Most Unique Fantasy Novels You've Read

[BAYLOR]

The Mines of Behemoth by Michael Shea , A tale thief and opportunist extraordinaire Gift lean sambaing on one his craxizeies caper of all. Gavest the jelly from gigantic demonic insects to sell to the public . If you've never read a Nift story, you're missing out one one the great underrated and book series and characters in all of fantasy. Shea spins great offbeat fantasy adventure yarn which keeps you reading right to the ending and, wanting even more.

 

[Elckerlyc]

Only Forward by Michael Marshall Smith

 

[Stenevor]

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville. I read the sequels straight afterwards. All great at the time, no idea if they would hold my attention 20 years on.

 

[BAYLOR]

The High House by James Stoddard imagine a Manor house so vast it spans other dimensions . Every hall was is a road to different world, behind every door wonders to amaze or terrors to freeze the soul. In order to be the. Lord of the Manor House , you have to haven your possession the key ring which opens all the doors in the house House. And beware the Faceless Bobby he want the key ring too . There is sequel. The False House which isa quite good.

 

[Bick]

The Mines of Behemoth by Michael Shea , A tale thief and opportunist extraordinaire Gift lean sambaing on one his craxizeies caper of all. Gavest the jelly from gigantic demonic insects to sell to the public . If you've never read a Nift story, you're missing out ...

I didn't understand a word of that Baylor

 

[BAYLOR]

I didn't understand a word of that Baylor

A combination of too much coffee and rapid typing. This is why I can't write fiction.

 

[hitmouse]

The Mines of Behemoth by Michael Shea , A tale thief and opportunist extraordinaire Gift lean sambaing on one his craxizeies caper of all. Gavest the jelly from gigantic demonic insects to sell to the public . If you've never read a Nift story, you're missing out one one the great underrated and book series and characters in all of fantasy. Shea spins great offbeat fantasy adventure yarn which keeps you reading right to the ending and, wanting even more.

These are fantastic stories. Clever and funny riffs on standard fantasy tropes. Quality stuff, but I don’t really think they qualify under the “Unique” category.

 

[Randy M.]

Since others have taken Titus Groan and The Circus of Dr. Lao, I'll bring up,

The Land of Laughs by Jonathan Carroll. Son of Hollywood superstar father (the father deceased), has trouble finding what he wants to do until he realizes there is no definitive bio of his favorite fantasy author. He meets another fan, they fall for each other, and they go off to the author's home town to track down his daughter and begin that biography. Beginning as something like a character study of a slacker and moving toward a grounded romance, this doesn't really announce itself as fantasy until around the midway mark. And then it morphs through fantasy, thriller and even ends as something near horror. For a first novel it's a remarkable assured tightrope walk.

 

[J-WO]

Perdido Street Station - China Mieville. I read the sequels straight afterwards. All great at the time, no idea if they would hold my attention 20 years on.

Personally, I found a reread of Perdido to be a real drop. Once you know about all the incredible world building and ideas you're left with character and dialogue and that stuff in PSS is... alright...

 

[J-WO]

To pick a modern fave I'd say Gideon The Ninth. It's nice something so unique has found such popularity.

 

[Toby Frost]

Do the Alice books count? I mean, they're pretty unusual. The setting of the Fire Stealers books by our own Bryan Wigmore is really distinctive.

Otherwise I'd second the Titus Groan books. I'm a big fan of the proto-steampunk comedy Homunculus by James P Blaylock, which was probably pretty novel when it was first published. The fantasy novels of Tim Powers might be worth a mention: his settings are often the real world, but the way he combines history and fantasy is unusual.

I don't know if retellings of fairy stories count, but The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter is very good, and her Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffmann is one of the maddest books I've ever read (albeit not that great). I wonder how much this thread boils down to "neither imitating nor reacting against Tolkien"?

 

[BAYLOR]

The Third Policeman by Flann O'Brien

 

[Rodders]

I'd put Christopher Fowler's Roofworld as a fantasy book, an urban fantasy to be sure but i thought it was excellent and really enjoyed it. Essentially a murder story set within a secret comunity that lives on the roof levels of London.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

The setting of the Fire Stealers books by our own Bryan Wigmore is really distinctive.

Distinctive and quite memorable. A great choice.

 

[BAYLOR]

Vathek by William Beckford

 

[The Big Peat]

Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence. Not every day I read Gods as corporate organisations, exchanging prayer for the everyday miracles of modern life, in a world of mystery-thrillers.

 

[pogopossum]

Not exactly obscure, but I'd recommend the Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. They really get going by the 4th or fifth, but I'd start at the beginning.
Sort of took me back to early Neil Gaiman in terms of imagination.

 

[williamjm]

Max Gladstone's Craft Sequence. Not every day I read Gods as corporate organisations, exchanging prayer for the everyday miracles of modern life, in a world of mystery-thrillers.

I think it's perhaps the only epic fantasy inspired by the 2008 global financial crisis.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

John Crowley, Little, Big.

 

[Elentarri]

John Crowley, Little, Big.

I loathed that book!