Fantasy with Friends: Underrated Fantasy Books

Briana and Krysta at Pages Unbound are hosting a fantasy discussion meme this year called Fantasy with Friends. Since fantasy is my favorite genre, I thought it would be fun to take part. This week, their question is:

What is an underrated fantasy book you would recommend?

Considering I tend to read off the beaten path, most of the fantasy I’ve read is probably underrated. I’ve been reading fantasy for over 20 years, so probably a lot of the books I read back when I was a teen? It’s kind of amazing to see how fantasy has evolved since the 80s and 90s.

One of the early fantasy series I read has always felt like one of the more underrated of the author’s series. Readers tend to think of the Alanna when Tamora Pierce is mentioned, which I enjoyed as long as I read the first and last books. But I adored her Circle of Magic quartet, even to this day. My copies are probably close to falling apart, but I can’t bear to part with them. While I’m pretty sure Lark and Rosethorn, the two women caring for four orphaned and abandoned children with particular magics, were lesbians, there’s no focus on romance, which makes sense since these were written for children! Instead, it focused on the friendship between these four very different kids from different walks of life and the siblinghood they formed.

Jumping forward a bit, well, it’s probably most of the books I read. When I was in high school, there was no Goodreads and I definitely hadn’t even heard of Amazon yet. I didn’t even really start using the Internet until college in the early 2000s, so I literally had no clue what books were out there unless they were stocked in the bookstore and library. There were no reviews to peruse, and none of my peers were reading adult fantasy (some years ago, I did share the books that were popular when I was in high school…that I mostly didn’t read). My favorite turned out to be the The Watershed trilogy by Douglas Niles. Today, I don’t actually remember a whole lot, but it felt like quintessential fantasy. There were dark lands and evil beings and magical waters. There was romance and friendship. There were adventures and danger. I loved these books. They were so much fun to read. I remember the story and world building being relatively easy to follow, so, if you’re looking for old underrated fantasy, this series might be fun.

I ended up taking a long break from reading fantasy between college and when I became a mom for the second time, basically when I started book blogging. I had grown dissatisfied with fantasy and nothing was really piquing my interest. But, thanks to book blogging, I’ve enjoyed so many different kinds of fantasy books, from indie authors to traditionally published books.

I can’t fail to mention two fantasy authors I absolutely love (and, no, it’s not just because I’ve been a faithful reader of their blogs and have been following their author journeys for years!).

Jennifer M. Zeiger’s Hidden Mythics series only has two books so far, but she’s hard at work on the third. They’re perfect for YA and adult readers, with friendship and romance and family drama. But it’s the world building that gets me every single time. I’m in complete awe of how beautiful it is and how it manages to transport me. I normally see the settings in vivid color no matter what book I read, but these make me feel like I’m literally standing there with the characters. The attention to detail is incredible, and I always think these books are worthy of being traditionally published.

Lucia Damisa’s A Desert of Bleeding Sand series gets me in the heart every time. The third book is due to be published soon, and I am on pins and needles after the way the second book ended. I have a soft spot for African-inspired fantasy, and these books absolutely live up to every expectation. The romance is gorgeous, and yet these aren’t romantasy novels. There’s danger and war and enemies infiltrating. There’s friendship and family and loss. There are tenuous ties that are tested at every turn. These characters are stunning. And, yes, I know I mentioned Lucia’s books last time with the religion question, but, like Jennifer’s books, I’ll take every opportunity to mention them.

Other than those, I would have to say the Captain Kit Brightling books by Chloe Neill, especially for readers who enjoy Napoleonic and regency era books. Considering this series was basically canceled after 2 books, I’d say they definitely weren’t popular. And yet I had so much fun with them. They were exactly the light kind of reads I needed during the pandemic. These books are light, fluffy fantasy, blending RJ Barker’s The Bone Ships series and Jane Austen’s novels, a really fun blend that spoke to my fantasy and classics loving heart.

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Fantasy with Friends: Religion in Fantasy

Briana and Krysta at Pages Unbound are hosting a fantasy discussion meme this year called Fantasy with Friends. Since fantasy is my favorite genre, I thought it would be fun to take part. This week, their question is:

What are some interesting portrayals of religion in fantasy? Do you like seeing invented religions, or do you prefer fantasy worlds to have none?

Religion and I had a falling out about 25 years ago. Despite being raised at a Lutheran school and attending a Catholic church on the big holidays, my family wasn’t particularly religious. So I’ve always been able to think rather flexibly about religions. Having an interest in Greek mythology, and even more ancient pantheons, helped, too. Religion has always felt more like a series of stories to me, especially since I can never quite decide if I believe in reincarnation or just, poof, zapping out of existence upon death. To me, religion has always been less a way of life and more of a desire to figure out what comes after death.

Anyways. I love invented religions in fantasy novels, when I do notice them. Honestly, I don’t pay much attention to whether there’s religion in the books I read. Most of the time, I can see the parallels to the religions we all know. Some of them are thinly veiled Christianity, and that doesn’t always work out well (like The Mystery of Lancelot Kingdom by Andre Alexander. It was just Christianity under different names, and it didn’t really work well with the fantasy story). Really, I could take or leave religion in fantasy. I don’t need it, but it’s fun to see what spins an author takes on religion. If a book doesn’t have one, I never feel like I’m missing out. I’m an atheist, so religion is just a fun bit of world building to me. Otherwise I don’t pay much attention to it. I’m assuming since so many of the books I’ve read have had gods interfering there must be some kind of organized religion around them, but I really don’t pay attention to it.

But I have to take a moment to talk about Lucia Damisa’s A Desert of Bleeding Sand series. I’ve been a faithful follower of her blog since before she wrote these books, and it’s so wonderful to be able to read them now. I know she’s Christian in the most beautiful way, and I love seeing how it translates into her novels. While it’s written under the guise of a fictional religion with a fictional god, it’s easy to see the references. I love how neatly Christianity, under a different yet similar name, slots into her world. It’s woven in so perfectly that I can see the inspiration, the pure faith, and still see her books as a fantastic fantasy world with its own religion. I feel like I’m explaining this poorly, because it’s really so masterfully done.

In answer to the question, I don’t really care if there’s religion in a fantasy novel. If there is, I hope it makes sense. If not, I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.

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Fantasy with Friends: Magical Schools.

This week's theme is magic schools, and I discuss a bit how it's hard to get away from the magical Scottish castle in the room when it comes to that... but how there are definitely alternative models.

https://breathesbooks.com/2026/03/02/fantasy-with-friends-magical-schools/

#bookstodon #FantasyWithFriends