Five Books For When You Need To Escape The Real World, free edition
And I really do mean escape.
Welcome to Five Books For, a newsletter for people who love great stories. I’m so happy you’re here.
This month I’ve been thinking about the way that books can allow us to travel, and especially to escape to somewhere completely different - very useful when you need a bit of a break from real life. With that in mind, this month’s newsletter focuses on a genre which people often love or hate, or (more commonly, I think) believe they would hate because when they imagine it they think of Lord Of The Rings and despair at the idea of doorstopper-sized books with gory battles and weird creatures. Now, I have nothing against Tolkien but do I know that that kind of epic saga can be off-putting when you want to read something which feels like a bit less of a time investment.
But not all fantasy is the same. This is a genre with so much richness and imagination and such a variety of great writing - if you love a great story then there will be something (or even lots of things) here for you. For these recommendations I’ve steered away from epic fantasy and some of the blockbuster fantasy/romantasy books which are currently so enormously popular to try and suggest some hidden gems which will appeal to readers no matter their usual genre preference and which will transport you to a different world.
Let’s dive in!
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
“The combined aromas of hot cinnamon, ground coffee, and sweet cardamom intoxicated her, and as she brewed and smiled and served and chatted, a deep contentment welled up. It was a glowing warmth she’d never experienced before, and she liked it. She liked it a great deal.”
Imagine my utter delight when I stumbled across this absolute treasure of a book recently and saw it described as ‘cosy fantasy’. How have I not heard of this sub-genre before? What a joy!
So what’s it about? Viv is an orc who has spent her life thus far fighting battles and winning bounties but is desperate to hang up her sword and start afresh, opening the city of Thune’s first ever coffee shop. Undeterred by the fact that no one in Thune knows what ‘bean water’ actually is, she finds a premises and begins to build the life she’s been dreaming of, recruiting new friends Cal (a hob), Tandri (a succubus) and Thimble (a ratkin), along the way. But of course nothing is simple and Viv and her new-found friends will need to band together to overcome what life is about to throw at them.
What’s great about it? This is such a wonderful book. The characters are beautifully drawn, there is a gentle queer romance element, the descriptions of the food and drink are mouthwatering, there is enough tension to drive the plot forward and keep you wanting to see what happens next and the book is a testament to found family, to great food and drink and the power of friendship. Viv is such a great heroine too - strong and capable but with enough self-doubt to make her relatable, and she’s not defined by her desirability in the way that many female characters are in fantasy (and many other genres, let’s be honest), although she is often judged by people who find her appearance intimidating.
Give it a try if: you don’t like fantasy but you like cosy fiction of any sort; you like any other type of fantasy and fancy trying something new and nice; you like slow-burn queer romance; you love stories about friendship; you love a great heroine with a strong support network; you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to have a new beginning.
Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronovitch
“The Metropolitan Police, being the go-ahead and dynamic modern police service that it is, has any number of contingency plans for dealing with civil disturbance, from farmers with truckloads of manure to suburban anarchists on a weekend break and Saturday jihadists. What I suspect they didn’t have plans for was just over two thousand enraged opera lovers pouring out of the Royal Opera House and going on a mad rampage through Covent Garden.”
Rivers Of London is the titular first novel in a series which has now exceeded 10 books (including novellas, graphic novels and a short story collection) and is still going - I love it when I find a whole series of books I’ve never read before. That feeling of having a whole pile of these wonderful stories to dive into is a little like binge-watching something on TV, only better because it’s reading.
N.B. It was published in the U.S. under the title Midnight Riot.
So what’s it about? Rivers of London follows the (mis)adventures of PC Peter Grant, a junior police officer in the Metropolitan Police who has almost finished his training and is expected to be assigned quietly to desk duty somewhere he can’t mess things up. This changes when he unexpectedly meets a ghost when on patrol in Covent Garden one evening; the repercussions of this encounter lead to him joining the tiny and very secret department of the Metropolitan police which deals with the uncanny and to him becoming the UK’s first apprentice wizard in 70 years. Needless to say, it’s not long until Peter is called upon to deal with a much bigger threat to the city.
What’s great about it? This whole series is a masterpiece of great storytelling. Aaronovitch has created a truly memorable cast of characters and each book is filled with adventure and imagination. The books are witty and often laugh out loud funny. They also really bring London to life - if you’ve ever wanted to visit London, this is a great way to do it.
For the best reading experience I would recommend listening to this series on audiobook. They are narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith, who is my all-time favourite audiobook narrator - he is exceptional and brings the stories to life with so much skill and verve. I remember listening to a conversation between Aaronovitch and Holdbrook-Smith where Aaronovitch joked that he deliberately tries to add difficult accents when he introduces a new character so that he can see what Holdbrook-Smith comes up with. You could really hear that they had such a great relationship and a lot of mutual respect for each other.
The books are a lot of fun but each one has a great story as well as forming part of an overarching plot which crosses several books. The characters are brilliantly written, from Peter himself - who grows and matures in a really satisfying way as the series progresses - to the wryly witty Nightingale and the various colleagues and friends who surround them. Aaronovitch is also great at writing the weird and wonderful creatures that populate the London demi-monde without resorting to cliché, keeping his take on the varied species that populate the novels fresh and inventive, a quality which permeates the rest of the writing too.
Give it a try if: you are a person with a sense of humour; you love books about London; you enjoy crime fiction, especially police procedurals; you like witty books; you love great audiobooks; you like Terry Pratchett.
The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison
“It was the first time in his life Maia had been surrounded by people who were like him instead of only snow-white elves with their pale eyes, and he missed several names in the effort not to faint or hyperventilate or burst into tears.”
If you love heroes who are fundamentally good and kind, then this is the book for you. Rather than being full of action and adventure, this is a novel which is almost entirely character-driven, with insightful psychological depth and full of warmth and hope.
So what’s it about? Maia is the youngest and least-loved son of the Emperor of the Elflands, half Elven and half Goblin, living in exile from the court with an abusive cousin when his father and brothers die in an airship accident and he suddenly finds himself thrust into the role of Emperor. Having never spent time at court, he has neither the connections or the social graces that the various factions of the court expect of an emperor and he must navigate not only courtly politics but also racial and social tensions within the realm, all while as trying to survive a conspiracy to overthrow his rule.
What’s great about it? It’s beautifully, elegantly written. In the hands of a less-skilled writer this books could easily be boring but Addison has such great characterisation that you’re compelled to read on even when the action is centred very much around courtly politics. It explores issues of power and the abuse of power, trust, race, class, gender and sexuality with a light but assured touch and without feeling preachy. Maia is a wonderful character who you can’t help rooting for - exactly the kind of person who would make a great emperor, largely because they never wanted the power in the first place.
Give it a try if: you like character-driven stories; you love novels that explore psychology; you like having a good guy to root for; you love beautiful writing; you like political dramas; you like novels which tackle real issues but in a subtle, thoughtful and nuanced way; you liked The West Wing.
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley
“That’s the Rookery. It is hidden from the eyes of the populace, a secret fortress that protects the normal people even as they remain ignorant of it. It is a testament to the willingness of humanity to ignore the obvious.”
So what’s it about? The Rook is a rollicking adventure which begins when our heroine, Myfanwy Thomas, wakes up in a park, surrounded by motionless bodies who, weirdly, are all wearing gloves. She has no memory of how she’s ended up here but she does have a letter in her pocket which begins with the line “The body you are wearing used to be mine.” It turns out that Myfanwy works for the supernatural version of MI5. Since she has no memory, she has to learn the ropes of her new job pretty quickly, and the stakes are high - who tried to kill her? And what were they trying to protect?
What’s great about it? This is a really original premise as well as a brilliant action adventure book. It works a bit like a thriller but I wouldn’t describe it as being dark or menacing in the way that thrillers often are - and here that’s a good thing. As the plot progresses the mystery becomes more intriguing and there’s a very creative cast of characters and situations, to the point where if I described some of them it might make the book sound too weird to work, but it isn’t - even the strangest bits work brilliantly.
Give it a try if: you like thrillers or adventure stories; you like memory loss novels; you like spy novels; you love great storytelling; you love a book with a twist; you like Dr. Who; you love originality in the books you read.
Strange Practice by Vivian Shaw
“‘You are not humans,’ she said at last, ‘but you are people. All of you. The ghouls, the mummies, the sanguivores, the weres, the banshees, the wights, the bogeys, everyone who comes to me for help, everyone who trusts me to provide it. You are all people, and you deserve to to be able to seek and receive that care without putting yourselves in jeopardy. What I do is necessary, and while it isn't in the slightest bit easy, it is also the thing I want to do more than anything else in the world.’”
This series is joyful, cosy-adjacent modern fantasy. Here we have another heroine with a steadfast group of friends and lots of adventure.
So what’s it about? Have you ever wondered where vampires and werewolves go when they need a doctor? Neither had I, until I read this book. Dr. Greta Helsing (yes, of those Van Helsings, although the family has since dropped the ‘Van’ from their name) runs London’s premier medical practice for the undead, a family tradition to which she is devoted. But when a fanatical group of monks start trying to murder her patients, Greta and her trusty group of friends find themselves desperately trying to solve the mystery and save the lives of London’s non-human population. This is just the first novel of three and they are all equally delightful.
What’s great about it? There’s so much to love about this book. It’s tremendous fun and very, very witty - it will make you laugh. Greta is a wonderful character- she’s warm, intelligent and kind with a group of loyal friends (including a vampire, a lunar sensitive, a human museum creative and an actual demon) who are both well-drawn and fun to read about. The sense of found family adds a lot of warmth to the book and I also love the fact that Greta is, despite her job, pretty normal. Greta is another example of a fantasy heroine who’s not defined by her desirability - rather than being the written equivalent of an Instagram-filtered influencer she’s very much someone you can imagine being friends with. Although there is a mystery for Greta and her friends to solve, the book reads less as a thriller - there’s no palpable sense of dread - and more as an adventure.
Give it a try if: you like sensible, relatable heroines; you love books about found family and friendship; you love mysteries and fancy something a bit different; you love books set in London; you love books with lots of humour.
Thanks for reading!
I hope you enjoyed this month’s newsletter and found at least one book to add to your TBR list. If you’re someone who’s on the fence about fantasy or thinks it’s not for you, I’d urge you just to give it a go - there’s so much great writing to be discovered and such a range of styles to enjoy. As always, I’d love to hear from you - what fantasy books have you loved? What have I missed out? What else would you add to the list? Feel free to reply directly to the email and we can chat!
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Happy reading,
Kate