Fandom Name: The Old Kingdom Series by Garth Nix (book series) Where to find the canon: Kindle or they should be in print as there's been recent additions to the series. What I love about it: Oh, another series of my childhood/heart! This series can be broken down into the original trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen) which can be read as standalone, Clariel which is a prequel and can be read standalone as well, Across the Wall which is a short story/novelette in a short story compilation of the same name and takes place between Abhorsen and Goldenhand but could be skipped, and Goldenhand which is the latest book and builds off everything that came before it. All are young adult, so all are a reasonably quick read as well.
If you haven't read it before, why start? Well, here is a series about female protagonists written well despite a male author. It's also a glorified magic zombie book filled with necromancy and the young women in it charge off into challenges and battles alone and largely unprepared and tend to do well along the way regardless. There's also malevolent magic creatures, a mystical library full of dangerous things where being a librarian is more like being a warrior, a rather complicatedly fascinating toying with the idea of reality by literally smooshing two realms (mundane and magical) against each other, and a pretty rich backstory and setting that the author can't seem to stop himself returning to despite all intentions otherwise because it's that damn good.
From a content notes perspective, the primary focus of these books is on an extended family of people with magical abilities, one branch of which is about using magic to quell evil sorcerers and send their zombies and demons back into death where they can't hurt people anymore. So there's death (though the actual place Death is really kind of interesting and peaceful), there's pain, there's misery and destroyed villages and desolation. The magic involved can at its worst be used to strip mental and bodily autonomy from people, so that's not exactly light. It's also a young adult series about young women triumphing though, so the tone is lighter than you might expect and it's not unrelenting misery. If you need more specific information I'm always happy to answer questions.
Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Where to find the canon: Kindle or they should be in print as there's been recent additions to the series.
What I love about it: Oh, another series of my childhood/heart! This series can be broken down into the original trilogy (Sabriel, Lirael, and Abhorsen) which can be read as standalone, Clariel which is a prequel and can be read standalone as well, Across the Wall which is a short story/novelette in a short story compilation of the same name and takes place between Abhorsen and Goldenhand but could be skipped, and Goldenhand which is the latest book and builds off everything that came before it. All are young adult, so all are a reasonably quick read as well.
If you haven't read it before, why start? Well, here is a series about female protagonists written well despite a male author. It's also a glorified magic zombie book filled with necromancy and the young women in it charge off into challenges and battles alone and largely unprepared and tend to do well along the way regardless. There's also malevolent magic creatures, a mystical library full of dangerous things where being a librarian is more like being a warrior, a rather complicatedly fascinating toying with the idea of reality by literally smooshing two realms (mundane and magical) against each other, and a pretty rich backstory and setting that the author can't seem to stop himself returning to despite all intentions otherwise because it's that damn good.
From a content notes perspective, the primary focus of these books is on an extended family of people with magical abilities, one branch of which is about using magic to quell evil sorcerers and send their zombies and demons back into death where they can't hurt people anymore. So there's death (though the actual place Death is really kind of interesting and peaceful), there's pain, there's misery and destroyed villages and desolation. The magic involved can at its worst be used to strip mental and bodily autonomy from people, so that's not exactly light. It's also a young adult series about young women triumphing though, so the tone is lighter than you might expect and it's not unrelenting misery. If you need more specific information I'm always happy to answer questions.