Pseudo-Historical SFF (or maybe 'pseudo-real world'?)

[Kyndylan]

My goodness, I think I'm sorted for at least a year! Especially since my local library seems to have very few of the books you've mentioned Hopefully the one up at my uni will be better!

And don't you hate it how libraries have only one or two of a series or trilogy? Especially since they usually don't include book one? Absolutely does my head in!

Thanks for all the suggestions, people. There're obviously more than I thought! I've devoured reams and reams of epic fantasy, but I've only recently begun to start on this slightly more 'realistic' stuff. More fool me...

 

[chrispenycate]

Ah, libraries.
I remember libraries with English books in them; no more.
But I can get the same problems while grabbing tomes in a book-rich environment; many is the series I have read in the wrong order, or partially.

But you may not approve of all the books in the list; tastes are rarely identical. I might like Renault's "the bull from the sea", Marion Zimmer Bradley's "the mists of Avalon" (though not the sequels so much) and Vonda McIntyre's "The sun and the moon" (each of which fits roughly into your definition) but nothing says everyone here will; indeed, there might not be a single one who agrees with the three of them.

Tastes differ, as they should; it would be a boring old world if we all liked the same things.

 

[Anthony G Williams]

Mary Renault was one of the first to bring the ancient past to life in a powerfully evocative way. I read everything by her that I could get hold of 30 or 40 years ago, and still have fond memories. IIRC they were classed as historical fiction rather than fantasy, though.

 

[The Procrastinator]

I have not read The Bull From the Sea, and I cannot remember if I have read anything by Renault (heard of her but I don't know if I've read any), but I shall watch out for her; because I really liked the Mists of Avalon (though not so much the sequels) and I loved McIntyre's The Moon and the Sun . That was a fine, fine book. Here I shall out-pedant the pedant by pointing out that it is not The Sun and the Moon - it is the other way around.