Posts filed under 'Fantasy'
There is a certain tradition in Fantasy fiction of the noble hero going out on a quest, usually with a couple of elves or dwarves, and then finding the magic whatsit to save the world as we know it. While that tradition has certainly yielded some great stories, it’s always a treat to come across something a little different. Here are three titles that I’ve recently read and enjoyed.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
This book is a story, a story about stories. A story about the many stories that make up a life. We meet Kvothe, an inkeeper with a past. When the Chronicler comes to the inn, he convinces Kvothe to tell his story, from his days with a traveling troupe of entertainers to the time where he goes to university to learn magic. Why would the Chronicler want to know about a washed up inkeeper? Because Kvothe is special - he has an uncanny knack for learning and mastering almost anything he puts his mind to. You will find out when you read it, it’s a mesmerizing tale, one that will be hard to put down once you get started. The highly anticipated second installment is due out in March of 2011.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
The con is on! Locke Lamora is a super thief, in a city that has more than its fair share of thieves. Orphaned at a young age, Locke is taken in by a gang leader who uses orphans for thieving throughout the city. Locke just can’t content himself with mere pickpocketing. He pulls off BIG heists, which gets him kicked out of the gang, and into the arms of a priest. Let’s just say that the priest is not there to reform Locke, he’s there to put a polish on his skills. This books was the fantasy equivalent of The Sting, there are numerous swindles, cons, and counter swindles going on. It’s another great read that will have you flipping pages to get to the bottom of the mystery. There are two more books in the series, if you have read them leave a comment and let me know if they are as good as the first.
Gardens of the moon by Steven Erikson
I liked this book. I liked this book a lot, even though it was a little harder to get through than the other two. This is Erikson’s first book in the Malazan book of the fallen series, and it’s a vividly imagined alternate world. So vividly imagined that it does take a little getting used to all of the new names of the different types of creatures and races in it. There is a handy guide available in the book for people like me who are a little slow on the uptake. Gardens of the Moon follows the battles of the Malzan empire, focusing mostly on an elite unit of soldiers called the Bridgeburners. Gardens of the Moon is the first of what will be a ten book series by Erikson (there are a total of nine out so far) in addition there are also books by Ian C. Esslemont that take place within the same alternate world, so if you find yourself hooked after reading this one (or at least warily intrigued like me) there is a whole lot more available to you.
What have you been reading lately? I’m always looking for new suggestions.
July 30th, 2010
Gregg - Sequoya
I’ve just finished the Owl series: Owlflight, Owlsight & Owlknight by Mercedes Lackey, a trilogy within the saga of the Heralds of Valdemar. This is one of my go-to authors — and series! The settings are remarkably detailed and the descriptions of bondbirds and Tayledras make me wish I lived with them.
This series follows the 13-year-old hero, Darian Firkin, after his parents - trappers by trade - have gone missing and he is left in the dubious care of the village and its close-minded inhabitants. He has also been apprenticed without his consent to the Wizard Justyn, a mage of little skill and no regard. No wonder all young Darian can think of is running away! After tragedy hits the village, he runs away out of fear and grief, and is found by the mythical Tayledras: a people who can disappear into the forest without a trace, have an innate knowledge of magic, and are bonded to a variety of specially-bred birds of prey. This intense encounter leads to unbelievable adventures!
The only criticism for me is in lack of dimension to the villains. These are far less fleshed out than Mercedes Lackey’s other books of Valdemar. Also the conflict seems to be provided as a plot generator more than anything — where the villians are all the same and the heroes win, so it reminds me of Hollywood blockbusters. You can read for the characterization of other people though. For example: meet Kel, the gryphon out to make a name for himself … and get as many head scratches as he can! Meet also the “prickly” Healer Keisha as she develops her powers … and meets the Tayledras at the same time! Then there is Snowfire, the scout who first runs across Darian. Another incredible character is Ayshen, lead cook, of the lizard-like people — who’s good with a knife, in a variety of ways. These are the reason I keep coming back to the books. Get away from the heat with these cool stories!
July 9th, 2010
Tina - Central
I consider myself to be a member of “Team Jacob” but after reading The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella by Stephenie Meyer, I have new sympathy for vampires.
Published just in time for the major motion picture release of Eclipse at the end of the month, this novella presents a different point of view from the novel Eclipse. Bree Tanner is one of the (previously) unnamed newborn Seattle vampires who arrive to fight the Cullens and the wolf pack at the end of Eclipse. She’s maybe in the book for a page or two, and it wasn’t until I got to the big fight in the novella that I could even place who she was.
Her story is very sad.
Bree is a starving young runaway lured by a manipulative vampire who offers her a hamburger. She then finds herself part of a wild coven of young vampires wrecking havoc on Seattle. She is bewildered, confused and discovers that she has been lied to. And then she is basically sent off to war in a chaotic vampire army with no leader. Poor thing.
Whatever your feelings about the Twilight saga (I am very excited about the movies, a little tired of the books, and whatever faults there may be with editing and her use of the word “beautiful”, I think Meyer is a great storyteller) this novella stands on its own. It’s short and bittersweet and I was left wanting more instead of thinking it could have been a few hundred pages shorter. That’s what I love about the novella in general. It leaves the reader wanting more.
June 11th, 2010
Molly - Central
From the time that we are very young, magical stories of princesses and fairies, princes and talking animals are told to us, over and over. Fairy tales teach us of the dangers of straying from the path, of judging a man by his fur and not his heart, and of forgetting one’s manners and stealing from a witch. Breaking from rote tellings of these tales requires creative thinking on the part of both the author and the reader; author is charged with re-situating well-known characters and actions in a new manner, and reader must hold both her expectation and her anticipation side by side.
Marilyn Singer’s Mirror, Mirror: A Book of Reversible Verse contains paired “reverso” poems, or poems that can be read both frontwards and backwards, line by line, on familiar fairy tale themes. A turn of words turns Little Red’s hood, which she wears on a deliciously sweet and tasty berry-picking walk to Granny’s, into the Wolf’s (neighbor-) ‘hood, which turns unsuspecting Little Red into a potential deliciously sweet and tasty treat. Some of these paired verses serve as a point/counterpoint for major characters in these popular fairy tales: Singer reverses the name-game that a familiar straw-spinning poppart plays, challenging readers to recall not only his tongue-tangling name, but also the name of the distressed miller’s daughter turned King’s wife.
Other poems present two conflicted sides of a character’s personality, or two opportunities between which she is forced to choose. Chance a second kiss with the frog, or chalk the first up to experience and innocence? Charming illustrations follow the mirroring lead of the text. The folds of Sleeping Beauty’s dress roll into thorny-forested hills through which her Prince Charming must fight to come to her rescue. Rapunzel’s hair flows from her head down the walls of the tower in one half of the page, and, in the other, breezes behind her scissor-happy adoptive “Mother”, abandoning Rapunzel in her high prison.
This lovely picturebook is a great conversation starter: try to get yourself and your youngsters thinking about putting yourselves into the positions of some of the lesser, or more maligned, characters from your favorite fairy tales. Singer describes writing these poems as “rather like creating and solving a puzzle”, and suggests that readers try their own hands at creating reversos. My attempts have been frustrating, but the moment when those phrases fit together in different directions is something nearly magical.
June 8th, 2010
Alicia - Lakeview
The stories in George Saunders’s CivilWarLand in Bad Decline strike a balance between being laugh-out-loud funny and disturbingly violent. The “decline” is probably the key here, as all of the stories take place in a near-future where things have gone more or less, depending on the story, to pieces. The CivilWarLand of the title story is a sort of failing theme park haunted by the ghosts of the family who used to live on the land and who occasionally reenact the gruesome way in which they died. When a young visitor to the park falls in love with the daughter of the family, the protagonist has to inform him of her “spectral” condition and pay him fifty bucks to keep quiet. He later hides the evidence of a child who was murdered for stealing candy. Things quickly go downhill from there. I can hear you asking, “What’s funny about that?” and looking the book over, I’m not so sure. If you can’t see the humor in a ghostly one-armed high schooler, this might not be the book for you.
In another story, “Offloading for Mrs. Schwartz,” visitors to a different cut-rate establishment can strap themselves into a virtual reality machine and experience a variety of scenarios, including “Legendary American Killers Stalk You.” The character who plays that one makes the mistake of saying the wrong thing about Clyde Barrow’s mom, and that’s the end of the game for him.
The stories in the collection really do balance humor and darkness pretty well, and one of them, “Isabelle,” is quite sweet. But in the novella that ends the collection, Bounty, darkness dominates. In Bounty, human beings have been divided into two classes, “Normals” and “Flaweds.” Normals are, well, mostly normal. Flaweds are human beings who have suffered some form of mutation, due to pollution (I think), like having a vestigial tail or claws instead of feet. While in the East, Flaweds are nominally free, they are treated as second-class citizens. And in the West they can be legally owned as slaves. When the protagonist sets out on a journey to free his sister from slavery, he is very quickly sold into slavery himself and beaten into submission. Though that’s not how the novella ends, it’s still horrible.
I found myself thinking, “What a horrifying story, in which such a thing could happen.” And then I remembered we live in a world where this did happen, for centuries, and probably still happens in some parts of the world.
In the end I was somewhat disturbed by Saunders’s book, but I’m glad I read it.
April 1st, 2010
Jon - Central Library
Lois McMaster Bujold has always included an element of romance in her science fiction and fantasy novels (many romance readers adore A Civil Campaign: A Comedy of Biology and Manners) but with her Sharing Knife quartet Bujold tipped the balance from fantasy with romantic elements into romantic fantasy. The result is a series of books set in a fantasy realm with danger and action aplenty but with a deeply developed exploration of one relationship and the social structures underpinning it.
Lakewalker Dag Redwing Hickory met farmer Fawn Bluefield in Beguilement. Lakewalker patrollers like Dag have one mission. To hunt down and do away with Malices. A malice is a vicious, energy driven construct which can take control of people and turn them into zombie-like creatures called mudmen. While on the track of one such creature Dag rescues Fawn who has been taken by the malice. And while they are both recovering from their injuries they fall in love. Sounds simple enough. But what Bujold does with the rest of the story is what makes this series so worth it. The problem for Dag and Fawn is that Lakewalkers and farmers don’t mix. Though the two peoples have co-existed fairly peacefully, each has it’s own way of life and seldom do the twain meet. A fact that Dag becomes determined to change, not just for his own well-being but for what he considers to be the well-being of both societies.
Though the romance is ever present, Bujold uses the relationship Fawn and Dag have formed, and the ones they develop with others over the course of the series, to explore societal norms and how they become ingrained within us all. In essence this is an examination similar to what you might find in a science fiction novel that delves into alien contact - though told in much gentler fashion. How do you get two very different peoples to see that they can not only co-exist with each other but thrive through cooperation.
All the key Bujold elements are here: beautiful world-building, nicely paced storytelling and characters who are heroic in both large and small ways. I think romance and fantasy readers will all find something to love here.
January 27th, 2010
Jane J. - Central Library
Now we know which book won Newbery Gold for 2010, and a very deserving title it is. Still, in past years some of my favorite books have been the Newbery Honor books. This year is no exception for me. Grace Lin’s realistic/fantasy/folktale, Where the Mountain Meets the Moon is an incredibly strong work of writing.
A young Chinese girl, Minli, from a very poor family meets a talking goldfish who helps her begin a journey to find The Old Man of the Moon. The Old Man keeps the book of fortune, and can tell her how to change her family’s fortune. There are so many stories and characters tightly interwoven in this book, and Lin pulls all of the threads together seamlessly. Should you decide to take this fabulous journey along with Lin’s heroine, Minli, you will meet an earthbound dragon, a cruel and greedy magistrate, some talking goldfish, some very selfish and greedy monkeys, a village which holds the key to perfect happiness, and many other wonderful, worthy friends.
I highly recommend this children’s book, but I’m not sure how it might function as a read-aloud for those parents looking for bedtime sharing material for their 7 - 11 year-olds. The story is not as straightforward as most books that I think of for reading aloud. But, give it a try and let me know how it goes. Either way, this book has the feel of classic children’s literature to me. I also felt that the illustrations, few though they are, definitely add to the story and to the high quality of the book as a whole.
January 26th, 2010
Karen - Sequoya
…or perhaps a love letter to Madeline L’Engle. These are two ways to describe When you Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. Like many reviewers have said, this book is hard to talk about with out giving too much away. Part coming of age, part middle school friendship drama, part supernatural time traveling adventure, it has it all and according to Nancy Pearl is destined to be the next Newbery Award winning book.
Do you remember how it felt to be a pre-teen, full of questions and poised on the edge of adulthood? Stead captures these moments perfectly. Maybe I liked this book so much because Miranda the main character reminded me of myself growing up. My best friend growing up was also a boy (hers was Sal mine was Paul). I also adored escaping with my books after a dramatic school day (Miranda LOVES A Wrinkle in Time, I preferred Trixie Belden stories). Miranda’s story begins in 1978 NYC and I was hanging out with Paul in the early 80’s, but that’s where the similarites end. Nothing quite as strange and mysterious happened to me out in SD as it did for Miranda in NYC.
Miranda and Sal are street wise NYC apartment dwelling latch key kids and on their way home from school one fall afternoon when Sal is attacked by a boy that neither of them know. Sal, only bruised by the menacing sucker punches, soon begins to distance himself and Miranda can’t figure out why. She begins to finally make friends with girls in her class and also unexpectedly befriends the very boy who beat up Sal. Miranda’s mother has been chosen to be on a game show and prepping for her appearance is taking up alot of family time. This is when the mysterious notes start popping up referencing events that only Miranda knows about. Who is writing them? What are they predicting and most importantly why? You will want to read fast and figure out the cryptic messages, but try and take your time and let the story unfold, it will be worth it.
The book’s dramatic conclusion makes you want to re-read it immediately so you can see how the messages all make sense at the end. This one would be ideal for the whole family to share; classroom drama for the school age, 1970’s nostalgia for the parents and a mind bending adventure to go along with it. Put this one on your 2010 reading lists now.
December 11th, 2009
Katharine - Sequoya
Daisuke Igarashi’s Children of the Sea is a two-part manga mystery that combines magical realism with the natural world in a very curious, yet peaceful way. Set in Tokyo, the story features Ruka, whose father works at a large research aquarium, and two boys of the sea who were raised by dugongs. In the “I learn something new every day” category, dugongs are large marine mammals on the order of the manatee or sea cow. They’re somewhat familiar, but I still had to look them up. I mean, when was the last time you read about a dugong? As for the boys of the sea who were raised by the dugongs, that is where the magic comes in.
Something big is brewing worldwide in Volume One. Fish are vanishing from large aquariums across Europe and North America, other water creatures are washing ashore and meteorites are being spotted over the sea. The boys, Umi and Sora, are in danger and currently under the protection of the aquarium staff, but the ghost of the sea keeps calling to them. The ghost of the sea also calls to Ruka, which is very mysterious. It becomes apparent that Ruka is connected to the boys AND the sea and the reader uncovers more and more of this intrigue as the story progresses.
While the plot is magical, the illustrations are very realistic in depicting the sea life, aquarium and Tokyo Bay surroundings. The storytelling is compelling on its own, but this story might also appeal to fans of Japanese culture as well as those interested in sea life. And in addition to the dugong, something else about this book was very new to me. Children of the Sea is my first unflipped graphic novel translation. Unflipped translations read as they were originally published in Japanese format, from back to front and right to left and this took quite a bit of time for my brain to get used to. I read a fair amount of graphic novels, but all have been published in the U.S., UK or France or translated and flipped, so I have never experienced this before. It’s a bit trippy! But once you get used to it, you won’t even think about it.
If you like graphic novels and are looking for something new, I highly recommend this series. Volume Two is currently on order in LINKcat, so you won’t have to wait long to read the conclusion.
December 8th, 2009
Molly - Central
Quirk Books’ mission is to “amuse, to bemuse, to entertain, and to inform (not necessarily in that order, but usually all at the same time).” Even though they are a small, relatively new publishing house, several of their books have become national bestsellers, including The Worst-Case Scenario books and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. More on P&P&Z later.
I am going to tell you about Quirk’s latest in the Jane Austen spoof genre, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I can barely type this without rolling my eyes. How absurd is that? Yet, how logical. Written by Jane Austen and Ben H. Winters (60 percent Austen and 40 percent Winters), the reader finds Regency England fraught with violent sea creatures ready to take over the world. The Dashwood sisters get booted from their Norland Park home by their sad sack brother after their father has been mortally wounded by a hammerhead shark. Mrs. Dashwood, Elinor, Marianne and young Margaret take up residence by the sea at Barton Cottage, now located off the monster infested coast of Devonshire on Pestilent Isle. Cad Willoughby is now a treasure hunter, sweet Edward Ferrars dreams of keeping his very own lighthouse and the serious, lovesick Colonel Brandon has been plagued by a sea-witch curse that leaves his face covered with tentacles rather than whiskers. The original cast of characters is amped up a bit and the settings, beyond seaworthy. Instead of traveling to London, the older Dashwood sisters spend time at the fashionable domed Sub-Marine Station Beta and the servants must don float devices.
Now, there are Jane Austen purists out there who are aghast at this kind of mockery and to that I say, “La-di-da.” The text seamlessly incorporates the sea stuff and doesn’t replace but rather accentuates what was already there. That takes a lot of skill! When Elinor realizes that Lucy Steele is secretly engaged to her own true love? All there. Plus a fanged water beast. The painful scene when Marianne spies Willoughby with another woman and he ignores her? All there. Plus some lobsters. Uncomfortable visit with Elinor, Lucy Steele and Edward where Elinor knows Edward is secretly engaged to Lucy but Edward doesn’t know Elinor knows? All there. Plus a servant who gets eaten alive by an anglerfish. It’s funny! I spent a lot of my youth on the water in row boats and canoes, baiting hooks and practicing my casting, and have thrown back my fair share of gnarly-looking bullheads with their tiny, needle-shaped teeth. The fanged beast isn’t much of a stretch. It all seemed plausible to me. In a ridiculous kind of way, of course.
I liked this better than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which was funny, too, but not as well-integrated. In that work, Seth Grahame-Smith wrote 15 percent of the final text; the rest was Austen. The ultraviolent zombie mayhem, while hilarious, wasn’t as much of its own story and I was left wondering how we got to the stage where the Bennett girls were trained into a zombie-fighting army. I never thought I would say this, but I needed more zombies. Others must have sensed this, too, as there will be a prequel published after the New Year: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. I can only imagine the illustrations.
November 16th, 2009
Molly - Central
Alexia Tarabotti is a hopeless case. Half-Italian, outspoken and–at the advanced age of 25–too old for marriage, she’s hardly presentable in fashionable Victorian society. Of course, it doesn’t help Alexia’s tactfulness that she’s entirely soulless, a preternatural being in a London filled with werewolves, vampires and ghosts living side-by-side with normal human beings. Thanks to her assiduous reading of Greek ethics, no human is the wiser to her soulless state, but Alexia’s status brings her to the attention of BUR (Bureau of Unnatural Registry), since all preternaturals have the ability to turn supernaturals into humans by touch.
Of course, supernatural beings or not, decorum must be maintained. Alexia is annoyed when a vampire accosts her at a ball and even more put out when she accidently kills it with her brass parasol. A BUR investigation reveals the vamp was a new creation, even as reports of registered supernaturals mysteriously vanishing begin to trickle into headquarters. With the begruding aid of Alpha werewolf Lord Maccon and the flamboyant vampire Lord Akeldama, Alexia uses her special talents to find out who is behind the new creatures and why. But she has to do it while fending off shadowy figures prepared to manhandle her person into dark carriages–and increasingly from Lord Maccon’s attempts to manhandle her, although she’s growing to tolerate his attentions.
There really isn’t any good way to categorize Gail Carriger’s new novel Soulless. It’s a sort of paranormal romance steampunk-fantasy alternative history screwball comedy that conjures up images of Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossed with a foul-temptered Mary Poppins. Alexia’s conscious efforts at tactfulness coupled with her willingness to wield the brass parasol keeps the action tripping along blithely. And while Soulless definitely follows many of the tropes of romance novels (there’s no shortage of rustling taffeta and untied cravats), Carriger writes it all very tongue in cheek. Like a good treacle tart (Alexia’s favorite dessert), Carriager’s new series is one of those delights that has one wishing for seconds. The next installment, Changeless, is due out next March.
November 3rd, 2009
Katie H.
What if Harry Potter hadn’t been a charming British orphan, but a middle class nerd from Brooklyn? And, instead of attending Hogwarts as an 11-year old, he finished high school as a muggle and didn’t discover his wizardly talents until he was invited to apply to a prestigious magical university?
Lev Grossman’s The Magicians isn’t an imitation Harry Potter, but it definitely borrows some important plot points. Like Harry, Grossman’s “chosen one”, Quentin, is isolated from his peers as a child and finds a home in the world of magic, but the similarities pretty much end there. Quentin has a delightfully dry sense of humor, and he doesn’t have Harry’s moral compass clearly leading him down the right path towards the good side. In Quentin’s world, there’s no Voldemort to fight, so the differences between right and wrong are harder to see. The fact that Quentin’s magical education takes place at college, rather than high school, also makes them pretty different. By 17, after dealing with much more than your average teen, Harry is a mature young man, but at the same age, Quentin hasn’t yet begun to grow up.
This is not your typical fantasy novel. It’s self-aware and sarcastic, playing with the conventions of traditional fantasies while creating a fresh, new world of magic that coexists with our own. Quentin’s love of a book series set in Fillory, a world reminiscent of Narnia, adds a touch of irony and makes him an even more relatable character. Fans of exciting, out of the ordinary coming-of-age novels will be just as delighted by this book as fantasy readers, and anyone who read Harry Potter and mourned their muggle status will be insanely jealous of Quentin.
October 8th, 2009
Kylee
Previous Posts
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
Gardens of the moon by Steven Erikson