a step too far… Rather than see his neck in a noose, he’s forced to go on the run in a world of irritable Gods, fearsome magicians and strange beasts. But luck is still on his side, just.

5 Hell by Robert Olen Butler

Image: Hell book cover
Rating 7.0/10

Hatcher McCord is an evening newscaster who has found himself in Hell and is struggling to explain his bad fortune. He's far from the only one to suffer this fate - in fact, he's surrounded by an outrageous cast of characters, including William Shakespeare, Humphrey Bogart, Richard M. Nixon, Jezebel, Judas Iscariot, Pope Boniface VIII, J. Edgar Hoover, and a panoply of present-day figures who will soon be in Hell. The question may be not who is in Hell but who isn't

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Image: Once Walked with Gods book cover   Image: Alden Bell, author   Image: Gardens of the Moon, by Steven Erikson, book cover   Image: X-Isle book cover
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Once Walked with Gods
James Barclay
James Barclay's ELVES trilogy will tell the whole story of his immortal elven race, and will appeal to all fans of Tolkien and fantasy - this is a uniquely entertaining take on a fantasy staple perfect to bring new readers to Barclay.

 

Alden Bell
Allison Brennan
Paul Kearney
Karen Brooks
JR Mitchell
NK Jemisin
Holly Black
Chris Dolley
Alex Bell
Alison Goodman
  The Amulet of Samarkand
The Spook's Apprentice
Gardens of the Moon
A Game of Thrones
A Wizard of Earthsea
Ship of Magic
Assassin's Apprentice
The Colour of Magic
Duncton Wood
Tigana
  September 2, 2010 will see the publication of Steve Augarde's wonderful X-Isle in paperback. To mark the occasion Random House have very kindly given us three copies to give away as prizes in our latest competition.
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