Katherine Harbour's Blog - Posts Tagged "mythology"

Mortal Danger
After a disturbing and humiliating incident of bullying, Edie attempts suicide and is prevented from doing so by a mysterious young man named Kian, who works for higher powers as a sort of agent in devils' bargains. Edie is granted a wish: To be beautiful. In exchange, she must make her tormentors pay for what they've done. What begins as satisfying revenge, however, becomes horrifying, and she learns that the higher powers might not be as benevolent as they seem. (Hint: one of them seems to be a certain one-eyed Norse god.)Mortal Danger is dark fantasy bordering on horror, which I loved. Edie's plight was heartbreaking enough to make me care for her as she attempts to negotiate a maze of the supernatural, along with the intriguing Kian. The fantasy elements were also fascinating. I want to learn more about this phantom world.

Dreams of Shreds and Tatters
In this contemporary dark fantasy, a young woman has to rescue her best friend from a dream world straight out of weird fiction. When she encounters a strange and glamorous couple who are more than they seem, the dream world, filled with creepy angels, maenads, and strange figures, threatens to overwhelm her.

Liz's quest to rescue her friend from a mysterious and unseen being called the Yellow King is nightmarish. Her allies are her kind and troubled boyfriend Alex, and the female part of the glamorous couple, Antja, who, for power and immortality, has made a deal with a charismatic man who might be a devil or a divinity disguised as one. There are other characters who encounter their own dreams or nightmares. Nearly every night, as Liz explores a dream city called Carcossa, a dangerous god moves through the real world. There's a lot of story and characters packed into 250 pages, but each character has his/her place and the story is filled with unsettling imagery inspired by Greek mythology and writers such as Arthur Machen and Robert W. Chambers. Anyone who loved Neil Gaiman's American Gods will love this.

The Star-Touched Queen
Maya is the cloistered and cherished daughter of a raja. She longs to live on her own terms. But a shocking chance to save her kingdom means ending her life.

She's rescued by Amar, a beautiful and mysterious young man, and taken to the night bazaar, a weird and fantastical marketplace of spirits and monsters. Amar brings her to his kingdom, which is majestic, empty, and filled with whispers.

When Maya learns the truth about her husband, and a friend from the past betrays her, Maya's world falls apart. There are echoes of the Greek tale Psyche and Eros as Maya sets out to find Amar again.

Told in the first person by the clever, fierce heroine, this tale is lush and lyrical, inhabited by mythological creatures and made unputdownable by a love story like a legend.

The House of Shattered Wings
Set in a future Paris where angels fall like biological bombs and humanity has been scattered but for a few warring Houses, this fantasy is mostly about Phillipe, an immortal who was once human and who is captured by House Silverspires and its fallen angel leader. As he tries to solve the mystery of what horror is killing the residents of the House, he is befriended by Isabelle, the young fallen angel he tried to scavenge, and Madeline, a human woman, and an addict, who escaped the takeover of another house by the devious and deadly fallen angel Asmodeus, a delicious villain.
With its dragons and spirits, angels and other mythical beings, this words is one I definitely want to visit again. It's an imaginative dark fantasy, complex and rich, with fascinating characters.