Fantasy novel lovers thread

[jian]

Or rather, they did. Now the wealthy dress in ill-fitting blazers over slim fit pants and polo shirts. Or sport garish, oversized ties, but I am probably getting close to being banned for discussing politics now.

But lifts will always be in fashion for our overlords, no matter how obvious they are. See also: hair implants, liposuction, fake tan, testosterone injections, anabolic steroids, and other gender-affirming care.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Or rather, they did. Now the wealthy dress in ill-fitting blazers over slim fit pants and polo shirts. Or sport garish, oversized ties, but I am probably getting close to being banned for discussing politics now.

I still see a lot of them in suits.

 

[MNblockhead]

I’m having a hard time thinking of a fantasy with a real world historical setting*. It’s almost always a made up world or the real world present day.

*I guess the Narnia prequel The Magician’s Nephew, which is set around 75 years before the time of writing, with a significant amount of the story taking place in Victorian London.

The Temeraire series by Naomi Novik, beginning with His Majesty's Dragon. The books are set during the Napoleonic Wars, but with dragons. As a lover of both history and dragons, I found them thoroughly enjoyable. They are very well written, and the premise never feels as gimmicky as it might sound.

 

[jian]

Another good book I've read recently is The Cloak & its Wizard. Wonderful modern "urban fantasy" with a really cool take on sapient artifacts (and lots of sudden unexpected twists).

A series I recommend to everybody that probably nobody reads is the Commonweal one by Graydon Saunders. You can only get the eBooks on Apple (the author has a long standing aversion to Amazon), but they're so worth it. Really takes the idea of rampant magic and extends it into power structures in a way that I dont see often.

And then mixes it with the sort of "industrial magic" that Eberron flirts with. And also goes in so many other fascinating directions.

Thank you, both sound really interesting recommendations. The first sounds like a Dr Strange fanfic that became its own thing, which is neat.

By the way, Saunders’ books aren’t available on Apple, at least not here in Canada - they’re on Rakuten Kobo.

 

[Minion X]

I still see a lot of them in suits.

But you didn't use to see them in anything else, or at least not anything that wasn't respectable fashion. But this is better suited for a Menswear Guy thread on Twitter.

 

[Minion X]

I’m having a hard time thinking of a fantasy with a real world historical setting*. It’s almost always a made up world or the real world present day.

There's a fair bit of historical fantasy out there. Some classics off the top of my head are Bard by Keith Taylor, A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden, The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones, and the Merkabah Rider novels by Edward Erdelac.

 

[zakael19]

I’m having a hard time thinking of a fantasy with a real world historical setting*. It’s almost always a made up world or the real world present day.

*I guess the Narnia prequel The Magician’s Nephew, which is set around 75 years before the time of writing, with a significant amount of the story taking place in Victorian London.

Consider: Between Two Fires, by Christopher Buehlman. 1348 France, the height of the Black Death, and

Spoiler: spoiler I guess

really engages with "what if the way contemporary beliefs about the plague as a punishment for sins was real and evident."

It's one of the most powerful fiction books I've read from an "engaging with true faith" medievalist perspective.

 

[MNblockhead]

I actually wanted to use audiobooks for Dragonlance so I could devote my actual reading time to other stuff, but I found a reddit post about the Chronicles audiobooks that says the text gets abridged quite severely.

That's disappointing. I'm not sure which I hate more, only offering abridged versions of a book in audiobook format or AI narrated books.

 

[plecostomus]

Shannon Chakraborty's stuff and The Golem and the Jinni are also historical fantasy. The Golem and the Jinni is an exquisite portrait of its time and place in history on top of its fantastical elements, and the sequel branches out to some other times and locations too.

edit: Thread go zoom

 

[jian]

There's a fair bit of historical fantasy out there. Some classics off the top of my head are Bard by Keith Taylor, A Gathering of Ravens by Scott Oden, The Desert of Souls by Howard Andrew Jones, and the Merkabah Rider novels by Edward Erdelac.

I thought PF meant fantasy set in a version of real history unaffected and unchanged by magic, which is harder.