Top 3 Portal Fantasies (Laurie)

Happy Saturday, everyone! As I mentioned in a recent post, my short story "Threshold" was published in an anthology titled Mythical Doorways at the end of March. It was my first attempt at writing a portal fantasy, and I had so much fun with it! Since I've had portal fantasies on my mind, I thought today I'd share my top 3! Now I know there are some amazing, world-famous portal fantasies out there, such as C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia, L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, but I thought for this post I'd focus on books that aren't quite as well known :)


3. Spark by J.M. Hackman

You read that right, this book is by our very own Jill, and I LOVED it!! Brenna travels through a portal in a search for her missing mother and winds up in an alternate reality called Linneah. Brenna's voice was so genuine and humorous as she experienced joys and challenges on her adventures, which made exploring Linneah such a blast! And the descriptions of the scenery and creatures of Linneah were spot on - enough to give a stunning visual but not so much that it slowed the narrative down. Linneah was the perfect mix of familiarity and novelty, and I can't wait to visit again in future books! (The next of which, Flare, happens to be releasing later this year!)





2. Unblemished by Sara Ella

This book blew me away! Eliyana discovers that the world we know is only one of seven Reflections, and travels to another Reflection to try to save her mom (apparently a lot of moms need saving in portal fantasies!). I loved the way that each Reflection was distinct, yet had parallels to familiar landmarks. And the methods of travel between Reflections were so crazy! Combine all this cool world-building with gorgeous writing, an edge-of-your-seat love triangle, and a few major plot twists, and it's no wonder I was hooked!






1. Illusionary by Desiree Williams

*Happy sigh* This book, you guys - I read it over a year ago, and it still makes me giddy! When Kamryn falls down the stairs and wakes up in the Land of Ur, she needs to find a way back home. And help save Ur from destruction. Ur had so many fun parallels to other famous fantasy worlds, such as Neverland and Oz, but all with a unique twist. And the storyteller! Reese's abilities were so cool, and I loved how his well-being was so connected to Ur as a whole. The message and heart behind this story were just beautiful, which, combined with the adorable romance, totally made me grin :) One of my all-time favorite books!!




I look forward to reading (and maybe even writing!) many more portal fantasies in the future! Have you read any of these books? What are some of your favorite portal fantasies?


Thanks for reading!
Laurie