Fantasy Book Club discussion

★ 25/26 books read ★

A - The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie
B - Fledgling by Natasha Brown
C - A Cast of Stones, The Hero's Lot, A Draw of Kings (The Staff and Sword series) by Patrick W. Carr
D - The Woodcutter, by Kate Danley
E - The Redemption of Althalus by David and Leigh Eddings
F - Sweetly the Dragon Dreams by David Farland
G - The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
H - Dragon Fate by J.D. Hallowell
I - Transgression by R.S. Ingermanson
J - Tower of Bones by Connie J. Jasperson
K - Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay
L - Scarlet AND Tuck by Stephen R. Lawhead
M - Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
N - The Last King's Amulet by Chris Northern
O - Song of the Summer King by Jess E. Owen
P - Southwind Knights by B.E. Priest
Q - Third Daughter by Susan Kaye Quinn
R - Pearseus: Rise of the Prince by Nicholas C. Rossis
S - The Dragon Box by Katie W. Stewart
T - Harry Takes Off by Steve Turnbull
U -
V - The Hawk's Shadow by M.S. Verish
W - The Dark Citadel by Michael Wallace
X -
Y -
Z -

Plugging along on my Challenge! Being sick gave me several days to read, and I plowed through the whole "The Staff and The Sword" series. I liked the mystery of it, and the magic was definitely different than any I've read. I liked the main characters, in spite of their fairly stereotypical roles; the author gave them really diverse characteristics and purposes. The antagonists… enh. I was disappointed with their flat dimensions. Also disappointed by the very thinly veiled basis of his world; Morgols/Mongols, Basquon/Basque, Talia/Italy, Soeden/Sweden — right down to the racial descriptions.

BUT! It was a good enough read to pull me through all three volumes!

I've never heard of The Staff and the Sword before. It looks pretty good and I'll give it a try at some point. What did you think of The Blade Itself? I've always had the intention to read Joe Abercrombie, but I've never gotten around to it as my to-read list just gets longer and longer.

Jenna wrote: "I've never heard of The Staff and the Sword before. It looks pretty good and I'll give it a try at some point. What did you think of The Blade Itself? I've always had the intention to read Joe Aber..."

I could wish that it weren't so crass and riddled with the f-bomb. Besides that and some irritating and foolish editing, the story is good. Intriguing. Many layered. Varied. Some of the characters got repetitious, but the tale itself was quite readable.

Just finished Kate Danley's The Woodcutter. Oh, my starry nightshirts, what a wonderful read! Fantastic story featuring familiar fairytale characters in a whole new light. Duty, treachery, love and sacrifice wind throughout a mystery that the Woodcutter must solve. He has help on his long and twisting journey, and we’re given a sizable dose of the old-fashioned magic one rarely sees outside of fairytales. Humor, setbacks, and plot twists lead to a climax and resolution that surprised and delighted me with its emotional impact.

I was prepared to ho-hum my way through another fairytale mishmash. I have never been so glad to be disappointed!

That was my first read for 2015. I enjoyed it too.

Helen wrote: "That was my first read for 2015. I enjoyed it too."

Have you read anything else she's written?

Just cruised through Harry Takes Off. Technically, it's the first in a serial. I can't say I'm a fan of serials; I don't like being forced to buy one chapter at a time. For that reason alone, I won't go any further (though I could pretty easily be persuaded to buy the entire story in one chunk). Otherwise, I really enjoyed this steampunk adventure about two teenage girls against the German army in Africa. Never a dull moment!

I feel a bit like "part one in a serial" is cheating as far as marking it down as a book. If I get time, I'll take on another "T" book…

I've never read anything by David and Leigh Eddings before though I've heard all sorts of worshipful stories about them. WHY? The Redemption of Althalus was incredibly long, boring, repetitious, and completely without interesting characters.

There went two days of my life that I'll never get back…

I loved eddings belgariad and Mallorean series but also hated Althalus! Try pawn of prophecy - his first fantasy novel and the beginning of the belgariad. I didn't like ANYTHING he did after those- Sabine

Jennifer wrote: "I loved eddings belgariad and Mallorean series but also hated Althalus! Try pawn of prophecy - his first fantasy novel and the beginning of the belgariad. I didn't like ANYTHING he did after those-..."

Maybe. LOL. I'm a little put off right now. With a little time, I might be willing to attempt another of his books.

Courtesy of NetGalley, I was able to read Guy Gavriel Kay's Children of Earth and Sky. I found it… frustrating. Lots of things going on, and a wonderful tapestry of borrowed history and political machinations, but I was never invested in any of the characters. Boatloads of possibility there, but it seemed that more went into redefining the history from our world to fit this one than went into delving into the characters. A shame…

I moved on to Tower of Bones by Connie J. Jasperson — and I just could not get into it. Gave up at the 30% mark. Perhaps I will find another "J" to replace it.

I loved Althalus.

Helen wrote: "I loved Althalus."

Why??? :D

No, really, I'm interested about what you liked about it.

Just read City of God: Transgression. With the author being so famous for his Snowflake Method for writing books, I want to give a "real" book by him a try. (I tried the method once, but got impatient. I'd like to try it again, from scratch…)

The book… I didn't love it OR hate it. I did dislike the ending; I feel like it didn't deliver the promise of the premise. The antagonist was paper-thin, but the other characters were enjoyable and interesting. And there were some thought-provoking ideas that made me stop and, well, think!

I am finally, finally able to add another book to this list. I've been distracted by some others—and they've taken up the same spot in the alphabet as those I've already listed, or they were entire series I had to read from beginning to end!

This time, it's Brian McClellan's Promise of Blood.

Wow. What a tense, action-packed, intrigue-filled, story! And the characters! More wow. They're as far from cookie-cutter as you can get, and so very nicely developed. On to book 2 in the series! (And so much for the next letter of the alphabet…)

Finished the Powder Mage trilogy and really liked it. Minor quibbles with the escalating gruesomeness and (small) editing problems. I found the characters wonderfully believable and enjoyed the intricacy of the plot in spite of having a hard time choking down the idea of choking down gunpowder—interesting and strange sort of magic. Unique, for sure! Mr. McClellan is a good storyteller, and there was never a dull moment in the entire three books.

The Last King's Amulet was next. Interesting premise and good enough to finish, but could use a good editor. The main character starts out snarky and irresponsible but doesn't maintain character. Growth is good but he made some immediate changes in behavior that didn't make sense to me. His addiction throws in an interesting handicap.

Interesting that I should pick up two different books by two different authors and read about addiction…

I'm looking forward to Promise of Blood and the series.

Scott wrote: "I'm looking forward to Promise of Blood and the series."

They are good! I burned through all three in a few days. I debated the purchase of the second for all of five seconds—mostly because I already own a ton of books, and did I really need another? But I had to find out what happened next.

I am having a hard time with "F" authors! Just set aside my second, The Untold Tale by J.M Frey. An interesting premise fell into a sewer of crassness, explicit sex, and a flimsy attempt to challenge tropes. The prose and the style were good, but the content was a disappointment.

F is tough. I haven't started anything for it yet but have switched what I intend to read a bunch of times.

Bill wrote: "F is tough. I haven't started anything for it yet but have switched what I intend to read a bunch of times."

I would expect X or Z to be tough, but F? Hahaha! Who knew?

Both of the F authors I read were good. Beyond Redemption is dark but very funny. The Rook is Urban fantasy that's kind of like James Bond coupled with Dresdan Files.

Beyond Redemption
The Rook

Scott wrote: "Both of the F authors I read were good. Beyond Redemption is dark but very funny. The Rook is Urban fantasy that's kind of like James Bond coupled with Dresdan Files.

[book:Beyond Redemption|2328..."

Thanks for your recs! I'll look into Beyond Redemption — but The Rook is by O'Malley! (No F! Rats!)

Robin wrote: "."

Sorry I mixed up my authors. I meant

The Oversight

which is more of a Victorian era steam punk about a group defending against demons. It was good but could have been a lot better with a few changes.

Scott wrote: Sorry I mixed up my authors. I meant [book:The Oversight which is more of a Victorian era steam punk about a group defending against demons. It was good but could have been a lot better with a few changes.

Oh, that looks fun. Nice cover, too.

I'm reading Magician by Raymond E Feist for my F

Margret wrote: "I'm reading Magician by Raymond E Feist for my F"

I want to read that one, too!

I'm thinking I should probably read something already on my e-reader… :D

So… I ended up choosing a novelette for my "F" author. Two aborted novels plus one completed novelette surely equals a book-length read, right? :D

I went with David Farland's "Sweetly the Dragon Dreams." It's an interesting mix of fantasy and sci-fi, complete with a dragon, a second world, a bug-like race smarter and faster and stronger than humans, and an evil species coming to wipe them all out. And humans. There were some of those, too!

As with most shorter works, I found myself wishing there were more to it, especially at the end, where things happened very fast and with more telling than showing.

What did you think of Scarlet and Tuck? I really enjoyed the trilogy.

Joshua wrote: "What did you think of Scarlet and Tuck? I really enjoyed the trilogy."

That series is one of my favorites. What a great read!

Length of the read is irrelevant, well within reason at least.

I don't remember what Althalus was about but i really enjoyed it. Perhaps I shouldn't read it again!

I am so caught up in editing my upcoming release that I haven't had time to read… :(

:( I'm just so tired with school. Ages til we break up too.

Helen wrote: ":( I'm just so tired with school. Ages til we break up too."

So much to do, so little time…

I'm not sure that I "legally" had time to do this, but I read. ALL. DAY. What fun! I was having withdrawals. I love writing—editing and other non-writing author stuff, not so much. But I needed a wee break before diving into the next forty-two projects, so I picked "The Song of the Summer King" by Jess E. Owen.

Aside from nitpicky little things, I found it to be a wonderful coming-of-age story that focuses on truth, choices, family, honor—and the challenges inherent in each. There are no truly evil characters, just "people" with their own beliefs, educations, and hopes. I can't remember the last time I read a story told from the point of view of animals that I found both likable and believable. Owen's descriptions brought both the setting and the characters to life in a delightful tale of fantasy and adventure. This one will find a comfortable home on my Flinch-Free Fantasy page.

The Southwind Knights made for a quick read this morning. It should have ended six paragraphs before it did to escape a cliffhanger ending that doesn't quite mesh with the preview of the next book. I'm not keen about cliffhanger endings.

And then there's my pet peeve: the word "okay." I realize that in a fantasy setting an author can use whatever words and images that they please—poetic license and all that—but if the writer is striving for an Arthurian or fairytale feel, or anything that might be compared to our earth's olden days, s/he needs to be careful of word choice. "Okay" drags me out of the story and plunks me into the 1940s. Yes, the origin of the word is attributed to the 1840's (beyond the scope of, say, the Brothers Grimm).

A few more modern-day word choices interrupted the telling of an otherwise satisfactory, fairytale type story. I did like it, in spite of the warts. :D

Robin wrote: "The Southwind Knights made for a quick read this morning. It should have ended six paragraphs before it did to escape a cliffhanger ending that doesn't quite mesh with the preview of the next book...."

My pet peeve is similar -- the use of the term "kids" to refer to children in fantasy novels, especially when it's part of the third-person narration. ("On the wall sat a small kid, red-headed and with a splash of freckles across his face.") I'm slightly more forgiving if it's used in dialogue, but judgements are made on a case-by-case basis.

Unless it's a red haired goat

A freckly goat at that

Joseph wrote: "My pet peeve is similar -- the use of the term "kids" to refer to children in fantasy novels, especially when it's part of the third-person narration. ("On the wall sat a small kid, red-headed and with a splash of freckles across his face.")"

Yes! Unless it's Margret's goat.

And then there's "surveil."

The Hawk's Shadow was a quick, intense read. A short story, yes—and evidently it occurs between two longer works, which left me floundering a bit as I didn't understand certain aspects. It was still good—until it got to the cursed cliffhanger ending, which left it feeling like half a story…

Slang gets me too.

I read The Dark Citadel by Michael Wallace the other day. It was … meh. He had a good idea going, but I never became invested in the characters, the grammatical mistakes began to pile up, and the further I went the more "tell, don't show" there was. Reviews indicate this was not Wallace's best work (doesn't it figure I'd pick up the "meh" one?), but I am not inspired to read more of his work. Anyone else have opinions or suggestions?

For Michael Wallace in particular? No. If you need another W, I might suggest Martha Wells or Gene Wolfe or Tad Williams or Mazarkis Williams ...

Joseph wrote: "For Michael Wallace in particular? No. If you need another W, I might suggest Martha Wells or Gene Wolfe or Tad Williams or [author:Mazarkis Williams|483..."

I finished the book, so I don't need another W. Just curious to know if anyone else has read Wallace's other books and what they think. Thanks, though!

Third Daughter, by Susan Kaye Quinn, is more romance than fantasy, but manages to incorporate a fun dash of steampunk. The last third of the book was by far the most enjoyable (in spite of the heroine's abysmal foolishness. She was only 18, after all. Leeway must be granted. The one thing that tripped me up and made me laugh repeatedly was the interchangeable use of the words "courtesan" and "diplomat." I do not think that word means what you think it means… Or in this world, the diplomats are usually prostitutes. Do I detect a Freudian slip?