Tag: fantasy

Book Review: Ysabel by Kay (3.5 Stars)

Ysabel by Guy Gavriel Kay

3.5 out of 5 stars

Read in Nov/Dec 2013

Synopsis (excerpts from author’s website Bright Weavings):

Provence, in the south of France, is a part of the world that has been—and continues to be—called a paradise. But one of the lessons that history teaches is that paradise is coveted and fought over. Successive waves of invaders have claimed—or tried to claim—those vineyards, rivers, olive groves, and hills.

In Guy Gavriel Kay’s novel, Ysabel, this duality—of exquisite beauty and violent history—is explored in a work that marks a departure from Kay’s historical fantasies set in various analogues of the past.

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How to Make a Fantasy World Map | Tor.com

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/12/how-to-make-a-fantasy-world-map-emperors-blades

I love maps. I spent hours as a pre-teen pouring over the maps of Middle Earth and the Land and Pern. I even bought atlases of them that I still have in my collection.  Recently, I ordered a large format print direct from the author/artist of the map of Athera so I could scrutinize it in detail with my aging eyes. My dream home library’s walls would be covered with maps from every fantasy world I’ve ever immersed myself in.

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

10 Key Terms That Will Help You Appreciate Fantasy Literature

http://io9.com/10-key-terms-that-will-help-you-appreciate-fantasy-lite-1463800561

Brush up on your fantasy sub genres with this article from io9. Which one is your favorite? Which one will you try next?

Posted from WordPress for Android via my Samsung smartphone. Please excuse any misspellings. Ciao, Jon

Audiobook Review: The Knife of Dreams by Jordan (3 Stars)

The Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan

Read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer

3 out of 5 stars

Listended/Read in February 2013

Loial and Mat tied the knot (but not with each other). Perrin and Faile end their two book separation. Nine months can’t come soon enough for Elayne (or me). Egwene and Eliada under the same roof but not speaking to each other. Nynaeve returned Lan to Malkier along the Borderland Scenic Byway. Someone please give Rand a hand!

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Audiobook Review: Crossroads of Twilight by Jordan (3 Stars)

The Crossroads of Twilight by Robert Jordan

Read by Kate Reading and Michael Kramer

3 out of 5 Stars

Read in January 2013

I listened to the audiobook edition. Apparently unabridged doesn’t include the Glossary. It’s a good thing I own the hardcover for reference and for the maps.

Crossroads of Twilight is one of my least favorite books of the Wheel of Time series because of the turgid plot.  The train wreck that started ten books ago finally comes to a crashing halt, right before it teeters and ultimately falls off the cliff for the long slow-motion plummet to the end, four books later.

Using male and female readers helped especially with the switching viewpoints.

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Book Review: Among Thieves by Hulick (4 Stars)

Among Thieves by Douglas Hulick

4 out of 5 stars

Read in March 2013

Probably closer to a 3.5 (mostly because I didn’t completely connect with the characters) but I’ll balance that with a 4.5 for excellent sword fight scenes and nearly non-stop action and intrigue. Reminded me of watching the series 24 sort of mashed up with the mini-series Pillars of the Earth through the lens of underworld organized crime and a dash of dark magic. Hard to put down and stayed up late to finish. Continue reading “Book Review: Among Thieves by Hulick (4 Stars)”

Book Review: Hounded by Hearne (3.5 Stars)

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

3.5 out of 5 stars

Read from February 25 to 28, 2013

This type of urban fantasy could easily grow on me. Absolutely no zombies and only one token cameo vampire. I didn’t mind the pack of werewolves.

All the rest of the ‘paranormals’ hailed from Celtic mythology. Oberon the Irish wolfhound got the best lines, often at the expense of our hero, the Iron Druid.

A fun fast read.

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Book Review: Those Who Hunt the Night by Hambly (3.5 Stars)

Those Who Hunt the Night by Barbara Hambly

3.5 out of 5 stars

Read in October 2009

Vampires without the romance. Very refreshing. Well drawn historical setting in late 19th or early 20th century London and Paris.

James Asher, a professor of philology at Oxford, and his wife Lydia, also a doctor, but of medicine, are reluctantly coerced into investigating the case of a serial vampire killer. Don Simon Ysidro, a Spanish vampire old enough to remember (and barely survive) the great London fire of 1666, forces James into his service by threatening Lydia’s life.

Rather than risking his wife’s precarious safety and sending her into hiding, he recruits her help in tracking down both the vampire killer, and the vampire victims haunts and hidey-holes. Lydia pursues the research through probate courts, registrar of deed office, newspaper articles and other public records and resist’s the siren call of the medical pathology mystery of vampirism while James accompanies Ysidro to interrogate London’s undead citizens.

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