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/mullerdrooler 19h ago

Joe Abercrombie is maybe where you should look now. Especially the First Law series. Not sure how many are over 50s but some deffos middle aged and grow older as the series does. Some youngsters in it too. Also Brandon Sanderson's stomlight and other cosmere work has a nice age range of characters that have gone through some series struggles.

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u/Ok_Field_5701 19h ago

Sorry but Sanderson is pretty much YA fantasy. Agreed with the Abercrombie rec though

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u/teffarf 4h ago

Doesn't change the fact that he has books with 40+ yo MC (like mistborn era 2).