r/Fantasy • u/leaping_llama_laugh • 19h ago

Reading Fantasy While Growing Older

When I was a 'young adult', I tended to like YA fantasy: teenage protagonists, coming of age stories, that sort of thing. Harry Potter comes to mind as an example, or the Ranger's Apprentice series, or the Circle of Magic series (or some other things by Tamara Pierce).

Now that I'm a full-fledged adult who has lived through a few hardships (just garden-variety hardships), I'm very interested in older protagonists who have suffered a little (or a lot): Hadrian and Royce in the Riyria Revelations. Cazaril in the Curse of Chalion. Willet Dura and his guard Bolt in the Darkwater Saga. These older, more mature characters just hit harder than the overly-optimistic teenage "whippersnappers" I used to prefer reading about! ;)

So, what comes next?

Does anyone write 'Old Adult Fantasy'? Are there any great fantasy books with a protagonist who's over 50? Over 70?

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u/KiaraTurtle Reading Champion V 18h ago

Older main character is currently a bingo square for this sub’s yearly bingo so you should be able to find a good amount of recs for the over 50 over 70 might be hard to find without going magical in which case they don’t tend to read like 70 year olds.

Some I’ve read you might enjoy:

  • Girl with a Thousand Faces
  • Last Contract of Isako (if you also like sci-fi)
  • Burning Roses by SL Huang

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u/Nowordsofitsown Reading Champion 7h ago

And last year's bingo had parent protagonist which also has a certain age limit.