Book Review: Starborn by Lucy Hounsom
Kyndra is a seemingly ordinary young woman in a nondescript village in the mountains. Her mother runs an inn, and is a sometimes hard woman, even on the day of Kyndra’s Ceremony. This village does have something unusual in it — an ancient artifact, which, when invoked, will tell you your true name and your future. For decades, as children of the town have come of age, the artifact has guided them to their life and future. When Kyndra is presented to the artifact in her Ceremony, however, the artifact unexpectedly breaks, setting in motion events that will send Kyndra across the continent, and to her true destiny. An initially traditional seeming epic fantasy protagonist and world evolve into a much more nuanced and complex tale in Lucy Hounsom’s debut epic fantasy novel, Starborn.
Book Review: Red Tide, by Marc. J Turner
Epic Fantasy sometimes takes just a dive into the deep waters to swim around to find oneself. Especially in a summary of a book’s plot. To wit: The Rubyholt Isles, to the south of the realms of the Sabian League and to the east of the burgeoning empire of Erin Elal, is a pirate-dominated tangle of dangerous seas and hard men and women. It’s also in the right position that any force from outside wishing to attach the Storm Isles of the Sabian League or land on the continent in the territory of Erin Elal must come to terms with the Isles, first. The pirates are too dangerous a potential adversary, and too valuable a resource, not to. And so when the head of an expeditionary force from the distant Augerans shows up in the Rubyholt Capital, the Storm Isles and the Empire alike take notice, and are forced to take action, before it is too late. Red Tide is the third volume in Marc Turner’s The Chronicles of the Exile, following When the Heavens Fall and Dragon Hunters.
Book Review: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky
A band of heroes, a priestess determined to defeat the evil that threatens the land, and a prophecy that is the necessary fulfillment of conditions to defeat the Dark Lord all sounds like your bog-standard epic fantasy. The typical sort of epic fantasy that has been around since the 1980s and probably written in three or more volumes. Perhaps even one of those interminable series that just keeps going on and on. Almost certainly there would be your typical map, maybe a glossary, or a dramatis personae. In the hands of Adrian Tchaikovsky, however, Spiderlight is a lean short novel. It takes the epic fantasy formula template and in the midst of executing that formula, ruthlessly and entertainingly interrogates and examines it.
Book Review: When the Heavens Fall and The Dragon Hunters by Marc Turner
In the Empire of Fantasy, there are many duchies, kingdoms, republics, city states, freeports and shires. Even the field of epic fantasy, a large chunk of that aforementioned Empire, has a number of subdivisions one can make, based on the particular style of the epic fantasy. Readers who go deep into epic fantasy can tease out the essential differences between Robin Hobb’s style of fantasy to Kate Elliott, or George R R Martin, or Robert Jordan. As these authors have produced novels and created fans, they have in effect helped guide schools of thought within Epic Fantasy. Marc Turner’s Chronicle of the Exile series, starting with When the Heavens Fall and continuing through The Dragon Hunters, falls within a school of fantasy that I attribute and associate most with the works of Steven Erikson in his Malazan universe.
Book Review: COLD IRON by Stina Leicht
High, epic fantasy is perhaps my favorite genre. Yet, its books can easily turn tired and formulaic. Epic fantasy also tends to reach high page counts, both in a given novel and within a giant series, filled with a rich tapestry of characters and world building. But in so doing they can also become bogged-down with superfluous detours and asides. They can balloon into the unmanageable. What I adore about Stina Leicht’s Cold Iron, the first entry in a series entitled The Malorum Gates, is that that she effectively tinkers with many of the genre conventions, merging them with elements more typically stressed in other fiction, while keeping the joy of epic fantasy intact in a hefty read. Nels and his twin sister Suvi are Kainen royalty in the nation of Eledore, and heirs to the throne. The Kainen are an ancient line of magical humanoids capable of compelling other people and animals. But while Suvi is capably ready to lead, Nels remains unassured, hiding his secret weakness in the Kainen magic expected from his genes. At a moment of crisis, Nels’ inability in traditional strengths leads him to breaking taboo, and thereafter following a path developing other talents in the Eledorean military, shunned from royal court.
