‘There is a fell voice on the air. It’s Saruman!’
16 July 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Extreme weather, Fantasy Review Barn, Tough Travelling
The Pass of Caradhras – Lord of the Rings
This week over at the Fantasy Review Barn we are once again on our travels through the tropes of fantasy guided ably by our fearless leader Nathan. The topic this Thursday is:
EXTREME CLIMATES
Perhaps the handsome prince lives in a castle surrounded by green countryside and sunny days. The rest of the land is forced to deal with freezing cold, searing heat, and every other extreme climate mother nature can throw at you.
- Seven Forges by James A Moore – the Seven Forges is a large, previously unexplored mountain range. The country is barren and the weather is fierce and cold and inhabited by massive and savage creatures.
- Storm Glass by Maria Snyder – in which a magician called Opal is sent to help the Stormclan – people who tame the raging sea storms using glass orbs
- Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson – a planet swept by the most fantastic storms!
- Lord of the Rings – Mount Doom! Don’t really need to say more!
Tis all for me this week – although can we just end with:
‘Do you copy? Shut down all the garbage smashers on the detention level!’
9 July 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fantasy Review Barn, Otherworldly Creatures, Tough Travelling
Being smashed by the garbage smasher is only one of the worries…
This week over at the Fantasy Review Barn we are once again tough travelling with Nathan. Our topic this week is:
Otherworldly Creatures (Tentacles preferred)
Just for Tiara, this topic explains itself. Creatures not of our world or even our plain of existence, perhaps living in another dimension. Preferably, though not required, with tentacles. Or really anything with tentacles can be considered weird enough to be otherworldly.
American Elsewhere by Robert J Bennett – here be tentacles. In the quiet town of Wink time almost seems to stand still. The residents seem to live an idyllic life with perfectly manicured lawns and lifestyles – it’s so perfect it’s positively Stepford(ish). Except maybe everything isn’t as rosy as it seems. You’ll never find this place on a map. On top of that it seems that strange creatures have come to stay in wink. How did they get here. What exactly are they. They take strange shapes – there will 
be horror – and tentacles!
City of Stairs by Robert J Bennett – the monster that isn’t really a monster – the one that Shara unwittingly releases into the world and the very same monster that Sigrud gets buck naked to tackle. Yes, there were tentacles – and lots of teeth.
Serpent of Venice by Christopher Moore – the clue for this one is in the title of course! The Serpent of Venice is a strange mash up of Shakespeare and Poe in which a strange creature lurks in the canals of Venice. I couldn’t possibly say more!
Resistance is Futile by Jenny Colgan – in which a bunch of nerdy mathematicians try to work out if there is a meaning in a long sequence of numbers that has been transmitted to earth. Involves aliens – which are definitely otherworldly.
Hexed by Michael Alan Nelson – this may seem like a strange choice – there are definitely no tentacles but there is a strange and sinister demi goddess otherwise known as the ‘Keeper of Secrets’ who lives in another dimension.
‘Do not disturb the water…’
The Watcher in the water from LotR – it has tentacles!!
‘The truth is, you’re the weak, and I am the tyranny of evil men. But I’m trying, I’m trying real hard’
1 July 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Battles of Independence, Fantasy Review Barn, Tough Travelling
Yeah – Pulp Fiction – not really anything to do with battles of independence – but I like that quote, and, it does include the word ‘tyranny’ so….
and, bringing a new meaning to the phrase ‘we come in peace:
‘ack, ack, ack’ (they fib!)
Anyway, this week over at the Fantasy Review Barn Nathan is taking us Tough Travelling through the tropes of fantasy. A weekly post where we take a fun look at a specific trope. Come and join in the fun! This week’s theme:
INDEPENDENCE BATTLES
The good fight. Casting off the chains of tyranny! No one in fantasyland refuses the call of the good fight. And what fight is more important in fantasyland than FREEDOM?
The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – in which Paige Mahoney is captured and taken to Sheol I penal colony, Oxford, where she and other captives become slaves. There are two elements of independence to these stories – there’s the breaking out of the penal colony which is run by a ruthless race of people, and there’s also breaking out from the rule of Scion, a ruling force which keeps the masses in strict control.
Red Rising by Pierce Brown – in which a teenage boy called Darrow tries to help his people break free from their lives as miners and almost slaves to the richer upper echelons of society known as the Golds. I wondered if this one really counted – as it’s not really a battle in the first book – it’s more about infiltration. But, ultimately it is about the good fight.
The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire No.1) by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith – in which humans have been beaten into submission by a huge scale war with vampires (who now rule the majority of the world). Humans have become little more than cattle kept alive purely for the purpose of providing blood. There’s a rebellion building though – you can’t keep a good human down!!
Sauron – ‘one ring to rule them all and in the darkness bind them’! – need I say more???? Okay – in which lots of good folks, tiny hobbits, wizards, elves and other nice people go to war against a whole bunch of nasty orcs and other characters bent on destruction and carrying out Sauron’s desire to rule the world and keep everyone in misery and darkness.
Finally: Humans vs machines:
Sarah Connor: [narrating] Three billion human lives ended on August 29th, 1997. The survivors of the nuclear fire called the war Judgment Day. They lived only to face a new nightmare: the war against the machines. The computer which controlled the machines, Skynet, sent two Terminators back through time. Their mission: to destroy the leader of the human resistance, John Connor, my son.
‘But why is the rum gone?…?’
This week over at the Fantasy Review Barn we are on the high seas sailing through the tropes of fantasy as part of Nathan’s weekly tough travelling. This week our topic is:
PEOPLE ON BOATS
Grab a map of Fantasyland and you are sure to see there is water. Of course not everything important is going to happen on land, right? Sometimes people actually have to get on a boat and hit the water. Where, being fantasyland, anything can happen.
Fevre Dream by GRRMartin – Abner Marsh is a steamboat captain who dreams of building the finest steamship to sail the 
waters. He enters into a partnership with Joshua York but once they finally embark on their travels the nature of Joshua and his real intentions for the boat start to become apparent and his true nature is revealed.
The Liar’s Key by Mark Lawrence – in which Jal and Snorri continue their strange journey together. A good deal of their travels take place on the water as they set sail in search of a door to the underworld where he hopes to find his family.
Hero Born by Andy Livingstone is another book that spends a large portion of the book on water. The main protagonist is captured and put aboard a slaver’s ship to be taken to distant lands. Along the way his fortunes change dramatically as he attracts the eye of the onboard soothsayer, the captain and one of the more vindictive crew members. After a pirate attack he becomes a galley slave. The other rowers keep their own code of conduct and enforce it harshly sometimes involving vicious attack.
The Hobbit by JRRTolkien – Esgaroth or lake town – okay this seems a bit of a cheat but lake town is built on the lake and boats are a necessity of life for all the inhabitants. Of course, being nestled up alongside a mountain where a sleeping dragon abides is bound to eventually end in misery.
The House of the Four Winds by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory. The House of the Four Winds is a lighthearted novel following the adventures of Princess Clarice who leaves home and takes to the high seas. This is a fun nautical advenutre with pirates, story oceans and sea monsters.
Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch – I can’t help it – I feel compelled to mention the Gentlemen Bastards whenever possible. Plus, I loved Red Seas Under Red Skies where Jean and Locke are strong armed into playing captain of the ship in order to draw the attention of Zamira Drakasha – a pirate who certain people are keen to bring to justice.
Voyage of the Basilisk by Marie Brennan – in which Lady Trent sets off on a two year adventure aboard aboard the Royal Survey Ship Basilisk in order to study dragons. Along the way she copes not only with stormy seas and shipwreck but the uncovering of more dragon secrets and the threat of warfare.
“Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!
‘Holy Tough Travels….
10 June 2015
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Fantasy Review Barn, Orphans, Tough Travelling
Today’s Tough Travels takes us once again wandering through the tropes of fantasy, ably led by our fearless leader Nathan over at the Fantasy Review Barn. This week the topic is: ORPHANS
No one in Fantasyland amounts to anything if they still have both parents. Rule number one. Thanks to Stephanie for the suggestion (and let us all be surprised together that it isn’t in the Tough Guide).
- Nobody – or ‘Bod’ – Owens. Who at the start of Neil Gaiman’s Graveyard Book becomes orphaned. “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife”
- Harry Potter – You couldn’t ask for a more famous orphan so I just had to pick him (plus he definitely lives up to Rule number one!)
- Daenerys Targaryen from GRRMartin’s Game of Thrones. Well, she may be an orphan – but she has 3 dragons! Three!!
- Locke Lamora – never miss an opportunity to get Scott Lynch’s Gentleman Bastards onto a list – that is my motto.
- Sookie Stackhouse from Charlaine Harris’ True Blood.
- Kvothe from The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
‘I give Pirrip as my father’s name on the authority of his tombstone’…
I guess Dickens liked his orphans – Pip, Oliver, Little Nell…
Books and travelling with Lynn 