Standalone Fantasy.

Given that the last threads on this are years old and dormant I thought I'd start a new one:

TOR have produced a list - HERE

It's hardly complete, but it does have quite a few title son it I'd not come across before, plus some excellent ones that we have discussed before.

Thoughts? What would you put on such a list, what on there isn't (or better still is) worth reading?

- I've also posted this to my Santathing page, here please can someone check that the formatting has gone through ok on the link - I can't see the page only the edit boxes - and let me know. Thanks!

>1 reading_fox: Yes, the link is working fine on your SantaThing page :)

I think I'd gladly read pretty much everything on the TOR list, and I would certainly include Guy Gavriel Kay on any list of my own (although I would probably go with A Song for Arbonne or Lions of Al-Rassan over Tigana, as I marginally prefer the heroines in those novels).

I would probably also include The Forgotten Beasts of Eld (McKillip) and Neverwhere or Ocean at the End of the Lane (Gaiman), but flicking through my favourite fantasy I see that very very few are stand-alone... which just means I have lots to look forward to - I'll be taking notes in this thread :)

If I'm a bit broader and include speculative fiction, I'd certainly include something by Nick Harkaway and John Wyndham, and recently I've enjoyed a lot of stand-alone scifi.

Huh. I suspect this reflects that when I was younger, I liked knowing there were lots of related books to seek out; now I'm older, I quite like the limited commitment of knowing there's a damn good read in front of me and no strings attached ;)

That is a good list; most of them I've either read and enjoyed, or are on my Tbr pile.

I'd add To ride Hell's chasm, as well as virtually anything by Patricia McKillip (apart from the Riddle Master trilogy, obviously!).

I disliked Those Who Hunt the Night and loved The Goblin Emperor.

Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen (magical realism)
Moonheart by Charles de Lint (contemporary fantasy)
Stardust by Neil Gaiman (my favorite Gaiman)
Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart (fantasy in Ancient China)
The Rook by Daniel O'Malley (I think there has been talk about a sequel but it does stand alone.)
The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wrecker (early 1900s New York)

That's great, I just got some new books for my wishlist out of it...
I agree with Imyril on the GGK's and on Wyndham.

If I can add some SF to the list as well, I would add:

Alien earth by Megan Lindholm
The rook by Daniel O'Malley
The wood wife by Terri Windling
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
The emperor's soul by Brandon Sanderson
The witching time by Jean Stubbs
Merlin's keep by Madeleine Brent
Child of a rainless year by Jane Lindskold (and I would be tempted to add this one a few more times. It's one of my all-time favorites...)

Territory by Emma Bull
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
The Coldest Girl in Coldtown by Holly Black

I love Merlin's Keep but I don't remember it being a fantasy -- more of a gothic romance.

I'd add Lois McMaster Bujold's The Spirit Ring to the list.

>7 aviddiva: I don't know what gothic romance is, but to me, if it has anything resembling magic or the supernatural, then it's a form of fantasy. Merlin' s keep has an evil magician and karmic spirits, which is enough for me to classify it as fantasy...

>5 Morphidae: Isn't Bridge of Birds the first book in a series?

>10 lohengrin: Yes, it is, but it's said that you can read it as a standalone. (I didn't like it, though. Very annoyingly 'funny', IIRC.)

>2 imyril: Thanks!

>10 lohengrin: Technically it is. But I read it as a standalone and it worked fine. Everything I've read said the next two books weren't up to snuff and don't bother. So I didn't.

>11 Ennas: Yes, everyone's humor is different so YMMV. I really enjoyed it.

>9 zjakkelien: zhakkelein, it's been a long time since I last read Merlin's Keep - guess I didn't remember the magic part. Most of Brent's books are romances with no magic. Good stories, though!

>14 aviddiva: Ah! I've only read the one, my mom presumably bought an old library copy. I still read it every now and then...

Garden Spells can be read alone, but it was popular, so she has published a couple of "sequels" to it, and a whole bunch of other "Southern USA magical realism" if you end up liking that one:
The Sugar Queen (related to Garden Spells)
First Frost (out in January) (related to Garden Spells)

The Girl Who Chased the Moon (similar idea, but I think it's a different town and totally different characters)
The Peach Keeper (another different town)
Lost Lake (less overtly magic than any of the above)

Allen is VERY popular at my rural Southern library, and I'm all for readers enjoying the slightly fantastic.

Has anyone mentioned The Night Circus as a standalone yet? It's amazing.

>16 RowanTribe: I thought I had seen it, but I cannot find it back... So good call, I agree on the amazingness...

The Beginning Place, one of UKL's very few standalone fantasies, is quite wonderful, as is Gene Wolfe's Castleview, which is subtitled "An Arthurian epic of modern Illinois." In addition to The Last Unicorn, Beagle's A Fine and Private Place and The Folk of the Air are very enjoyable. And if you don't require humans, Watership Down is great stuff.

Wolfe and Kay each have several more good standalones, in addition to their series.

Older but golden!

Dreamsnake by Vonda McIntyre
This Perfect Day Ira Levin
Sunshine Robin McKinley
The Moorchild Eloise McGraw. The audio book is great.
A Dark Horn Blowing Dahlov Ipcar
The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams

Just finished City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett, which is a stand-alone and really good.

It's sci-fi, but correct me if there aren't fantastical elements in The Coelura. :)

I've only read a couple from that list so will have to add a few to my TBR list - thankyou for posting!

Some other books to add to the list:

Redemption in Indigo, Karen Lord.
Zoo City, Lauren Beukes
Little, Big, John Crowley