Portal fantasy is a genre that bridges the gap between reality world and a fantasy world. Stephen King recently had written a portal fantasy called “Fairy Tale”, about a teenage boy from our world finding the portal to a fantasy world. Portal fantasy is a popular genre, and even major bestsellers are arguably portal fantasy like “Harry Potter”. Portal fantasy bridges the gap between real and fantasy world and allows the reader to feel that gap close. Here are some portal fantasy novels worth reading.
“Magic
Kingdom For Sale – Sold!” by Terry Brooks – Terry Brooks is better known for
his “Shannara” series of fantasy novels, but after he wrote his first trilogy
in that series, he switched to more humorous fantasy novels. Thus, he wrote the
“Landover” series, a series of portal novels about a lawyer named Ben Holiday
who buys a magic kingdom out of a catalogue. At first, he thinks it’s a joke,
but then he discovers it’s a real place, and finds a court wizard, a talking
dog and a beautiful green woman who may not be entirely human. This book is a
fun introduction to the portal fantasy genre.
“A Yankee
in King Arthurs Court” by Mark Twain – One of the earliest examples of portal
fantasy, A Yankee in King Arthurs Court follows an engineer from Connecticut as
he falls into a portal which transfers him to another time at Warwick Castle in
medieval London. This book has the great wit of Mark Twain, to boot, and is a
great example of an early portal fantasy novel.
“Neverwhere”
By Neil Gaiman – Neil Gaiman’s portal fantasy novel “Neverwhere” is the story
of an ordinary man named Richard, who has a promising career in front of him in
banking. However, one day, while going on a walk to meet his boss, he ends up
meeting a girl named Door, who is hurt on the sidewalk. When he loses her, he follows
her into an underground London world that challenges everything he thought he
knew. His whole perception of reality is turned upside down.
“The
Magicians” by Lev Grossman – Lev Grossman’s “The Magicians” is often considered
“Harry Potter” for adults. Quienten, a normal teenager from Brooklyn, is
whisked away to a magical school with his friends. On the day he is supposed to
interview for Princeton, he is instead transported to Brakebills, a school for
magic. What follows is an adult variation on “Harry Potter”, where the older
characters indulge in sex, drugs and other more adult pursuits. Grossman’s
novel is a hoot for readers who grew up with more kid flare like “Harry Potter”
but still want their magical schools.
“The
Talisman” by Stephen King and Peter Straub – Stephen King and Peter Straub are
two legends of the horror novel world. When they got together to write a book,
however, they wrote a portal fantasy novel. When Jack Sawyer, a young boy whose
mother is dying, finds a portal into a fantasy world where he is told if he
finds a talisman, he can cure his mother. What follows is considered one of the
best books of both horror legends.
“Dark
Matter” by Blake Crouch – Much like Neil Gaiman’s “Neverwhere”, Black Crouch’s
“Dark Matters” starts with a normal man walking down the street. He’s going to
spend a quiet evening with his wife and kid. However, that all shatters when a
man he never met before holds him at gunpoint. To make matters worse, the man
and mysterious group inject him with a mysterious drug, and he ends up going
between parallel universes, meeting different versions of himself. This is one
psychedelic novel.
So, these
are some good examples of portal fantasy, a genre which bridges the gap between
our world and a fantasy world. So, if you want to read something that can make
you feel like you could be two places at once, in our world and in a fantasy
realm, these books are a good choice for you.
