Posts tagged with fantasy

Sep 5 2023

Weekly Book Giveaway: Wild Hunger, by Chloe Neill

2023-09-05-weekly-book-giveaway-wild-hunger-by-chloe-neill

Our current Book Giveaway is Chloe Neill's novel Wild Hunger. This is a spin-off of her popular "Chicagoland Vampires" urban fantasy series, but works reasonably well as a standalone novel. A full review will follow shortly...

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Aug 21 2023

Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros

2023-08-21-fourth-wing-by-rebecca-yarros

Rebecca Yarros's Fourth Wing is the literary equivalent of an ice cream sundae. It might not be the most avant-garde idea out there, but it's packed with stuff people really like: dragons, a magical school, loads of violence, and some New Adult-level sex and pining. In the hands of a less competent author, this might read like a derivative mess, but Yarros's hell-for-leather pacing and solid characterization keeps the pages turning...

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Aug 21 2023

Weekly Book Giveaway: Fourth Wing, by Rebecca Yarros

2023-08-21-weekly-book-giveaway-fourth-wing-by-rebecca-yarros

Our current Book Giveaway is Rebecca Yarros's novel Fourth Wing. A full review will follow shortly, but here's the gist: if you've got any long, boring stretches of time you want to fill on your schedule (like a plane ride), this book is an A+ page-turning distraction machine...

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Aug 7 2023

The Awakening, by Nora Roberts

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Nora Roberts's attempts at writing an epic fantasy have been hit-or-miss, in my opinion, but she keeps on trying. She has already made her fame and fortune twice over (as a conventional romance novelist under her own name, and as an author of futuristic romantic mystery as J.D. Robb), so at the very least I applaud her work ethic as she sets out to dominate yet another genre—no matter how mediocre the results...

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Aug 7 2023

Weekly Book Giveaway: The Awakening, by Nora Roberts

2023-08-07-weekly-book-giveaway-the-awakening-by-nora-roberts

It's been a few years since I last attempted a Nora Roberts fantasy novel (which can be real hit-or-miss, in my opinion), but it's time to give her another shot. This week's Book Giveaway is The Awakening, the first book in Roberts's "The Dragon Heart Legacy" series. A full review will follow shortly...

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Jul 20 2023

Low-stakes entertainment

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The trailer is out for the second season of Amazon's adaptation of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time. I watched every episode of the last season, and yet I can't remember a single thing about it. (That's how I felt about the books, too.) But that won't stop me from...

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Jun 26 2023

A Court of Thorns and Roses, by Sarah J. Maas

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I admit it: I have resisted reading Sarah J. Maas's enormously popular A Court of Thorns and Roses, despite recommendations from several friends. I have tried a few of her books before, and—while they were undeniably readable—they felt vaguely generic, like she'd been handed an AI-generated list of hot literature trends for young women aged 16 to 21 and told to do her damnedest to fit them all into 400 pages...

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Dec 12 2022

A Magic Steeped in Poison, by Judy I. Lin

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Judy I. Lin's A Magic Steeped in Poison is a fun novel by any standard, and a really impressive debut. In Lin's Chinese- and Taiwanese-inspired historical fantasy, a girl named Ning is desperate to cure her dying sister. Ning's only hope is winning the shennong-shi trials—a high-court competition of magical tea-brewing, with a royal boon as the grand prize. Armed with her late mother's tea knowledge, Ning...

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Dec 12 2022

Weekly Book Giveaway: A Magic Steeped in Poison, by Judy I. Lin

2022-12-12-weekly-book-giveaway-a-magic-steeped-in-poison-by-judy-i-lin

Our latest Book Giveaway is Judy I. Lin's A Magic Steeped in Poison. A word of warning to any interested readers: I started this book at midnight, finished it at about two in the morning, and then discovered that I wouldn't be able to get the sequel for at least five days. Learn from my mistake, and make sure you acquire both books in the series at the same time...

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Oct 28 2019

Snow & Rose, by Emily Winfield Martin

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Emily Winfield Martin is best known as a visual artist, but her recent novel Snow & Rose proves she's a competent writer, as well. Inspired by the little-known “Snow White and Rose Red” fairytale, Martin has reworked it into a full-length children's book that is greatly enhanced by her delicate, richly colored illustrations...

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Oct 28 2019

Weekly Book Giveaway: Snow & Rose, by Emily Winfield Martin

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This week's Book Giveaway is Snow & Rose, a fairytale retelling written (reasonably well) and illustrated (extremely well) by painter Emily Winfield Martin. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 11/09/19...

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Sep 24 2019

Like Tolkien, hopefully it's better on film

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According to Deadline, A24 and producer Jennifer Fox have teamed up to turn Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea fantasy books into a television show. Before her death in 2018, Le Guin had given Ms. Fox permission to turn her books into a series of films, but...

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Sep 9 2019

Another Fine Myth, by Robert Asprin

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I hunted down a copy of Robert Asprin's Another Fine Myth after reading an absolutely glowing review of it on NPR. When I hear about a book described as a “joyous dad-joke fantasy”, I'm interested. Sadly, I found NPR's description to be a bit hyperbolic; Asprin's novel is more like a mildly amusing novelization of a D&D game.

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Sep 9 2019

Weekly Book Giveaway: Another Fine Myth, by Robert Asprin

2019-09-09-weekly-book-giveaway-another-fine-myth-by-robert-asprin

Our latest Book Giveaway is Another Fine Myth, a 1978 fantasy/comedy written by Robert Lynn Asprin. (This isn't the cover art featured on our particular edition, but don't worry: they're both equally ugly.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 10/25/19...

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Aug 12 2019

Weekly Book Giveaway: The Grand Dark, by Richard Kadrey

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This week's Book Giveaway is The Grand Dark, a recent standalone fantasy from Sandman Slim author Richard Kadrey. The official premise sounds a little clichéd, but I have faith in Kadrey to transform it into something memorable. A full review will follow shortly...

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Jul 24 2019

Stop trying to make Henry Cavill happen.

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Hmm. They're doing their best to emphasize the "based on a book series" angle, rather than the "muuuuch better known as a video game" approach to promote The Witcher, but this doesn't look like Netflix's answer to the high-minded fantasy of Game of Thrones...

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Jul 22 2019

That Ain't Witchcraft, by Seanan McGuire

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That Ain't Witchcraft is the eighth novel in Seanan McGuire's InCryptid series, and the author deserves all the fun-book awards: she keeps trotting out installment after installment, each just as lively, imaginative, and entertaining as the others. I've read more impressive standalone fantasies, but I can't remember another series delivering so consistently and fast...

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Jul 22 2019

Weekly Book Giveaway: That Ain't Witchcraft, by Seanan McGuire

2019-07-22-weekly-book-giveaway-that-aint-witchcraft-by-seanan-mcguire

This week's Book Giveaway is That Ain't Witchcraft, the eighth installment in Seanan McGuire's ridiculously entertaining InCryptid series. A full review will follow shortly; this giveaway will run through 7/26/19...

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May 20 2019

Storm Cursed, by Patricia Briggs

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Patricia Briggs is one of the most reliable fantasy writers on my mental list of books to take on a plane. She's less pretentious than Seanan McGuire, way less gross than Laurell K. Hamilton, and better at romance than Charlaine Harris...

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May 20 2019

Weekly Book Giveaway: Storm Cursed, by Patricia Briggs

2019-05-20-weekly-book-giveaway-storm-cursed-by-patricia-briggs

Our latest Book Giveaway is Storm Cursed, the 11th book in Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson series. (Why are the titles in this series so generic-fantasy-lite? I've already read the book, and I still couldn't tell you what "storm cursed" refers to.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/31/19...

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Apr 29 2019

The Casket of Time, by Andri Snaer Magnason

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More books are published in Iceland per capita than anywhere else in the world. A disproportionate number seem to be indistinguishable gloomy thrillers, but a few stand out. Admittedly, Andri Snaer Magnason's The Casket of Time is both thrilling and frequently gloomy, but in an impressively idiosyncratic way...

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Apr 29 2019

Weekly Book Giveaway: The Casket of Time, by Andri Snaer Magnason

2019-04-29-weekly-book-giveaway-the-casket-of-time-by-andri-snaer-magnason

Our latest Book Giveaway is The Casket of Time, written by Icelandic author Andri Snaer Magnason and translated by Björg Árnadóttir and Andrew Cauthery. A full review will follow shortly, but the cover art offers an excellent sense of the contents: 70% prettily imaginative, 30% creepy. This giveaway will run through 5/15/19...

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Apr 22 2019

The Mystery Knight, by George R. R. Martin

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With all the hype and thinkpieces and merchandising tie-ins, I sometimes wonder if I should be watching Game of Thrones, even though I have thoroughly disliked the bits of the books that I've read and I can't stomach depictions of sexual violence. Still, the fan reaction to the show is so enthusiastic and thoughtful that I almost caved—but then I was sent a copy of The Mystery Knight, and it was a helpful reminder of why I've bowed out...

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Mar 25 2019

Beauty, by Robin McKinley

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After last week's review of Leife Shallcross's The Beast's Heart, I decided to re-read Robin McKinley's thematically similar 1978 novel Beauty to see how it held up to my fond childhood memories. Like The Beast's Heart, Beauty does its best to transform the Beauty and the Beast fairytale into something romantic, rather than creepy...

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Mar 18 2019

The Beast's Heart, by Leife Shallcross

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There are some classic stories that just don't lend themselves to PC updates, and “Beauty and the Beast” is one of them. In her book The Beast's Heart, author Leife Shallcross does her best to minimize the fairytale's inherent problems, but there are too many to fully overcome...

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Mar 18 2019

Weekly Book Giveaway: The Beast's Heart, by Leife Shallcross

2019-03-18-weekly-book-giveaway-the-beasts-heart-by-leife-shallcross

Our latest Book Giveaway is Leife Shallcross's The Beast's Heart, the first of two Beauty and the Beast-themed reviews we're planning on over the next couple weeks. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/10/19...

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Mar 11 2019

Weekly Book Giveaway: Binti: The Complete Trilogy by Nnedi Okorafor

2019-03-11-weekly-book-giveaway-binti-the-complete-trilogy-by-nnedi-okorafor

Our latest Book Giveaway is Binti: The Complete Trilogy, a flawed but impressively imaginative fantasy/sci-fi by Nnedi Okorafor. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/10/19...

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Mar 4 2019

Slayer, by Kiersten White

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In my recent review of the BOOM Comics Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, I wondered if the Buffy-centric storytelling well had finally run dry. Bestselling author Kiersten White's new spinoff novel Slayer proves that there is still some life in this 'verse...

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Feb 28 2019

Sign me up

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And in our third and final bit of page-to-screen news this week, here's the only one of the bunch I'm genuinely excited to see: The Changeover, a deeply creepy-looking adaptation of an award-winning YA fantasy novel...

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Feb 11 2019

Sleepless: Vol. 1, by Sarah Vaughn

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A few months ago, I asked my local comic shop owner for his honest opinion of the new Books of Magic reboot. (I loved the original series as a kid, but I've been burned before by the various attempts at re-starting it, and my comics budget is not limitless.) He hesitated—clearly, a sale's a sale—but...

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