Fantasy Archives - Page 7 of 21 - Introverted Reader

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson: Book Review

Elisa is a Bearer of the Godstone. Born to the royal family, a bright light engulfed her on her Name Day and left her with a Godstone in her navel. Bearers are marked to carry out a special act of service and they're only born about every hundred years. Unfortunately, they don't tend to live long enough to complete their service. Elisa doesn't really fit into her own home. Her sister is the one being groomed to rule. Elisa just likes to study her books and, honestly, eat her sorrows. When she finds herself suddenly married off to a neighboring king, she has no idea what to expect. She sets off to be Queen of a country she's never seen. A mutual enemy is threatening their borders, her new husband doesn't seem to know what to do, and since he's decided to keep their marriage a secret, she has no idea what she's supposed to do here either. I really liked this. Elisa was by no means a perfect heroine. She struggles with her weight and with her own emotional insecurities. But she's an intelligent woman and she's always willing to try her best. She might not be the most charismatic princess but she has an honesty about her that tends to resonate with people once they stop judging her by her weight. I knew there would have to be more to her than what she appeared to be at first glance but the amount of her growth was astonishing. I was incredibly proud of her as she came into her own. Her story took many twists and turns that kept surprising me. Just when I thought she would settle into one place/story, everything would suddenly change and I would read along anxiously to see how she would handle this…

Seraphina by Rachel Hartman: Book Review

Seraphina is working at the royal court when a prince is murdered. Even though her country has been at peace with the dragons for decades, many people believe a dragon killed the prince. Tensions start rising in the city just as the dragon ruler is due for a state visit to celebrate the signing of the peace treaty. Seraphina starts investigating what happened to the prince and following up on rumors of a rogue dragon in the countryside. But can she hide her own secrets while ferreting out someone else's? I honestly hadn't heard of this until my husband decided to buy it for me for my birthday last year. He's a brave man; choosing books that I haven't asked for can go terribly wrong but he picked a winner! I really liked Seraphina. She's trying so hard to do the right thing for everyone and the secrets that she's keeping are some big ones. She feels bad for lying all the time but she doesn't see any way around it. In her shoes, I wouldn't either. She's a smart girl though and she's much braver than she gives herself credit for. She might not decide to be brave on her own behalf but she's a lion when it comes to looking out for the underdog. I love that about her. Of course there's a love interest. I'll keep his name to myself. But I loved him too. He's also brave and curious and trying to do the right thing. He has some major twists and turns to deal with and I found his reactions to be pitch perfect. Not immediately accepting but not close-minded either. I like him a lot. I did not see the ending coming at all! I'm so happy nowadays when I can say that! There's…

The Child Thief by Brom: Book Review

In this very, very dark telling of Peter Pan, Peter is abused and unwelcome everywhere he wanders until he stumbles onto the island of Avalon. There, he finally carves out a home for himself, although not without a certain amount of danger. As conditions on the island deteriorate, Peter recruits children from the world of men to come live on his island and help fight the battle to save Avalon and his Lady. I haven't read Peter Pan and I only have vague memories of the Disney movie, which I didn't care for. So I can't say anything about how this compares to the original source. I can say that it worked for me. Peter's mother is a human and we only get a vague hint that his father is some sort of forest spirit. He lives up to that lineage admirably. He can be serious, playful, deadly dangerous, funny, loyal, and unforgiving in the space of a few heartbeats. His temperament can only be described as mercurial. As such, I was never entirely sure whether I should be rooting for him to succeed or not. I could tell he definitely had an ulterior motive or three but I didn't know if I should sort him out to be a hero or a villain. It was nice to be kept on my toes! Honestly, I still don't know what to think of him. I guess he's more like a force of nature--he just is. The children he recruits to come to Avalon call themselves Devils. They were heart-breaking. The first chapter is very disturbing, with Peter saving a little girl from another night of being molested by her father. Holy cow. That was not what I expected from Peter Pan! But once I thought about it, those are exactly the…

The Sleeping Beauty by Mercedes Lackey: Book Review

In the Five Hundred Kingdoms, a force called the Tradition tries to fit likely young men and women down the well-trod paths of fairy tale characters. Now it's trying to work its magic on Princess Rosamund but Godmother Lily is doing her best to thwart it. The Queen has just died and Lily sees the Tradition building, trying to force Rosmund into the role of Snow White. Lily consults with the King and they agree that Lily should secretly fulfill the role of "evil stepmother." Someone else is trying to play off the Tradition's magic though and a huntsman really does make off with Rosamund. After a rescue in which not one but two Prince/Hero types play a part, Rosa and Lily join forces to help Rosa choose her own destiny and ensure the safety of their small but wealthy kingdom once and for all. The title of this one is a little misleading. There is actually more of Snow White or Rapunzel than Sleeping Beauty here. Still, I enjoy this series for the way the traditional stories are turned upside down and this mish-mash works for me. Rosa and Lily are very likable characters. They very much set their own courses. Rosa has learned how to cook and sew, just in case she finds herself in a setting where Tradition would require those skills. She's learned diplomacy and common sense from her mother, a commoner who married the King for love. Lily is a powerful Godmother who manages a particularly difficult kingdom alone and with ingenious solutions. Her arc is secondary, but I really liked it. I definitely liked Siegfried. He's the descendant of-- let's call them Norse gods. He's become aware of the Tradition's power as well and he's doing his best to avoid an Oedipus-like fate that…

Trader by Charles de Lint: Book Review

Max Trader is a luthier who wakes up one morning in a body not his own. After the initial panic and a little further investigation, Trader finds out that charming, womanizing rake, Johnny Devlin, has wished for a different life and somehow they have traded bodies. Devlin has no intention of trying to switch back. He gets a fresh start while Trader tries to navigate his way through the wreckage of Johnny's life. While learning about Johnny, though, Devlin learns a few things about his own life and how he needs to start living as large as trees, to paraphrase. Characters, characters, characters. What draws me to Charles de Lint are his characters, and he did not disappoint with this one. Trader is a mild-mannered kind of guy, mostly forgettable except for his talent, but he's willing to learn from this unbelievable experience he has. He learns to live his life to the fullest and not take a single day for granted. So that one's obvious. What makes this a de Lint book is that even the secondary characters grow and learn and change. Trader and Devlin's switch is like a stone thrown into a still pond: the effects ripple out in ways that you don't see coming. Even minor characters learn self-acceptance, the value of having your own life outside of a relationship, acceptance of others, forgiveness, open-mindedness and all kinds of Important Life Lessons. I've loaned out my copy already or I would throw out a couple of quotes that sum all of this up much better than I can. Expect to see a revised version of this review when I get my copy back. Finally got it back! "The thing to do is to be happy with yourself, with what's in your own life; then if a…

The Company by K. J. Parker: Book Review

A group of comrades-in-arms have almost all gone back to live in the rural area where they came from. Some are faring better than others but they all seem to be at a loss as to what to do with themselves now that the war is over. Things change when their long-time leader, Kunessin, finally retires from the military and comes back to ask them to form a colony on an island with him, free from all care. They'll hire some indentured servants, find some wives, and they'll all live happily ever after. The company agrees, they set off, new wives and servants in tow, and find that life on the island is not as easy or as simple as they expected it to be. This author was very highly recommended to me by an old friend from high school. I haven't seen her in years but I've seen enough of her on Facebook to trust her recommendations. I chose this book to start with because I could easily download it from the library website rather than waiting a week or so for a physical copy of another work to transfer in to my local library. I felt a little hesitation on her part when I said I had picked this book but she didn't actively dissuade me from reading it. She just warned me to make a list of the character names. Good thing because I couldn't even remember who was whom among the five main characters, much less the wives and servants. It was a losing battle from the get-go. To me, that signals a lack of good characterization. I have read books with much longer lists of characters and never even hesitated as to who they were (A Song of Ice and Fire is the immediate example.…

A Dash of Magic by Kathryn Littlewood: Book Review

**SPOILERS FOR THE 1ST IN THE SERIES, BLISS** Rosemary Bliss feels incredibly guilty; she lost her family's magical cookbook to her evil Aunt Lily and now everything in their hometown of Calamity Falls just feels drab. To make matters worse, Aunt Lily is everywhere Rose turns--on the TV, on the radio, and now on the grocery store shelves with Lily's Magic Ingredient. Something has to be done. Rose and her older brother Ty sneak onto the set of Lily's TV show, where Rose challenges Lily to a bake-off. Basically, whoever wins the prestigious Gala des Gâteaux Grands in Paris gets to keep the magical Bliss Family Cookery Booke. With an assortment of Bliss family members, talking animals, and magic ingredients, Rose flies off to Paris to do her best in the world-class competition. I still love this series! I hate to cook, but I have a sweet tooth that won't quit, so baking is right up my alley. The Bliss family are all so quirky and endearing that I just have to love them. Earnest Rose who feels more responsibility for everything than she should; charming Ty, trying to win over all the ladies; funny Sage with his microphone hoping to mine his conversations for hstandup comedy gold; and little bewitched Leigh, spouting off Lily's praises at every turn. They're funny and adorable and so loyal to each other. I just love them. The other characters are great too. Balthazar Bliss, a many-times-great grandfather, is roped in to help and he's cranky and funny. His talking cat, Gus, is delightfully sarcastic but comes through when he's needed. A talking mouse, Jacques, finds himself involved as well and discovers that his bravery is much bigger than his tiny body. They all add to the fun of this magical little book. The…

Drawing Down the Moon: Book Review

Charles Vess's fantasy artwork has been collected in a beautiful volume. I love just about every piece of art in this book. The few that I don't like are probably the few that are science fiction. I am not at all knowledgeable about art so I can't write in any kind of meaningful way about it. I do know what I like and I most definitely like this. I tried hard to take my time poring over this book. I can flip way too fast through illustrated books, focusing too much on the words. I knew that Vess hides a lot of details in his work and it would be worth the time to look carefully at every page. It was. The vibrant colors, the classic fantasy elements with the occasional modern twist thrown in, this collection was all that I expected it to be and more. The problem is that now I want to add all of the books he's worked on to my wishlist! He's been a busy man! I already own quite a few of them because he tends to collaborate with authors I love in their own right, such as Charles de Lint and Neil Gaiman. I did not realize that Vess had worked on an illustrated edition of George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series but now that I do, I feel the burning need to own it. Unfortunately, it was apparently a limited edition and is now pretty much unavailable or way beyond my means. Here's hoping for a wider release. Fans of fantasy art and/or writing will love this collection. It will be displayed proudly in my home. Find author Charles Vess on his website and Facebook. Buy Drawing Down the Moon at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I…

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs: Book Review

Jacob Portman grew up believing every word of his beloved grandfather's fantastic stories--the levitating girl, the invisible boy, the strong children. Grandpa Portman claimed to have grown up with them all in a special orphanage in Wales. As Jake grows older though, he realizes that the stories can't possibly be true. After Grandpa's shocking death, Jake has a hard time. He witnessed everything and he can't believe what he saw. He's either going crazy or the world is a scarier place than he realized. He feels that the answers to his questions lie back in that Welsh orphanage. He convinces his father to take him for a visit, and Jake finds much more than he expects. I loved this! It was so different and quirky. I feel pretty safe saying that if the cover and a quick flip through the pages entice you, you'll love it as well. The one thing that knocked my rating back a little is that it occasionally felt as if the weird old photographs were dragged in. They didn't always present anything that was necessary for the story, so it pulled me out of the flow a little bit. But mostly it worked very, very well. I liked Jake, but the peculiar children...I really liked them, especially Emma in the end. Their peculiar abilities were very cool to read about, especially after seeing their pictures. I really didn't have a clue where the plot was going so I just sat back and enjoyed the ride. It took some very unexpected twists and turns and I have to say that I'm looking forward to the next installment. I highly recommend this for anyone who likes a taste of the inexplicable in their fiction. Thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy for review. The paperback…

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale: Book Review

Miri is a small teenage girl from the mountains. She feels inadequate in her village because she isn't allowed to help in the quarry, the lifeblood of trade. She tries her best to help every way she can, but she just knows that everyone must think she's a burden. One day, with the spring traders, a delegate from the faraway court arrives. He announces that the priests have divined that the prince will find his princess in their village. All girls between the ages of 12 and 18 must go down the mountain to where a Princess Academy has been set up to teach them all that they must know to be fit to be a princess. This wasn't my favorite of Shannon Hale's books (That would be Goose Girl, followed closely by Book of a Thousand Days), but I still liked it. I felt that it had a good message for young girls about learning what you can, speaking up for yourself and others, helping others, and being happy with your own talents instead of focusing on what you can't do. It did all this without being preachy in the least. I liked the girls. Miri was by far the most well-developed, but they all had their little (or big) dreams. They are of course changed by their lessons but they still remain true to who they were before. Miri was a plucky little thing and I admired her courage. I suspected how everything would end up from really early on, but I still enjoyed the journey to get there. I highly recommend this for tween girls. Read an excerpt. Find author Shannon Hale on her website, her blog, Facebook, and Twitter. Buy Princess Academy at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship with Malaprop's, my…