Favorite Fridays highlight media the HCDL staff recommend. Find your next favorite book, audiobook, movie, TV show, magazine, etc., here every Friday this summer— and share your own favorites in the weekly posts’ comments!

This week we’re sharing some of our librarians’ favorite fantasy fiction. If you’ve read these titles, share your thoughts in the comments along with your own favorite fantasies!

*Hoopla is available to Howell library district residents only.

Circe : a Novel by Madeline Miller

Call# Fiction Miller

Ever want to know more about the witch in The Odyssey who turned Odysseus’ men to pigs? I definitely did, which is why I jumped at the chance to read Madeline Miller’s Circe, which follows the strange daughter of Helios, the god of the son. Neither as powerful as her father or as alluring as her mother, Circe turns to the companionship of mortals and discovers that she does have powers in the form of witchcraft. When Zeus feels threatened by Circe’s powers, she is banished to an isolated island. While Circe is a fantastical tale of gods, goddesses, and witches, the underlying story about the dangers of being a woman is not so far from reality. I highly recommend fans of fantasy, Greek mythology, romance, or just great storytelling give this a read.

The Night Circus : a Novel by Erin Morgenstern

Call# Fiction Morgenstern

Le Cirque des Rêves is a circus that appears in small towns without notice. The world that Morgenstern creates inside the circus is completely entrancing. The secret is that the circus itself is actually magical, and it continues to become even more so as Celia and Marco remain locked in competition. The book itself is a little dark, but in a good way. I did not want to put it down and did not want it to end.

The Poppy War by R. F. (Rebecca F.) Kuang

Call# Fantasy Kuang

This first book of the Poppy War series introduces an epic historical military fantasy inspired by China’s violent history in the 20th century. The story follows war orphan Fang Runin as she overcomes prejudice and other obstacles to excel in the Empire’s elite military school, while developing and harnessing her latent martial shaman talent. Full of blood, magic, and intrigue, this book will leave you hungry for the next installment in the series, The Dragon Republic (also available in Overdrive/Libby and Hoopla*).

Small Gods : a Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett

Call# Fantasy Pratchett

Sir Terry Pratchett is my favorite author. His long-running Discworld series offers stellar comic fantasy satire. Of the 34 novels in the series, Small Gods is one of the best. In the Discworld, the more believers a god has, the more powerful the god is. And the Great God Om is in trouble, for, as far as he can tell, his simple young acolyte Brutha is the only person in the Disc, let alone his Church of the Great God Om. An incisive, funny, and compassionate religious satire that asks, what’s more important: your faith or your religious institution?

Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse

Call# Fantasy Roanhorse

This blend of fantasy, horror, Native American culture and folklore in a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy package hits all the right marks. Maggie the main character is complex, flawed, and kicks butt, literally, as a monster hunter. The gods and monsters in this book are terrifying. It’s a fantastic story, great as an audiobook, and it has a sequel!

Welcome to Night Vale : a Novel by Joseph (Fiction writer) Fink

Call# Fiction Fink

Based off the podcast with over 150 episodes, Welcome to Night Vale is narrated by radio host Cecil, who reports on the happenings of Night Vale, a friendly desert community somewhere in the American Southwest, where ghosts, aliens, and angels are normal occurrences that get reported in the same way traffic would be discussed. The novel follows the lives of two women with two seemingly unrelated mysteries, as their paths begin to intertwine. The audiobook version is narrated by multiple voice actors who also voice the characters from the podcast, and that audio experience really brings the different characters to life. If you like this novel, check out the sequel It Devours or the newest book in the series, The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home.