‘All’s well that ends well…’
12 November 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fantasy Review Barn, Peaceful endings, Tough Travelling
This week, over at the Fantasy Review Barn, Nathan is taking us travelling once again through the tropes of fantasy. This week the topic for discussion is:
PEACE AT LAST
Life in Fantasyland is often hard but even the hardest fought battles can come to an end. The good guys win, the quest is over, evil is gone. Yes, the land can finally know peace when the protagonist reach their goal.
Peace at last – okay, I think I’ve gone with a lot of fairly obvious choices here but.. Also, given that we’re talking of endings here there could be potential spoilers lurking below. Beware!
- Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings – I simply had to go there. The ring has been cast into Mount Doom and there is simply no way for Sauron to recover from this one. Peace at last has come to Middle Earth.
- JKRowling’s Harry Potter – he who shall not be named is finally gone. And didn’t they all just go on and live happily ever after!
- The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C S Lewis – the White Witch is dead, Narnia is no longer living in perpetual winter and all the little critters that were turned to statues, including his good self Mr Tumnus, have been restored to life. Good times.
- Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett – in which, thankfully a terrible apocalypse is prevented – at the very last minute!
- The Broken Empire by Mark Lawrence. Not to give too much away, maybe not an all singing and dancing, happy bunnies bounding through the fields type of ending – (SPOILER) not if your name is Jorg anyway, but, certainly a peaceful ending in terms of necromancers and armies of the dead being thwarted at the last minute!
- The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum – okay, maybe the woman in the pointy hat with the green tinged skin wasn’t too happy at the conclusion of this story but the Munchkins were throwing a party!
- Bear with me with this one – I am Legend by Richard Matheson – okay, the protagonist is due to meet a sticky ending – but – SPOILER – in a land now overrun by vampire type creatures, where he is the only human, he has in fact become the bogeyman and by killing him the vampires can finally live in peace.
- Bram Stoker’s Dracula. No explanation needed.
That’s it for me this week.
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius
4 November 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fantasy Review Barn, Military Genius, Tough Travelling
This week, over at the Fantasy Review Barn, Nathan is taking us travelling once again through the tropes of fantasy. This week the topic for discussion is:
MILITARY GENIUS
Let’s face it. Fantasy life is often a life of war. One can only hope to serve under a commander who has some clue what they are doing.
So my choices this week:
Kaladin from Brandon Sanderson’s Way of Kings and Words of Radiance – I did think about going for Dalinar but I think Kaladin showed his skill when he joined the bridge crew and managed to not just train them into the ways of staying alive but also to make them feel more positive. Gone from strength to strength.
Rig Black from Erin Lindsey’s Bloodforged. Wow, can this guy form a good battle plan or what – risky, but good! The Bloodforged is the second book (the first being Bloodbound and they’re both very readable.
Colonel Janus bet Vhalnich from the Thousand Names by Django Wexler. This character really is a military genius – but maybe he’s not all he seems. Or maybe he’s more than he seems!
Merros from James A Moore’s Seven Forges and Blasted Lands. Merros starts out as a soldier but pretty quickly rises through the ranks to become General. He becomes responsible for training up the gone soft Fellein army. Year’s of peace have left the army in poor shape and with an army marching on their doorstep they need a good leader.
Reva from Anthony Ryan’s Tower Lord – really comes into her own in this story and helps to form a plan to defend the city.
General Anhalt from The Vampire Empire series by Susan and Clay Griffiths. Cool headed and incredibly correct – a great character to have on your side when the vampires are swarming!
That’s it for me this week
My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, Commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.
‘Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you…..’
29 October 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fairytales, The Fantasy Review Barn, Tough Travelling
Once upon a time, not so very long ago, in the land of make believe, a young man called Nathan set off to make his fortune. Toting his spotted hanky he set off down a long windy road to see what adventures he could find. He played his flute as he walked and his music enchanted other people who travelled alongside him recounting stories of their own. Anyway, This week over at the Fantasy Review Barn, Nathan is taking us tough travelling through the tropes of fantasy. This week the topic for discussion is:
FAIRY TALES ARE NOT JUST STORIES
Fairy tales are real in fantasy land. They may seem like stories told to kids, but in fantasyland they are very, very real.
Okay, I’m not sure if I’m on the right lines for this one but here goes:
- Beauty by Robin McKinley – A retelling of Beauty and the Beast
- Poison, Beauty and Charm by Sarah Pinborough. These are three excellent books. Each one contains a number of different, well known, fairy stories and mashes them up into a wicked and darker version of the original story.
- Dreamer’s Pool by Juliet Marilier – this isn’t a retelling or reimagined fairystorY (well I’m not sure if it is or not) but it’s a fantastic read and I really can’t recommend it enough.
- The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making by Catherynne M Valente. Whimsical and Wyverns.
- The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman
And, they all lived happily ever after.
The End
‘Ooh-de-la-lay! Ooh-de-la-lay! Fortune tellers!’
21 October 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fantasy Review Barn, The Good Thief, Tough Travelling
This week, over at the Fantasy Review Barn, Nathan is taking us travelling once again through the tropes of fantasy. This week the topic for discussion is:
THE GOOD THIEF
Sure they may pocket things that don’t belong to them. And yes, anything that can be wiggled loose isn’t really locked down and may be fair game to them. And if they put half of their intelligence into legit trades instead of long cons they would probably be pillars of fantasyland’s community. But damn it, some thieves are still good people.
- The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch. Yep the GBs had to make the list. First and foremost.
- Six of Crows – another heist story by Leigh Bardugo with a very clever gang of characters
- The Palace Job by Patrick Weeks – just finished this one and it was highly entertaining – and, another heist job
- Owl and the Japanese Circus by Kristi Charish – Owl is a thief of antiquities – an Indiana Jones
- The Thief Who pulled on Trouble’s Braids by Michael McClung – another recent read as part of my SPFBO – the clue is in the title
- Time Salvager by Wesley Chu – yes, you can call this a time salvager or somebody who goes back in the past to recover resources – but, basically it is stealing from the past. Yes?
- Fifth House of the Heart by Ben Tripp – mm, Saxon Tang may deal in antiquities, he may be successful and filthy rich – but he was involved in some dodgy deals in his bygone years!
- Drothe – Among thieves by Douglas Hulick. Clue in the title.
Finally – you decide one of these – or maybe both – is a thief??
‘Skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony’
The Brothers Grimm, Snow White – pure as the driven snow and good as gold. Who else would pick up, clean and cook for the 7 dwarves (course, she had a few helpers!)
This week over at the Fantasy Review Barn Nathan is taking us Tough Travelling through the tropes of fantasy. A fun look at a chosen theme where we all choose certain books we wish to bring the spotlight onto. Don’t forget to stop on over to the FB and check out the other links. I admit that I struggled with our theme this week. I don’t know why but my brain was a huge empty space with tumbleweed rolling around. I know that I’m going to be kicking myself but that’s the way it crumbles sometimes. The topic:
PURE GOOD
No middle ground, no moral middle, no grey area at all. Some people are pure avatars of goodness. Fantasyland seems to be full of them.
Auri from The Slow Regard of Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss. Auri is something of a mystery even now. Believed to be a former student, she now lives underneath the University and seems to know all the secret places. She has a sort of ethereal quality to her, a bit timid but capable of looking after herself and with strange notions and names for things. She comes across as pure somehow.
Yvaine from Neil Gaiman’s stardust. Yvaine is actually a fallen star. She is sought after by three witches who want to use her to lengthen their lifespan and return them to their youthful years. She’s very innocent and falls in love with the main character Tristan.
‘I ain’t been dropping no eaves’ Samwise Gamgee from Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring. Let’s face it, Same really is a genuinely good character. That is all.
Charlie from Roald Dahl’s Willie Wonka – this young chap is definitely good – he doesn’t even sell is everlasting gobstopper to the evil baddy when Wonka asks him to leave!
That’s it for me – except this film character – definitely a good girl:
Books and travelling with Lynn 