Reddit reviews Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold! (Landover)

Here some good ol' high fantasy standbys from my shelves. There's a good chance you'll be able to find these at any used book store.

• The Shannara books - Plenty to choose from, but I've only read the original three personally.
  
• The Memory, Sorrow & Thorn series - You may need a character flowchart, but it's worth it.
  
• The Renshai Trilogy and the sequel "next generation" series the Renshai Chronicles - Very nordic, if that's your bag.
  
• The Legend of Nightfall - Possibly my favorite book, actually. Great if you like the thief archetype.
  
• The Magic Kingdom of Landover series - Half spoof, half serious
  
  And of course, any of the Discworld books if you feel like giving the genre a light ribbing. You can honestly pick up the series anywhere, but I'm a fan of the books that pertain to the Watch.

I almost forget, you may also enjoy Magic Kingdom For Sale by Terry Brooks.

Long shot:
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Kingdom-Sale-Sold-Landover-Brooks/dp/0345317580

I take it from Harry Potter and Divergent he likes strong, morally-white protagonists on journeys to save the world. I don't know his exact reading level or interests, so I will make the following suggestions by category. I ranked books in each category by difficulty.

 

Teen Fantasy:

 

Dealing with Dragons: Funny, easy to read, dragons, magic, and sarcasm.

The Lioness Series, Immortal Series, or The Magic Circle Series: Strong female leads and interesting to read with great stories (Think Mulan). My brother loved them.

Artemis Fowl: Strong, morally ambiguous but ultimately altruistic, sarcastic, and smart protagonist against the world.

User Unfriendly: Dudes get sucked into a video/rpg and try to get out without dying. Like Tron, but less sci-fi and more fantasy.

Halo: One of my brothers who HATES reading -- or at least is incredibly picky actually stayed up all night to finish four of Halo books. He also really likes the games. I don't know which one is the first or the best but this one had the best reviews. I dunno if it is dark either -- I haven't read it :'(.

The Dark Elf Trilogy: Darker than anything else I have on here (or can be) hero vs world type fantasy. Drizzit = my brothers' hero growing up. Kinda WOW-esque? Having played both, I understand how much of WOW is inspired by DnD. I personally didn't like this.

Redwall: Harder to read, talking animals save the world from other talking animals. I personally hated this series, but my brothers read every single book in the series at the time.

 


Adult Fantasy:

 

Magician: Magic, totally badass protagonist, BORING first couple chapters, but ultimately the most OP hero I have ever read. Amazing, truly amazing. I think it is two-three books in the first series.

Harper Hall: Dragons, music, strong, but lost protagonist. Deals with sexism and gender biased. The other books in the cycle range from sci-fi to political fantasy.

Dragonbone Chair: Strong, badass hero vs a dragon. What happens? He becomes more badass. It is a lighter verison of LOTR/Sword of Shanara (which is probably too much politics/genetics/enviromental commentary -- generally boring-- for him right now) --

An even lighter alternative, more teen book is Eragon. That being said, I absolutely DETESTED these books. I don't care if he was 16, he didn't coming up with any of his own material. But -- a lot of people really like it, so your brother might!

 

Sci-fi:

 

Ender's game: Amazing ending, especially if he likes videogames. I haven't seen the movie, but my Dad said it was "loosely inspired" from the book. All I know is the book was world-changing. It has some legitimately dark points (like gouging out a giants eye or drowning puppies).

Johnny Maxwell Trilogy: This dude is cool. I didn't know until I linked it that it is hard to get a copy >.<.

Dune: This, like LOTR, is VERY political and can be very easily boring. It might also be too adult or hard for him. There is mental illness and just crazy people in the later books.

 

Mature Humor:

 

He should be ready for some British humor, which is a little more mature than American humor (sorry) and much more sarcastic. You also have to be in the mood for it, especially if you aren't expecting it.

Sourcery: Really, really funny.

Hitchhiker's Guide: Also funny.

Magic Kingdom for Sale -- Sold: American. Funny take on fantasy books.

 

I kept away from darker books where the protagonist is morally grey (Artemis fowl and Drizzit being exceptions -- though they are both still definitely heros), sex, questionable themes, or general mental derangement.

I also stayed away from more modern books, which I have read a lot of if you would like recommendations for those instead. I read a lot in general, so if you have a questions about a book in particular, I can try to help.

Edit: Links

Based on your criteria, I'd say start with some Young Adult stuff first, it tends to be shorter and less convoluted than the adult high fantasy stuff like WoT and GoT. Maybe Graceling would interest you?

If you want something light hearted that won't take up too much of your brain space, I'd say try Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, the Landover series by Terry Brooks, or the Xanth series by Piers Anthony. All fantasy books plenty of comic relief.

Many years ago, I discovered Terry Brooks' Landover series, beginning with Magic Kingdom for Sale--Sold!.

Yes. All of that.

https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Kingdom-Sale-Sold-Landover-Brooks/dp/0345317580

and it's written in that light hearted King's Quest way that makes the whole read just fun.

Since it seems like you're already covering more popular series and not against SFW fiction, I'm going to suggest Magic Kingdom for Sale- SOLD! By Terry Brooks. I loved this book when I read it, and it got me into fantasy reading :)