Go and buy Barbara Hambly’s Sisters of the Raven and Circle of the Moon, and read them in that order. It’s really a two volume book. No elves, no orcs, the story is set in a society that has elements from both Asian and Middle Eastern societies, plus some elements of its own world. There are Pearl Women, who are based on geishas, though men frequently take them as wives or concubines, and these women are trained in Blossom Houses, where a man might take a group of his (male) friends for dinner, hospitality, and possibly sex.
The main setting is undergoing a drought which is getting worse each year. Even more worrying, magic seems to be fading…or at least, MEN’S magic is fading. In the past, only men have been capable of wielding magic. Now, the men’s spells are becoming increasingly weaker and more unreliable. But there are rumors that WOMEN can now work magic, and one of the leading magic schools has even allowed a girl to enroll. Heresy! Blasphemy! No wonder the men in the college can’t summon the rains!
I enjoyed these stories too, although they’re science fiction, not fantasy at all. The setting is DEFINITELY not the usual European/American based one.
I’m dating myself here but if you imagine a Shaolin monk type character like the one from the 1970’s era Kung Fu TV show set not in the Wild West but in a world rich in magical tradition, where the ascetic is not trying to find his place in the world but trying to save it, I think you will have a pretty good feel for some of the trilogy’s ideas and settings.
The world is a blend of Western fantasy and Eastern mysticism where the main character, Yip, can see, feel, and interact with qi, the energy of life and the source of magic.
Although not an overly complex story, there are many unique, particularly Asian, elements I have never read before in fantasies.
I haven’t read this one so I can’t offer an opinion of it, but Leah Cutter’s Paper Mageis Asian-themed fantasy. I used to work with the author, which is why I know about it.
You can’t go wrong with Van Gulik’s Judge Dee series.
They are mysteries solved by the remarkable Judge Dee, a Chinese magistrate. Plenty of sword-play and adventure. Very readable.
They are true to the Chinese originals - they are based on Chinese novels based on the historical figure Di Renjie (c. 630–c. 700), magistrate and statesman of the Tang court.
Apropos of Anaamika’s comment, the author was not Asian himself, but as noted the stories he wrote are very close to the original - something he did not hide - and he was a noted scholar of Chinese, and published a translation of the book he was basing his stories on - Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee - Wikipedia
It’s very subtle, but Joel Rosenberg’s two D’Shai fantasy novels (D’Shai, and Hour of the Octopus) are set in a recognizable version of feudal Japan, but without a single obvious element. There are no Japanese or Asian names, and objects are described in a way that does not immediately trigger associations with Japanese culture or history. It’s fairly artful, and I wish he’d written the third one before his untimely death.
I’ve tried hunting for decent translations of this series and some other wuxia classics, without any success. The few I’ve found are no better than feeding the text through Google / Babelfish translators, passing it through the Readers Digest condensation dept, and disavowing the existence of thesauruses.
Thomas Harlan’s Wasteland of Flint is science fiction, set in a universe where the Japanese and Aztec Empires have allied and dominate the world, and then have expanded throughout the galaxy. There are combined elements of both cultures.
The sequels are House of Reeds and Land of the Dead.
It’s snarky if it comes in the form of a drive-by with no helpful recommendations.
ETA: I’m not terribly familiar with it, but if you could find translations of the wuxia genre, that might give you some martial arts fantasy if that’s your thing. Googling around points me to The Condor Trilogy, written in the 1950s, as an example.
Part of the problem is translation: other than Indian writers, most Asian writers probably don’t write in this messageboard’s main language, and so you have to find something that’s been translated.
Which brings me to something someone else mentioned, a story with an Arabian-Nights flavor. My favorite book with an Arabian Nights flavor was actually written by an Asian author (albeit the most famous tranlators are all Anglo): Arabian Nights. It’s dense and weird but utterly captivating and hilarious and far raunchier than you might expect a centuries-old text to be. Give it a try!
Duncan Lay has written a trilogy (Bridge of Swords, Valley of Shields, and Wall of Spears) which places a magic using feudal japan based society aside (but isolated from) from a typical medieval european world, and of course the two collide.
I mostly liked it so far, although I haven’t yet read the third book.
One of India’s epics - the Ramayana - has been written into a fantasy series by Ashok Banker. I’m not particularly fond of it myself, but many people like it a lot, and I’ve heard it improves as you go further in to the series, which I declined to do.
The Simoqin prophecies, by Samit Basu - http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-simoqin-prophecies-samit-basu/1006916291?ean=2940015095135 - are a fantasy series based in a ‘sort of’ Indian setting which I quite liked. The series combines elements of fantasy, comedy, Indian and Western mythology, and is well worth a read. It may be slightly difficult to get hold of outside India. Barnes and Nobles apparently sells the Ebook version. Not sure if Amazon does.
