Category Archives: Fantasy

378P: Fantasy World, Possibly Audio Book

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Fantasy novel: man transported from his world to new world, desert merchants, secretly intelligent lizard mounts, magical deception, return to own world not possible

Genre: Fantasy (possibly independently published or audio-original)

Publication date: Likely within the last 15 years (2008–2023)
Plot summary & memorable details:
I’m trying to identify a fantasy novel (which I most likely encountered as an audiobook) set primarily in a (sometimes desert-like) fantasy world. The main character, originally from his own world (not Earth), faces trouble early on from a powerful noble, possibly a count or baron. He might have financial troubles, or so. The story in his original world continues for some time, even after he is transported to this new world and I seem to remember someone who either transported him there or is otherwise important to this event – like a magician, warlock, or so, but someone influential. I do not remember the exact reason why this transport occurred, possibly to get rid of the main character. The setting is medieval fantasy, not our earth or modern times.

One of the first scenes I remember as him getting his bearings in the desert and meeting a figure, possibly a djinn or something of this kind, although this is quite fuzzy in my memory. 

Early in the story, he meets desert merchants riding unusual, lizard-like mounts who help im traverse a desert, maybe in exchange for work or help. Later, the merchants are attacked and killed in the desert. To one merchant’s horror, these mounts reveal themselves as intelligent, malevolent, and capable of speech—secretly allowing themselves to be used as mounts to further their hidden agenda (though this wasn’t necessarily central to the main plot).

The protagonist participates in a war or conflict between two factions or kingdoms, one notably wealthy—possibly merchant-controlled. He also travels with a female companion, I believe. Toward the story’s end, another character pretends to help them return to their/his home world using magic but instead puts them to sleep, later admitting he either lacked the power or knowledge to actually teleport them. In the end, I think they accept not being able to return.

I’m not sure if it is a series or not, and I think I have listened to it as an audio book on either audible or youtube – though having looked through my audible library, it must have been on youtube.
I tried AI search like ChatGPT or Perplexity, but they couldn’t find anything on the web.

Thanks!

376Z: Help me find this YA book I loved

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From what I can remember of the book it took place in a village in the woods. In a time where there was no technology. The main character was a young adult girl. People were getting murdered in their homes during the night by something supernatural they assumed. At one point there is a romance with the main character and this boy out in the woods somewhere. From what I remember, it was a fairly gory book. I’m still trying to piece together my memories of it so if I think of something else, I will send it to you all.

376N: Magical Silversmith (Solved!)

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Looking for 1950’s or 60’s fantasy young adult books about a magical silver smith in Massachusetts who can time travel and shape shift and enables a young boy to share his adventures.  Author might be Lawson or Dawson.  I have tried the Library of Congress listings of books without success.  The books were available in the San Marino, CA public library into the 1970s or 1980s.

Additional story elements:

The silversmith was an adult during the American revolution. Story elements involve turning into various animals and birds, pirates and participation in the revolution

375Y: Magic that costs its user

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I’m looking for a book I had read back between the years of 2007-2011. I believe it was part of a series but I only had found the one book at a used book store. The premise was the main character was a woman who was a private investigator or detective type who worked by herself. There was magic she was able to use but she mentioned many times throughout the book that using magic came at a cost to the user and would take memories or something like that every time it’s used. I believe her father was also rich and or powerful but they had no to little contact.
If it helps at all I vaguely remember the first chapter or so had her getting a call from an older lady who was calling in to ask the detective to help a family member being hurt or missing.
I believe it was an orange cover with a girl doing the turn around pose. I hope you can help me find this!

375O: Children’s anthology of magical stories

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The book had maybe a dozen short stories, all with some magic involved. One of the stories, I think the first, had a father bringing home an ornamental Chinese horn (rhino?) that was rumored to have magical properties. The father’s son took the horn to bed with him, holding it tight, and just before going to sleep wished for a series of things to happen to people he know around him. The next day everything that he wished came true, including people hearing silver bells tinkling when a lady he liked started talking. Another story in the book involved a professor/researcher, maybe named Dexter, researching Roman history, and late one night he falls asleep and dreams he becomes a goose, and has a fight with another goose over a lady goose, and it turns out that all the squawklng ends up being the very thing that warns the Romans of an impending barbarian attack on one of their cities. So the researcher actually became part of Roman history in the dream. The book was probably published in the 50s or 60s, certainly no later than the early 1980’s. I remember reading it after my mom checked it out of the Mayfield Regional Library, near Mayfield High School.

375G: Darker Harry Potter-Like Novel Series I read in the early 2010s

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I have been racking my brain trying to figure out the name of a young adult fantasy series that I read in the early 2010s. From what I remember, there was a male protagonist (probably teenaged?) who was extraordinarily skilled in some magical system that revolved around basic elements (fire, earth, water, etc). I feel like the series may have begun with some sort of entrance exam, that was repeated at the start of every book/school year. There was always some dark force acting as an antagonist, but the protagonist wasn’t very well liked with classmates (I think they had all had a lot more training than him, some kind of elitist thing). All that’s to say that other students may have been minor antagonists as well. This one is a total shot in the dark but I believe the main bad guy wore a mask of some sort. It wasn’t actually super reminiscent of Harry Potter, besides the basic plot of a super talented kid appears out of nowhere and isn’t well liked. But, I can’t think of a better title so I’m sticking with that. The cover was a dark brown, maybe maroon-leaning, with a simple icon on the front I believe. This is the detail I’m least sure about since, during my search, I found a copy of Swann’s Way that looks a lot like what I’m describing and I may be conflating mental images here. I understand that none of this is super specific, or concrete for that matter, but any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated!

354S: Tripping Across the Desert (Solved!)

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I don’t have much to go on. It was a book I got from the library in the mid-1990s. It was a children’s book. It was fantasy. My mom didn’t care for it because it was too “weird.” It had a girl who I think was crossing a desert for some reason. I know she came to the edge of the desert and it was a cliff or drop-off, and I think she floated down (or up?) somehow. She might have been on a cloud or holding an umbrella? Honestly, it so frustrating because I remember loving it but can’t remember hardly any of the plot. I just know it was very trippy, like Alice in Wonderland level odd things. Like the person who wrote it was hallucinating. Lol. Thanks for any help you can give! 

374D: Mix-and-Match Fantasy Party (Solved!)

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I had this book as a child in the 90’s. It was a mix and match book with pictures of fantasy characters, and I believe there were 3-4 flaps that you could arrange to decide on their hat, face, torso, and bottom half. It was very obvious what the correct/incorrect options were, but they lined up well enough to make it a fun mix-and-match game. Each character was humanoid, but all fantastical.
There was not much text, but the basic premise was that these were all guests who needed to look their best for a party or wedding or something. It was a hardcover book with spiral bindings inside. The cover was white and had a magician, dressed in a purple domed hat, brown/black hair, a purple masquerade mask with frills on each side, and purple jacket while holding an orb I believe. The art style was very intricate and high fantasy. There was one page with a bride and a groom, and when they were lined up properly, their bodies formed a distinct heart shape. Towards the end, there was a king and a queen.
Unsure of publishing date – I had a copy of this starting in the mid 90’s at least, so it could not have been after that point. 

373R: Wizard with a floating kettle

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I read a book in the 1980s, or possibly even very early 1990s, but the book may have been published long before then. All I remember about it is that there is a scene where a tea kettle is hovering behind a wizard, and the wizard says something about it keeping the water “just at the boil”. I think the character who stumbles upon this wizard becomes his apprentice, or the two travel together, or something, and I believe the sorcerer/wizard/whatever he was is in a clearing in a forest. Formulaic, I know, could be describing a hundred fantasy books – except for that teapot that is consistently at the boiling point! Help?