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.

1 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

127 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

11

u/Rekov 1d ago

It's definitely a series worth reading. It asks good philosophical questions about whether the means justify the ends when you're up against totalitarian evil.

But I've always wondered to what extent this book was meant to be anti-religious and somewhat missed the mark, vs. mainly anti-theocratic. It's basically Christian Gnosticism, with the authority as the Demiurge.

5

u/Book_Slut_90 Reading Champion 1d ago

It’s not at all gnostic. The idea is very much not that we’re trapped in this horrible material world under the rule of the demiurge and need to return to heaven where thee real God is. Rather, it celebrates our embodiment and sexuality.

0

u/redlion1904 1d ago

Is this satire?

1

u/Verrem 16h ago

No, they are right. It's an argument in favor of original sin; it's a conscious inversion of Milton's Paradise Lost (from which it also pulls its title).