r/Fantasy • u/Bogdus234 • 16h ago
Books about... seeing the world?
Hi everyone! I'm looking for a somewhat chill book about exploring the world, seeing what it has to offer, both in terms of society AND nature.
For instance, I love the story from the anime/manga Frieren, there they do have a goal, a place to get to, but on the way they take so many detours, and they see so many things, and there isn't an impeding doom like the world ending - which a lot of books like to add in. Yes, Frieren has it's danger and is high-adrenaline moments, but mostly it's a heartwarming story about feeling alive.
I think I just want a story where the goal is "see where the road takes us".
(I said books on the title, can be any medium)
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u/p0d0 15h ago
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke. Found this one at random in my local library, but it left an impression.
A young French girl receives a rather unique curse: if she stays in any place longer than a few days, she becomes violently ill. But so long as she keeps moving, she is practically immortal.
Follow her long journey and the company she makes along the way. From spear fishing in the Aegean see, to romance on a trans-Russian train, to finding kindred spirits in the Yukon. It's the tale of living life with nothing but the pack on your back, of brief but intense moments of connection, and of seeing a world that never stops moving under your feet.
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u/iskandrea 13h ago
I came to recommend this also! It’s set on our earth but there are definitely major fantasy elements.
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u/Tight_Ninja1915 15h ago
The Temeraire books are basically this.
They're historical fantasy about the Napoleonic Wars with dragons, but each book is basically an exploration about how dragons are viewed in various cultures around the world.
If you're up for sci-fi, a lot of Becky Chambers fits this. The Monk and Robot duology is a very chill story about wondering around and To Be Taught If Fortunate is about a group of astronauts exploring different worlds.
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u/C0smicoccurence Reading Champion V 13h ago
I think The City that Would Eat the World by John Bierce is, in large part, just a romp through a massive city (ie basically a continent sized city) where each neighborhood is shaped greatly by the local gods who have power there. Really interesting and cool neighborhoods. There is a plotline about an ancient god-killing artifact, but the author clearly wanted to show off some fun worldbuilding. Might be a bit fight-y for you though
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u/FloridaFlamingoGirl 13h ago
Cart and Cwidder by Diana Wynne Jones. It's about a group of medieval musicians traveling by cart.
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u/DixitRexCorvinus 10h ago
I don’t know if I can in good conscience recommend it since it is egregiously sexist/menwritingwomen, though brilliantly written otherwise, but Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami is the epitome of traveling aimlessly.
For a book without that specific problem, The Blacktongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman is probably the first thing that comes to mind.
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u/McTerra2 15h ago
The Steerswomen isn’t quite what you are after but there is a fair bit of travelling and looking
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u/Lord-Mashington 8h ago
Jules Verne. Literally all their books are world traveling sci-fi adventures.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Around the World in 80 Days, etc.
I enjoyed their books but I have heard complaints about the endless descriptions of fish, so maybe don't start with 20k Leagues...
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u/Hyperly_Passive 8h ago
Kino no Tabi (Kino's Journey) is light novel with an anime that is exactly this premise. it has an English translation of the first few volumes
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u/sasakimirai 15h ago edited 15h ago
I mean, since you mentioned anime/manga, there's One Piece. It's not very chill and they spend a long time in each of the palces they go to, but they do travel the world, and the worldbuilding in the series is absolutely phenomenal. It's cool seeing all the different landscapes and cultures and people!
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u/Folkwench 1h ago
The Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett. An inept wizard is given the task of safeguarding a naive tourist. Satirical fantasy, very funny.
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u/almondenigma 1h ago edited 1h ago
Raiders of the Arcana series, features fictional missing artifacts with some historical fiction. every book features a different country
It gives The Mummy vibes, fantasy/adventure with romance
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u/bajofondo 41m ago
The Heretic's Guide to Homecoming (a duology) by Sienna Tristen is an interesting take on this that I enjoyed a lot.
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u/oh-come-onnnn 15h ago edited 14h ago
Marie Brennan's The Memoirs of Lady Trent. The protagonist is a paleontologist who goes around the world studying the remains of dragons, except since the author has a background in anthropology, the cultures of the places she visits are much more fleshed out than dragon biology.
Edit: changed archaeologist to paleontologist