FIVE RECOMMENDED INDIE FANTASY NOVELS ii
The indie publishing market is full of diamonds in the rough. Unfortunately, finding them is a chore because there's very few ways to tell whether a book is fantastic prose with great plot and characters or something...less than great. However, I’ve benefited from having read a bunch of great fantasy novels written by authors who have decided to go nontraditional routes.
Each of these books is one that I’ve read and enjoyed greatly as well as believe you could do so as well. I hope you’ll give them a look over once you’ve checked out my thoughts. There’s an entire new world to be found once you look beyond more “traditional” publishing.
Here's a previous list I did in the same vein: https://www.epicindie.net/indie-fantasy/five-recommended-indie-fantasy-novels?rq=Phipps
5. The Heresy Within by Rob J. Hayes
I am a huge fan of Rob J. Hayes' writing and think of him as the indie Joe Abercrombie. His career got started with The Heresy Within and it still holds up as a great example of grimdark even a decade later. The premise is a trio of oddball antiheroes are recruited to deal with a conspiracy within the Inquisition. This is a heavily character-driven piece and just flat out great if you don't mind them being likable but pretty awful people.
4. Of Honey and Wildfires by Sarah Chorn
This is fudging the definition of fantasy, at least as it's traditionally defined, but I still think it's absolutely worth a read. A steampunk mining story where the substance, Shine, has mystical properties--it's kind of a Wild West version of Final Fantasy VII. Okay, not really, but there's a fascinating story about corporate greed and legacy in this tale.
3. Exile by Martin Owton
One of the more obscure works on this list, even by indie standards, but one of my all-time favorites for short fiction. It is the story of a surprisingly low stakes fantasy tale: a local nobleman has been kidnapped and his female relatives want to hire mercenaries to rescue him before the king gets involved. Which would be bad for everyone. It's a fun, personable, and entertaining work from beginning to end.
2. The Rose Crown by Catherine Glen
An entertaining novel about one of the King's bodyguards thwarting an assassination attempt. Unfortunately, this proves to be the worst thing she could have done because it results in them becoming the prime suspect. Catherine Glen has an easy-going writing style that is very enjoyable. If you're looking for a fun fantasy novel for an afternoon's read, you could do far worse.
1. War of the God Queen by David Hambling
I'm a huge fan of David Hambling's Harry Stubbs series, which is a great collection of occult investigations of the Cthulhu mythos by a WW1 veteran ex-boxer. Here, it's the story of a girl from the early 20th century being transported back into the Bronze Age where Cthulhu's armies rule. Our heroine must assemble a group of women to extirpate this evil once and for all.
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