Book Review: Elantris

01/04/2021Posted inBook Reviews
Most fantasy stories consist of strings of lengthy books, taking thousands of pages to build worlds, develop characters, and set up larger than life plots and themes. Normally, this is what I love about fantasy, but lately I have been wondering what it would be like to read a stand-alone high fantasy – a single, average-length book with a full plot arc and satisfying conclusion. Enter Elantris. As the first stand-alone fantasy novel I have ever read, Elantris quite frankly blew me away…

Book Review: Foundryside

12/21/2020Posted inBook Reviews
It is surprisingly difficult to find a fantasy heist novel. While specifically looking for good books in this subgenre, the first I came across was Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennet. The jacket blurb was intriguing, and the rating good, so I gave it a shot. I can say it was not at all what I expected, but surprises in fantasy are always welcome! Foundryside offered a high level of intellectual entertainment, while maintaining a unique tone and diverse set of characters. Foundryside was published in…
6 Ways to make characters more interesting

6 Ways to make characters more interesting

12/07/2020Posted inWriting
Characters are the most important part of a story. You can have a great plot with great world building, but if your characters are flat, unlikeable, and un-dynamic, your story will not be meaningful or enjoyable. In fact, a story with truly amazing characters could have the same tired plot as hundreds of other books set in a barely conceived world, and it could still be an incredible story. It's easy to talk about unique plots, fascinating settings, and the…

Book Review: Six of Crows

11/23/2020Posted inBook Reviews
Six of Crows is the first half of an awesome duology (two book ‘series’) written by Leigh Bardugo. The first book was published in 2015, and it’s gained quite the following in the years since. Six of Crows is a fantasy epic set in a secondary world largely based on our own, with nationalities fashioned off of Russia, Scandinavia, Ireland, East Asia, and Africa, among others, with an interesting magic system and believable politics. This story is a heist, focusing…
6 Ways to keep the middle of your book interesting

6 Ways to keep the middle of your book interesting

11/09/2020Posted inWriting
The middle. It gets such a bad rap, sandwiched there between the beginning and the end. The middle chapters of a book, the middle installment of a trilogy, middle school… the middle is just hard, and sometimes it deserves its reputation for a sub-par experience. The beginning of a story introduces characters, builds a world, and sets up the plot. The author takes their toy blocks and starts to build things while having all the fun that goes with novelty…

Book Review: The Night Circus

10/26/2020Posted inBook Reviews
Fantasy comes in many forms. Though I tend to gravitate toward high/epic fantasy, it would be an injustice to ignore the other beautiful forms of the genre. This week’s book is an urban fantasy of sorts – that is, it is a historical fiction set in the real world (late 1800s), but with magic thrown in. It is called The Night Circus, and it is one of the best and most magical books I have read in a long time. The…
6 Things you should do before starting your first novel

6 Things you should do before starting your first novel

10/12/2020Posted inWriting
Starting your first novel is a huge undertaking, and can be discouraging from many points of view. First of all is the incredible concept of writing three hundred or more pages – not a typical school essay, that. Then there are all of those naysayers out there saying how difficult it is to get a first novel published, and how all writers know the first novel is simply a test and meant to be thrown out. Do not be discouraged! While your…

Book Review: City of Lies

09/28/2020Posted inBook Reviews
This book review is of another gem I found randomly browsing the New Fantasy section at the library. I was caught by the beautiful cover, the short but sweet jacket blurb, the female author, and a killer first line and first scene. City of Lies is the debut novel of Sam Hawke that came out in July 2018 (published by Tor Books). It is a high fantasy epic set almost entirely within a single city – Silasta. The book is written…
7 Tips for Making Fantasy Maps

7 Tips for Making Fantasy Maps

09/14/2020Posted inWriting
I love maps. They are one of my favorite details of fantasy fiction, and typically one of the first things you see when flipping through the front pages of any proper fantasy novel. Getting immersed in another world is why so many people read fantasy, and maps give a visual manifestation of that world, orienting the reader to the scope of the world, the location of the characters and events, and the geographical influences that may affect the cultures and…

Book Review: The Women’s War

08/31/2020Posted inBook Reviews
My default for choosing books has always been from recommendations. This is how most books become popular – not from a great cover or jacket summary, but from word-of-mouth and the enthusiasm of book-lovers. This past year, I made a point to look for new fantasy authors on the shelf and try their work on no one’s recommendation. I have to admit, I found some duds this way, and it was a risky endeavor, but I also came across some…