Tag Archives: Fantasy

The Riddle by Alison Croggon (The Second Book of Pellinor)

Australian Literature 1 Comment

Synopsis: Maerad of Pellinor heads north in pursuit of the Treesong as the Winter King threatens her at every turn. Review: I was so glad to see Alison Croggon leave her Tolkien influences behind in The Riddle, the second book in her well-told story of Pellinor, which started out as just your typical fantasy country beseiged by the coming of the dark. Fortunately, Croggon brings in some non-medieval elements in her construction of the mythology of her world. I really liked some of the harsher…

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The Naming by Alison Croggon (The First Book of Pellinor)

Australian Literature 4 Comments

Synopsis: A slave discovers that she is The One prophesied by the mystical race of Bards. Review: It really is all about execution when it comes to epic fantasy. I mean, that one sentence synopsis of The Gift could pretty much describe about a zillion other books, many of them truly dreadful. In fact, I was listening the audiobook of Mistborn at the same time, which has basically the same premise! So far, Alison Croggon is delivering a fine, fine tale. She admits to being…

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The Dark Tower by Stephen King

American Literature

Synopsis: Roland the gunslinger reaches the Dark Tower he’s been pursing for a thousand years. Review: Obviously there’s a lot more to The Dark Tower, book 7 in Stephen King’s epic series of the same name, than my one sentence synopsis implies. But essentially, that’s it. And, honestly, was Roland’s not reaching the Tower ever an option for King? The suspense has never been “will he?” but “what will it be like?” But before Roland can reach the tower, he and his ka-tet (a former…

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Song of Susannah by Stephen King (The Dark Tower)

American Literature

Synopsis: Roland’s ka-tet disperses through New York City in various whens, trying to save the rose, find author Stephen King, and save the Tower–quite possibly from Susannah’s demon baby. Review: Book 6 in Stephen King’s epic series, Song of Susannah is the darkest, bringing some of the darkest scenes in all of King’s writing. It’s also a relatively short book, though no less dense than Calla or . The early books seem almost minimalist in comparison with the baroque tapestry that the plot becomes in…

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Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins

American Literature 4 Comments

I’m giving away 3 copies of Hunger Games–check out this post for rules & to enter! Synopsis: After winning the Hunger Games, underdog Katniss Everdeen finds herself caught up in political intrigue as rebellion foments in other districts, and when the president himself makes a game-changing move, Katniss must choose between love and freedom. Review: I was totally and completely sucked in and swept away by Catching Fire, Suzanne Collins’s sequel to last year’s it novel Hunger Games. The series is starting to remind me…

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Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King (The Dark Tower)

American Literature 1 Comment

Synopsis: Roland and his company prepare to defend a town that sees half of its children kidnapped and “roont” once a generation. Review: Wolves of the Calla is still my favorite of the Dark Tower books. I think it’s because it has the best standalone story of the bunch. Calla Bryn Sturgis, the town, has the feel of the American frontier, and watching Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy prepare to do battle against the kidnapping Wolves is fraught with suspense, tension, and action. I…

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The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn)

American Literature 2 Comments

Synopsis: A street urchin discovers that she is Mistborn, able to synthesize metals that give her superhuman powers, and falls into a plan to overthrow the seemingly immortal Lord Ruler. Review: I listened to The Final Empire on audiobook, and I have to say I was really impressed by the narrator’s ability to give every character a different voice. It really made the story easy to follow, especially because the characters themselves were not particularly well-drawn. Oops–did I start criticizing already? Well, another reason I…

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The Waste Lands by Stephen King (The Dark Tower)

American Literature

Synopsis: On his quest to the Dark Tower, Roland the gunslinger and his companions move through a ghastly post-nuclear landscape in search of a train that is certainly alive and not certainly safe. Review: Whenever I start reading The Waste Lands, my heart aches waiting for Roland and Jake to be reunited. In my opinion, Jake is one of King’s best characters. Of course, he’s twinned with Jack Sawyer from The Talisman, and I think that I can’t help but bring those associations with me…

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The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (The Dark Tower)

American Literature

Synopsis: The gunslinger steps into the lives of three different New Yorkers, and must figure out how they fit into his quest before he dies of an infection. Review: The contrast between The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three always astonishes me. As King puts it in his introduction, in book 2 of the Dark Tower series the story really takes off. I always spend the first few chapters mourning the elegiac tone of the first book, but soon am swept away by the…

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The Gunslinger by Stephen King (The Dark Tower)

American Literature 3 Comments

Synopsis: The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. Review: I’ve read The Gunslinger about nine or ten times by now, having discovered it when I was still in college and there were only three books in the series. I was instantly captivated by how different the book was from anything else I’d ever read, by King or otherwise. The Gunslinger felt like an open text, fraught with possibilities, and I had no idea where King would take the story. The…

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