Nevernight is the first instalment in an adult Fantasy series The Nevernight Chronicle by best-selling author Jay Kristoff. Nevernight is a complex book with many wonderful aspects and qualities revealed amid the violence inherent to the story. It is told on a grand scale and never pretends to be anything else. Mia Corvere is the… Continue reading Nevernight
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
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 platypus is an iconic Australian native semi-aquatic, burrowing, egg-laying mammal (monotreme) with an unusual soft-bill, webbed feet and a thick “beaver-like” tail covered in a soft fur pelt. An indigenous Australian legend details the origins of these eclectic physical features according to indigenous cultural heritage. The indigenous Australian legend retold in Aboriginal Stories by… Continue reading Legend of the Platypus
The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is the first book in the Winternight Trilogy, beautiful retellings of Russian folktales. The Bear and the Nightingale recounts the childhood and adolescence of Vasilisa, the youngest daughter of Pytor, a minor lord from northern Rus. Vasilisa, last child born to Marina, the daughter of the former… Continue reading The Bear and the Nightingale
While the Northern Hemisphere celebrated MidSummer, the Southern Hemisphere filled with the sudden arrival of icy winter storms. I ventured to Melbourne, Victoria for a brief research trip and an amazing experience of Vikings in Australia. Not to mislead, it is not thought Vikings ventured into the Southern Ocean but an unmissable museum exhibition from… Continue reading Vikings in Australia
Amerindian cultures in the Arctic regions including the Inuit, mention in folktales, the “shadow people” or the Tariaksuq and Ijiraq, elusive, shape-shifting and malevolent spirits known for kidnapping children. These spirits, often mentioned in close association, can take the form of a humanoid-caribou like the Tariaksuq, or can lack consistent physical forms like the Ijiraq.… Continue reading Tariaksuq & Ijiraq
The Darkest Road is the final volume in The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay. This beautifully crafted trilogy began with The Summer Tree and continued with The Wandering Fire, following five University students from Toronto as they cross into Fionavar, another world, where fate awaits them. The Darkest Road is the epic battle between… Continue reading The Darkest Road
The Tale of Shikanoko, a new Fantasy series by Australian author Lian Hearn who thrilled Fantasy readers worldwide with the series Tales of the Otori, a mythic historical fantasy inspired by feudal Japan. This new series explores the intrigues of the Emperors' courts and secretive dark magic of the forested mountains with the first installment,… Continue reading Emperor of the Eight Islands
Leanbh Pearson 
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