While fantasy is probably my favourite genre of fiction, fantasy-romance (aka “romantasy”) has not been a subgenre that has appealed to me very much. Nevertheless, in the interest of expanding my horizons, I gave The Knight and the Moth (a very popular recent romantasy novel) a try. Unfortunately, despite attempting to go in with an…
Tag: Fantasy
Elder Race by Adrian Tchaikovsky – Book Review
Adrian Tchaikovsky’s novella, Elder Race, plays around with a concept that sci-fi fans are likely familiar with from author Arthur C. Clarke’s highly resonant quote that “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. It starts out as an epic fantasy story where a young princess, Lynesse Fourth Daughter, climbs a forbidden peak to seek…
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab – Book Review
Unfortunately, this book taught me a lesson about falling for the premise of a book without knowing how it would be handled. The idea of a woman who was magically cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets was a very enticing one, mainly because I related very strongly to it personally. I’ve felt similarly…
Hogfather (Discworld, Book 20) by Terry Pratchett – Book Review
As the second (maybe third) book I have read from the Discworld series by pre-eminent fantasy humourist Terry Pratchett, I was uncertain whether I would like this story of Death taking over from Hogfather (i.e. Discworld Santa) when the holiday’s iconic fat man is unavailable. My previous Discworld experience taught me that the humour would…
The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy, Book 1) by Katherine Arden – Book Review
This was the perfect story for the season as we approach midwinter: even the beautiful cover and title of this book promise an enchanting tale, full of magic and infused with Slavic folklore. The story of a country lord, Pyotr Vladimirovich and his family, starts out with a recounting of the legend of the Frost…
Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones – Book Review
Having seen the beautiful and fun movie adaptation from Studio Ghibli, I went into reading Howl’s Moving Castle with the expectation of finding a twee, charming, quaint, light-hearted children’s story with a lot of magic and a little adventure, something in the vein of Peter Pan or Mary Poppins. The story began with a young…
The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan, Book 1) by Robert Jackson Bennett — Book Review
Start with a complex murder case, feature a Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson-esque pair of protagonists, and set it in a well-conceived fantasy world full of plant and fungus based semi-science, and I am an easy catch to hook. The Tainted Cup winning this year’s Hugo award for Best Novel didn’t hurt either, allowing its…
What Moves the Dead (Sworn Soldier, Book 1) by T. Kingfisher – Book Review
One of T. Kingfisher’s “scarier” Gothic horror stories (a retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of User) is not too scary — even for my delicate nerves — but unfortunately I didn’t find it very engaging or compelling either. I had not expected to read another T. Kingfisher story so soon,…
A House With Good Bones by T. Kingfisher – Book Review
My third venture into the works of popular author T. Kingfisher could be considered cozy horror, or suburban gothic (if that isn’t a thing I just made up). It starts out in a pretty classic way: Sam, a 30-something archeoentomologist, comes to stay at her mother’s suburban North Carolina home for a while and, of…
Alvin's Adventures in Pop Culture 