Tag Archives: Science Fiction & Fantasy

The Name of the Wind – Patrick Rothfuss

Once in a while a story comes along that demonstrates why the fantasy series is such a wonderful thing, a story which justifies every single word written, and so far, two books in, Patrick Rothfuss’ Kingkiller Chronicles is one of those stories. Unlike the great series like the Lord of the Rings or the Wheel of Time, this forgoes the fellowship-style cast of characters and viewpoints for a single narrative, following a single character through his journey. That character is Kvothe, called Kingkiller, Bloodless, Lightfinger, Sixstring, and the first volume in the series is The Name of the Wind.

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Gollancz Top Ten

What would your choices be if someone asked you to pick your ten favourite science fiction and fantasy books of the last fifty years? Pretty hard to decide, right? Let’s narrow it down to just a single publisher then, and make it nice and simple. Take Gollancz, the longest-running publisher in the UK to specialise in sci-fi and fantasy. A quick look at the list of authors on their books returns names such as Terry Pratchett, Ray Bradbury, Stephen Donaldson, George R. R. Martin…the list goes on. And on. Many, many truly great books have come to us, the readers hungry for more, through this one publisher. So how about now, could you pick ten from their roster of authors? Still no? Me neither.

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Fearsome Magics – edited by Jonathan Strahan

Magic can mean a great many things, and take endless forms; from legerdemain to magic rings, from hidden worlds to hiding in plain sight, a system of magic is a stock tool for many a writer, fantasy or otherwise. In Fearsome Magics, the latest Solaris Book of Fantasy, Jonathan Strahan collects together stories from fourteen authors, each dealing with magic in their own way. Given free reign to incorporate the theme into their stories however they wish, the authors involved here have contributed tales ranging right across the spectrum of styles and settings, showcasing breathtaking variety in the resulting collection.

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Pyramids – Terry Pratchett

First published in 1989, Pyramids was the 7^th Discworld book to be released; since then the series has grown and grown, now numbering 40 novels. While it may not have been clear at the time, this was the first standalone Discworld book, not part of a wider character arc such as Rincewind and the wizards, Death or the witches. Pratchett went on to write Moving Pictures and Small Gods which are sometimes combined with Pyramids as a sort of ‘Gods’ trilogy, but they’re very much independent novels. Set mostly in the ancient kingdom of Djelibeybi (read it out loud) this follows the story of Teppic who, fresh out of his exams at the Guild of Assassins in Ankh Morpork, receives an unusual summons to return home and take up the country’s throne.

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The Copper Promise – Jen Williams

Mercenaries hired for a dangerous quest by a mysterious stranger? Check. Peril, monsters, magic and epic journeys? Check. The Copper Promise has all the hallmarks of a generic swords ‘n sorcery tale, but Jen Williams lifts it above mediocrity through some likeable characters, a sufficiently detailed plot and, crucially, a sense of fun. Too often this genre gets bogged down in tortured heroes and their inner anguish, but here Williams leavens the death and destruction with bickering camaraderie and a breezy pace that doesn’t give us time to dwell on the darkness.

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The Bone Season – Samantha Shannon

Fantasy books are all about escapism, and in order to transport the reader away from reality the best examples have vibrant, fully-realised worlds with complex, exciting structures and systems (be they magic, technology, religion and so on). With her first novel The Bone Season, Samantha Shannon shows that she’s a natural world builder, weaving together past, present and future England to create a compelling mixture of epic fantasy and dystopian future. Here we have a world of the near future, at once frozen in Victorian times and developed past today’s technology, populated with poltergeists, angels and monsters. Part of the population are ‘clairvoyants’ with cleverly realised abilities that are beyond the ken of others, and thus are shunned and persecuted for being different. Their whole world is built around the control of this social underclass, through segregation, propaganda and fear.

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Redshirts – John Scalzi

Ever wonder what goes through the minds of the disposable extras in sci-fi TV shows? You know, the expendable security staff you’ve never seen on screen before, whose sole purpose is to die so that the main characters can survive? Well John Scalzi, creative consultant on Stargate: Universe, has obviously given it some thought, the result of which is the Hugo Award-winning Redshirts.

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