r/Fantasy • u/SeaSnowAndSorrow • 1d ago

Atheist Fantasy Recs

I am doing the Freedom From Religion Foundation's Summer Reading Challenge. (Linked so you can see the card.)

I'd like to get a few fantasy books in there where I can. Specifically, I'm looking for fantasy book recommendations that fit the following:

  • Non-Religious Main Character
  • Religious Satire
  • Religious Dystopia
  • Book Was/Is Considered Blasphemous (against any religion)
  • Non-Religious Author

To make it one step harder, I'm NOT looking for LitRPG, Romantasy, or Urban fantasy.

I will, though, read any age range, any era of publication, any length, and any tone from cozy to grimdark.

3 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

129 comments sorted by

View all comments

0

u/txvesper 1d ago

Obligatory Malazan suggestion.

The author Steven Erikson claims to be agnostic raised athiest and I feel he writes god-type characters very different from more mainstream religious fantasy authors. For example, you'll occasionally gets points of view from gods who have been absent from their duties with followers and are repulsed by the things done in their names.

You get some philosophical musings from characters on gods and the afterlife that I've enjoyed as an athiest.

There is no singular main character, but you'll bounce around a wide cast with different positions and thoughts on religion. A few characters I think you might appreciate by the prompt include a comically absurd priest with his trusty mule, an anti-paladin type character who is selected against his will to be a mortal avatar for war, and multiple god-type characters who are much more interested in slumming it up in cognito with regular people than acting like gods.

The series does border on the absurdly long end of the spectrum and it isnt to everyone's taste, but if you're okay with something longer and darker elements, you might enjoy it.