I've been a fan of Shannon Hale for years, ever since reading The Goose Girl and Princess Academy, not to mention the romantic comedy Austenland, so II've been a fan of Shannon Hale for years, ever since reading The Goose Girl and Princess Academy, not to mention the romantic comedy Austenland, so I try to check out almost everything she writes. But I had some trouble getting into this one at first and set it aside for about a year. It's different - low fantasy rather than high - and the main character is very lost at first. Once I finally decided to just read it, though, I thought it was excellent!
Josie is a high school senior, an excellent singer who dropped out of school to pursue her big dream of being on Broadway. It didn't work out. She ended up staying in New York several months to try to make it work, going deep into credit card debt and ashamed of where she's ended up. Now she's a nanny for a 4 or 5 year old girl in Missoula, Montana, whose divorced mom travels most of the time, and trying to pay back her debt without her mother finding out.
An intriguing bookseller loans Josie a few books and she ends up getting lost in these stories ... literally: sinking into a dream world where she's the main character. It's more fun and fulfilling than her real life. And then there's Josie's struggles to figure out where her relationships are at with her high school boyfriend and her queer best friend. What to do?
Josie's angst and poor choices were a little much for me at first (the reason I set this book aside for months) but once the plot gets rolling it's fascinating, an unusual low fantasy novel with some really great insights into life and friendship. Recommended for people who like YA coming-of-age novels with a touch of fantasy.
Full review to come! Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC....more
A fun short fantasy by Sherwood Smith, free online at https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-dec.... The goddess Hera, angry about the male gods' use — or A fun short fantasy by Sherwood Smith, free online at https://www.patreon.com/posts/new-dec.... The goddess Hera, angry about the male gods' use — or misuse — of their powers, has taken away those powers (I'd love to know how that happened) and grants them to three older women in our day, to the consternation of those ladies. They’re really not at all certain what to do with their new (and difficult to control) gifts, or whether they should try to help each other or just go their separate ways.
It's humorous with some serious undertones. The three women are interesting and very diverse types; in fact, the main character is somewhat disabled from a stroke. And how often do you have older women as the main characters in a story?
4.5 stars. Circe is an epic retelling of the life and times of the minor Greek goddess Circe, she who is famed for turning Odysseus’s men and other ha4.5 stars. Circe is an epic retelling of the life and times of the minor Greek goddess Circe, she who is famed for turning Odysseus’s men and other hapless sailors into swine (as it turns out here, she had good reasons). Circe is despised and bullied by stronger members of her family, and eventually - and rather unfairly - exiled to the island of Aiaia for dabbling in pharmaka, a forbidden type of magic using herbs and other plants. (Apparently it's fine with the gods if you can do magic by a wave of your hand or an act of will alone, but not if you need a potion to accomplish your purpose. It seems illogical and there's no really good reason given for it, so you just have to roll with it.) On Aiaia, Circe determinedly works on further developing her pharmaka skills, along with strength of character and will.
Spanning hundreds of years - Circe being immortal and all - this is an epic and somewhat episodic novel. Madeline Miller’s lyrical, insightful writing keeps the story going strong when it might otherwise have dragged for me. The last part was my favorite, as various narrative threads tied together and you get some deeper understanding into some wonderfully complex characters. Odysseus, Penelope and their son Telemachus are unforgettable characters, along with Circe herself.
It took me a while to get through this, and it might well drag for some readers if you don't find it as engaging as I did. But I thought it was definitely worth paying the overdue library fines for this read! ;)...more
A great conclusion to the QUEEN'S THIEF series! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature. I also did an interview with the author here on FanLit, so A great conclusion to the QUEEN'S THIEF series! Review first posted on Fantasy Literature. I also did an interview with the author here on FanLit, so please go check it out!
Megan Whalen Turner’s QUEEN’S THIEF young adult fantasy series, a masterwork of twisting plots, deceptive plans, and occasional divine interventions from the first book to the last, winds to a close with Return of the Thief, twenty-four years after the publication of The Thief. Return of the Thief introduces us to a new narrator, Pheris, oldest grandson and nominally the heir of Baron Erondites, Eugenides’s powerful enemy from The King of Attolia. (Alert readers, however, will recognize Pheris from a few brief scenes in Thick as Thieves.)
Baron Erondites, whose two sons, Dite and Sejanus, were so memorably disinherited as part of the events that occurred in The King of Attolia, also has a daughter, Marina, whom he’d earlier disinherited for marrying against his will. Pheris, Marina’s oldest son, is a boy who is speechless and otherwise severely physically disabled. Eugenides enters into an agreement with the Baron that the heir to the House of Erondites will be raised in the king’s palace, “away from the malignant tendencies of his family.” The Baron offers up Pheris, sight unseen.
The Baron has restored Marina to the House of Erondites (apparently disinheritance in Attolia is not necessarily as permanent as we were once given to understand). Everyone — including Pheris himself — assumes that Pheris will be rejected as a member of the king’s court and sent home, and the Baron, having gotten one over on the king, will then have Pheris killed and make his younger brother Juridius his heir. But Gen, surprising all, decides to clean up the filthy boy and make him one of his attendants.
“He is Erondites’s grandson and heir,” said the king, “and I have conceived a great desire to see him live to adulthood. Now all of you go away.”
But Gen has more to worry about than the scheming Baron Erondites and his troublesome young heir. Eugenides is now the high king of the Little Peninsula where the three countries of Attolia, Sounis and Eddis are located, but his acceptance isn’t universal in any of the three countries. Worse yet, the encroaching Mede empire from across the sea is weaving new plans to invade and annex their countries. The QUEEN’S THIEF world opens up as more borders are crossed and more countries get involved in the growing conflict.
The political conspiracies and surprising plot turns that mark the entire QUEEN’S THIEF series are alive and well in Return of the Thief, and Eugenides, as usual, is at the center of the plotting. I shouldn’t be surprised by Gen at this point in time, but somehow he still manages to misdirect and beguile me. His mercurial character takes more of a central role in this book than he did in the prior two books, and my increased enjoyment of this book reflects that. Gen’s quirks, stubbornness, and lightning-quick insights, along with his ability to mastermind change, make him one of the most engaging and memorable characters in fiction, and his wife Irene, a queen in her own right, is a match for him.
Almost every book in this series has a different narrator, and Turner branches out in a fresh direction with Return of the Thief. Though the series has dealt with disability before in connection with the memorable loss of Gen’s hand, Pheris’s profound disabilities make him an unusual and challenging central character. Pheris has suffered greatly in his life, both from physical pains and the cruelties of others, not least his poisonous family. “Little monster” is typical of epithets hurled at his face. Pheris is not mentally disabled, though, even though most people wrongly assume that’s the case, helped along by Pheris’s deliberate misbehavior (“the less people want to see you, the easier it becomes to be invisible in plain sight.”). Both Pheris and the people around him — and by extension, we as readers — have something to learn about the ways in which a disabled person can grow and even serve when given opportunity and encouragement.
Turner engages in some interweaving of her timelines in the last few books of the series. In this case, the first part of Return of the Thief takes place concurrently with the last section of Thick as Thieves, and continues from there. There are several callbacks and allusions to events in the prior books, rewarding readers who have good memories for details … or, that lacking, have access to the earlier books and can revisit them (I have to admit I had completely forgotten the subplot surrounding a coveted statue owned by the Mede ambassador, but it was worth going back to refresh my recollection).
It’s bittersweet to finally reach the end of the QUEEN’S THIEF series, but it ends on a high note. I’m sad to leave these characters behind (hopefully one day Gitta Kingsdaughter will call Turner back to this world, though she’s making absolutely no promises). The entire series begs for a reread, though, and I suspect it won’t be long before I’m dancing on the rooftops with these characters again.
Thanks so much to Greenwillow for the eARC!
Update #2: MORE EXCITEMENT! I have an ARC in my hands!! This is like the literary high point of my month. ...more
The hardcover of this book just appeared on my doorstep today, a gift from the publicist for review. Nice!! BUT ... I haven't read the prior two booksThe hardcover of this book just appeared on my doorstep today, a gift from the publicist for review. Nice!! BUT ... I haven't read the prior two books in this Trials of Apollo series. What do I need to know about Riordan's version of The Story of Apollo (Thus Far), so I'm not completely lost when I jump into this third volume?
Update: So my 16 year old son came home from school and dug the first two Apollo books (which I didn't even remember that we had) out from some basement pile of books and handed them to me, so yay, problem solved. (I'll probably just skim them though.) In the same breath, he announced to me that he hasn't read them and probably won't because he isn't much into Riordan's books any more, so I think we've maxed out on the help my teenager will be providing me here. :)...more
Zachary Mason, who retold Homer’s story of the wanderings of Odysseus in his well-received 2007 debut novel,Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Zachary Mason, who retold Homer’s story of the wanderings of Odysseus in his well-received 2007 debut novel, The Lost Books of the Odyssey, takes on Ovid‘s epic narrative poem Metamorphoses in his latest work, Metamorphica (2018). Mason distills Metamorphoses’ over 250 Greek myths into 53 brief stories, including the tales of Arachne, Daedalus and Icarus, Philemon and Baucis, Narcisssus, Achilles, Midas and many more.
Metamorphica is a loosely connected collection of retold myths more than a cohesive novel with a single plot. It’s rather fragmented, both as a collection and within the stories themselves, many of which are of the “slice of life” variety. But lovely and elegiac writing marks the whole set, and each individual story is a well-crafted jewel, focusing the reader’s eye on its own individual theme and distinct characters. Mason focuses on the characters’ psychology and motivations: pride, revenge, love, greed, power and other timeless passions that resonate in both the ancient Greek settings and in our modern world.
The theme of transformation or metamorphosis also frequently resurfaces in these tales: Scylla was a beautiful sea-nymph who is now a man-eating monster; King Minos spends years pursuing his vanished friend (and prisoner) Daedalus, becoming a changed man in the process. Pentheus, a disciplined man dedicated to his duty, has a life-changing encounter with Dionysos, the god of transformation. When Agamemnon sacrifices his daughter Iphigenia to appease Artemis so she will release the winds to allow the Greek armada to sail to Troy, his wife Clytemnestra is never the same afterwards:
… I remembered how he’d washed his hands in a fountain after killing her with the look of a man relieved to have put a difficult task behind him, and my mind ignited like dry kindling; suddenly I was empty of love, and had no purpose in life but to be his undoing. I’ve been waiting a long time for my husband to come home.
Chilling!
Mason reinvents the Greek myths liberally in several of these stories, leading to some unexpected but logical twists. Midas, for example, invents the concept of coin money rather than having the magical power of turning everything he touches into gold. Icarus, with his homemade wings, dashes himself against the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere rather than melting his wings by flying too close to the sun (though his fate in Mason’s story is quite different). Orpheus ventures into the underworld to win his lover Eurydice back from Death, but comes to a surprising realization about her as they climb through the cave toward the sun.
Although these stories are relatively independent of each other, they’re still interrelated, tied together by Greek mythology themes, some recurring characters, and a fascinating star map that visually mirrors the structure of Metamorphica, with each star named after a different story or character in the book. The map is divided into seven sections, with each section and its (imaginary, I’m fairly certain) constellations matching up with a different part of Metamorphica. Mason explains:
Lines are narrative connections which form constellations.
A story’s distance from the center increases with its distance from primordial time. The outermost ring is the end of the age of myth, which is the aftermath of the Trojan War or shortly thereafter.
I strongly recommend Metamorphica to any student or fan of Greek mythology, or readers who appreciate lyrical writing and fantasy that tends toward the somber and introspective.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, for review. Thank you!!...more
This Tor short story (free online here) is part of the "Nevertheless, She Persisted" set of flash fiction published March 8, 2017 on Tor.com.* Review This Tor short story (free online here) is part of the "Nevertheless, She Persisted" set of flash fiction published March 8, 2017 on Tor.com.* Review first posted on Fantasy Literature:
[image]
4.5 stars for this short fantasy, based on the Greek legend of the Minotaur. Blue is alone in the labyrinth under the palace, the last of her lot of Minotaur Brides. She’s a concubine kept in darkness, listening to the dancing feet above her. But the Minotaur wives dream of escape, and they leave each other advice and instructions that mysteriously grow in their bones.
“I’ll be back,” she says to the body and bones and blue iris of distant sky, gruffly. “Soon.”
It did occur to me to wonder why the male Minotaur doesn’t ever appear in this story, but this fantastical tale of hope and strength in darkness and captivity was my favorite in the collection.
*On March 8, 2017, Tor published on its website eleven short speculative works (ten flash fiction stories and one poem) by various women, all notable authors. These works are based on the theme “Nevertheless, she persisted,” part of a comment made by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell defending use of a little-known rule against impugning the motives or conduct of a senator, to cut off a speech by Senator Elizabeth Warren in February, in which she was criticizing Jeff Sessions’ nomination for attorney general (“Senator Warren was giving a lengthy speech. She had appeared to violate the rule. She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”). The phrase was quickly taken up and transformed into a rallying cry, in recognition of women who have persisted in voicing their opinions and taking action despite establishment opposition.
Art credit: "Minotaur Shaman" by Jared von Hindman....more
Note: This review contains some spoilers for the second book in the QUEEN’S THIEF series,4.5 stars. Final review, first posted on Fantasy Literature:
Note: This review contains some spoilers for the second book in the QUEEN’S THIEF series, The Queen of Attolia. I've tried to avoid any other spoilers for the prior books.
In Thick as Thieves (2017), the long-awaited fifth book in Megan Whalen Turner’s QUEEN’S THIEF series, the setting shifts away from the peninsula where Eddis, Attolia and Sounis are, to another country in this world, the Mede Empire, which has long been nursing not-so-secret plans to conquer and annex the peninsula. Kamet is a valuable secretary and slave to Nahuseresh, former Mede ambassador to Attolia and nephew to the Mede emperor. After an escape from Attolia when Nahuseresh’s political intriguing there backfired on him, as was related in The Queen of Attolia, they are back in the Mede empire, where Nahuseresh is trying to regain his former political standing. Kamet has what he feels is a close and valued relationship with his master, despite Nahuseresh’s volatility and brutal beatings when slaves make a mistake or displease him, and the hope of an even greater position of power and influence in the future.
So initially Kamet laughs it off when an Attolian soldier offers him an escape from slavery and freedom in Attolia. He abruptly changes his mind a few minutes later, however, when another slave, Laela, tells him that Nahuseresh has been poisoned, almost certainly by the emperor’s command. She urges Kamet to go on the run immediately to save himself. When a Mede is murdered, his key slaves are tortured and all are executed on principle. Suddenly the Attolian’s previously-scorned offer becomes Kamet’s best option to survive. He leaves immediately, not even stopping in his apartments for supplies or the money he had managed to save up.
Kamet and the Attolian ― who remains nameless for most of the book, but will be identifiable to most readers who are familiar with the QUEEN’S THIEF series ― embark on a hazardous journey across the Mede empire and beyond. They’re pursued by the emperor’s handpicked guards and other enemies. Kamet mistrusts the offer from the Attolian, is keeping a dangerous secret from him, and plans on sneaking away from him as soon as possible. But as events conspire to keep them in each other’s company and they go through harrowing experiences together, they gain a greater respect for each other and even begin to develop a friendship that may carry them through the dangers to come.
In its tale of a danger-fraught journey and unexpected friendships, Thick as Thieves is more reminiscent of the first book in this series, The Thief, than some of the later books, though with a new main character. Kamet is a slave who initially has a slave’s mentality, an acceptance of mistreatment that should not be acceptable. He has pride in his place and power, even though he is mere property under Mede law. In fact, he initially disdains the Attolian, who he believes is a foolish, uncultured person, as well as the country of Attolia generally (“a place more backward than anywhere I have ever known, with its stinking sewers and its smoking furnaces and its preening idiot aristocrats”). But things are never as simple as they seem in this world, and the friendship that gradually develops between Kamet and the Attolian is a fine example of learning to appreciate the qualities in others who are unlike you. It’s a touching bromance(view spoiler)[; there’s never any substantial evidence of a romantic interest between the two (though I know some readers will be hoping) (hide spoiler)].
Gen makes an appearance in the last part of the novel, and (typically for him) quickly put a new spin on several key elements of the tale, making the reader rethink everything that’s previously happened in the story. Gen just never disappoints, even when he is at his most frustrating and deceptive. He’s one of my favorite characters in fiction.
Like the earlier books in this series, Thick as Thieves contains stories-within-a-story that relate thematically to the main plot. Here, in a nod to the Mede culture, they’re in the form of blank verse poems. I had some difficulty wading through them; they’re more stylized and opaque than the stories in the prior books. But the patient reader will be rewarded with additional insights into the relationship between the main characters and some mysterious characters that show up at key turning points in the tale to help the two along their way.
The QUEEN’S THIEF series of YA fantasy novels, with allusions of Greek and other ancient mythologies, is well known for its plot twists and complex, layered characters, and Thick as Thieves admirably carries that torch. I was able to quickly identify the Attolian and even was reasonably certain of one major plot twist that is revealed close to the end, but ― this being the QUEEN’S THIEF series ― there were other surprises that I hadn’t anticipated at all. And I wouldn’t have it any other way! Turner says there will be one more book in this series. I’ll be anxiously waiting for it.
Initial comments:Guess what arrived in the mail today? *abandons all other books and dives in headlong*
*resurfaces a few hours later, throws confetti in air* I'm done!! Great book! 4.5 stars!
This story focuses on Kamet, a slave to the former Mede ambassador to Attolia, who we met in The Queen of Attolia. Gen doesn't show up until near the end, but it's definitely worth the wait.
Also I am patting myself on the back for guessing a couple of the surprise twists ... but of course I didn't get all of them. This is the Thief series, after all!...more
Between 3 and 3.5 stars. This novella, one of the interim stories in the Kate Daniels series, is told from the POV of Andrea, Kate’s best friend. AndrBetween 3 and 3.5 stars. This novella, one of the interim stories in the Kate Daniels series, is told from the POV of Andrea, Kate’s best friend. Andrea finds out about a monstrous three-headed dog and sets off to take care of the problem. She finds a lot more than she expected, including vampires, a shade (ghost) of a dead man, and Raphael, the werehyena who’s been pursuing her romantically.
This novella doesn’t really stand on its own and the mystery has several weak points if you think much about it, but it slots in nicely with the overall series.
Tor short story: A young woman and her white unicorn, Steve (professionally known as "Phantom") take on other mythological creatures in cage battles. Tor short story: A young woman and her white unicorn, Steve (professionally known as "Phantom") take on other mythological creatures in cage battles. ("Unicorns pick their own names, and I’d love to see someone go up to Steve and tell him he chose poorly. I, for one, would think twice about it.")
This story reminds me of the Percy Jackson series, except that it's maybe a little bloodier, but it's very Greek-mythology-in-our-world, and the writing has a similar sense of humor. There's also a strong undercurrent of justice and fighting evil. "Steve is eighteen hands of purity, just not the kind they’re thinking of. Justice can be pure, too."
This is an adventure story but it also has some depth to it. I loved it and definitely would read more by this author, especially if it's the further adventures of Steve and Lena.
This is the great but hard-hitting sequel to The Thief (which, fair warning, you absolutely need to read first). This is a fantastic fantasy series, wThis is the great but hard-hitting sequel to The Thief (which, fair warning, you absolutely need to read first). This is a fantastic fantasy series, with a strong flavor of Ancient Greek mythology and life. The gods are real and they care, in a remote way, but they can be cruel. My highest recommendation for this series! If you haven’t read it, you’re missing out!
Megan Whalen Turner’s The Queen of Attolia, the second book in her QUEEN’S THIEF fantasy series, begins much the same as The Thief, the first book in this series: Eugenides (Gen) the thief is in prison. This time it is the Attolians who have captured him, but he’s made them, especially their queen, even more angry than he had the kingdom of Sounis in the first volume. From this similar beginning, however, the plot veers in some completely unexpected directions. Whalen Turner explained this in a Publisher’s Weekly interview:
I could have written a whole series about fun, cool, exciting things Gen could get away with, but they would all be leading up to a point where he did something he didn’t get away with. The next significant thing that was going to happen to Gen would be when he got caught. It was inevitable. So I started Queen there. I knew some people would be upset but I trusted they would also see it had to happen eventually. To write something else would be a kind of lying to ourselves.
It’s difficult to say much more without spoiling the story. This book, even more than most, is one that should be read without being spoiled. The first part of The Queen of Attolia is heart-wrenching and difficult reading, however. The first time I attempted to read it, about a dozen years ago, I foundered on the rocky part of the plot and didn’t finish it. However, after reading the third book in this series, The King of Attolia, and falling in love with the characters all over again, I came back to The Queen of Attolia to give it a second try, about five years ago. I made it through the book that time and rated it three stars; I was still much more enthused about the other two books in the series than this volume.
However, on this read, my third try, I’m rating it a strong four stars. Rereading the entire series, it has become more apparent how cleverly Whalen Turner has plotted this book, how well the books’ plots interlock with each other, and how brilliant and devious her characters are. Small nuances in the plot can carry significance. Each main character has layers and hidden depths. They can be charming and maddening, sympathetic and brutal, all at the same time. And the ancient Greece type of world, with gods and goddesses that are real and intervene occasionally in the lives of mortals, is fascinating:
“Stop whining,” Eugenides said.
“What?” Eddis’s expression shifted from wary to puzzled.
“That was the message. For me, alone among mortals, the gods send their messenger to tell me to stop whining. That’ll teach me to go hide in a temple.”
For a young adult fantasy, The Queen of Attolia has a surprising amount of complexity and depth. Due to the painful and disturbing content in some parts of the book, I don’t recommend this for middle grade readers, but the rewards for more mature readers are great.
23 4 enthusiastic stars. Next time I read it it'll probably jump to 5!...more
This is my favorite book in one of my favorite fantasy series. It starts out a little bit slow, although it's fun watching for all the clues in the teThis is my favorite book in one of my favorite fantasy series. It starts out a little bit slow, although it's fun watching for all the clues in the text that I missed the first time I read it. But the second half of this book: it is completely made of awesome. I love every single page of it.
July 2015 reread with the Buddies Books and Baubles group.
Prior review: This book is just so brilliant and well plotted. I've noticed that of all the books on my "Favorites" list, this one has the highest overall average rating, and it's for a very good reason. I can't think of anyone I know who wouldn't enjoy this book and its plot twists.
Presumably if you're reading this review you've already read (or are thinking of reading) the first book in the series, The Thief, which is also a wonderful book, though I found it a little slower than this one. You really do need to read The Thief and The Queen of Attolia to understand and appreciate The King of Attolia, though. Personally I didn't like the 2nd book in the series (or the 4th, for that matter) nearly as well as the 1st and 3rd, but they're all worthy books. So go plow through the 2nd book, if only so you can get to this 3rd one in the series. It should not be missed. ...more
Tadiana ✩Night Owl☽
>
Books:
greek-mythology
(12)
Loading...
