Originally posted on The Indiependent. Three of the five books are shown here.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe // C. S. Lewis
Not only did books like the Chronicles of Narnia series inspire an interest in fantasy and the epic but also the fact that the protagonists were often children, holding great weights of responsibility, added to the experience. In the innocence of childhood you got a sense of that responsibility also, which probably lead to some kind of educational growth or something. Basically, these books made me want to be king of a magical realm or fight off magical creatures at the bottom of my garden. The Chronicles of Narnia was probably the first fantasy series I was made aware of, introduced to it by my Dad, the owner of what must be the entire works of C.S. Lewis. Its Christian undertones not only have personal significance but in general offer a positive message of sacrifice and insight into faith.
Cherub // Robert Muchamore
As I got older and yearned to explore the wonders of 12 and 15 rated movies and video games, so did my appetite for teenage fiction become more curious. Whilst still a teenage boy’s fantasy – the characters of the Cherub series certainly weren’t mature – the Cherub books could be considered a step beyond the other major teen spy fiction series, Alex Rider (which I also took great delight in over the years). Along with the more down to earth characters and some sex and swearing thrown in for good measure, this was true escapism. You wanted to be James Adams and take part in the undercover missions he went on, whether it was in a maximum security jail or a gangster millionaire’s home. A much more 3 dimensional character, in my opinion, than Alex Rider, any reader immediately wanted to trade lives with this Cherub agent. Apart from the organisation’s requirement of having to be an orphan perhaps, which wouldn’t be so great.
Mortal Engines // Philip Reeve
A fantasy novel with a darker and more sincere tone, Mortal Engines and the following books in the quartet blew my mind when I first read them, and it still baffles me as to how underrated these books are especially with the current popularity of dystopian futures and romance, in cinema and young adult literature. Whilst the world that Phillip Reeve creates is now undoubtedly less original than it may have been when it first came out, the idea of steam powered moving cities warring against each other over a barren earth is still a fascinating vision of one dystopian future. Amidst all the original and diverse characters, organisations and devices that populate this world there is a slightly atypical love story and a sprawling adventure of epic proportions.
Tim Goodfellow 