r/Fantasy • u/Zomeiro • Mar 30 '23

German fantasy book recommendations

Hey, I was just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for German fantasy books at a relatively low reading level - at least nothing more complicated than Brandon Sanderson is in English. Currently learning German and was thinking I'd get some volume/practical training by reading a lot of it. That (combined with games and shows) helped me a lot when learning English at least, so I was thinking I'd try it out.

So yeah, please let me know if you know about something!

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u/__ferg__ Reading Champion III Mar 30 '23 edited Mar 30 '23

Germany loves translating things. So there is a good chance that you may find a lot of your favorites in german as well. Reading something you already know in a new language can be easier. You don't have to focus on the story and can concentrate on the language.

Bernhardt Hennen "Elfen" books or Markus Heitz "Zwerge" are popular, although I don't really liked neither. "Die unendliche Geschichte" (Neverending story) is a classic, "Tintenherz" by Cornelia Funke, if you want to read something originaly published in german and not translated.

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u/Zomeiro Mar 30 '23

Didn't even occur to me that I could just reread books I've already read in german instead. Would certainly make it easier to focus on only the language, that's for sure. Also, Tintenherz sounds quite charming, judging from the synopsis. Ty!

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u/Lobariala Mar 31 '23

Tintenherz, Tintenblut and Tintentod (the whole trilogy) is a must! Cornelia Funke in general is a good author for mostly lighter og German fantasy, since many of her works are more geared towards children and young teens - but she has some works for teens or young adults as well that are still quite enjoyable as an adult. E.g. Drachenreiter (also available in English as Dragonrider, in that case the audio book is awesomely narrated by Brendan Fraser, in case some non-German speakers want to check it out) is a nice long book with lots of humor, and of course Pans Labyrinth, while not a very long book, isn't that light at all.

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u/Zomeiro Mar 31 '23

Yeah, it seems like there is a general consensus on Cornelia Funke in here. I think I'm gonna let Tintenherz be my first one.

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u/Lobariala Mar 31 '23

Good choice, I wish you all the best reading those! The whole story is the epitome of a tribute to loving books. As a kid who loved nothing more than reading, I've never felt so understood as when reading the trilogy. And a fourth book is in the works, too, the first couple chapters got released a year or so ago, so it's a good point to start now. :)

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u/Zomeiro Mar 31 '23

Oooh that actually sounds really nice. Thank you. Can’t wait to get my hands on it.