1. Oh, goodness. I randomly acquired The Book of the Dun Cow a couple of months ago — there was a copy in the free bin outside my local used book store, and I decided to grab it. I’ve never seen it talked about anywhere else. Thanks for making me more excited to read it.

  2. Pam Halter says:

    I have The Children of Hurin but haven’t read it yet. Thanks for the warning, though, because I couldn’t handle a sad story right now. I’ll save it. But the other two sound great and I’ll be adding them to my TBR pile! Thanks, Zach!

  3. ionaofavalon says:

    Let’s not forget “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle. A seemingly simple quest of a unicorn to rescue her captured kin, this book explores mortality, immortality, love, and the nature of the fairy tale. The villain, King Haggard is one of the best Byronic heroes in fantasy lit, listen to the late, great, Sir Christopher Lee play this role in the animated movie of the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrnd086ObDo

    • princesselwen says:

      I loved ‘The Last Unicorn.’ King Haggard had one of the most interesting motivations I’ve seen in a fantasy villain.
      As long as we’re recommending obscure books, I’ll put in a word for Alan Garner’s ‘The Weirdstone of Brisingamen.’ It’s a fairy tale, written around the same time as Narnia, about two children who are working with a wizard and a dwarf to try and prevent the end of the world. It’s definitely fantasy, but it has elements of horror as well. ‘Elidor,’ by the same author, is also very good (but the ending is sad).

What do you think?