I read The Paper Menagerie and other stories by American author Ken Liu after having the great pleasure to listen to several panel sessions and meet him at Continuum in Melbourne. I was unfamiliar with his writing until hearing an excerpt from the first story in The Paper Menagerie, “The bookmaking habits of select species”.… Continue reading The Paper Menagerie & Other Stories
I have always been inspired and drawn to the very dark Gothic-style horror of the Victorian era, where classic works like Frankenstein, Dracula and The Turn of the Screw combine with the dark tales by Edgar Allan Poe and H.P Lovecraft influencing generations of horror writers. To those classic works, I often include the eerie… Continue reading Haunting, Horror & Shadows
I recently had the pleasure to read Beautiful by Juliet Marillier in audiobook format. I thoroughly enjoy all of Marillier’s re-imaginings and re-telling of classic folktales and mythologies. Beautiful was certainly as detailed and well-written as previous novels I have read by Juliet Marillier. The inspiration for Beautiful was the Nordic fairy-tale East of the… Continue reading Beautiful
From the Blurb: “Vasilisa Petrovna is an unforgettable heroine determined to forge her own path. Her gifts and her courage have drawn the attention of Morozko, the winter-king, but it is too soon to know if this connection will prove a blessing or a curse. Now Moscow has been struck by disaster. Its people are… Continue reading The Winter of the Witch
A Court of Thorns and Roses is the first novel in an adult Fantasy series by Sarah J. Maas. Although listed as young adult Fantasy like previous novels by Maas, A Court of Thorns & Roses is unsuitable for younger readers and contains appropriate warnings despite the booksellers listing and conflicting publisher imprint from Bloomsbury… Continue reading A Court of Thorns & Roses
I recently finished reading The Girl in the Tower, the second novel in the Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden. After the conclusion of The Bear and the Nightingale, Vasilisa’s life has changed forever. Unable to return to the simple life in her father’s holding, Vasilisa decides to travel. Although Medvedev, the Bear is bound again,… Continue reading The Girl in the Tower
Heart’s Blood is a Historical Fantasy by Australian-New Zealand author Juliet Marillier, following the young female scribe Caitrin, who after fleeing her own dark past, takes a commission at the derelict ruins of Whistling Tor in the household of the mysterious Chieftain, Anluan.Caitrin soon earns Anluan’s trust and that of his odd household retainers, a… Continue reading Heart’s Blood
Namarrgon is an indigenous Australian creation ancestor, a powerful spirit of the Arnhem Land plateau in the Kakadu region responsible for violent monsoon storms of Northern Australia. In the indigenous stories of Namarrgon, violent lightning and thunder storms each tropical summer are associated with the axes he throws, splitting the clouds to cause thunder and… Continue reading Namarrgon: Lightning Spirit
The Lord of the Darkwood is the final installment in the Fantasy series The Tale of Shikanoko by Lian Hearn. The Tale of Shikanoko is inspired by medieval Japan and although the series takes place in a fictional setting, the beautiful descriptions of the Snow Country and the wilderness of Japan are clearly taken from the… Continue reading Lord of the Darkwood
The best-selling US author Naomi Novik returns to her Polish heritage in a retelling of Slavic folktales. In Spinning Silver, Miryem is the granddaughter of a prominent Jewish moneylender in the city of Vysnia. In a small village outside Vysnia, Miryem's father is poorly suited to his position as a moneylender, with his own family… Continue reading Spinning Silver
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