Where are you in Fantasyland? December, 2022

The new thread for the new month. Happy reading.

Still reading The Trouble With Peace by Joe Abercrombie.

Heading off for some Musketeers-ish adventure in 17th century France (with dragons) in The Alchemist in the Shadows.

I'm in Edwardian London in A marvellous light.

>3 Sakerfalcon: I liked that one. Did you know that a sequel just came out? A restless truth

>4 karenb:, Yes, seeing it is what reminded me to read A marvellous light!

I am in London for the Blitz.

I just arrived in Vastai with Eolo and Mawat to find a usurper in place of Mawat's father.

Added Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls by Charles de Lint to my rotation.

I recently very much enjoyed reading Od Magic, a typically excellent McKillip novel. I'm now splitting time between Faerun while reading Starlight Enclave and Coramonde while re-reading Doomfarers of Coramonde, which is as excellent as ever.

In northern California (more or less) with Nicholas Flamel, his wife Perry, and the twins Josh & Sophie. The Alchemyst is going well, though of course the protagonists might not be, facing numerous dangers.

I'm now in the Nowhere following Spensa in Cytonic.

Finished Juniper Wiles and the Ghost Girls by Charles de Lint. Liked it.

In Ketterdam with Crooked Kingdom.

Reading about magic use and the Great Blights of the 1930s in Rust in the root by Justina Ireland. Mechomancy supports a lot of industry but turns out to be high maintenance. Wouldn't floramancy be better for supporting agriculture? You'd think. Stay tuned.

>9 Karlstar: Re: Doomfarers of Coramonde Thanks for the Brian Daley link. Great!

Finished A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers. Enjoyed it.

I'm in Texas for Sweep of the Heart.

Added Sword-Bearer by Jennifer Roberson to my rotation.

>6 Narilka: "I am in London for the Blitz."

I just finished this. For those who don't know, this is the third book in Daniel O'Malley's Rook/Checquy series. It must have been good, as I powered through it so fast that it's all a blur.

I'm revisiting the Discworld, watching Tiffany deal with the Wintersmith.

Spent a few hours in 1790s Yorkshire with Robin Hood of the Bay in A turn of the tide, the latest installment of Kelley Armstrong's time traveling families.

Dipping into present-day Seattle and Mt Ranier with the psychic travel agent and her cop friend via Flight risk by Cherie Priest.

Also started into Mississippi summertime with Dandelion, the new one from Alex Bledsoe.

In a Middle Eastern-ish locale, learning about the history of the "City of Women" in The City of Silk and Steel.

Can't say where exactly. In a city on the back of a leviathan that keeps moving around in Martha Wells Raksura #2 The Serpent Sea. Fatigued out on #1. Back in the swing now.

I finished my Lord of the Rings re-read with Return of the King. Definitely scratched the Tolkien itch after watching Rings of Power (not great but not horrible either). Revisiting the books after 40 years + the movies was interesting. Tolkien's prose is still amazing, although the dialogue is a bit dated now. Here's a new game - take a drink every time a character says "Nay!" You'll be in a coma before the midpoint of RoTK. The split timelines were also odd.

Tolkien was also extremely "efficient" with his story. He didn't waste a word, so the storylines seemed to be very compressed vs. more modern (i.e. bloated) fantasy. Each major set piece (Helm's Deep, the Battle of Pelennor Field, Cirith Ungol/Shelob) was only one chapter. Brandon Sanderson/Robert Jordan/Erikson would have taken a whole chapter just to introduce the characters.

Cleansing the palate with a modern sci-fi/mystery/thriller - the Wayward Pines trilogy by Blake Crouch.

EDIT: I loved Wheel of Time/Malazan and Mistborn - just an observation on the structural differences!

Aligned with the season, I'm reading about the Hogfather :D

Visiting the Northern Great Plains Territory in Thirteenth Child and Across the great barrier by Patricia C. Wrede

I just finished the new C L Polk, Even though I knew the end. New York City in mid-20th century New York City, with a string of murders where magic is involved, following an investigator with some magical tools in addition to her camera. Novella, so it's short, and Polk, so it's well written.

Finished Sword-Bearer by Jennifer Roberson. Enjoyed it.

Proceeding on a re-read of the Lyonesse trilogy with The Green Pearl.

I've reread the first volume of this trilogy many times over the year, but this will be my first time revisiting book 2 in maaaannny years.

I am having a delightful time with the witches of the Crone Wars series by Lydia Hawke. It is an interesting premise - this is the Amazon description:

She wanted purpose. She got dark magic and war.

Claire Emerson is adrift. After a lifetime as a wife, mother, and grandma, she never saw divorce or loneliness coming and is desperate for some sense of purpose. But when her sixtieth birthday brings a snarky gargoyle, an annoyingly sexy wolf shifter, and an unknown magical calling, she thinks she's losing the only thing she has left: her sanity.

Refusing to believe she's the powerful defender of humankind her so-called protectors claim, Claire attempts a return to her safe life... only to have her powers ignite when she's attacked by dark supernatural creatures. And without the training she was supposed to have received, she has no idea how she'll defeat sinister mages plotting her demise.

Can Claire overcome creaky joints and major hot flashes in time to save the world - and her own life?

I went through the first two in one day; they both end on a cliffhanger so I had to get right into the next one. I'm halfway through the third now...

They are not particularly deep, but are very entertaining and the writing style is easy to get into and visualize.

I'm in Spidlaria learning more about order and chaos with Beltur in The Mongrel Mage. This is part of my publication order re-read of The Saga of Recluce - when this one was published I missed it, so it's new to me.

Couldn't finish The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, September-October 2022 edited by Sheree Renée Thomas. Not what I was in the mood for.

I'm ringing in the New Year with a little fantasy by Nicola Griffith called Spear, which is a twist on Arthurian legend. It's reminding me a bit of Tehanu which is my favorite by LeGuin.

New year, new thread: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347123

>29 Niko: I'll be interested in your thoughts on the re-read of the Lyonesse books.

>35 Karlstar: The Green Pearl was more of a direct sequel to Lyonesse than I remembered it being, so that was good. I'll be curious to see if book 3 continues that trend... I remember being a bit "off" on books 2 and 3 when I first read them because when I was young, I wasn't a big fan of series that changed up the main characters between books.

The main glitch I had with The Green Pearl was that it was much more of politicking and describing army movements and stuff in the first half, so I found that a bit slow at times... though satisfying in its result in the long run. And when it took a turn for the more adventurous in the back half, I enjoyed it again a lot. Definitely better than the impression of it that my younger self left me with. :)

>36 Niko: Good, I'm kind of thinking I'd enjoy them more now too.