Fantasy Fiction

[ladyvorkosigan]

The Hero and the Crown is one of my favs! I've been a huge Robin Mckinley fan since I was a kid. I hope she comes out with something new soon!

I've been reading the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb and I've really enjoyed it. I'm starting on the Tawny man trilogy next.

[chiqui]

He was writing the twelfth book when he died. His wife/editor hired another author to finish it using Jordan's notes and audio recordings of how he'd planned to end things. The series started going downhill about halfway through, but at least there will finally be a conclusion. And whatever I thought about the quality of the later books, during his illness Jordan seemed committed to doing his best to ensure that if the worst happened his fans would still get an official ending to WOT, so I have to appreciate that.

I think I'd given up after Book 5 or 6, the one where half the main characters join a traveling circus (?) Gah, I don't even remember 99/100s of the plot any more. It's been a long time.

[Auroranorth]

Jan 5, 2009 14:08:55 GMT -4 Sunnyhorse said:

The book was Mona Lisa Awakening (Monere: Children of the Moon, Book 1) by an author simply known as "Sunny" - a porn writer name if I'd ever I'd heard one.

I'm heading out to the barn right now to tell my horse (the source of my handle here) that he needs to get busy earning his keep.

I bet the horse could write better than she does!

[Mouse]

Jan 6, 2009 4:07:57 GMT -4 ladyvorkosigan said:

The Hero and the Crown is one of my favs! I've been a huge Robin Mckinley fan since I was a kid. I hope she comes out with something new soon!

I wish she'd do another Damar book.

Can anyone recommend other sword-and-sorcery books with female protagonists?

[Deleted]

Jan 6, 2009 4:07:57 GMT -4 ladyvorkosigan said:

I've been reading the Farseer trilogy by Robin Hobb and I've really enjoyed it. I'm starting on the Tawny man trilogy next.

If you're not too impatient to get to the Tawny Man trilogy, like I was, I would recommend reading the Liveship Traders series first! I read that the Liveship books were supposed to come next, but I flipped through them and it was completely different characters in a completely different place, so I didn't see why I needed to read them right then and didn't. But after I finished Tawny Man and came back to them I wished I had. Some of the stakes that are raised in the Tawny Man series make more sense if you've read the Liveship books first. The plots are different but some things that you're supposed to be invested in start to be set in motion in those books.

I love Robin Hobb in general - I think she wrote some great female characters in the Liveship trilogy (I hated almost all of them at the beginning, but I was really impressed by the way she had them all grow and become more likeable and formidable while still retaining their original personalities) - but I could not get into Shaman's Crossing and still have not finished that trilogy.

I'll be damned if I can think of a single good chick-sword-and-sorcery story right now, Robin McKinley aside.

[ladyvorkosigan]

Jan 8, 2009 0:46:18 GMT -4 @marchingpenguin said:

If you're not too impatient to get to the Tawny Man trilogy, like I was, I would recommend reading the Liveship Traders series first! I read that the Liveship books were supposed to come next, but I flipped through them and it was completely different characters in a completely different place, so I didn't see why I needed to read them right then and didn't. But after I finished Tawny Man and came back to them I wished I had. Some of the stakes that are raised in the Tawny Man series make more sense if you've read the Liveship books first. The plots are different but some things that you're supposed to be invested in start to be set in motion in those books.

I was starting to figure that out (I just finished The Golden Fool) with the little hints in the books. I was guessing that the Fool was in the Liveships trilogy, which is enough for me to pick it up. I love the Fool - such a great character. Hmm, I was going to go out and get the last book in the trilogy today, but maybe I'll spring for the first in the Liveship trilogy.

I can't think of any sword-and-sorcery books, either. For just sorcery, Shannon Hale's Goose Girl (YA) series has great protagonists. For adult books, Lois McMaster Bujold's fantasy series set in Chalion do pretty well, too. The first book Curse of Chalion has a male protagonist, but is really good. The second Palladin of Souls has a "middle aged" woman as a protagonist. It's really well done.

[smockery]

Can anyone recommend other sword-and-sorcery books with female protagonists?

There's always the Deed of Paksennarion series by Elizabeth Moon. Also, the Lioness Quartet and The Immortals Quartet by Tamora Pierce have strong female characters. Really, most anything by Pierce is good.

[Deleted]

I recently started reading Patricia Briggs novels. The Mercy Thompson books are quite fun but starting to go into "VI Warshawski/Kinsey Millhone" territory. Does the heroine have to be gravely injured in some manner in every book? Sure, VI/Kinsey/Mercy are dangerous women in very dangerous circumstances, but cut them a break!

And I would be really happy if these authors don't resort to rape in these books. That shit is heinous, yo. There are other dangers to go through.

For sheer fun, I like the Kelley Armstrong "Women of the Otherworld" series. I've read most of them and even kept a few!

[Cranky Old Broad]

So I picked up a book at the store the other day, expecting it to be a vampire/fantasy novel (a genre I have a weakness for, I admit). It was Dark Curse by Christine Feehan.



First of all, I didn't realize it was something like the 16th book in the Carpathian series so I was pretty much lost. _{Are the Carpathians vampires or not? They sure seem like it to me with their need for feeding on blood and not being able to be out in the sunlight. But I appreciate when an author changes "canon" and goes in a different direction.}

What I wasn't expecting was the explicit sex that included damned-close-to-being-forced fellatio. The fantasy novel turned into a Penthouse Forum letter. I'm not a prude and I enjoy an arousing story as much as the next gal but I think that's the first time I've picked up a book in the fantasy genre and been blind-sided by such sexual detail. It certainly didn't further the story, IMO.

Has anyone else read anything by her?

[Deleted]

Jan 22, 2009 1:25:43 GMT -4 Cranky Old Broad said:

So I picked up a book at the store the other day, expecting it to be a vampire/fantasy novel (a genre I have a weakness for, I admit). It was Dark Curse by Christine Feehan.



First of all, I didn't realize it was something like the 16th book in the Carpathian series so I was pretty much lost. _{Are the Carpathians vampires or not? They sure seem like it to me with their need for feeding on blood and not being able to be out in the sunlight. But I appreciate when an author changes "canon" and goes in a different direction.}

What I wasn't expecting was the explicit sex that included damned-close-to-being-forced fellatio. The fantasy novel turned into a Penthouse Forum letter. I'm not a prude and I enjoy an arousing story as much as the next gal but I think that's the first time I've picked up a book in the fantasy genre and been blind-sided by such sexual detail. It certainly didn't further the story, IMO.

Has anyone else read anything by her?

I went to her website and did a little reading. Her Dark Series reads like vampiric romance novels, hence the explicit sex. I might get one from the library, although I had stopped reading romance novels a long time ago.