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It's Monday, and the call for the SBD has been issued.  So it's time to gush or snark or whatever verb you like about romance.   

My topic today isn't about romance so much.  Over the weekend I read a fantasy novel that I loved.  I loved it so much that I want to hug it close and call it Precioussss.  Okay, maybe not because that's a little creepy.  But I really ought to write down what I loved so much, like a review.  Duh.   Except I can't really think of anything coherent to say, other than:  Go.  Buy.  Now.   I really enjoy Patricia Briggs's Mercy Thompson urban fantasy series, but I think maybe her Hurog duology is better.

And my weekend long squee about Hurog got me thinking -- why don't I read more straight fantasy?  I mean, I love Bujold's Chalion and Sharing Knife series.  And Novik's Temeraire series.  So why I don't I read it more?  Well, because a lot of the classic fantasy I read as a teenager didn't thrill me.  (Sorry, couldn't finish Tolkein's LotR series.)  And the fantasy that I tried in the past either wasn't so good or didn't really speak to me.  Frankly, until I started getting recs online, fantasy really felt  like it was all about a Boy and His Dragon.  And I mean that literally, "dragon" is not a euphemism for a body part or a wank or an orgasm.  Although, now that I think about it, I  like the idea of "dragon" as the code word for orgasm.  Can you imagine a heroine in an erotic romance gasping that the dragon was almost there?  *snorts*  I know, too much, right?  

Back to the Boy and His Dragon -- until relatively recently, all the fantasy I'd read seemed really male-centric; the women were pretty interchangable and disposable.  Not very interesting to me, frankly.  But I'm sure there's more good stuff out there.  Anybody got recommendations for me?

Juliet Marillier is on the TBR list, as is Charles de Lint.  I like Catherine Asaro and Jim Butcher.  I loved War for the Oaks.  I don't care for Mercedes Lackey or Marion Zimmer Bradley.

Date: 2008-02-05 02:18 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] tinyluv.livejournal.com
The Daughter of the Forest series by Marillier is incredibly moving. Hmm. Must think on this. . . .

Date: 2008-02-05 05:22 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Nominating the completely obvious - do you read Pratchett? He's my autobuy fantasy author.
I tried a book by Charles de Lint a couple of months ago, because he gets great reviews, but I couldn't get into him. Don't know if I started at the wrong place in the series, but I suspect it just wasn't my thing. Dianne Wynne Jones? I read a couple of hers lately that I liked, just not enough to start chasing down her backlist.
Neil Gaiman? Would you call him fantasy? I buy him, because I love his writing to bits - yet somehow I don't love the books themselves.

I read a lot as a teenager - Anne McCaffrey, Andre Norton, Robin McKinley - all those sorts of people - but I don't know that I'd recommend them now. (Only read LoTR once - and that was because I was in bed with flu - but I reread The Hobbit so many times.)


Marianne McA

Date: 2008-02-06 03:44 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chikkorae.livejournal.com
Wow, most of the authors you mentioned are among my favorites! I like Mercy Thompson, but love C.E. Murphy's Walker Papers better. They're also urban fantasy, but more mythological. I think the first in the series is Urban Shaman. Kim Harrison has a great urban fantasy series as well. If you read science fiction as well as fantasy, both Elizabeth Moon (Vatta's War series, or Serrano Legacy) and Tanya Huff (Confederation novels) write strong female leads. I very highly recommend Melanie Rawn's Exiles fantasy series, starting with The Ruins of Ambrai.

Lynn Flewelling

Date: 2008-02-06 04:34 pm (UTC)
From: (Anonymous)
Hi,

I generally lurk, but I could resist recommending the Bone Doll's Twin by Lynn Flewelling, it is the first in a trilogy and is wonderful. I raced to the bookstore after reading it to get the second and third books.

Robin F

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