High Fantasy
Low Fantasy
Young Adult Fantasy
There are many sub genres of Fantasy. For the purpose of this guide we will be focusing on only the top 3 sub genres that you will mostly see when reading Fantasy books.
The world of high fantasy is when an author created a world from their own imagination. This includes language, rules, systems, history and functions. This is referred to as a secondary world. In these stories there is a hero quest that involves the hero having to make choices that will affect the entire world. High fantasy almost always involves an element of magic. These could be mythical creatures or humans that have the ability to create magic. High fantasy is generally what most readers are referring to when talking about the fantasy genre. Books like Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, just to name two very popular titles, have brought this genre into a new wave of popularity. This genre is probably the original genre that many people who want to World build would come to read. If you just take a look at some of these books, the languages that are created and the maps that are created play A Part and why High fantasy is placed in high regard in a lot of genres.
Citation: What is high fantasy?. Writing Mastery Academy. (n.d.). https://www.writingmastery.com/blog/what-is-high-fantasy
The world of low fantasy is usually set in our world. It is sometimes referred to as an intrusion fantasy because of their magical and different types of elements that intrude into our world. for example, if you think of the book Outlander and how the main character travels through time through the stones, it intrudes into the real world that the character knew because she was able to travel back 200 years in the past. With that being said a lot of these stories include elements such as monsters or characters that have powers but live either in the past or the present in our world.
Citation: Jackson, S. (2023, September 21). High Fantasy vs low fantasy: All you need to know. Jericho Writers. https://jerichowriters.com/high-fantasy-vs-low-fantasy/
What young adult fantasy is combining already establish genres which are young adult and fantasy fiction. This amplifies elements of fantasy such as magic with Young adolescent concerns. This is generally targeted for teen audiences. The difference between adult fantasy and ya fantasy is usually the ages. The ages that are genuinely ruled by the characters are the ages between 13 and 18. The story lines also Focus generally on teenagers' experiences. bringing that pubescence feeling into the fantasy story. The themes you and most associate in adult fantasy books generally are coming of age stories, training in a school or Institution, love and romance, finding their independence, having dysfunctional families, mental health issues, and adventure and Quest. while young adult is marketed mainly for teenagers, as someone who has read their fair amount of books there is also a space for adults that they can relate to one's feeling the way that the book is describing Teenage life. As the years went on there has been talk about a new adult genre which will feature ages from 18 and 21. sources like book talk and booktube and me the rise of YA genres like fantasy popular in the adult reading community.
Citation: Magicwriter. (2017, November 16). What is Young Adult Fantasy? . Magic Writer. https://magicwriter.co.uk/young-adult-fantasy/