Book #110 of 2019: Fool’s Fate by Robin Hobb (The Tawny Man #3) On balance, this final volume in Robin Hobb’s The Tawny Man trilogy probably has too much falling action after the major plot stakes are resolved. And it’s odd that the Piebald threat which loomed so heavily over the previous books is mostly …
Tag Archives: fantasy
Book Review: Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey
Book #108: Magic for Liars by Sarah Gailey This debut novel from author Sarah Gailey goes far on its concept of a non-magical detective investigating a murder at a school for young mages, but the worldbuilding is nothing special — more The Magicians than Harry Potter — and the procedural elements could have been a …
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Book Review: The Gameshouse by Claire North
Book #105 of 2019: The Gameshouse by Claire North This book collects three novellas from author Claire North, previously published independently in 2015. Together they tell of a secret society who play wide-ranging games of skill and chance for fantastical stakes of extended life, memory theft, and more. North utilizes an omniscient first-person plural perspective …
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Book Review: Golden Fool by Robin Hobb
Book #100 of 2019: Golden Fool by Robin Hobb (The Tawny Man #2) This second Tawny Man novel is as slow-paced as the rest of author Robin Hobb’s wider Elderlings saga, but it benefits tremendously by situating its hero back at his old home of Buckkeep with a variety of interesting people to bounce off …
Book Review: Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling
Book #99 of 2019: Luck in the Shadows by Lynn Flewelling (Nightrunner #1) There are some fun moments of swashbuckling fantasy spycraft in this 1996 series debut, but the worldbuilding is fairly minimal and the plot often feels like a generic tabletop campaign that anyone could have wandered into rather than anything arising from these …
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TV Review: Game of Thrones, season 8
TV #16 of 2019: Game of Thrones, season 8 The final season of this powerhouse HBO fantasy drama is both entertaining and frustrating for long-time fans. Well past the most recently published novel of the source material, the TV writers have been forced to use their own judgment (along with input from original author George …
Book Review: Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb
Book #91 of 2019: Fool’s Errand by Robin Hobb (The Tawny Man #1) As expected for the seventh entry in her larger Elderlings saga, the world of Robin Hobb’s first Tawny Man novel feels quite well-developed and lived-in at this point. And it’s a real thrill to revisit the surviving characters from her initial Farseer …
Book Review: Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin
Book #88 of 2019: Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin (A Targaryen History #1) One of the main attractions of George R.R. Martin’s famous A Song of Ice and Fire series, as well as its HBO adaptation Game of Thrones, is the richly textured backstory that the author has built up for his fantasy …
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Book Review: The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons
Book #86 of 2019: The Ruin of Kings by Jenn Lyons (A Chorus of Dragons #1) I like that this massive fantasy tome from debut author Jenn Lyons takes some stylistic risks, presenting much of its story as dual-timeline narratives interspersed with comments from a later narrator reviewing both accounts. But there’s so much info-dumping …
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Book Review: Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik
Book #84 of 2019: Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik (Temeraire #2) Having really enjoyed author Naomi Novik’s later standalone fantasy novels Spinning Silver and Uprooted, I figured I should go back and give her debut series another chance. Unfortunately, I feel similarly about this second Temeraire volume as I do the first: delightful characters …
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