LAST UPDATE
11/14/23
Whispering Wood
by Sharon Shinn, Fairwood, 2023, $19.99, ISBN 978-1-958880-13-5
This
is the fifth part of the Elemental Blessings series, none of which I
have seen. There are five elements in this fantasy world - the four
familiar ones and wood as the fifth. Every resident of the country in
which the story takes place is associated with one of those elements.
There is a fairly elaborate set of blessings connected to each of the
five, and passed on to those allied to that particular element. The
culture is otherwise a familiar fantasy trope with a ruling family,
nobility, and common people, although the affiliations are not divided
by social class. There is also a rather large cast of characters for a
comparatively short novel. Fortunately provides a listing of them and
other matters. This was particularly helpful for me because I had not
read the previous books. The crisis in this installment is that
something seems to be interfering with the system, causing people to
lose faith in the blessings they have formerly enjoyed. Quite readable,
but I think I really needed to have read the earlier books first because
the setting did not really come to life for me and I occasionally found
myself confused. I've enjoyed most of what I have read by the author,
however, and I've never had this trouble before/ 11/14/23
Delirium’s
Mistress by Tanith Lee, DAW, 1986
The
fourth in the Flat Earth series was a bit of a letdown. Azhrarn, the
prince of darkness, has had a longstanding feud with Prince Chuz, lord
of madness and delusion, who never struck me as a strongly drawn
character. Azhrarn also has a daughter by means of a mortal woman, whom
he locked away in hiding throughout her youth to protect her from his
enemies, and to suit his own strange preferences. But the actions of
both mortals and demons set her free, and Chuz seduces her as part of
his plan of vengeance, although it turns out that she is not so easily
manipulated as he might have expected. The struggle becomes three day
and emotionally complicated, but it is all very low key. Embellished by
a great deal of detail, but very slow moving. 10/12/23
Hex Education by
Maureen Kilmer, Putnam, 2023, $17, ISBN 978-0-593-42239-7
I
used to read quite a lot of the contemporary fantasy that sprung up on
the fringes of the romance and cozy mystery genres. Not so much any
more. This was the first in a long time, by an author with whom I have
no previous experience. The story involves three witches who found that
they could not control the powers they were playing in, which resulted
in a major fire during their college years. Now they are reunited and
their proximity to one another seems to have triggered the same
unreliable brand of magic that afflicted them once before. There is a
talking cat, spells that cannot be turned off once started, and
increasingly fraught complications as it appears that this time their
activities might be exposed to the public. The story is deliberately
light in tone, but it was a good deal more fun than I expected when I
started it. It feels like a summer read to me, but it's okay to cheat
and read it in the winter as well. 10/8/243
Blue Canoe by
T.M. Wright, PS, 2009
Wright’s
final novel is a surreal fantasy, not horror at all. The protagonist has
recently died and has transitioned no a non-corporeal state, but he is
oddly suspended between life and death. He has to learn to deal with his
new situation while also reminiscing about past issues that went
unresolved. Wright’s disinterest in actual story lines is at its most
obvious in this rambling, occasionally atmospheric, but mostly just
confusing narrative. 10/4/23
A Spider on My
Tongue by T.M. Wright, 1995
This
is almost as much a fantasy as a novel of the supernatural. The
protagonist converses with ghosts on a regular basis. They are an odd
assortment, not certain that they are dead in some cases. The
conversations are not very focused and the protagonist is not entirely
in touch with the world of the living any more. I reached the end and
wondered what it was that the author was trying to tell us, or describe,
since it felt more like a rambling stream of consciousness readout
rather than a story. 10/4/23
Tamastara by
Tanith Lee, DAW, 1984
A
collection of short stories, with India as the setting and inspiration.
A bullying father finds his life altered after his son undergoes a
magical transformation. A phantom tiger kills a compulsive hunter. A
professional killer reveals himself as more complex than expected. Two
separate people share a psychic connection. A future celebrity
experiments with a new kind of broadcasting technology that leads to his
death. The stories are quite varied, so much so that they do not feel
as though there is a common theme, even though they are all set in the
same country. 10/2/23
The Gorgon & Other
Beastly Tales by Tanith Lee, DAW, 1985
A
large collection of her short fiction, including the great title story,
which isn’t really fantasy, about a man’s visit to a shunned Greek
island. Another story has a shapechanging governess, and is more
whimsical than most of Lee’s fiction. There is a mystical unicorn, a
woman too fond of her cats, a young boy whose father came from the sea –
quite literally, and a dragon slayer, who might have had some unusual
help. The stories are all well written, not all quite to my taste,
though the majority are. Lee is one of those authors who seemed to need
novel length to bring her visions to life, although occasionally there
are shorter gems. 9/25/23
The Yawning Gap by
C.V. Vobh, Thuban, 2023
This
is a somewhat Tolkienesque fantasy - first in a series - set in a world
that has been divided up into lots of little patches. The protagonist is
a young man who manages to leave his village in order to explore some of
the other parts of his world. He is accompanied by a slowly growing
circle of friends and allies, and opposed by an army of brutish Orks,
who are being used to try to impose rule over the fragmented world.
Naturally they are on a quest to find the tools they need to thwart the
villains, who are proving to be difficult to control even by those who
command them. The prose isn't bad. The weakest part is the dialogue,
which often seems rather perfunctory. Not at all a bad way to spend your
time. 9/22/23
Sung in Shadow
by Tanith Lee, Tor, 1983
There
is genuine magic in this story, set in an alternate Renaissance Italy,
but it is peripheral and presents color to the background rather than
playing a major part in the story. The plot is a recapitulation of Romeo
and Juliet, in this case Romulan and Iuleta, who come from rival
families who are constantly feuding with one another. When the two of
them fall in love, it raises the ire of both families, as well as their
allies. Witchcraft and political intrigue follow in large dollops,
before Iuleta tragically commits suicide, only to be resurrected
magically by her lover. This is not one of my favorites by Lee. I always
found the base story a bit sappy - it's also one of my least favorite
Shakespeare plays and I only like West Side Story because of the music.
I do think it goes on a bit too long., I grew weary of the bickering
among the families, however true to life it may have been. 9/16/23
Anackire by Tanith
Lee, DAW, 1983
A
return to the world of The Birthgrave and its sequels. For the
most part it is a story of intrigue and betrayal, politics at imperial
courts, an unjust war, and the responsibility of people to honor their
commitments. Kesarh is an able king, but ultimately an evil one. He
fathers a daughter with his unwilling sister, who kills herself. Priests
magically preserve the child, who is unnaturally mature when she is born
and – for several years – lost. One of the guards serving Kesarh is
actually a nobleman who is using a false identity, and the tension
between the two evolves during the course of the story. 9/9/23
Red As Blood
by Tanith Lee, DAW, 1983
A
collection of short stories based loosely on classic fairy tales. A pied
paper renders an entire town sterile. A duel between a witch queen and a
witch princess ends badly. My favorite in the collection is a variation
of Red Riding Hood in which the grandmother turns out to be a werewolf.
My least favorite is the only science fiction story – aliens visiting
Earth seeking a cure for their racial sterility. The others are all
readable and sometimes very good, although I think in general that Lee
was much better at novel length than in the short form. One of the
stories is actually just a historical adventure tale. This is probably
the weakest of her collections. 9/7/23
Red Rabbit by
Alex Grecian, Nightfire, 2023, $28.99, ISBN 978-1-250-87568-9
I’m
not sure whether you would call this fantasy or horror. It’s a bit of
both, and it’s set in an alternate Old West in which demons, ghosts, and
witches are a part of the natural world. I’ve a soft spot for Old West
fantasies – I learned to read with paperback westerns – particularly
when they are as well written as this one. There is an infamous witch on
the Wanted list and a lot of people are interested in collecting the
bounty. One of these is a seasoned bounty hunter who is accompanied by
his ward, Rabbit, who is mute, and several other idiosyncratic
characters. But there are more dangerous things than witches in this
alternate version of Kansas. There are ghosts and evil entities galore.
And death and destruction both follow them. Very enjoyable. Richly
atmospheric, very character driven, and skillfully unraveled. I got lost
in the story several times and stayed up entirely too late to finish it.
9/1/23
Cyrion by Tanith
Lee, DAW, 1982
A
series of related stories. Although it is a typical fantasy world and
Cyrion is a legendary warrior, he is not a Conan clone. He solves most
of the puzzle and problems he faces through cunning, deduction, and the
ability to judge a person’s character. He encounters monsters, witches,
evil magicians, and other familiar menaces, but if he dispatches them
through violence it is usually brief or even off stage. There is a frame
story around the individual adventures, which leads to the novella,
“Cyrion in Stone,” which is the last in the series. As always, Lee
writes with a graceful style that many another writer should envy.
8/24/23
Unsilent Night
by Tanith Lee, NESFA, 1981
A
very short hardcover created to coincide with the author’s appearance at
a Boskone. There is a selection of poetry, which struck me as
inoffensive but minor, and one of the adventures of Cyrion, which
would later be included in her collection of his tales. There is also a
story called “Sirriamnis,” who is believed to be Egyptian. She has a
tendency to scratch her master when they make love. She is actually a
kind of succubus, and a troublemaker, but one of the other slaves
poisons her. 8/14/23
Delusion's Master
by Tanith Lee, DAW, 1981
The
third in the Flat Earth series introduces the third lord of darkness,
Chuz, who is the manifestation of madness. Jasrin was a queen who was
driven mad by her husband's fondness for their son and caused the boy's
death. She has now been divorced and is under house arrest when Chuz
visits her. She requests that he drive the king mad, which he does,
along with everyone in the castle. But Chuz is ambitious and decides to
corrupt the entire city. Azhrarn, lord of death, is no friend of his and
thinks he is batting out of his league, so he undercuts the plans laid
by Chuz and brings about his defeat. Not up to the first two in the
series in quality despite a strong opening. 8/13/23
Kill the Dead
by Tanith Lee, DAW, 1980
A
very unusual fantasy novel about a man who travels around a fantasy
world dispatching ghosts who have failed to pass on to the afterlife.
Some are malevolent, some are lost. He is accompanied for a time by a
minstrel seeking inspiration for a song that will make him famous. His
disposal of a dead girl’s ghost causes her sister to commit suicide and
return as a ghost seeking revenge. These ghosts can manifest themselves
physically so exorcising them is a dangerous business. For his pains, he
is shunned by most people, but he is compelled by his nature to
continue. One of Lee’s best books. 7/2/23
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