LAST UPDATE
3/1/24
The Truth of the
Akele by Moses Ose Utomi, Tordotcom, 2024, $24.99, ISBN
978-1-250-84905-2
This
is a coming of age story set in a fantasy world which I assume is based
in part upon African folklore. The author is a Nigerian American. The
protagonist is a young boy who has come close to disgracing himself in
the past. When his people are menaced by the Cult of Tutu, which
venerates the legend of a rather nasty leader from the past, threatens
to uproot their culture and replace it with something repressive and
cruel. The novella has much of the feeling of a traditional fairy tale
at times, although obviously not in the Western tradition. I enjoyed the
portrayal of both sides as being flawed, although there is no question
about where the author's sympathies lie. This is the second in a series,
of which I have not seen the first. 3/1/24
Empire of the
Damned by Jay Kristoff, St Martins, 2024, $32, ISBN
978-1-240-24533-5
This
is the sequel to Empire of the Vampire, which I have not read, so
I may have missed some continuity here. Stories in which vampires take
over the world are, usually, horror in my estimation. This one is more
clearly fantasy. The vampires have virtually exterminated humans. A kind
of knightly order known as Silversaints tried to help reverse the tide
but failed, and the protagonist appears to have broken his vows
following a disagreement with his brothers. He has the Holy Grail in his
possession and is now on a mission of his own. Unfortunately, the
vampire king has not forgotten about him and sends his minions in
pursuit. There is a good deal of violence and a great deal of adventure,
along with a moderately large cast of characters. This actually is not
the kind of story I usually find enjoyable but it was well enough
written to overcome my hesitance. 2/22/24
The Sky Is Falling
by Lester Del Rey, Ace, 1976 (originally published in 1954)
Although
he is uncredited, Frederik Pohl apparently wrote part of this, which
makes it his only fantasy novel, I suppose. A man from our world is
killed but then revived in another reality where magic works. Their sky
is literally a solid globe and it is falling apart. They want him to fix
it based on his reputation as a great engineer. But they revived the
wrong person. He has a series of light adventures that sometimes verge
on silliness before he restores the falling sky and saves the world.
This type of fantasy adventure, once very popular, is largely gone
today. 2/9/24
The Book of the
Dead by Tanith Lee, Overlook, 1991
Eight
short stories set in the fantasy realm of Paradys, several of which
involve physical transformations. One involves a woman who poisons her
victims by becoming a flea. Another woman is cursed to take the form of
a weasel during the daylight. Yet another can turn herself into a
vampiric owl. A curse turns out to be innocuous. A woman who refuses to
believe in demons and curses is nevertheless led to her doom. A man
obsessed with the search for a ruined temple meets his doom when he
finds it. The stories are consistent and quality and about average
for this author. 2/3/24
Black Unicorn
by Tanith Lee, Atheneum, 1991
First
in a trilogy for younger readers. The unmagical daughter of a sorceress
goes off for a series of adventures after a magical quirk reanimates the
bones of a unicorn. She travels with a caravan, has her life threatened
by bandits, runs into trouble with a guild in a city, and finds her
half-sister, who is a princess. The story is quite short despite having
quite a few separate adventures. 1/27/24
Gold Unicorn
by Tanith Lee, Tor, 1994
Middle
volume in a trilogy for younger readers. Tanaquil has discovered that
she has some magical talent after all and sets out to see the world,
leaving her sister behind. Later she learns that an ambitious woman is
seeking to conquer the world, using an animated mechanical unicorn to
assert her power, and that woman turns out to be her sister under
another name. Tanaquil cannot reform her sister, but circumstances
render her powerless. Minor. 1/27/24
The Blood of Roses
by Tanith Lee, Legend, 1990
This
very long novel was not available in the US for many years and finally
appeared in two volumes. It’s a comparatively dark fantasy and is
fiercely critical of religion. There are two strains in the novel – one
is a church that looks very much like the early Christian one, but is
even more oppressive. This church has suppressed a kind of druidic
belief system that worships the world tree. When the world tree is
destroyed, it starts a cycle of events in which a charismatic man rises
to power within the church, but is he intending to expand its reach or
is he actually planning to subvert it. Lots of characters, lots of
background information, and more plot than is always the case in Lee’s
longer novels. I’m not sure why this took so long to be reprinted as it
is clearly one of her more ambitious efforts. 1/19/24
The Book of the
Damned by Tanith Lee, Overlook, 1990
Three
novelettes set in the fantasy world Paradys. The first of them is an
untraditional and rather complex tale of vampirism, impersonations, and
a cursed ring. The second is a tale of revenge. A young woman runs off
after being raped by her stepfather. In a large city, she discovers that
she can change into a male form. Using that power, she seeks to avenge
herself against the various people who have abused her. The third and
best is the shortest in the collection. A woman has a strange
conversation with a man claiming to be near death. She investigates when
rumors arise that he has died and becomes involved with a complicated
mystery that involves elements of the supernatural. 1/13/24
The Book of the
Beast by Tanith Lee, Overlook, 1989
The
second book of Paradys is a somewhat oddly constructed novel. Various
characters have their own plots, although they are eventually drawn
together. A supernatural entity stalks the city of Paradys, drawing
people into enigmatic but often horrible fates. The victims include an
elderly man, an arrogant Roman soldier, a young woman forced into an
unwelcome marriage, and a young scholar who succumbs to obsession. The
focus is so diffused that the story lacks momentum. It was not nearly as
good as the first in the series. 1/13/24
Fully Dressed
and in His Right Mind by Michael Fessier, Lion, 1954 (originally
published in 1935)
I
read this strange little fantasy in high school and I suspect I
appreciate it more reading it again. The protagonist meets two unusual
people – neither of whom is really a human being. The first appears as a
little old man who commits murders with impunity and who has for some
reason become attached to Johnny Price, an innocuous young man. Price
has also met Trelia, a woman who swims naked in a park lake almost every
night, and who also appears to have vague magical aspects. The old man
frames Price for a murder but Trelia manages to drown him in the lake,
which somehow makes the crime vanish and sets him free. But Trelia
discovers she cannot live as a human and she vanished as well. 1/9/24
Night’s Sorceries
by Tanith Lee, DAW, 1987
The
fifth and final book in the Flat Earth series is a collection of short
stories set following the events in the earlier books. There are ghosts,
flying horses, witches, lots of magic, rivalries among the gods, Death
personified, forced marriages, bizarre dreams, heroes and villains, and
a great many elaborate settings. None of the stories really stand out.
The main attraction is the prose rather than the plots, and the richly
developed background. They are more of a tapestry of glimpses into the
world Lee had explored at length in the previous four books.
1/9/24
The Land of
Lost Things by John Connolly,
Bestler, 2023
Sequel
to The Book of Lost Things. A woman despondent over the comatose
state of her daughter following an accident is drawn to an abandoned
cottage and a book of fairy tales. She is eventually seduced into an
alternate reality where mythological creatures exist and magic is real.
Her new environment is, however, a kind of metaphor for her own state of
mind and it is through her experiences in the fantasy realm that she
learns to cope with her problems in the real world. Connolly mostly
writes thrillers but every once in a while he has a change of pace and
they have all been, like this, very rewarding books to read. 1/4/24
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