RSS
 

Archive for the ‘Fantasy Book Reviews’ Category

Why a good story is (mostly) a good laugh

10 Jun

I’m reading The Light Fantasic, a Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett. It’s his second book, written in 1986, when he must have been about 35 years old. I’ve got to the point (fairly early on) where I don’t care what he does with the story, the plot can go nowhere and I’ll still be contented, because he has made me laugh. He’s demonstrated very witty word play, and some images that are just so damn funny. He’s poked a finger at things everyone has been foolish about (like the tooth fairy) and by making me see how ridiculous they are, I have been won over (what’s she live in, then, a castle made of teeth?)

It makes me realise that readers just want to enjoy the book, that’s all, and if you can’t write something the reader is going to take delight in, its not going to work. It can be dark, it can be scary, but it must be delightful, wonderful; attractive.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
No Comments

Posted in Fantasy Book Reviews, Writing Fantasy

 

Fantasy book review: The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson

22 May

starstarstarstar

The Runes of the Earth is Book 1 of The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant by Stephen R. Donaldson, and it is the ambitious finalé, a trilogy of chronicles which will be ten books, in the end. I didn’t like the cover at all, but I would have bought it even if it were pink! It was a great moment – the return to fantasy of one of the masters.

.
I didn’t enjoy Stephen Donaldson’s foray into science fiction (the Gap series), which was sad because I really believe Mr Donaldson has a real talent for fantasy. Some of the best pieces ever written are in his short story collection (Reave the Just, and the Killing Stroke) as well as his Mordant’s Need books. He is diabolically devious, his plots keep me guessing and his characters are often personifications of psychological qualities (like despair, spite, innocence, service) which makes the conflicts and their resolutions powerful and unsettling. None more so than the Thomas Covenant series, where the archetypes battle it out on the rarified stage of the Land. I couldn’t imagine how Mr Donaldson could devise a way to make a Third Chronicles believable, since the main character (it’ll always be Thomas Covenant) is dead.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
1 Comment

Posted in Fantasy Book Reviews

 

The Lord of the Rings as retold by Peter Jackson

11 May

I have just returned from Middle Earth, and my body is heavy with the memory of battle, my mind alight with the visions and details of The Two Towers. Based on the work of J. R. R. Tolkien, The Two Towers forms the middle of the trilogy, and is a good place to evaluate the effect of being thoroughly caught up in a story.

Although the production of a film is a collaborative process, Peter Jackson was surely the focus of all this creativity: the wizard in the centre of a web of creative power. He has crafted an incredible artwork, one which shall endure, one that has enriched the world. I am grateful to all those who made it come to pass.

I bow my head again as I remember it. Arwen’s heart so filled with sadness, Elrond spelling out the consequences of her love for Aragorn: ‘There is nothing here for you but death.’ It felt as if he spoke those words for all of Middle Earth, and for all of us in the audience. I cried with Arwen as I saw the King Aragorn laid upon his coffin, the body turn to stone, the leaves of the ages fall upon it as so much was lost to Time, and there, oh Mercy! – the sweet beauty Arwen broken-hearted in the shadows, her dream of the world-as-it-was lying cold and dead before her, and her light is lost. The bitterness of mortality could not have been more elegantly rendered. I grieved that Arwen’s time has passed, and all we know of it is the tale passed down through Tolkien. I grieved that someone so fair should have to bear so much sadness. I was completely swept away.

Read the rest of this entry »

 
No Comments

Posted in Fantasy Book Reviews

 

The One Kingdom by Sean Russell

09 May

Another book I chose by its cover (I like purple). Isn’t that just the most intriguing painting? There was also a strong quote on the back ‘As lightning, men flicker into being, cut a single stroke into the earth, and are gone. A brief instant to find one’s place in a story that may last a thousand years.’ And then of course there is the endorsement by Stephen Donaldson ‘A master of intelligent fantasy – subtle, well-crafted and gripping’ followed by Robin Hobb saying ‘Magic and mystery blend in abundance with an intricate cast of characters – an engrossing read.’

As a fantasy reader, how do you refuse a book like that? A strong dramatic descriptive opening page, and I’m sold on it. And it’s 700+ pages! Delight! Read the rest of this entry »

 
No Comments

Posted in Fantasy Book Reviews

 

Why fantasy needs kick-ass chicks

06 May

There’s a good reason why Keeping it Real (by Justina Robson) works.

It starts on the front cover. Lila has a blend of sass, hardcore metal and intriguing curves. Damn, she’s the coolest cyborg ever, and it’s a very hard act to beat the Terminator.  But when it comes to actually buying a book, I want at least 500 pages for my money. I want to get lost in an intriguing fantasy world for days. So at 279 pages I already have major resistance with Keeping It Real.

I turn it over. And the basic premise of the story gets me.

The Quantum Bomb of 2015 tears the fabric of reality, and the realms of demons and elves and humans become enmeshed. I smile, deep inside. Aah! Robson has made it possible … she’s created the world for all my favourite Warcraft characters, in the here-and-now. It’s not hard to believe, and she makes it all sound so sexy, in a strange blade-in-your-back leather-and-combat dark kind of way. I’m hooked. Read the rest of this entry »

 
No Comments

Posted in Fantasy Book Reviews, Writing Fantasy

 

Mordant’s Need by Stephen Donaldson

05 May

The first seven pages of Mordant’s Need demonstrate Stephen Donaldson’s mastery of storytelling. It’s a wonderful opening. I am screaming ‘tell me more! tell me! tell me! let me in! I want to know what happens!’

He starts with an overview, humorously, telling us of a fairy tale, then introduces the hero and heroine, as stuff-ups, though INTENSELY human. They are loveable because they have problems everyone can identify with, realisations of mortal fears. Geraden is clumsy to distraction, but he’s loveable because he is loyal, he tries immensely hard. Terisa is unsure of her own existence (lots of people have an aspect of this self-doubting). They are both very quirky.

They are both shown with rich, powerful images that characterise them in an instant. Geraden knocks things over and feverishly devotes himself to a heroically stupid task. Terisa has mirrors to remind herself that she exists. Then we are shown a dream, and she acts marvellously, intriguingly. He is in danger. He fights like a hero. She ventures to shout ‘Look out!’ which shows character development already. Then we wake up, and Geraden, our hero, is still in danger! Read the rest of this entry »

 
No Comments

Posted in Fantasy Book Reviews

 

Thud! by Terry Pratchett

03 May

It’s funny how in the book cover you can see suggestions of the development of Terry Pratchett as a writer, from cheerful gaudy frivolity to serious humour full of clever symbolism. This is a class act.

The earlier Discworld novels featured a chaos of little characters all romping around, and often that’s just what you got – comic fantasy. Sometimes the plots were hard to follow, or inconsequential, but the gags and wit and wry commentary on the human condition was enough to maintain interest. There’s nothing comic or throw-away about Thud! There’s good humour, make no mistake, but it’s mature humour, cleverly placed to lighten the mood in a very serious story. The plot is cunning. The cover by Paul Kidby couldn’t be better. It shows one man throwing a light and looking to the heavens (or just above the reader’s head) for an answer in a cold, tense world that is trying to be black and white (except for the vivid scarlet slash where their ideologies clash). Read the rest of this entry »

 
No Comments

Posted in Fantasy Book Reviews

 

A fantasy novelist with diabolical talent

01 May

I was intrigued by the cover design of The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever (by Stephen R. Donaldson). The book is quite dark, and brilliant.

So much pain, the grief, the pages and pages overrun with the burning tears of despair. The loss, oh Lena! the loss. There is no reprieve – Thomas Covenant’s world and the Land are slashed into bleeding shreds. The more the beauty of Life is perceived, the more there is to lose and the greater the pain. In his leperous numb responses Covenant rebuffs some of the sharper grief, but this merely deflects the full impact of despair onto the reader. Ah! Saltheart Foamfollower, the burden you have been given. Trell Atiaran-mate, Gravelingas of Stonedown, my friend! Your strength surpasses the heroic, and yet still you are crushed mercilessly and slowly by the ever tightening twists of the ill fate that are woven by Despite around those we love most. Read the rest of this entry »

 
No Comments

Posted in Fantasy Book Reviews

 
Newer Entries »