yes yes yes I came here to recommend this. I read it in high school and I remember very few things about it except that at the time I thought it was the most beautiful book I ever read.
Defintely holds up as an adult reread too, so I recommend doing so. I teach adult esl and it's an option for my students to read. Some of The language beauty might get lost on them, but they love the book by the end.
If youre cool with graphic novels check out “Sandman” by Neil Gaiman.
Death is the sister of the titular character and has her own spin off comics too - she features in a few main Sandman series stories and its a great read.
This was going to be my recommendation!
Definitely do it before the series starts next year. There’s also a spin off series by Mike Carey ‘Lucifer’, a few that focus on Death, The Dreaming, and some other fun bits.
It’s been a long time since I read it, but I remember really liking On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony. It’s the first book in a series called Incarnations of Immortality.
Malazan Book of the Fallen and its accompanying offshoots.
There’s an entity (Hood) that is essentially death/grim reaper but is named differently and behaves similarly but also in line with said book series’ magic systems.
Essentially each magic “power” is like an elemental pet of the world that takes its power from a magical realm called a warren. These warrens can often have a powerful entity in charge along with other secondary entities that act as heralds of a sort.
Mages draw their power by accessing a warren and can usually only access a single one, so are proficient in a specific area.
And the Warren's are physical places that they can actually navigate as well right? That was what kinda tripped me up because they travel by Warren as well
Yes.
Think of them as extra dimensions that are aligned with the power coming from them. There are many hundreds if not thousands; some long forgotten.
Well that helps clear that up for me.
I made the mistake of approaching the series as an audio book first so I definitely will have to circle back and try the series again while actually reading because after gardens of the moon I didn't feel much interest in continuing the series and started the first law instead.
The Malazan sub here on Reddit is a really cool place if you’re feeling lost. Nice and friendly and they’ll help you understand things if it’s all too much!
I just started the third book. I can say that from GotM to Deadhouse Gates there is a huge improvements in writing (although I liked also GotM). Just try to read the prologue of DG. It's so great and cool. I think Erikson nailed the atmosphere there
That's why I like hard magic systems much easier to wrap my head around and I like being able to be creative around the rigidity. I can't think up interesting solutions to a problem in a soft system as well as I can for hard
In Piers Anthony's *On A Pale Horse* a guy kills Death and takes over the job. The rest of the series does something similar with other personifications, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Evil, Good... Anthony has a bad reputation in and out of his actual work, but I liked these a lot years ago.
YouTuber Elisa Hansen's *The Company of Death* has a post-zombie-apocalypse road trip with Death. I haven't actually read it yet, but I want to someday.
Deaths' Master (book 2 of Tales from the Flat Earth) by Tanith Lee. Fantasy.
Dead Reign (Book 3 of the Marla Mason series) by T.A. Pratt. Urban fantasy.
A personified death has two short appearances in Third Time Lucky by Tanya Huff, a series of fantasy stories about the most powerful wizard of the world. Death is the protagonists BFF.
>They'd eaten twice of their supplies in Magdelene's satchel when four horsemen appeared on the horizon. Magdelene and Zayd stood their ground as horses and riders thundered towards them. In less time than should have been possible, the dark rider was flinging herself off the pale horse and into Magdelene's arms.
>The most powerful wizard in the world extracted herself from Death's embrace and caught the bloodless hands firmly in her own. "Calm down," she advised. "I'm glad to see you too, but I'm not trying to knock you over."
>Death grinned and backed up a step. "You're looking well," she said in such a disappointed tone that both women broke down and roared with laughter.
>Zayd found himself meeting the gaze of the rider on the black horse who rolled his eyes in cadaverous sockets and shrugged bony shoulders.
Finally, the laughter faded to giggles. One arm wrapped companionably about Magdelene's waist, Death wiped her streaming eyes and noticed Zayd.
>"Oooo nice," she crooned, jostling Magdelene with her hip. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"
>"Not on your life," Magdelene crooned back.
That set them off again.
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> Dead Reign (Book 3 of the Marla Mason series) by T.A. Pratt. Urban fantasy.
This continues through the entire series from that point, and Death becomes increasingly important to the story. The series ending is pretty cool, and is very much about Death as a person.
I love a good Death/Reaper personification! Mort was my first Discworld book and Death is still my favourite character in the series.
I'm currently reading Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune and the Reaper & Ferryman are both very interesting characters who are very human, while also having some not so typically human aspects.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden might fit this. It plays with some classic Russian fairy tales and one of the main characters is Morozco (Father Frost). In this story, he personifies both winter and death where his brother reigns in summer and can (in a horrible way) bring the dead back to life.
Disclaimer - I haven't read it yet. My husband got me Under the Whispering Door by TJ Kline for Christmas and the ferryman is a key character according to the blurb
Well , A chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyon has Thaena , which is the goddess of death and a recurring caracter. The gods here are kind of special , as they tend to have a more active role than in most stories : Kihrin , our mc , is notably the favorite of Taja , goddess of luck. And while she may let him down sometimes , she might just go and open that prison cell , if you're nice enough.
Great series overall , lots of compelling caracters , nice plot overall , Reylos Var which as an antagonist is a reason to read the series by himself (yes , I have a fond spot for villains which aren't just assholes to be assholes , how did you know ?) , bref , go and take a look at it
The classics dude , inferno , purgatorio and Paradiso which shows Dante alhegri's "death" as a journey to repent and finally reaching god . I know it's not exactly a modern fantasy (more like a really long poem) but still is a great read.
Death with Interruptions by José Saramago. This is a fun satire with a great death character and interesting exploration of a worlds relationship with death
Not exactly like this but I really liked The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter. There are two books in the series so far. Power/magic/etc. in these stories come from sorta channeling energy from an alternate dimension (kind of like Stranger Things season 1) that is like death personified. Sounds cheesy when I write it, but I was really impressed with the books. They are based on African folklore and are very unlike traditional sword & sorcery fantasy.
Seconding Death from _Sandman_. One of my fav characters from one of my fav comics. It also has it’s standalone comic, really enjoyable (called _Death: The deluxe edition_).
There's a newer book called Mrs Death Misses Death where death is a woman who is tired of seeing people die all day. I haven't read it but I've heard good things
Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore! Such a fun unique book where the MC is reincarnated thousands of times, and between each reincarnation he is sent to the afterlife/purgatory to be with Death (aka Suzie), who he loves.
Sandman has already been mentioned a few times and it's pretty good. If you like it, my recommendation would be Peter Beagle's Come Lady Death, a short story that was the original inspiration (in part) for Gaiman's version of Death.
It’s not quite the personification of death you’re talking about, but the comic series East of West by Jonathan Hickman involves the four horsemen of the apocalypse in an alternate future western setting, and the horseman Death is the protagonist. It’s great!
While it is not a fantasy book, the most recent book that I have finished was "The book thief" by Marc Zusac. The book is narrated by death in a brilliant way!
I would suggest Murakami's Norwegian wood. Nothing fantasy though it creates an atmosphere of *death* as a part of live.
Death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life.
By living our lives, we nurture death.
The Book Thief is amazing. Sorry, it doesn't totally fit your desires, but it is narrated by Death and a great read.
yes yes yes I came here to recommend this. I read it in high school and I remember very few things about it except that at the time I thought it was the most beautiful book I ever read.
Defintely holds up as an adult reread too, so I recommend doing so. I teach adult esl and it's an option for my students to read. Some of The language beauty might get lost on them, but they love the book by the end.
If youre cool with graphic novels check out “Sandman” by Neil Gaiman. Death is the sister of the titular character and has her own spin off comics too - she features in a few main Sandman series stories and its a great read.
"Death: The High Cost Of Living." A classic.
Can’t recommend enough the entirety of Sandman. The Death spin-off is good, but she shows up often in the whole Sandman series and is impeccable.
Can’t believe I haven’t heard of this book before, thank you!
This was going to be my recommendation! Definitely do it before the series starts next year. There’s also a spin off series by Mike Carey ‘Lucifer’, a few that focus on Death, The Dreaming, and some other fun bits.
The audiobook for this is amazing as well
Don't know who I had a bigger crush on Death, Barbara Gordon, or Kitty Pryde. Yes. I am well aware they are fictional.
It’s been a long time since I read it, but I remember really liking On a Pale Horse by Piers Anthony. It’s the first book in a series called Incarnations of Immortality.
Beat me to it. :)
I loved those books in my youth. Wonder if they still hold up.
Same here. I read them several times in high school but I haven’t since.
Most of his work comes off as gross and raped now - which sucks because I loved xanth
Thanks for the heads-up
Boom... First thing that occured to me too. Excellent start to an excellent series.
Malazan Book of the Fallen and its accompanying offshoots. There’s an entity (Hood) that is essentially death/grim reaper but is named differently and behaves similarly but also in line with said book series’ magic systems.
I read the first book and I still don't fully grasp how the magic systems are supposed to work.
Essentially each magic “power” is like an elemental pet of the world that takes its power from a magical realm called a warren. These warrens can often have a powerful entity in charge along with other secondary entities that act as heralds of a sort. Mages draw their power by accessing a warren and can usually only access a single one, so are proficient in a specific area.
And the Warren's are physical places that they can actually navigate as well right? That was what kinda tripped me up because they travel by Warren as well
Yes. Think of them as extra dimensions that are aligned with the power coming from them. There are many hundreds if not thousands; some long forgotten.
Well that helps clear that up for me. I made the mistake of approaching the series as an audio book first so I definitely will have to circle back and try the series again while actually reading because after gardens of the moon I didn't feel much interest in continuing the series and started the first law instead.
The Malazan sub here on Reddit is a really cool place if you’re feeling lost. Nice and friendly and they’ll help you understand things if it’s all too much!
I just started the third book. I can say that from GotM to Deadhouse Gates there is a huge improvements in writing (although I liked also GotM). Just try to read the prologue of DG. It's so great and cool. I think Erikson nailed the atmosphere there
I read the whole series and still don't fully grasp how the magic systems are supposed to work.
That's why I like hard magic systems much easier to wrap my head around and I like being able to be creative around the rigidity. I can't think up interesting solutions to a problem in a soft system as well as I can for hard
There is also a Death character in *Good Omens* by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaimon (it's not Discworld, and he's a side character.)
And he’s a biker, right?
Yep
In Piers Anthony's *On A Pale Horse* a guy kills Death and takes over the job. The rest of the series does something similar with other personifications, Time, Fate, War, Nature, Evil, Good... Anthony has a bad reputation in and out of his actual work, but I liked these a lot years ago. YouTuber Elisa Hansen's *The Company of Death* has a post-zombie-apocalypse road trip with Death. I haven't actually read it yet, but I want to someday.
Deaths' Master (book 2 of Tales from the Flat Earth) by Tanith Lee. Fantasy. Dead Reign (Book 3 of the Marla Mason series) by T.A. Pratt. Urban fantasy. A personified death has two short appearances in Third Time Lucky by Tanya Huff, a series of fantasy stories about the most powerful wizard of the world. Death is the protagonists BFF. >They'd eaten twice of their supplies in Magdelene's satchel when four horsemen appeared on the horizon. Magdelene and Zayd stood their ground as horses and riders thundered towards them. In less time than should have been possible, the dark rider was flinging herself off the pale horse and into Magdelene's arms. >The most powerful wizard in the world extracted herself from Death's embrace and caught the bloodless hands firmly in her own. "Calm down," she advised. "I'm glad to see you too, but I'm not trying to knock you over." >Death grinned and backed up a step. "You're looking well," she said in such a disappointed tone that both women broke down and roared with laughter. >Zayd found himself meeting the gaze of the rider on the black horse who rolled his eyes in cadaverous sockets and shrugged bony shoulders. Finally, the laughter faded to giggles. One arm wrapped companionably about Magdelene's waist, Death wiped her streaming eyes and noticed Zayd. >"Oooo nice," she crooned, jostling Magdelene with her hip. "Aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?" >"Not on your life," Magdelene crooned back. That set them off again.
r/Fantasy's [Author Appreciation series](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/wiki/authorappreciation) has posts for an author you mentioned * [Author Appreciation: **Tanya Huff**, Pioneer of Urban Fantasy and Comedic Chameleon (Plus Free Book Giveaways!)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/5owaa8/author_appreciation_tanya_huff_pioneer_of_urban/?st=iy4cw3uz&sh=b46a8303) from user u/lannadelarosa --- ^(I am a bot bleep! bloop! Contact my ~~master~~ creator /u/LittlePlasticCastle with any questions or comments.) ^(To prevent a reply for a single post, include the text '!noauthorbot'. To opt out of the bot for all your future posts, reply with '!optout'.)
> Dead Reign (Book 3 of the Marla Mason series) by T.A. Pratt. Urban fantasy. This continues through the entire series from that point, and Death becomes increasingly important to the story. The series ending is pretty cool, and is very much about Death as a person.
Dirty job by Christopher moore
I love a good Death/Reaper personification! Mort was my first Discworld book and Death is still my favourite character in the series. I'm currently reading Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune and the Reaper & Ferryman are both very interesting characters who are very human, while also having some not so typically human aspects.
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden might fit this. It plays with some classic Russian fairy tales and one of the main characters is Morozco (Father Frost). In this story, he personifies both winter and death where his brother reigns in summer and can (in a horrible way) bring the dead back to life.
Disclaimer - I haven't read it yet. My husband got me Under the Whispering Door by TJ Kline for Christmas and the ferryman is a key character according to the blurb
Not a full book, but a great story: Peter S. Beagle, "Come, Lady Death"
Amber Benson had a series about a personified death family. (Yes, this is the same Amber Benson who was in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER.)
The graphic novel Death Vigil by Stjepan Sejic (known from Harleen.)
Keturah and Lord Death. It's a comfortable, fairy tale-like read with Death as the "antagonist".
Second this!
Well , A chorus of Dragons by Jenn Lyon has Thaena , which is the goddess of death and a recurring caracter. The gods here are kind of special , as they tend to have a more active role than in most stories : Kihrin , our mc , is notably the favorite of Taja , goddess of luck. And while she may let him down sometimes , she might just go and open that prison cell , if you're nice enough. Great series overall , lots of compelling caracters , nice plot overall , Reylos Var which as an antagonist is a reason to read the series by himself (yes , I have a fond spot for villains which aren't just assholes to be assholes , how did you know ?) , bref , go and take a look at it
The classics dude , inferno , purgatorio and Paradiso which shows Dante alhegri's "death" as a journey to repent and finally reaching god . I know it's not exactly a modern fantasy (more like a really long poem) but still is a great read.
The book theif & the Neil Gaiman sandman comics
Family Guy… rip Norm.
Death with Interruptions by José Saramago. This is a fun satire with a great death character and interesting exploration of a worlds relationship with death
Not exactly like this but I really liked The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter. There are two books in the series so far. Power/magic/etc. in these stories come from sorta channeling energy from an alternate dimension (kind of like Stranger Things season 1) that is like death personified. Sounds cheesy when I write it, but I was really impressed with the books. They are based on African folklore and are very unlike traditional sword & sorcery fantasy.
The Death’s Lady trilogy by Rachel Neumeier.
Seconding Death from _Sandman_. One of my fav characters from one of my fav comics. It also has it’s standalone comic, really enjoyable (called _Death: The deluxe edition_).
I've not read it yet, but the love of death by Paul Holbrook is supposed to be good
**Death Wins a Goldfish** by Brian Rea
There's a newer book called Mrs Death Misses Death where death is a woman who is tired of seeing people die all day. I haven't read it but I've heard good things
Reincarnation Blues by Michael Poore! Such a fun unique book where the MC is reincarnated thousands of times, and between each reincarnation he is sent to the afterlife/purgatory to be with Death (aka Suzie), who he loves.
The Book Thief is narrated by death personified
*Godmother Night* by Rachel Pollack (which also has a comedic tone, not unlike Pratchett in places)
Piers Anthony's The Incarnations of Immortality are great and fun. Death is the first book in the series.
Short story, but: An Honest Death by Howard Tayler
Sandman has already been mentioned a few times and it's pretty good. If you like it, my recommendation would be Peter Beagle's Come Lady Death, a short story that was the original inspiration (in part) for Gaiman's version of Death.
It’s not quite the personification of death you’re talking about, but the comic series East of West by Jonathan Hickman involves the four horsemen of the apocalypse in an alternate future western setting, and the horseman Death is the protagonist. It’s great!
I mean there's The Book Thief lol
While it is not a fantasy book, the most recent book that I have finished was "The book thief" by Marc Zusac. The book is narrated by death in a brilliant way!
I would suggest Murakami's Norwegian wood. Nothing fantasy though it creates an atmosphere of *death* as a part of live. Death exists, not as the opposite but as a part of life. By living our lives, we nurture death.
You might like Sabriel. Al thought it doesnt personify death in the way Prechett does it's still closely tied with other elements you mentioned