A to Z - F (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

F is for...

Fantasy!

As a kid, probably ten years-old or so, the first genre I ventured into when I shifted from the children's section of my local library into the 'adults' section (there was no young adult section at that time!) was fantasy. I picked up The Elf Queen of Shannara by Terry Brooks, used it for a school book report, and never looked back.

One of the things I liked about fantasy novels at that time was that they were thick. If I received one as a gift, it could last a couple days. When my parents gave me Wizard's First Rule by Terry Goodkind for a birthday, my mom was sure it would take me a week to get through it.  

Ha.

I still love fantasy, for so much more than that sense of childhood nostalgia. I love fantasy because it can be shallow and deep, simple and complex, epic and silly, romantic and terrifying, with a mystery or two, with good friends and terrible enemies forced to work together. There can be an element of magic, of stealth, danger and fun. So many limitless possibilities and all outside my own realm of possibility - though of course elements usually ring quite true.

There's something about a band of adventurers coming together to venture forth or a thief double-crossing their guild or a mage summoning some big spell that just gets my imagination going.

Urban fantasy, which will be my 'u' post later this month, is easily my favourite sub-genre at present, and has been for a number of years. 

Do you love fantasy? Have a favourite author, or a series recommendation?  

I haven't been watching Game of Thrones - I can't watch until the kids are in bed and there are too many other things right now that claim those precious evening hours (I'm looking at you multiplayer video games!), but I hear great things. Are there other fantasy series I should check out?

Stolen Songbird by Danielle L Jensen

The Basics:
Stolen Songbird by Danielle L Jensen
Strange Chemistry
Book One in the Malediction Trilogy
YA, Fantasy
Published April 1, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca

Why I picked up this book:

Trolls, a witch's curse, half-bloods enslaved by full-bloods, a prince leading rebellion, a kidnapped girl falling for a future Troll king.  COme on! Overtones of Beauty and the Beast, I *had* to read it.  

A to Z - E (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

E is for...

Epilogues!

What role does an epilogue fill in a story for you? 

I've read epilogues recently that were used in very different ways and I wanted to reflect quickly on that.

In one case, the epilogue provided a jump into the future, to allow the reader to enjoy the characters' happily ever after. True, it gave me an opportunity to see the couple as a happy unit, unfettered by the conflict of the book. It also gave a glimpse of what their married life would include -children, careers, etc..

In the other case, the epilogue gave a post-climactic battle wrap-up, highlighting who survived with what wounds, and giving a sense of hope that moving forward the heroes had a plan for success.

Obviously these reflect different genres, and also a difference between a standalone novel and a series novel. That said, I was satisfied by neither epilogue. Either the future was glossed, any remaining points of tension smoothed over to create an upbeat final note for the novel OR the book came to a rush of a close and the epilogue was used to quickly pull all the threads together and hook the reader in for the next book.

This isn't to stay that epilogues aren't useful, and that they can't provide satisfying closure to a story. Just that my recent encounters with them have been not entirely positive.  

How do you feel about epilogues? Great way to provide closure or too often used in place of addressing all those dangling threads?

What about prologues? 

A to Z - D (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

D is for...

Demons!

I love urban fantasy, and I'll probably write an entire post on it later this month so I'm going to steer away from commenting on it as a genre. Demons are an important staple of the genre. While vampires, werewolves and angels tend to get a lot of attention, demons fill a significant catch-all category, much like faeries.

There's so much variety in demons. I'm reading City of Bones by Cassandra Clare right now and it features a demon that's massive, disgusting, very otherworldly with a physical and an ethereal presence. Then I pick up the Hollow series by Kim Harrison (which I really need to catch up on!) and we've got a whole new set of demons. Karen Chance's Cassandra Palmer series has some completely human-esque demons, but they have extra powers. 

I think that unlike the specific categories, demons (and faeries, but today is 'd' :P ) don't have quite so many expectations placed on them as a 'type'. I find that sometimes it's really just used in place of 'monster.' And isn't that interesting, because I think if you through out the word monster, you're distancing readers from your 'creature' - a monster is clearly other... while a humanoid demon who is charming, eloquent, bipedal... that could be you or me!  We can relate!

The Golden Apple by Michelle Diener

The Basics:
The Golden Apple by Michelle Diener
Season Publishing
Book One in the Dark Forest series
Romance, Fantasy
Published March 24, 2014
Source: Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Amazon.ca

Why I picked up this book:

I really liked the blurb.

A to Z - C (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

C is for...

Collections.

Specifically, collections of short stories. Years ago, I always associated short stories with school. Because outside of some teachable point, I didn't really see the point in a short story. I wanted longer stories wherein more 'stuff' happened. 

Sophisticated point of view, right?

A few years ago I picked up one of the "Mammoth Book of" collections, and therein discovered that short story collections were a great way to 'meet' new authors. Then I picked up one of the recent urban fantasy collections, and it was an opportunity to visit with some of my favourite characters in an episodic format - usually a short case handled by one of the many urban fantasy private detectives or enforcers or what-have-you.

I'm still not sure I could pick up a more literary style collection without having flashbacks to essay-writing and 'unpacking' meaning and so forth, but I can certainly see the value in these collections now.

What's your experience been with short story collections? Do they drive you nuts? Leave you wanting more? Or can they be fulfilling in their own way?

A - Z - B (2014)

I'm doing the A to Z Blogging Challenge this year. The basic idea is to blog nearly daily with each day representing a different letter of the alphabet. My entries will be short and book-related.  

B is for...

Billionaires.

Just a quick rant, but why are so many heroes in romantic novels extremely wealthy? I understand that money can be a limiting factor for romance (in that a significant amount of money is required to finance some of the grander romantic gestures), but surely it's plausible to write about a successful businessman who doesn't own small islands and a fleet of private planes?

Billionaires are the 'worst' of the bunch because their wealth goes beyond ridiculous. Why do we accept so many in our fiction when it's such an exclusive club in reality? Perhaps the bigger question is how much should reality infringe on romantic fiction....

I find that Harlequin romances are the 'worst offenders' for billionaire romances. Are these just romantic escapism as its most extreme or what?