Fantasy Book Review

Jake Seliger writes The Story’s Story, a book and literature blog, and is a graduate student in English at the University of Arizona. Patrick Kurp ponders why he doesn’t like fantasy, writing that “[It] feels like a cheat, an evasion, a con game for stunted children.” Maybe: but to my mind, it opens other avenues for looking at the world and goes places realism doesn’t. Good fantasy develops its own codes and limitations; it is different from and reflects our world.

Demon bears take human shape and devils walk in the north of a world where every hill hosts a god and every river and spring a goddess. The storyteller Moth draws Ulfleif, a warrior-princess who would rather carry a lyre than a sword, into an unfinished tale, and old lays of vengeance and betrayal wake into bloody new life around her.

One thing that stayed with me after finishing the book was the way in which the author approached the battle scenes - the emphasis was very much on the futility and horror of war and not the honour, bravery and glory that many fantasy authors incorporate into these chapters. Mark A. Cropper joined the army as a sixteen year old and hated the experience; perhaps this explains the approach to the battle scenes.

Across the galaxy, the Clone Wars are raging. The Separatists, led by Count Dooku, the onetime Jedi and now secret Sith Lord, continue to press forward, and more and more worlds are either falling, or seeding and joining the cause. Under the leadership of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, the Republic heroically battles ion, championed by its huge army of cloned soldiers and their Jedi generals.

Born on the flying city of Newton, Pirian Horncastle has always felt the weight of the Erth pulling him towards his destiny. He and his parents are among the very few inhabitants who remain free of the ‘Dosage’ – a controlling drug that turns most of the population into psychopaths. When Pirian’s father, Jeradon Horncastle, is falsely accused for the murder of their emperor, both are outcast into the raging seas below. Washed ashore, they are brought to the attention of the Rojin, a spiritual people and the very soul of their immortal leader in the palm of their hands.

The fantasy genre has long been bereft of strong female characters and Jayel Gibson likes to feature “strong female characters who do not hesitate to stand up for themselves”. This is something she has certainly achieved... I would recommend Quondam to those looking for romantic fantasy with strong female characters.

Golgotha Falls: a city of carnal nightmare and monstrous appetite, nowhere in all the worlds of empire will you find its equal. Golgotha Falls is the stunning debut novel by author George Udenkwo - a breathtaking mixture of gothic, horror, science fiction and fantasy. Follow Lady Desdemona , the spider god, as sixteen spell-binding tales unfold the chronicles of this new age medusa, a hero unlike any you have ever encounterd before.

The events in Storm of Swords overlap the ending of the second book, A Clash of Kings. I have to admit to not enjoying Clash of Kings overly, something I discovered placed me in a minority. Looking back I feel that I was a bit lazy when reading it, characters are thrown at you at a not inconsiderable rate of knots and you can either use the handy cast of characters at the beginning of the book to refresh your memory when you get lost or you can do what I did… carry on regardless hoping that everything will become clear in time....

In English now for the first time - The Legend of the Ice People has already captivated 25 million readers across Europe. Winter 1581: a deadly plague outbreak robs sixteen-year old peasant girl Silje of all her family. Homeless, starving and shepherding two abandoned children, she stumbles out of the corpse-strewn streets of Trondheim on Norway's northern coast...

Martin’s works are often dark, brooding and imbued with a strong sense of melancholy. Reviewers of his books suggest that his writings are not for those in search of joy or of an uplifting experience. One of Martin’s strongest points is his attention to detail when creating his characters. This dedication leads to the reader becoming attached to, and caring deeply about the outcome of the characters. The characters are complex and multi-faceted, all with involved pasts and entangled ambitions.

Born of a Swedish aristocratic mother and a working class father, Margit has drawn deeply on her own rich and varied life and Europe's history in creating a wide body of fictional work that is always passionate, mysterious, earthy, often erotic and imbued above all else with a powerful narrative drive. She numbers Scottish royalty, Pomeranian dukes and duchesses and a robber chief or two amongst her ancestry - her own father was the illegitimate son of the Norwegian Nobel-prize winning author, Bjornstjerne Bjornson.

The making of the Rings - In 1981, BBC Radio 4 broadcast the first episode of the serialisation of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Brian Sibley recounts. The recording of the Rings - Director Jane Morgan talks about the casting, music and the feeling of euphoria that accommpanied the recording of the BBC's serialisation of The Lord of the Rings.