All of May 2022, the fantastic #Wyrd and Wonder 2022 meme is in play. Pick your very cool prompt, pick your matching SFF books. It’s all up to you whether you want to do the weekly posts, the book bingo, the readalong, or make a book tag of it all.
This year, the theme is all things forest and woodlands — and here’s a list of some of those forest setting books that I’ve found memorable. Here’s to Mother Nature, who is fascinating both on and outside of page!
Here we are, my favorite entry from the Top Ten Tuesday meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl — favorite books of 2021. This was one post I wasn’t going to miss. I swear I turned my back for a minute to fix up my new house, and lo the whole year has gone by. My 2021 had serious reading blues in the second half, but I still managed to identify top 10 (or more) reads. All to add to your TBR, of course!
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at favorite book settings.
Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by Jana over at That Artsy Reader Girl. Every Tuesday, you pick ten books on that week’s topic. This week, we are looking at books guaranteed to make you smile, aka feel-good books.
Honestly, I think this is my favorite sort of books, irrespective of the genre. I could go on piling books here but will try to restrict it to just ten — for your sake!
Lewis Carroll’s gets a makeover in this old Czech film from 1988. And what a makeover it is!
The movie starts off on an eerie note, when little Alice, troubled and lonely, begins to tell you about her dream. It’s told like a child’s story, even a nursery rhyme, but the movie is clearly intended for older audience.
It’s time to wrap-up the wonderful Wyrd and Wonder challenge. The rule for this last prompt is to describe your five-star reads in five (or near five) words each. Well, I do keep a running list of all my favorite SFF reads HERE, but trying to describe them each in a phrase or less was a completely new exercise!
The Bulfinch Encyclopedia of Mythology states that the twelve most illustrious knights of Emperor Charlemagne of the Holy Roman Empire were called Paladins. Lois McMaster Bujold took this term and applied it to the hero of her 2003 book, The Paladin of Souls, for which she got her fourth Hugo Award.
Paladin of Souls is a fantasy work set in Chalion, a land where religious practice is split among the Five Gods: Father of Winter, Mother of Summer, Son of Autumn, Daughter of Spring, and the Bastard (God of Death). The Five Gods put a curse on Chalion a long time back, and people still suffer from the after-effects. The mythological world-building in this book is absolutely gripping.
Piranesi is fantasy fiction but at its heart, it is a mystery. And what a mind-boggling, thought-provoking mystery it is.
A house with at least 7000 halls, giant statues, sea tides and migratory birds has only 2 inhabitants: Piranesi and The Other. Where have all the other humans gone? Does the House leave secret messages for Piranesi, even as he struggles to record all that he sees there? And why is The Other searching for secrets of immortality and other occultist knowledge?
“Can a magician kill a man by magic?” Lord Wellington asked Strange.
Strange frowned. He seemed to dislike the question. “I suppose a magician might,” he admitted, “but a gentleman never could.”
Ironically, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke is the exact reverse of this contemplation. It is the downhill path that a magician’s ambition must inevitably take him. If you are looking for a finger-biting adventure into the hearts of men, look no further.
The book is based on an alternative history of England, when magicians once used to rule the land. The most illustrious of these was John Uskglass, or the Raven King. For some unknown reason, Raven King wrapped up his Faerie courts one day and vanished. With him, magic disappeared from England for centuries.
Books 1 & 2: Goblin Moon / Hobgoblin Night by Teresa Edgerton
Genres / Tropes: 18th Century Alternative History, Fantasy, Alchemy, Search for Atlantis and Philosopher’s Stone, Zorro-like Vigilantes
Published: 1991 / 2015
Similar Books: Sorcery & Cecilia by Caroline Stevermer and Patricia Wrede, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke, Books by Georgette Heyer, Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater, The Death of the Necromancer by Martha Wells, The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens, The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Orczy
Rating: 10 of 10. Highly Recommended.
Two alchemists try to raise a dead magician who may know how to make the Seramarias Stone. Two women try to flee a vengeful fairie halfling and her troll minions. A secret glassmakers guild plans to raise a submerged Atlantis-like island. A half-mad, sleepdust-addicted Zorro-like vigilante risks all to expose black magic cartels and the slavers’ trade. And no one can make sense of the homunculus and the golem out in the world. Clearly, a lot happens!
