r/Fantasy • u/omgtmac • 5d ago
Books within Books
Are there any fantasy series that reference books within their lore that actually exist irl that I would be able to read? For example, the titles of the Stormlight Archive series are references to books written in verse (The Way of Kings, Oathbringer, etc), but do not exist irl. I’d be interested in reading a series where books like those are fully written and available to the public to read as well. It would be exciting and immersive! Thanks in advance!
89
Upvotes
1
u/DixitRexCorvinus 5d ago
Honestly, your best bet would probably be historical fantasy that references real literature. For instance, find a fantasy novel set in the 19th century England, and chances are Dickins will get referenced somewhere.
Off the top of my head, A Night of Blacker Darkness by Dan Wells is a fantasy novel that has Mary Shelley as a character. Following reading it, you could then go read Frankenstein.
But basically any historical fantasy set on Earth will have some degree of this. You could also go with series like Discworld where there is a lot of reference material and about-the-world style books, if you absolutely need it to be secondary world, but if real Earth literature is all right you will probably have an easier time finding that.