Friday&Fantasy

NB: This is an old post, but I’m reposting as I’ve been thinking and reading some fantasy or SFF-adjacent things lately. Since writing this I’ve had it confirmed that Harkness was in fact “inspired” by the Twilight-books, or maybe fascinated by the success of them. I really recommend the episode with her in the Shakespeare unlimited podcast. I must also admit that I still think about the Beckie book. It was a slow burner but it has stayed with me./S

I’ve been on a bit of a fantasy kick lately. I talk a lot about season appropriate reading, and fantasy for me is a wintertime fave. But fantasy for me has also always been about escapism and distraction. And so, with everything being what it is in the world and my life, I’ve gravitated towards a little fantasy to get a break from reality. That said, I haven’t been altogether successful in getting distracted.

As much as I liked The Raven Tower by Ann Leckie it is more of a reflective novel with a fantasy backdrop, and as the themes of power, politics and faith are at the centre of the story, and few simple answers are given, it didn’t distract me but rather made me think. Although it didn’t really push me that far in that direction either. It was good but not great. It was a book very much about the ideas, but those ideas were too vague or maybe too broad to form the basis of a discussion (on the page or in life). As a stand alone novel it ends up being both too much and not enough. If Leckie writes more books in this world then it might be a bigger narrative that makes sense in the end. If you want something similar, but meatier, I recommend City of Stairs by Robert Bennet Jackson (I hope to read the second and third book in this series soon).

Then there was my foray into the All souls universe: I read Shadow of Night and The book of life pretty much back to back. I loved the former and enjoyed the latter but it left very little impression in the end. One thing that I was really wondering when reading The book of life was if Harkness was inspired by the Twilight books? There are things in it that made me think about Twilight (which I only read a few pages of before giving up as it was so poorly written. I made it through 50 shades with the aid of alcohol and powering thorough on stubbornness because I was gonna write a piece about it). In any case I wouldn’t be surprised (although I can’t be bothered to find out either). I am debating if I should go back and read the first book as I have only seen the series but have at least liked the other books and might be pleasantly distracted. Shadow of night gave me everything that I want from fantasy, it is hard to top that. It was so nice for there to be a fantasy book where people actually had sex, and seemed to have a healthy attitude towards it. Shadow of night seems to be a divisive book though: many people comment that they were bored by it but a few seemed to share my love. We can all be objective about writing but what stories we love is entirely subjective.

Which brings me to my current fantasy read: The name of the wind by Patrick Rothfuss. So many people have loved it, it came highly recommended. My tentative thoughts (I’m halfway through it): it is the storyline from Harry Potter with a very standard high fantasy world. Which means pretty much it is a very classic high fantasy novel where orphans are common and they are often on their own in the world because someone murdered their parents. Well-written but I’m not very impressed. I miss the nuance and complexities of a Hobb novel. I am not as wowed by the world building as I have been by say Arden’s books about Vasya, or Hearne’ s books about the Otori-clan. I’m entertained, it is very readable, but leaves very little mark. I kind of wish I had reread the Harry Potter books instead, not all of them mind you but my faves. We’ll see if I decided to read the second book in this series or choose something different altogether.

-Suss