Original or unique Fantasy Books

[Gandulf]

Have you read any fantasy books published in the last 10 years or so that you would say are rather unique or original? Books, series etc that have a new form of magic, ability or story.
For me 2 series come to mind, Stormlight archives ( the use of stormlight for their ability and a rather unique world, with odd plants and animals) the other is the Mistborn series ( the use of metals for their abilities)

[poohbear_nc]

Liz Williams' Detective Inspector Chen series - mixture of magic, religion, eastern cultures, police procedural, and, yes, a shape-shifting tea kettle.

[cromag]

In the "unique" category, I recently read Spondulix: A Romance of Hoboken, by Paul Di Filippo. Basically, it's a fantasy about the economy, among other things. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would.


Edited to add that I read the Detective Inspector Chen series last year and really enjoyed them.

[hobnail]

Lost and Found by Orson Scott Card. An enjoyable book regardless of its genre.

[WillAdams]

Although the first book was published in 1984, Steven Brust's Dragaera books with Vladimir Taltos as protagonist are quite inventive, and his Baron of Magister Valley was just released which is a lot of fun.

[JSWolf]

I can highly recommend then Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch.

[ebusinesstutor]

Audrey Faye's Ghost Mountain Wolves series. A werewolf fantasy series with the best community re-building focus I have ever seen.

[crossi]

The Legend of Eli Monpress by Rachel Aaron. Magic works by talking to the spirits in everything. For example, making a wagon move by talking to the wheels and challenging them to race each other, or convincing a locked wooden door that the nails were making it uncomfortable and it would really feel better if it expelled them.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I can highly recommend then Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch.

Excellent series!

[Dazrin]

Here are a couple less traditional ones that I really enjoyed:
The Golem and the Jinni - Helene Wecker
1Q84 - Haruki Murakami
Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz (a little more than 10 years old but the later books are in this time frame)

For unique magic systems in more traditional fantasy settings:
The Penric and Desdemona series of novellas by Lois McMaster Bujold is also a good read. It is set in the same world as some of her other books but no knowledge of them is needed. (I have no idea if there are spoilers in these though, I just enjoyed them a lot.)
The Paper Magician series by Charlie Holmberg
The Fifth Season - N.K. Jemisin

And, I'll third the Rivers of London books. Lots of fun.

[Emissarius]

The Invisible Library.
Sorcery of Thorns.
The Mortal Engines (more steampunk).

[BenG]

The Manual of Detection by Jedediah Berry

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Emissarius

The Invisible Library.
Sorcery of Thorns.
The Mortal Engines (more steampunk).

How is Mortal Engines unique? IMHO, it's just more steampunk.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Excellent series!

Hey, pooh!

You know, I believe we discussed this series previously and for the first books, I loved it (the series), but this last one (False Value)...man, it just totally fell off my love-meter.

It was all his g/f Beverly, all the time, as if she's the center of the series and while she's a nice supporting character--she's not interesting enough to me, to carry an entire book. It's as though the entire premise of the series--crime-solving mysteries in the Supernatural world--disappeared.

I dunno. The "mystery" is muddled and mundane, and the timeline is utterly bonkers. It makes NO sense. The Nightingale is missing, effectively. (I don't mean that's a plot element). It's just...meh. Even Toby and the "housekeeper" are mostly MIA.

And the "me and so-and-so"...I am so totally over that. Peter's education, his comments, etc., are fairly erudite. In some ways, he's the Longmire of the Metro PD. But Aaronvitch keeps dropping that in there, typically 2-3x per book, and at this point, it's utterly tone-deaf. Yeah, we get it, Peter's an outsider. It's not like the protag says it when in conversation with someone else who would say it. It's....peculiar.

I hate it when this happens, when I love a series and then for whatever reason, the trolley leaves the tracks. (Yes, "early" Laurell K. Hamilton, who used to write a cool supernatural alternate universe mystery series with a kick-ass heroine, I'm talkin' to YOU! I would bitch at Robert B. Parker, too, [anybody else want to murder Susan?] but...no point at this point, sadly.)

ETA: Oh, Inspector Chen. LOVED those, Pooh turned me on to them, but be advised, it ends on a cliffhangar and the ensuing books are not going to be published, apparently. (sob)

Hitch

[DiapDealer]

I mostly enjoy the Peter Grant books, but there were a few clunkers along the way for me. Aaronovitch has two proclivities that can drive me absolutely bonkers: 1) over-the-top acronym usage (yes, I realize it's a procedural, but still, I've no desire to keep a decoder cheat-sheet handy!); and 2) mind-numbing architectural dissertations. I just couldn't possibly care any less about what buildings/houses look like.

Other than that, it's all good!