Category: Fantasy

Audiobook Review: King of Thorns by Lawrence (DNF)

KingOfThornsByLawrenceKing of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

Fantasy Book Club selection August 2013

Attempted to Read/Listen: August 2013

DNF

I tried reading, or rather listening, to this in August 2013 for the GoodReads Fantasy Book Club. We previously read Prince of Thorns as a group in October 2011 and I actually liked the first book of the series. But I had to give up listening at around twenty percent. I may come back to it at a later date, but right now I need something a lot less bleak.

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Fantasy v SF Round One Second Half Gets Weird

io9 continues whittling down the first sixty-four entries, getting decidedly weirder, digging around in the classics for mad scientists, dystopian alternate realities, monsters and magic.

Results from the first half of the voting returned only one disappointment for me, and it’s a bittersweet one. The Princess Bride edged out The Wheel of Time in the Epic Fantasy bracket.  Bit of a quibble for me as I don’t really think the former qualifies as ‘epic’ fantasy; rather, it’s more like humorous high fantasy.  The latter clearly takes epic to the next level and should not have been so easily defeated.  I’ve read both, though, and loved them both.

Update March 20, 2014: I missed the vote yesterday for the first half of round two.  Some of the results are already in and can be found here.

Upcoming Schedule:

  • Friday, March 21: Sweet Sixteen
  • Monday, March 24: Elite Eight
  • Wednesday, March 26: Final Four
  • Friday, March 28: Championship

Audiobook Review: Low Town by Polansky (4 Stars)

Low Town by Daniel Polansky

3.5-4 out of 5 stars

Read in December 2013

Publisher’s Synopsis:

Drug dealers, hustlers, brothels, dirty politics, corrupt cops . . . and sorcery. Welcome to Low Town.

In the forgotten back alleys and flophouses that lie in the shadows of Rigus, the finest city of the Thirteen Lands, you will find Low Town. It is an ugly place, and its cham­pion is an ugly man. Disgraced intelligence agent. Forgotten war hero. Independent drug dealer. After a fall from grace five years ago, a man known as the Warden leads a life of crime, addicted to cheap violence and expensive drugs. Every day is a constant hustle to find new customers and protect his turf from low-life competition like Tancred the Harelip and Ling Chi, the enigmatic crime lord of the heathens.

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Fantasy v SF Round One Pits Epic Fantasy Against Space Opera

io9’s version of March Madness begins today with ‘Epic Fantasy v. Space Opera‘ so vote now so Gandalf won’t have to smack down Vader.  It won’t be pretty.

Of course, we’re holding the Mouse in reserve in case of foul play.

“The Unrecognized Trajectory of Slow Burn Success” by Janny Wurts — A Dribble of Ink

Browsing an unknown book on the internet requires the foresight that it is there! More, public opinion shoves the book’s data right into your face: ratings, reviews, numbers – crowd opinion leads the barrage.

— Janny Wurts, “The Unrecognized Trajectory of Slow Burn Success”
via A Dribble of Ink blog

I loved learning something new about how Tolkien was ‘discovered.’  It’s always great to read anything written by Janny.

Book Review: The Smith of Wootton Major by Tolkien (4.5 Stars)

The Smith of Wootton Major
by J.R.R. Tolkien

4.5 out of 5 stars

Read in September 2009

Synopsis:

Every twenty-four years in the village of Wootton Major a special edition of the The Feast of Good Children was held. This was a very special occasion and to celebrate it a Great Cake was prepared, to feed the twenty-four children who were invited. The cake was very sweet and rich and entirely covered in sugar icing. But inside there were some very strange ingredients and whoever swallowed one of them would gain the gift of entry into the Land of Faery…

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Book Review: Lifeblood by Lind (5 Stars)

Lifeblood by Werner Lind

5 out of 5 stars

Read in October 2008

Warning: Spoilers

What a wonderful book to wrap up the Halloween season!

Ana is a 17th century vampire from Transylvania, transplanted to eastern Iowa by the strangest and saddest of circumstances. She is hunted by a zealous priest who paralyzes her with his crucifix and drives a wooden stake through her heart. Fast forward 300+ years to an automobile accident involving an armored car that was transporting her remains to a museum exhibit. The accident dislodges the stake and Ana find herself restored to a fiery confusion, which she escapes in her bat form.

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Book Review: Warrior by Fallon (4 Stars)

Warrior by Jennifer Fallon

4 out of 5 stars

Read in July 2008

Jennifer Fallon did not disappoint in this continuation of the Wolfblade saga. I probably should not have read it on the heels of Mistborn: The Final Empire as it is somewhat of a tragedy. I should probably find something less depressing to read next or I might become a footnote to my own life.

Note to my followers:  I apologize for these ‘short’ reviews from the early days of when I first joined GoodReads.  I’m still trying to transfer all my reviews from there to here, but I don’t have time to re-read these books to flesh out the reviews.  I did very much enjoy Fallon’s entire Wolfblade series and highly recommend it to fans of fantastic fiction.

Answering the Question: What’s Wrong with Epic Fantasy?

That is tricky question to answer, because the very nature of the work is what makes epic fantasy…well, epic. Maybe there really isn’t anything broken or wrong with epic fantasy as a subgenre, maybe the thing that gets broken, or perhaps a better word might be “tired,” of epic fantasy is the reader.

— Teresa Frohock, author of  Miserere: an Autumn Tale

One of many ‘epic’ answers to the question ‘What’s Wrong with Epic Fantasy?’ found at the recent MIND MELD: What’s “Wrong” with Epic Fantasy? – SF Signal post.