BookTuber reviewing classic Fantasy Novels.

The name of the YouTube Channel is The Everyman Reads.

The idea is he's going to review 500 major Fantasy Novels in the order they were written.  He's still very early in the project having just reviewed George MacDonald's Lilith.  And it's a very good video everyone should watch it. 

In this video he defines how he divides Fantasy into 6 Eras. He's probably about right in what his divisions are, but the Pedantic in me can't help but be annoyed by the labels he chose, the point of naming eras after precious Metals is to repeat the Greek Mythological format, Gold then Silver then Bronze and then Iron.  His timeline goes Bronze, Silver, Classic, Golden, Modern and the current recently started but not definitively named era.  Which is the other pedantic complaint, Modern is by definition current, if we aren't in the same era as 2005-2020 anymore then that era needs a new name. 

Now as I said when talking about Eras of Anime The Golden Age is the first full era of greatness, but there can be a proto or pre history. So I would call his Bronze Age the formative years, then his Silver Age The Golden Age, then his Classic age the Silver Age and his Golden Age the Bronze Age and his Modern Age the Iron Age.

The 500 books he's selected are naturally biased towards the English speaking canon. And that's fine actually, there is a lot to cover just there. I just want to use this framing as a jumping off point for mentioning some foreign works I feel deserve more credit and attention.  Because what foreign language country's fiction I'm interested in changes depending on the era. 

The first two eras line up well with my Froncophilic interests I hold thanks to CoolFrenchComics.com and BlackCoatPress.

Paul Feval wrote only one book I'm confident can be considered Fantasy enough to definitely count, La Ville Vampire translated into English by the late Brian Stableford as Vampire City, first serialized in the 1860s.  Stuff straddling that early transitional line would include some of the works in Anne of The Isles. Some of his books set in modern Paris I would draw inspiration from when writing Urban Fantasy though they wouldn't actually count since the Supernatural element is always left ambiguous if present at all, The Vampire Countess, Revenants, Knightshade and The Blackcoats saga whose 6th volume The Companions of The Treasure is in my view the most Tolkienesque thing written before Tolkien. 

The Angel and The Sphinx from 1889 by Eduard Schure and translated by Brian Stableford.

The Enchanted City by Eugene Hennebert from 1893 including in BlackCoatPress's upcoming French Tales of Lost Worlds anthology.

In 1908 and 1909 Gustave Le Rouge wrote two novels that directly anticipate the Barsoom series, these were Translated and published together as Vampires of Mars. 

1919's L'Atlantide is like She in some ways but not in others, the author Pierre Beniot had not read She. It has had a similar if more forgotten cultural impact, for awhile being directly adapted every decade but also in the name of it's Femme Fatale Antinea influencing even more films.

As far as arguing that 1990-2004 was the best era of Fantasy Prose Novels, this wouldn't be the only time where what I call The Bronze Age is also the age I would argue is the best, that's certainly the case with Anime and kind of is for some DC characters. And that is where my Weeb interests come in.  

I haven't read these books, I haven't even seen all the Anime based on them, but I know a lot about their cultural importance.  And these are only stories that were originally prose novels which Light Novels count as, I won't be including anything that started as a Manga, Anime, Video Games or Visual Novels though they certainly have plenty of their own contributions to making this an exciting decade and a half for the Fantasy genre.  

The Heroic Legend of Arslan series started in 1987 but continued all through this era. 

Majuu Senshi Luna Varga is referred to as being based on a Light Novel but I can't find any publication dates for it, it's probably the most randomly obscure thing I'm going to list here.  The OVAs came out in 91 so it could turn out to be too soon for this era. 

Slayers started in 1990.

The Twelve Kingdoms started in 1992 and is one of the many GRRMs of Anime source materials in that it's still unfinished. 

On the subject of Urban Fantasy I'm unsure what does and doesn't count but I feel 1998 started a peak era for Japanese Urban Fantasy with Boogiepop and Others in February and the first Kara No Kyoukai in October.  I also recall Trixie The Golden Witch mentioning an anthology book of Light Novels like these from this era called Faust. 

Maybe a short story shouldn't be considered eligible for this but Kinoko Nasu's Angel Notes from 99 is pretty important. 

Scrapped Princess was from 1999 to 2003.

Legend of The Legendary Heroes started in 2002. 

2002 is also the same year as the original Web Novel for Sword Art Online, which isn't a Fantasy novel but has become undeniably important to the history of Fantasy in Japanese media.

Baccano! started in 2003 as did The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya if you count either as Urban Fantasy.

The year 2004 was the start of at least three important Light Novel sagas. 

The Familiar of Zero was very popular and a website that started as a fan site for it would go on to be the main incubation chamber for modern Isekai.

And then two more where I'm unsure if they count as Urban Fantasy for now.  Durarara!! and A Certain Magical Index.

And in December of 2004 Hakubō no Dendōshi by Gen Urobuchi was published. 

Low Church Fantasy

I’ve noticed a trend lately of YouTube videos analyzing how fictional religions in Fantasy settings often don’t feel authentic to how real Regions function, including one focusing specifically on the lack of Schisms. 

So I want to talk about something that perhaps only I care about.

Fantasy religions Aesthetically based on Christianity are always specifically based on High Church Christianity, usually quite specifically Roman Catholicism. More disorganized local spirituality in Fantasy stories are usually more inspired by Animist polytheism like you’d see from Indigenous Tribes of North America or the Sami or local Shintoism. 

This probably has to do with the simplified understanding of Christian History where there is no Protestantism till the Middle Ages are over so therefore it’s assumed Baptist or Quaker inspired communities would be out of place in a Medieval Europe inspired Fantasy Setting.  

However I have seen plenty of Fantasy settings that extend their real word inspirations into the Renaissance, Enlightenment or even Victorian period. Like all those Otome Villainess settings, or really any with a Magic Academy element.

But besides that Medieval Proto-Protestants of different kinds did exist, most relevant here would be the Waldenses/Waldensians. Talking about the Waldenses as Low Church Proto-Protestants is made more controversial than it should be because of how they factor into the imagined revisionist histories proposed by Landmarkists.  I do not believe in the core Doctrine that often lies behind Baptist Successionism theories (that being in the “True Church” requires an unbroken chain of Believers Baptism back to the Disciples), so whether or not there is direct continuity between the Waldenses and 15th Century Anabaptists doesn’t concern me. However I am convinced there is plenty of solid evidence that many Waldenses (they were probably not always all the same) were Credo-Baptists who practiced Congregational Polity. 

There's also the Lollards from English History, some of them were more Low Church then the others, Wycliff himself was certainly not a Credo-Baptist but I think some later Lollards did come to that conclusion.

But also Medieval Europe inspired Fantasy sometimes is unlike real Medieval Europe in more ways then just the Supernatural stuff. Just look at all those Fantasy Anime with Chattel Slavery as part of the setting. So who cares about the precedent, I want Fantasy Baptists. 

George MacDonald was a Congregationalist Minister who was a huge player in the origins of the Fantasy Genre being a cited influence on both C.S. Lewis and Tolkien.  The way Goblins tend to be depicted in Fantasy began with him and he also arguably wrote the first Isekai. Unfortunately his influence was filtered through a Catholic and an Anglican. His position on Church Polity is not the deviation from the Established Church of England MacDonald is most well known for, and indeed Universal Salvation is also something I’d like to see in the Fantasy Genre more often.

The major impact this could have on both the Mechanics and Lore of a Fantasy Setting is the question of Apostolic Succession.  

High Church denominations believe the Spiritual Authority Jesus gave the Apostles is only truly inherited by the Clergy, while Low Church Christians believe strongly in the Priesthood of All Believers.  Today most major Baptist denominations are Secessionist on the question of the Spiritual Gifts meaning they believe the more explicitly supernatural manifestations of that authority don’t really happen anymore. However most Pentecostal and Charismatic denominations are also Low Church in form, and the Quakers have their Inner Light doctrine. 

So you could easily still have your Catholic Church like institution be the one wielding the most political power in Society, seeking to restrict the knowledge and use of Healing Magic (and other forms of what a Final Fantasy player would call White Magic) to the Clergy, even having most Adventurer Guilds refuse to give proper Healer licenses to anyone not properly ordained.  While the Low Church Schismatics are teaching that such powers can be called upon by anyone who has Faith. 

People also criticize how passively Pro Monarchy the Fantasy Genre often seems. Well I’ve written before about how Congregationists were the harbingers of modern Democracy and Socialism, so perhaps having some Low Church Schismatics is also how to bring about a Revolution in a Fantasy World?

Baptists and Quakers also have a long history of opposing Slavery, the Southern Baptist Convention were the exception not the general rule, John Brown was a Congregationalist and Nat Turner a Baptist. A Fantasy story inspired by the history of The Baptist War in Jamaica could be interesting. 

Update May 17th 2026: I've recently learned that contrary to what I'd long assumed contemporary Japan has more Protestants then Catholics. 

This completely recontextualized the matter of why most Anime  seem like they don't know non Catholic forms of Christianity exist. And the main exceptions are specifically depicting the Anglicanism of England. 

And it means that the people who write the Web novels that become Light Novels that become Manga that become modern Fantasy Anime really should broaden their horizons. Tokyo has Baptists and Presbyterians and a Non Church Movement. They do have a frame of reference for what Low Church Christianity looks like. 

Catholics get more respect because they've been there longer. But so much else in Anime is the product of post Meiji Westernization, it's time Christianity in Anime reflected that too. 

Christian Isekai, or how I'd do Narnia differently.

One of the characteristics that separates the modern Isekai trend of Anime/LNs from older classical stories the word applies to, both in Japan and in the West, is how modern Isekai protagonists are Nerds who are very Genre Savvy about the kind of story they’ve been thrown into, a more subversive one may have them be a bit Wrong Genre Savvy sometimes, but still the concept itself is far from alien to them.

However, George MacDonald and Frank L Baum and J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis wrote stories about protagonists who go on a fantastical Journey to learn rather then to show off what they already know (and 90s Shoujo Isekai was largely the same).  And so Narnia works as a Christian story the way it does because the Pennevises are not very Biblically or Theologically Literate, Narnia has to teach these children what modern education (in Lewis's view) neglects.

And yet I as a Christian who has a lot of theological and doctrinal disagreements with Tolkien and Lewis even though I’m a fan of their fiction, feel like the Modern Anime Isekai approach is actually a better framework for Christian Fiction because you can frame it as a missionary journey, a quartet of modern Christian Nerds like myself sent to like Paul and Barnabas bring The Gospel to people that hadn’t heard it yet.  

I’m also more Politically and Socially Leftist then either Tolkien or Lewis and that'd be reflected in anything I wrote as well.  They are sent to preach the Gospel to those willing to hear it but NOT to impose anything, as believers in Universal Salvation they won’t go around telling anyone they’re going to Burn Forever if they don't accept their message.  If they do wind up influencing any Governments or Political movements it’ll be in a Communist direction.  Instead of siblings the four will be Polyamorous Pansexual Lovers. 

I’d also take the approach of a world that has had migrants from our world in the past, in fact I'd trace all Sapient life back to Earth.  But I'd have all prior contact be B.C., or at least before Christianity reached the part of our world they came from.  I’d have a portion of the “Lost Tribes” wind up there, in fact I’d probably name the world Arzareth as a Book of Tobit reference.  I’d have the Elves of this world descend from Cain with sub divisions based on the four children of Genesis 4’s Lamech.  And if I include Talking or Anthropomorphic Animals I’d explain their origins as being Genesis 2:18-20.

And speaking of Furry Bait, I want to rant about the whole “Aslan is Jesus’s Furrsona'' issue.  There are a few different animals you can find Biblical Justification for making a symbol of Jesus, but a Lion is the last one I would chose to outright make Jesus’s Animal form, and the reason why is reflected in the Text of Narnia itself, every time they emphasize that Aslan is “Wild” it makes me uncomfortable, that sounds like the characterization of a Pagan god not Jesus.

Revelation 5 tells us what animal Jesus’s Fursona would be in verses 5 and 6, the same passage that is also the main Biblical basis for associating Lion imagery with Jesus.  

And one of the elders saith unto me, "Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof."

And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Now I wouldn’t do the full The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe premise, The Passion is something that only has to happen once, and His only Incarnation is as the Son of Adam.  But if I had Him appear in an Animal like form in a Symbolic Vision or something It’d be as The Lamb.  He’s The Lion of Judah only as a title to describe his specific relationship with that Tribe.  It would not be very relevant to mention at all in a setting with no Israelites, or one like my hypothetical here where the only Israelites came from the Northern Kingdom.

Now there is some debate over just how Zoologically flexible the Greek words for “Lamb” used to describe Jesus are, the possibility that they could include Rams or Goats does exist   Jesus as a Goat would have potential significance to the Tribes of Joseph based on Genesis 37:31 as well as to people who are into Yom Kippur. Exodus 12:5 even says Goats are equally valid for Passover. And it’d be an amusing subversion of expectations given Pop Culture’s love of assuming Satan is a Goat, (Biblically Satan is the Great Dragon and the Old Serpent).  But I'd most likely just go with a regular Lamb like most visualize anyway.

George MacDonald the invertor of Isekai

His 1858 novel Phantastes: A Fairie Romance for Men and Women is the first book that can unambiguously qualify as an Isekai, predating even Alice in Wonderland.  And MacDonald is known to have been a sort of Mentor to Lewis Carrol, it was because of MacDonald's advice and the fact that MacDonald's children loved it so much that Carrol published Alice in Wonderland in 1865.

George MacDonald's Magnum Opus was also an Isekai, Lilith published in 1895 is younger then Alice but still older then The Wizard of Oz, Peter Pan and the Narnia books.  George MacDonald was also a Christian Minister and it is this book more then any other fiction he wrote that incorporates his belief in Universal Salvation, indeed how much it is allegorical of his view of The Gospel firmly makes it the proto-Narnia.  The book is also technically a Vampire novel that predates Dracula, but not by long enough to have been a likely influence.

Those two novels may be the only ones he wrote that qualify as Isekai, but not the only ones that can be considered early Fantasy stories.  Tolkien said he didn't admire MacDonald as much as Lewis did but admits in his letters that the Goblins in The Princess and The Goblin (1872) were an influence on how he wrote the Goblins in The Hobbit (not quite as much the Orcs in LOTRs).  Indeed that novel is really the invention of the modern notion of Goblins, Goblins in Medieval European folklore were trickster spirits like Leprechauns, the notion of Goblins as evil minions you can fight a war with without needing to worry about the humanity of your villainous mooks begins with this novel.

There was an animated movie made out of The Princess and The Goblin in 1992, I decided to watch it, partly for my interest in MacDonald in general, but also because I figured it'd be interesting after how much Goblins were a meme of the Fall 2018 Anime season to familiarize myself with the origins of the modern Fantasy Goblin.  It was a pretty decent movie, I'm amazed at how much agency the Princess had in it, remember this was a novel written by a Victorian era Pastor.

Probably the most enthusiastic literary student of George MacDonald was C. S. Lewis, even though Lewis didn't agree with Universal Salvation, he clearly respected it and didn't consider it something to condemn someone as a Heretic over.

The only reason Jadis, The White Witch, is identified as a descendant of Lilith is to homage George MacDonald's Lilith.  Frankly I think the Lady of the Green Kirtle makes more sense to associate with Lilith between her shape shifting into a serpent and being Lewis' only Femme Fatale character that I'm aware of.  The character of Jadis is much more modeled after The Snow Queen.

Now I've already talked about the ways in which I feel the Narnia books are closer to modern Anime Isekai then other early Western Novels that can be called Isekai.  Though clearly a lot of current Anime critics wish the genre would more often follow Voyage of The Dawn Treader's attitude towards slavery.

The big difference between Lilith and most Anime Isekai is how much older the protagonist is.  But Lilith can in fact seem perfectly suited to Anime in a lot of ways, it's a story where all but 2 of the most important characters are women, and one of them is arguably a Neko.

All of George MacDonald's novels are in the Public Domain now, so I'd love to see some Anime studio try adapting them.