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» Read loving historical fantasy from the ancient world. Historical fantasy. The most striking examples of historical fantasy

Read loving historical fantasy from the ancient world. Historical fantasy. The most striking examples of historical fantasy

Among all the genres and branches, many modern writers give preference to historical fantasy. They are attracted by the opportunity to create their own reality, and when writing literature in this subgenre, they can focus specifically on the Middle Ages or prehistoric times. During such periods, the adventures of the heroes become even more colorful and extraordinary.

Due to the fact that historical fantasy, and the genre in general, is based on fairy tales, the books do not have a clearly defined distribution of heroes into good and bad. The genre inherited a certain epicness and tragedy from myth. The characters must achieve their goal by any means, but they are given a choice. With the help of this technique, living images are formed that are closer to the reader. Many collections of historical fantasy contain stories where the heroes are distinguished by courage and honor, but you should not compare these books with romances of chivalry, because, despite some similarities, in fantasy justice and honesty do not always allow you to get what you want.

At the moment, the above historical creations have managed to incorporate many European traditions and thanks to this they are actively developing and constantly gaining new fans. It is worth noting that some writers tried to modernize historical fantasy, but such a decision led to going beyond the boundaries of the genre, and the result was science fiction or mysticism. Therefore, all events take place not in current time, but in the past, which adds a certain charm and originality.

Russian writers also do not lag behind their foreign colleagues and are actively engaged in creating historical fantasy. Every year new series of books of this genre appear on the shelves of bookstores, and many readers emphasize the versatility of the created worlds. The popularity of Russian literary works is also influenced by the fact that the authors perfectly understand Russian nature, so they adapt their stories to the mentality of their readers.

Of course, every person who is interested in the genre wants to start getting acquainted with the best works, so he can read them online or download them for free without registration on any device. For your attention such formats as epub, fb2, pdf, rtf, txt. Since the majority of modern youth have tablets, smartphones or netbooks, they can download any books even while in a cafe or on a bus and enjoy immersing themselves in a magical reality.

Our contemporaries, tourists who had a fun rafting trip down the Ural river Kuyva, as part of a “weekend tour,” find themselves in the mid-16th century. There, on the Kuyva River, on the border of the Stroganov lands, but several years before Ermak’s campaign to conquer Siberia. Part of the campaign decides to go to Moscow, believing that only there they will be able to apply their knowledge with due success. These optimists hope to take their rightful place in Rus', or in Europe, if they are lucky.

One princess, two northerners and a southerner mercenary. Each has their own life, their own goals and their own truth, but the borderland brought them together, defining the path through the war-torn country, adding necromancers with the dead for speed and setting the Secret Chancellery on their heels for sure. Yes, and the childhood dream that she met, it turned out, has its own difficult, icy character and does not at all need the romantic feelings of the young princess. So what remains? Dreaming of a custard pie while choking on a northerners' lunch ration, or dreaming of a lace dress while falling knee-deep into a swamp? And also hope that the grandfather’s northern relatives, who must definitely be reached, will accept their southern relative and not drive her away.

Well, in today’s time, how can you get by without getting caught? Judging by our literature, they are the engine of science, progress and human relations. It is to them that we owe everything that is happening around us - some of them told Stalin about the atomic bomb and suggested how to win the war, someone in time brought homeless Varangians to their native lands, who taught the stupid barbarians life, and someone stopped the invasion evil aliens.

This book is no exception, as it should be according to the laws of the genre, the newcomers, together with the GG, will teach their foolish ancestors new technologies, industries, find free lands and create their own state, which will provide full support to their ancestors and help them defeat their enemies, completely changing the existing history .

Could Alice imagine, going on a journey, that fate would take her from our time to ancient Rus' of the 11th century? What should a girl do and how to survive among her Slavic ancestors? Our heroine will not only make a leap in time, but will also visit the court of the Kyiv prince, learn all the intricacies of internecine wars and find her love. But the most difficult thing for Alice will be to make a choice on which not only her happiness, but also the lives of many people will depend.

True love is not afraid of separation, distance, or even death. But can she overcome the centuries?

Fiction usually tells about the life and adventures of the main character. You won't find that here. Here you will find a story about the life of entire states. It is probably difficult to find another person who would influence the modern world as much as Genghis Khan. What would have happened if he had died, as they say, on takeoff? This is what will be discussed in this work. Which would be more correctly called a timeline. It is also worth mentioning that when I wrote this work, I did not have a certain result that I needed to achieve. When compiling the timeline, a random number generator was used as much as possible. And the result can be called completely random. And this is far from the end result. A continuation will definitely follow.

1582 Ataman of the dashing hundred, Ivan Egorov, son of the Eremeevs, as part of Ermak’s army, sets off to conquer the Siberian Khanate. The troops of Khan Kuchum were defeated, the rich cities of Kashlyk and Chingi-Tura were taken and plundered, the Cossacks fought their way to the Ob... And here the paths of Ivan and Ermak diverged: the young ataman learns from local residents about the existence of a country somewhere in the upper reaches of the Ob eternal summer and terrible dragons, whose rulers - the evil sorcerers of Sir-Tya - own countless amounts of gold...

Fry Wensley is a young pastor who, as fate would have it, on his first day of ordination, is offered the position of priest in a profitable parish. They just forget to mention that the area is cursed, an ancient evil lurks in the old castle, ready to rise up and kill all living things. But the young gentleman does not yet know about this, and how much he will have to endure before understanding his destiny as an exorcist. Good old England keeps many legends and superstitions. There is a lady in a ghostly carriage, with a headless coachman, and nimble brownies rushing to the rescue, and also a mysterious stranger with a bunch of secrets, and in a straw hat. And also mystical enemies and kind-hearted residents of the Darkwoods, and how can one remain a normal person here?

Historical fantasy opens up not only new worlds, but also new times

Such a genre as historical fantasy appeared quite a long time ago. Seriously speaking, almost all books about past eras can be called fantasy, because we will never know how everything really happened.

However, historical fiction allows us to imagine what a particular era was like, avoiding scientific stinginess and callousness, weaving a magical and even fairy-tale element into the historical narrative. We bring to your attention the best historical novels written in the fantasy genre. They will make you not only worry and think, but also help you learn something new about world and native history.

Reading Russian science fiction

Modern Russian science fiction has rich and strong roots, thanks to which even young authors write interestingly, informatively, and at their best. It also has such qualities. Her historical novel with fantasy elements, Found, gained considerable popularity. You can read the book online on our website. The novel takes the reader into the harsh, mysterious world of Ancient Rus'.

On the throne is the famous baptist prince Vladimir, nicknamed by his subjects the Red Sun. After his death, a fratricidal war begins, the goal of which is the Kiev throne, the capital and power over the entire empire. The simple warrior Goryaser and the singer Naiden find themselves drawn into this battle. Mysterious events do not allow them to step aside from the turmoil. How will the prince's battle end for ordinary people?

About the history of entire nations

One of the most interesting historical fantasy novels is written in a timeline style. The book “The World of the Lost Genghis Khan” tells about the period when the Tatar yoke almost completely overwhelmed Europe. Only the story in this novel is not about individual people, but about entire states and peoples. As if from a bird's eye view, the reader will be able to see Europe of that time, the advance of the Tatar troops, the history of the great conquest and great retreat. This novel deserves special attention; it will allow you to better understand an important era of Russian history.

About the conquest of Siberia

The book was written by Andrei Postnyakov at the intersection of the genres of fantasy and historical novel, there are also elements of a detective story. The reader definitely will not get bored reading it.

The main character of the novel is Ivan Egorov, ataman. He goes on a campaign to the Siberian lands with Ermak himself. Not everything is so simple in this campaign, especially considering the mysterious events that haunt the hero one after another. It turns out that Siberia is not only endless forests, swamps and cold weather. Somewhere here there is a lost land of eternal summer, where mighty dragons still live. They are controlled by sorcerers who, over so many years of owning dragons, have accumulated a lot of gold. The wild Cossack heads have plenty of room to roam.

The author tried and combined the actual chronicles of the conquest of Siberia with creative fiction, folk tales, legends, and Siberian folklore. From this use of different sources, the plot gains relief, alluring volume, you can immerse yourself in it and not notice how the novel has come to an end. Of course, an experienced historian will distinguish fiction from the true course of events, but for the average reader it will sometimes be difficult to understand where the fiction is. This book in the fantasy genre can be read on our website.

Our virtual library contains an excellent collection of books written at the intersection of the genres of science fiction and historical novels. You can easily read historical fantasy online on our website in a format convenient for you. A world of exciting adventures from the past awaits you!

Historical fantasy novels are a popular genre, the essence of which is an attempt to dilute the traditional fictional narrative, based on historical facts, with some fantastic or mystical assumptions that are designed to give the action additional dynamics. As a result, new readers flocked to the genre. Some were simply tired of the monotony of classic fantasy, while others got a chance to satisfy their emerging interest in historical context within a more familiar setting.

In the world of fantasy, alternative history receives the most unexpected development, allowing you to read, for example, about the adventures of Denis Davydov, fighting with Brigadier Gerard on the territory of the Russian Empire, which was captured by the French. The grace of the author's imagination in this genre very often coexists with revisionism - an attempt to rethink history, to highlight key aspects in it that do not fit into his idea of ​​​​how everything should be. Very often, the motives of national pride in this genre dominate logic, but this does not bother people who share the writer’s views on justice. In some cases, the author manages to realize an alternative to real history so vividly and vividly that it literally becomes the only possible narrative for fans. So the everyday question about the Mongol yoke may be followed by a detailed answer with references to the exploits of Evpatiy Kolovrat, who learned the basics of martial arts within the walls of the Shao Lin Monastery. If you think about it, the work of the historical school of Fomenko and Nosovsky is nothing more than an alternative history in a fantasy vein, just with a bit of academicism in presentation.

Fantasy historical adventures often intersect with another popular genre - hit and miss. The plot is built around a certain historical event, or simply within a certain era, the signs of which are more or less well known to the author. This direction did not come entirely from traditional sources and relies heavily on SF, or more precisely on the fantasy of time travel. These are stories about the progressive cadres of the Institute of Time, who love to crush butterflies with titanium-shod boots. However, this direction is more than popular and may well lay claim to the position of an independent genre with all the accompanying features.

The portal website offers everyone who wants to read historical fantasy online. These books are able to captivate you, forcing you to empathize with the hero to the point of identifying with him. And thanks to a recognizable historical perspective, the boundary between fiction and reality is very quickly erased. Our users participate in numerous discussions, so you can confidently expect competent advice and recommendations regarding the choice of books to read. Among the heated debaters are the authors themselves, and this is especially interesting. We also have the ability to download historical fantasy for free, so if you are completely new to this fascinating and popular genre, you can start with just such works. A frequent criticism of classic fantasy relates to the authors' tendency to label it obscurantist. The historical genre, with its conventions and paradigms that have been established since school times, does not fall under such a definition. A well-known world will open before you, but from a completely new angle.

Fantasy, as one of the most popular literary genres, has many directions and branches.. For example, there is such an entertaining subgenre as historical fantasy.

What is this direction?

In historical fantasy, the realities of our past are closely intertwined with fiction and fantasy. In such works, the magical and fantastic aspects of reality are something ordinary, everyday for the characters. In such worlds, goblin and merman, elves and gnomes really live, magi have real witchcraft powers, and alchemists create living homunculi in test tubes.

Authors of historical fantasy, as a rule, talk about how all this really existed in the past and is not a figment of human imagination. If all this was real, then where did the magic and mythical creatures go?

There are several possible answers to this question:

  • The development of rational thinking, logic, the progress of science and technology killed faith in the supernatural, and it disappeared, ceasing to be nourished by human faith.
  • All this rationality, science, progress was specially created by some secret order, an organization of technocrats who sought to destroy all magic, spirits and magical creatures.
  • Magic, spirits, ghosts still exist, only they have hidden from ordinary people, are in deep underground, only initiates know about all this.

It should be noted that the most common concept of historical fantasy is a version of the plot in which the book is based on a real event that took place in the past, but it is transferred to a fictional world. The second option is the opposite - in the realities of the past, events occur that actually did not happen, or about which there is practically no information. In both cases, it would be more correct to call this direction pseudo-historical fantasy.

The most striking examples of historical fantasy:

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The second half of the 18th century, the conquest of the eastern lands by the Cossacks was in full swing. Ermak’s army includes a hundred under the leadership of the brave and daring chieftain Ivan Egorov. Cossack troops attack the Siberian Khanate and, having defeated the hordes of Khan Kuchum, successfully advance deeper into the country, capturing rich cities. But here Legends that exist among local residents reach Ivan, who talk about the land of eternal summer, located in the upper reaches of the Ob River. Formidable dragons live there, controlled by evil sorcerers who have a lot of gold hidden away.. And then Ivan, together with his hundred, leaves Ermak’s army and goes in search of a fairyland.

Nadezhda Popova “Path of Death”

We find ourselves in German Cologne at the end of the 14th century. There is peace and quiet here, the Inquisition has long dealt with its enemies and only occasionally minor incidents occur. A young and ambitious inquisitor named Kurt Hesse is transferred to this district. He's been bored here for quite some time, until His tenacious mind does not grasp one seemingly insignificant event - a student at the University of Cologne died in his sleep. Trying to find out something about this case, Kurt plunges into the thick of things, in which student fraternities, university management and even the highest nobility are involved.

Welcome to our site! Here we have collected the best examples of historical fantasy to brighten up your leisure time.

  • Egypt. Russia. Our days...The bewitching legend of Atlantis pushes the ambitious girl Yana Komolskaya to enter the Hall of Records under the paw of the Sphinx, where information about the knowledge and achievements of the Atlanteans is stored. She doesn't even suspect that this will change her life forever. Yana will lose her sisters, meet the fir-bolg Spike and end up in Atlantis in 11,588 BC, where dangerous adventures await her, friendship with the princess of South Atlantis Freya and participation in the greatest battle of nations between Good and Evil...
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    • The Balkans... Unknown, amazingly beautiful and harsh at the same time. A pole of power where rivers of blood have been flowing for many centuries. The cycle of tales by Vuk Zadunaisky “The Balkan Crown” takes us to the cruel and unusually bright world of the fantastic Balkans. The incredible circumstances of the Battle of Kosovo and the fall of Constantinople. Prince Milos Obilich, who defeated fate itself in an unequal battle, and the warlock Sultan Bayazid. The sinister Wallachian ruler Vlad, nicknamed Dracula, and the monk who went into the wall of the Church of Hagia Sophia. The curse of the Nemanjic royal dynasty and the Iron Lame Tamerlane, who turned his hordes, and at the same time the entire course of history, because of an ordinary dream - is it just an ordinary one? Janissary ghouls and the unclean spirit that possessed the king of the Macedonians. This is also where vampires of all stripes, werewolves, beautiful pitchforks and peacekeeping soldiers come from. The mystical Balkans turn out to be incredibly real. This is a world where people are ruled by inhuman passions and where miracle is not a luxury, but a means of survival.
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    • XI century AD e. The Tmutarakan principality, this southern outpost of Rus' in the middle of the Wild Field, is surrounded on all sides by enemies - the predatory Khazars, the Pechenegs, the Kasogs, the Varangians, and the powerful Byzantine Empire are sharpening their teeth on it. But most dangerous of all are the internal strife between the first Christians and the pagans who remained faithful to their father’s faith. And although after the bloody Baptism the Magi were outlawed in Rus', the messengers of the Light Gods rush to the aid of Prince Mstislav the Brave in order to reveal to him the main secret of the Veles Temple and find the one who bestows Power, the owner of which will defeat any enemies. But the path to the hidden sanctuary is guarded by Khazar ambushes and hired killers, black magic from Constantinople and countless steppe hordes...
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    • “The cold chills not only the body, but also the brain. I'm used to thinking in any situation, even when I shouldn't. But now it doesn’t work. Any attempt to think is interrupted by the tinny word “cold.” I, clutching the fragment of the jig like a beloved woman, drift with it among the high waves. They smoothly, carefully understand and lower me, lift me and lower me. Their lull makes you want to fall asleep. I chase away sleep, trying to think of something warm. The attempt is immediately stopped by the word “cold”. Oddly enough, I feel the cold only in my ears, nose, cheeks, and lips. The latter were so constricted that they could not call for help. The rest of the head does not freeze. Maybe because I’m used to walking without a hat in winter. And the body does not freeze. Even the part of it that is above the water. I try to keep as much of my body above the water as possible. It seems warmer in water, but in fact it sucks heat out more intensely. Shipwreck statistics show that those less submerged are more likely to survive. And who fights to the end. I'm still fighting, even though I can't think..."
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    • “Towards Christmas the news reached us that King Stephen had been exchanged for the Earl of Gloucester, and at Westminster the synod again recognized him as King of England. Those who fought on the side of Empress Matilda were threatened with excommunication. I couldn't figure out whether to be happy about this news or not. I am a small fry, the church will not particularly persecute me, even if I decide to fight on the side of the empress. I will do this on the orders of my lord. There is a demand from him. And Ranulf de Gernon, Earl of Chester, is a goose. Wherever you sit on it, there you will get off. However, in winter no one fought with anyone. King Stefan was ill. Prison and shackles are bad for your health. Empress Matilda and her brother Robert of Gloucester were also not eager to fight; they did not want to be beaten again by William of Ypres, whom King Stephen made Earl of Kent as a reward for his release from captivity...”
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