4 Fantasy Stand-Alone Novels for Your Book Club

You all probably remember my recent blog post in which I suggested 5 Fantasy Series for Your Book Club. There's another side to that list though. Not everyone likes to read series. Not everyone wants to get quite that involved. Some people just like story hopping, so stand-alones can be far more preferable to series. Didn't think I'd leave the rest of you hanging there did you? Due to the nature of fantasy novels, it can be quite difficult to find one that doesn't belong to a series. Every once in a while though, even this series lover needs an open and close deal. I'll go ahead and admit that compiling this list has made me want to find more stand-alone fantasy novels. It was extremely hard to find 4 fantasy novels off my shelf of 300 read books that didn't belong to a series. This is a problem. Therefore, if you have any recommendations, please let me know in the comments!

1.

Thirrin Freer is a princess. Thirrin Freer is a warior. After losing her father, she is forced to make shaky alliances with neighboring kingdoms (all of which aren't human) in order to defend her kingdom. I'll admit that I'm cheating with this one, but it's for a good reason. While The Cry of the Icemark isn't really a stand-alone, it verily well could be. The second book is more of a companion novel as it's about, Thirrin's children and takes place approximately fifteen years after Cry of the Icemark. The author does include new or at least uncommon creatures, but she also uses more common ones like werewolves in interesting ways I hadn't seen before or since. These different dynamics and the question of who Thirrin can truly trust will keep a conversation going without a problem.

2.

Will has lost everything and now he's looking for revenge. Sadly, I can't seem to find enough places to recommend this novel. Will in Scarlet dips into Robin Hood just enough to whet your appetite. It has had me searching for a retelling or spin-off of Robin Hood since I read it. Your book club will be all too excited to watch Will on his journey with the Merry Men, and Robin Hood himself, who isn't quite who they'll expect.

3.

I am a fan of Delacorte Press, so I get excited when I find a novel published by them. Rowan Rose lives in a quiet village, that is until the men who rode into the mountains didn't come back. No one is quite sure what happened up there, but the men awakened something. And it's come down the mountain to hunt. This is yet another novel I can't recommend enough. The writing style is absolutely perfect for the premise and Templeman clearly knows what she's doing. This novel had me looking over my shoulder at night, but I couldn't seem to put it down. There's a twisted love story in the background and your friends will be on the edge of their seats as they fight to read fast enough. It'll become a competition of who can figure it all out first.

4.

You've seen Disney's Beauty and the Beast right? You know Belle's story, now it's time to read The Beast's. Valentino takes the time to show us who The Beast was before his curse, and exactly why he suffered with it for so long. It's not a pretty picture. I'm sure your book club will love discussing the startlingly dark (but not too dark) nature of this novel. I was fascinated by The Beast's journey from beginning to end. Valentino answered the question that perhaps we've all asked after watching the Disney movie: why exactly did the prince become The Beast?

Will you be suggesting any of these novels? What fantasy novels have you found to perform well in book clubs?

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