{"id":4005,"date":"2022-12-01T15:58:36","date_gmt":"2022-12-01T15:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/?page_id=4005"},"modified":"2025-06-30T17:11:12","modified_gmt":"2025-06-30T17:11:12","slug":"low-fantasy-allegorical","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/my-favorite-clean-fiction\/speculative\/low-fantasy-allegorical\/","title":{"rendered":"My Favorite Clean Low Fantasy &#038; Allegorical Fiction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-large-font-size\"><em><em>Books that meet high moral standards and contain limited foul language, sexual content, and descriptions of violence.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Before using this list, please read my <a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/disclaimer\/\">disclaimer<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Every book on this list meets \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/my-clean-reading-criteria\/\">My Clean Reading Criteria<\/a>\u201d and is one that I finished, liked, and felt was worth my time to read. To learn more about the purpose of this list please see &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/about-novaun-novels\/\">About Novaun Novels<\/a>.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li> For information on how I classify religious fiction, please see &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/is-fiction-marketed-to-latter-day-saints-christian-fiction\">Is Fiction Marketed to Latter-day Saints &#8216;Christian Fiction&#8217;?<\/a>\u201d For how I evaluate religious content in the books I read, please see &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/what-about-doctrinal-differences\">What About Doctrinal Differences?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>All descriptions in quotation marks come from the book jackets or other descriptions from the publishers. Follow the author links to the corresponding\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Project Gutenberg<\/a>\u00a0pages. Follow the title links to the page, post, or Goodreads review that contains my commentary on the book.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/author\/2298\">Andersen, Hans Christian<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/6240395019\">Fairy Tales<\/a><\/em> (Danish classic)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWriting in the midst of a Europe-wide rebirth of national literature, Anderson broke new ground with his fairy tales in two important ways. First, he composed them in the vernacular, mimicking the language he used in telling them to children aloud. Second, he set his tales in his own land and time, giving rise to his loving descriptions of the Danish countryside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>Note:<\/strong>&nbsp;I read the English translation by Marte Hvam Hult<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Clarke, Susanna<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/4874944763\">Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell<\/a><\/em> (historical fantasy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAt Hurtfew Abbey in Yorkshire, the rich, reclusive Mr Norrell has assembled a wonderful library of lost and forgotten books from England&#8217;s magical past and regained some of the powers of England&#8217;s magicians. He goes to London and raises a beautiful young woman from the dead. Soon he is lending his help to the government in the war against Napoleon Bonaparte, creating ghostly fleets of rain-ships to confuse and alarm the French. All goes well until a rival magician appears.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Ladies of Grace Adieu<\/em> (historical fantasy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWith Clarke&#8217;s characteristic historical detail and diction, these dark, enchanting tales unfold in a slightly distorted version of our own world, where people are bedeviled by mischievous interventions from the fairies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Costain, Thomas B.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Below the Salt<\/em>&nbsp;(historical fiction in a fantasy frame)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>U.S. Senator O\u2019Rawn mysteriously summons aspiring novelist John Foraday and gives him an account of the violent events that led to the Magna Charta, intertwined with the story of a lost princess.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/author\/37\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dickens, Charles<\/a>&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>A Christmas Carol<\/em>&nbsp;(English classic)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCruel miser Ebeneezer Scrooge has never met a shilling he doesn\u2019t like\u2026and hardly a man he does. And he hates Christmas most of all. When Scrooge is visited by his old partner, Jacob Marley, and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come, he learns eternal lessons of charity, kindness, and goodwill.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dunn, Mark<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Ella Minnow Pea<\/em> (allegory)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cElla Minnow Pea is a girl living happily on the fictional island of Nollop off the coast of South Carolina. Nollop was named after Nevin Nollop, author of the immortal pangram,* \u2018The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.\u2019 Now Ella finds herself acting to save her friends, family, and fellow citizens from the encroaching totalitarianism of the island&#8217;s Council, which has banned the use of certain letters of the alphabet as they fall from a memorial statue of Nevin Nollop.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Dyreng, Chelsea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/3514655294\">The Cenote<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;(historical fantasy romance)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cForced to marry a complete stranger, Sandpiper tries to adjust to life in her new village. But the mysterious Cenote, a great pool of water, has bewitched the men of the village, and Sandpiper must know why.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/review\/show\/3514658164\"><em>The Last Messenger of Zitol<\/em>&nbsp;<\/a>(historical fantasy romance)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cTaken captive to the magnificent kingdom of Zitol, an ancient American city with a passion for food, gold, and human sacrifice, Rishi is forced to decide between betraying her virtue or being sacrificed to the city\u2019s pagan gods.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Hilton, James<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wholesome-literature-a-realistic-choice\/\">Lost Horizon<\/a><\/em>&nbsp;(historical fantasy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHigh in the distant reaches of the Tibetan mountains . . . a group of worldly men and women have stumbled upon a land of mystery and matchless beauty, where life is lived in tranquil wonder, beyond the grasp of a doomed world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>L&#8217;Amour, Louis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Haunted Mesa<\/em> (modern western)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Summoned to a dark desert plateau by a desperate letter from an old friend, renowned investigator Mike Raglan is drawn into a world of mystery, violence, and explosive revelations. Crossing a border beyond the laws of man and nature, he will learn of the astonishing world of the Anasazi and discover the most extraordinary frontier ever encountered.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lewis, C.S.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Great Divorce<\/em>&nbsp;(Christian allegory)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cC.S. Lewis\u2019 The Great Divorce is a classic Christian allegorical tale about a bus ride from hell to heaven. An extraordinary meditation upon good and evil, grace and judgment, Lewis\u2019s revolutionary idea in the The Great Divorce is that the gates of Hell are locked from the inside.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Screwtape Letters<\/em>&nbsp;(Christian satire)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe story takes the form of a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, a junior \u2018tempter\u2019 named Wormwood, so as to advise him on methods of securing the damnation of a British man, known only as \u2018the Patient\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/till-we-have-faces\/\">Till We Have Faces: A Myth Retold<\/a>&nbsp;<\/em>(mythic fantasy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cDisfigured and embittered, Orual loves her younger sister to a fault and suffers deeply when she is sent away to Cupid, the God of the Mountain. Psyche is forbidden to look upon the god\u2019s face, but is persuaded by her sister to do so; she is banished for her betrayal. Orual is left alone to grow in power but never in love, to wonder at the silence of the gods. Only at the end of her life, in visions of her lost beloved sister, will she hear an answer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Livesey, Margot<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Eva Moves the Furniture<\/em>&nbsp;(historical fantasy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cOn the morning of Eva McEwen\u2019s birth, six magpies congregate in the apple tree outside the window\u2014a bad omen, according to Scottish legend. That night, Eva\u2019s mother dies, leaving her to be raised by her aunt and heartsick father in their small Scottish town. As a child, Eva is often visited by two companions\u2014a woman and a girl\u2014invisible to everyone else save her. As she grows, their intentions become increasingly unclear: Do they wish to protect or harm her?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lund, Gerald N.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Freedom Factor<\/em>&nbsp;(Christian fiction, Latter-day Saint)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNathaniel Gorham, an original Founding Father, visits young Bryce Sherwood, a rising aide to a Washington senator and a key player in an attempt to pass an amendment that would eliminate the checks and balances built into the Constitution. When Bryce refuses to change his position, Gorham transports him into a world where the Constitution was never ratified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Nathan, Robert<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Portrait of Jennie&nbsp;<\/em>(historical fantasy romance)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWas Jennie a dream a memory, a lovely ghost from the past? Or had she stepped from another world into this? Eben Adams could only guess at the answer. But he understood that Jennie, because she dared to love him, had fused past and present into the delightful, delicate magic of \u2018now.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Orwell, George<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Animal Farm<\/em>&nbsp;(English classic)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cA farm is taken over by its overworked, mistreated animals. With flaming idealism and stirring slogans, they set out to create a paradise of progress, justice, and equality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/author\/53\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Twain, Mark<\/a><\/strong>&nbsp;(pen name of&nbsp;<strong>Samuel Clemens<\/strong>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur\u2019s Court<\/em>&nbsp;(American classic)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis novel tells the story of Hank Morgan, the quintessential self-reliant New Englander who brings to King Arthur\u2019s Age of Chivalry the \u2018great and beneficent\u2019 miracles of nineteenth-century engineering and American ingenuity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/author\/362\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Van Dyke, Henry<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/the-mansion-and-the-story-of-the-other-wise-man\">The Mansion<\/a><\/em> (American classic)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cRich and miserly John Weightman dreams one night that he has died and is traveling to the Celestial City, where each person is rewarded with a mansion according to how they lived their life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/the-mansion-and-the-story-of-the-other-wise-man\">The Story of the Other Wise Man<\/a><\/em> (American classic)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLong, long ago, a wise man named Artaban, a priest of the Magi, discerned from heavenly signs that the time was at hand for the fulfillment of an ancient prophecy&#8211;the birth among the Hebrews of a holy Prince and Deliverer of Man. Hastening to join three fellow Magi for the long journey into Judaea, he paused to help a dying man and was left behind. And so Artaban began his pilgrimage alone, striking out not toward the realization of his life&#8217;s deepest longing, as he hoped, but only toward misfortune and suffering. Or so he believed until one blessed, radiant moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wheeler, Jeff<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Dresden Codex<\/em> (thriller)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Doomsday Match<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>When Jonathan Roth and his family are invited by their neighbors, the Beasleys, to join them at a luxury retreat in Cozumel, who can refuse? It\u2019s the perfect winter getaway. Relaxing on the beach, gourmet food, sightseeing, and free accommodations. But if it sounds too good to be true, it is. . . . Even in the sweltering heat, the Roths feel a chill\u2014and the fear that they haven\u2019t been invited to Villa Sara. They\u2019ve been lured. But for what purpose? And to what end?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"2\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Jaguar Prophecies<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>Final Strike<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wrede, Patricia C.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mairelon series: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>1. <em>Mairelon the Magician<\/em> (historical fantasy)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Kim doesn&#8217;t hesitate when a stranger offers her a small fortune to break into the travelling magician&#8217;s wagon in search of a silver bowl. . . . But there is something odd about this magician. He isn&#8217;t like the other hucksters and swindlers that Kim is used to. When he catches her in the act, Kim thinks she&#8217;s done for. Until he suggests she become his apprentice. Kim wonders how tough it could be faking a bit of hocus pocus. But Mairelon isn&#8217;t an act. His magic is&nbsp;<em>real<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>2. <em>Magician\u2019s Ward&nbsp;<\/em>(historical fantasy romance) <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWhen Mairelon made Kim his ward, he promised to teach her to be a lady and a magician. But magic proves to be harder than it looks for a girl who has just learned to read, and being a lady is even harder. Before frustration\u2014and Merrill\u2019s formidably correct aunt\u2014can drive her mad, a mysterious gentleman attempts to burgle the Merrill town house. As disaster strikes Mairelon, Kim must negotiate the hazards of London society, aided by a London moneylender, a Russian wizard prince, seven legendary French wizards\u2026and Mairelon\u2019s charmingly eccentric mother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/my-favorite-clean-fiction\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Launch-Page.jpg\" alt=\"&quot;Go to My Favorite Clean Fiction Launch Page&quot; over a space photo picturing a galaxy of blue, purple, and yellow stars\" class=\"wp-image-4054\" width=\"338\" height=\"125\" srcset=\"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Launch-Page.jpg 676w, https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Launch-Page-300x111.jpg 300w, https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Launch-Page-150x55.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 338px) 100vw, 338px\" \/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">The featured image &#8220;Dreamlike D.C.&#8221; is Copyright&nbsp;\u00a9&nbsp;2022 by <strong>Katherine Padilla<\/strong>. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Andersen, Hans Christian Fairy Tales (Danish classic) \u201cWriting in the midst of a Europe-wide rebirth of national literature, Anderson broke new ground with his fairy tales in two important ways. First, he composed them in the vernacular, mimicking the language he used in telling them to children aloud. Second, he set his tales in his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3914,"parent":3923,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4005","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","post-preview"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4005"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5423,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4005\/revisions\/5423"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novels.zerosilver.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}