doesnāt have to be wizards and elves and that, all types of fantasy welcome. Gormenghast chat belongs in here as does magic realism etc
bonus points for recommendations that encourage inclusivity so if youāve got recommendations for fantasy books etc created by as wide a range of people as possible that would be fab.
Some people have very strong feelings about Tolkein, which is fine but letās keep it light and not let it dominate the thread.
Currently reading The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin and it is really excellent. Fantasy, but about as powerful an anti-racist message as youāll find in any writing.
Got a self-imposed rule where Iām not allowed to read two white male authored books in a row. Currently on my list are
Rain Wild Chronicles by Robin Hobb (not really into the dragon stuff and want to get back to the Fitz and Fool stuff)
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
Black Leopard Red Wolf by Marlon James (about a third through and taking a break, canāt decide if Iām enjoying it)
Emergency Skin by N. K. Jemisin (bloody love her)
Think Iāve given up on Kushielās Dart by Jacqueline Carey. Itās supposed to be good sexy fantasy but itās got a bad habit of doing the same thing the makes Sanderson totally unreadable to me, which is dumping a load of made up words onto the page in lieu of actual patient world building.
Iām going to kick things off with one of my favourite fantasy novels of all time: Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke. This is one of the few books Iāve read in the last however many years that actually justifies being 600 pages long. When I first read it I was really lukewarm on it for the first 200 pages or so and then it really got me. I think you have to appreciate the very very dry way itās written and the fact that so much of it is mocking self-important and flawed men through the lens of magic.
I love the way that it deals with magic: the contrast between the ātheoretical magiciansā who just sit around their books arguing about the academic minutaie of magic without ever actually doing any and the āpractical magiciansā who have almost limitless power but are bounded by their own worldviews. Itās utterly utterly wonderful 5*s.
Probably going to re-read the Patrick Rothfuss stuff before the third one comes out but (hot take alert) unless thereās a magnificent heel turn and the whole thing until now has been epic bullshitting by an unreliable narrator then those books are actually trash.
Yeah. If it ends up being, effectively, a parody of white male power fantasyā¦ fantasy then itāll be great, but if itās being played straight then it needs to get in the fucking sea.
Itās actually coming out soon? Spent the first 2 waiting for something to happenā¦ It felt at the beginning that were going to be loads of incredible things happening. But no incredible things happened. But they were very readable, so Iāll read the next one.
Reading Howlās Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones at the minute. Itās a lot of fun. Not sure how she passed me by when I was a kid. Then going to keep being on the NK Jemisin Train and read The Obelisk Gate.
The first 200 pages are very frustrating. Their very deliberately dry which changes as soon as Mr Strange arrives.
Itās a great book and I really like the TV show as well, itās a very good adaption.
